Another Arboretum Visit

I live right around the corner from a huge arboretum yet I don't go there as often as I should.




I can always find honey bees working there:




And recently I've found a hummingbird hang out.





Hibiscus about to pop:




A butterfly trying to get a date:




There were a dozen or more bumble bees working in one thistle bush:





And all the while, I was being watched by this security guard:




Prints are available for anything you see on this blog. Just send me a message: sedgfoto@yahoo.com

Hephaestus

Kids and adults, playing with fire.

Stephanie Mejia Shoot

Recently we did a shoot for Stephanie Mejia, a Raleigh (soon to be New York)-based clothing designer. The Makeup was done by Marissa Christina, Model is Brooke Holland and the photos are by Alli Coleman and me. This type of picture processing wasn't what we were doing for Stephanie but rather what I did with them on my own. "sedgwicized"
More loveliness from sugarwater studio coming soon, so check back regularly.

These are from a shoot that Alli Coleman did with model Brooke Holland. I did the processing. Gorgeous ain't they?

sedg.meme

Long ago, when we rode dinosaurs to school and MySpace was cool they upped the limit of pictures one could have from something silly like 48 to an incredible 300! I had a plan to manipulate one photo of myself 300 different ways and put them all up. I think I got to 240 or so when they said "Ah heck, y'all can have as many photos as you want." I lost interest in the project.
So anyway this one was a favorite that I used in many situations as the official sedgwic icon/meme etc.

One day I'm going to do something else with that stack of pictures - I just don't know what.....

TtV

I built a new Through the Viewfinder contraption so I can use my 17-55 lens with my old cameras. today I chose the Anscoflex for the bottom camera and here are some results:

 

Reflections of the subject catch on the aluminum faceplate of the camera and are conveyed into the viewfinder area by even more reflection on the aluminum lens cover. I left these in the tops of each picture.

the sun is the same in a relative way

A High Dynamic Range photo of Cameron Village in Raleigh at daybreak. I've just started working with HDR and I think this is the best one, so far.

I had the opportunity to shoot both sunrise and sunset a few days ago. Here are a couple from the morning:

Note the times. In just 38 seconds there's that much change in the sky.

These were not "photoshopped" (except for the HDR photos). The camera was adjusted to pull out the orange more at the beginning and then I turned it down a bit. Here's a crow flying by:

Then Jupiter passed by...

really close to Earth and you guys were all asleep.

This next one is another HDR:

For those who don't know what HDR means, the quickest definition I can come up with is the conglomeration of several photos that each accentuate the shadows or highlights of a single scene. It gives you more definition in shadows and highlights than the camera can do at once. The camera fires 3,5,7, maybe even 9 pictures in a quick burst. These images all have different degrees of exposure. Software them combines them to make one crazy looking picture.

This is a regular photo - the Sun finally emerged:

Before I left I shot a handful of pictures of the city and had fun combining them:

Now for the evening of the same day. The skies weren't as exciting but I went to meet my photography club at a lake in Morrisville and shot a few:

So I brought a new toy to the lake; a homemade lens filter. I made this thing with a #8 welders' glass and it allows me to shoot at the sun for much longer exposures. Kinda like a serious Neutral Density Filter, except it cost $7.
The other thing is that it makes everything a lovely toxic green...

But, you can shoot awesome black and whites with it, too.

Now here's what can be done if you want to push things too far with HDR:

HDR taken in yet another direction: