Photographics: Lumen Prints
May 29, 2009
For one of our class projects we were required to do lumen prints. Lumen prints are very simple to do and the end result is very cool. To do a lumen print you first take a piece of photo paper, fiber or RC, out in direct sunlight and then proceed to put objects on the paper to create a design. Depending on the amount of sunlight available you would leave these pieces of photo paper out for a few hours. The minimum would be about three hours but some of our fellow students left them out for up eight hours. After waiting you would then take your exposed photo paper and put it straight into the fixer and watch your image appear. For our lumen prints we used cold toned, glossy RC paper. We used Bryan’s grandparents backyard along with a few of their garden plants to make our images. It was overcast that day and kind of windy. We used large pieces of Lexan to hold the flowers and leaves down on the photo paper and let it expose for four and a half hours. The great thing about lumen prints is you never know what colors or shades you will get once you put the paper in the fixer. Each image is truly one of a kind. Our classmates images looked totally different from our images below. Some got deep browns, oranges, reds, yellows, and even purples. I really enjoyed this project and hope I get the chance to do it again.
Print by Bryan
Print by Bryan
Print by Jamie
Print by Jamie
Picture of the Week 5-28-2009
May 28, 2009
For this week’s photo I decided to go back in time, way back to July of 2004. Bryan and I, along with his brother and cousin went on a mission trip to London, England for a whole week. At the time Bryan and I only had point and shoot film cameras so we decided to buy our first digital camera for the trip. We chose a 3 megapixel Vivitar that cost us about $100. At the time we weren’t thinking about being serious photographers plus that was all we could really afford. The pictures that we brought home weren’t great but they were decent. The picture below is one of my favorite photos I took on the trip. It shows the London Eye and the River Thames with nice white puffy clouds in the sky. I hope one day to go back to London with our Mark II and take this shot again.
Photo Info: Taken with a Vivitar DC3320, ISO 100, F43.5 at 1/197 of a second.
Picture of the Week 5-20-2009
May 20, 2009
Last Saturday we went on a field trip with our Photographics class to Crystal Cove. We got there early, around 8:30 am. As per usual the sky along the coast was overcast. Even though it’s nice to have “open shade” type lighting for outdoor photos the gray clouds made many of our images look dull. Despite this I loved photographing at the beach, the rock formations make for great shots. We also climbed between a few of these rocks and took a few photos of some tide pool creatures including a baby seal. The photo from this week was shot by Bryan and it shows the beautiful rock formations that make this particular beach so photogenic.
For more photos from our field trip check out our GALLERY.
Photo Info: Taken with the Rebel XTi at ISO 100, F4 at 1/160 of a second.
Black Star Canyon
May 17, 2009
Lately I have been searching for fun things to photograph. I’ve been wanting to go to new places that we have never photographed and that most importantly were cheap or free. I generally search the OC Register’s events page to find outdoor activities which led me to the Irvine Ranch Wildlands website. If you recall we also found our kayak tour through this website. It’s a really fantastic place to find outdoor activities in the Orange County area. I ended up finding a photo hike in Black Star Canyon which we went on this Sunday. The tour was led by Andre Torng who is a volunteer for Irvine Ranch Wildlands and photographer. Our group consisted of about eight people who were mostly amateur photographers and hobbyists. We started out at the Black Star Staging Area at about 8:30 in the morning and headed down the trail toward the canyon. As we walked Andre gave us tips and pointers about composition and helped us choose camera settings. The main feature of the canyon are the huge red rocks, these rocks aren’t as glorious as the one’s we visited at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas but they are nevertheless a beautiful landmark. We hiked for about two hours on a very easy trail but it soon got hot and we headed back. It was a lot of fun to get outdoors and photograph some great scenery with other photographers and I think we got some great shots. If you are interested in a photo hike or just some fun outdoor activities check out Irvine Ranch Wildlands. Their activities do fill up quickly so make sure you get your spot.
Photo by Bryan
Photo by Bryan
Photo by Jamie
Photo by Jamie
Picture of the Week 5-13-2009
May 13, 2009
Here is yet another photo from my new favorite place the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey. Look at that tree! I can’t get over how beautiful that tree is. After looking at this image I realize that it kind of looks like I used a polarizing filter, I assure you I was not. In fact this is a straight out of the camera image, no adjustments whatsoever to the color or exposure. I used the 24-105 F4L kit lens that came with the Mark II, this is quickly becoming my favorite lens. It takes the most beautiful shots. That lens is definitely worth it’s cost.
Photo Info: Shot with the Canon Rebel XTi at ISO 100, F8 at 1/400 of a second.
2009 Red Bull Air Race: San Diego
May 11, 2009
This past Sunday we went to the Red Bull Air Race down in beautiful San Diego. This is the second year we attended this event and it never disappoints. The event takes place on the San Diego Bay right in the heart of Downtown San Diego. During last years event we bought tickets to the North Embarcadero part of the bay, this year we decided to go to the South Embarcadero. We got there early so we could secure a spot in the front. This event gets very crowded so going early is a must to get a good spot especially on finals day. Unlike last year, there was not a big Navy demonstration. We did get to see a flyover by an F18, a lifeguard demo and also an old war plane, and of course we got a nice shower from the hovering Seahawk helicopters. This year I brought a hat with a tassel to secure it on my head. Last year I nearly lost my hat when the Seahawks blew it off when they hovered above us. I’m not sure why the Navy chose to scale back their performances and flybys but it might have had something to do with the fact that it was cloudy for most of the morning. The sun did come out by the afternoon, unfortunately because of the earlier clouds we didn’t apply our sunscreen as well as we should have so we came home with some nasty sunburns.
