m2 Photography Blog

Burrows: 08.15.10: Kiteboarding!

2010-08-17T09:40:00.003-05:00

Wind out of the WNW on Sunday was unusually high and steady for August in Madison on Lake Mendota, and the Kiteboarders were out in numbers. I didn't have a lot of time to take pics, but was able to capture a few just off-shore.

For additional images from Sunday's Session at Burrows, click here.

Max is always my best model!

2010-08-17T09:30:00.004-05:00

My dog Maximus has always been my go-to guy when needing a subject to photograph. We were on a weekend getaway to visit family and friends at a river cottage near Joliet, and I was able to capture Max running on a sandbar. Using my Canon 7D and the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS lens, I froze the motion and water splashing. Max still doesn't like to swim, but he is getting more comfortable in the water, and shallow water, he's a rock star!

Additional image of Maximus can be found by clicking here

Animoto Craziness!

2010-08-06T16:16:00.003-05:00

Summer is a busy time, and very difficult to put together slide-shows. I've given Animoto another try, and have been extremely impressed with the multi-media slide shows that they come up with. Basically, I take my images, videos, and time-lapse sequences and upload them to Animoto.com and they spit out a slide show that has music and everything! I've gotten very favorable reviews from the wedding videos I put together using Animoto, and the fact that it saves a ton of time makes it very easy to recommend. Here is my latest video day tubing in Washington, captured exclusively on a GoPro HD Hero Camera.

Photoshop Saves!

2010-08-02T17:12:00.004-05:00

Sometimes as a photographer, you're dealt with challenging lighting situations. Here is an example where I didn't have an assistant to use a reflector, and not enough time to go get a fill flash and umbrella. The sun is overhead, but behind the Bride and Groom. This is where Photoshop can save a mediocre to bad image, and make it a keeper.

Basically, I created multiple layers for this image for the different sections. Sky, Mountains, Couple, and Forest, and Grass. Using layer masks, I was able to tweak each of these sections individually to make the hue/saturation and levels look the way I wanted. The key to this image is also ensuring that you do not overexpose the shot, thus losing image detail. You'll notice in the original, the Bride and Groom are dark and you can't see their faces. In the processed image, they pop off the screen. Looking at this, I see that I have some sun flares/spots to deal with, but I think that it's a vibrant image that would have been overlooked. Using Adobe Lightroom as the final step allows me to create a vignette, reduce the orange-ness of the skin, and add back a bit of clarity!

Alien Skin: Snap Art - A-Scow and Capitol

2010-07-19T15:23:00.005-05:00

Believe it or not, I still get requests to "Photoshop" images for people. Anyone who know's photoshop, this could be one of a million effects, filters, and/or actions. Luckily, he had an image that I already doctor'd up as a base. I decided to try a few different effects on this image, as they all have a slightly different feel once processed. Here are some examples using the Alien Skin Snap Art plugin using Adobe Photoshop CS5:

Pencil Sketch Effect:

Posterization Effect

Color Pencil Effect:

Oil Painting Effect:

As you can see, the same image can be transformed into art with different styles very easily using digital image manipulation tools.

For additional "altered" images from this collection, click here!

Darby & Tim: Multimedia Slide Show

2010-07-18T19:39:00.001-05:00

Took some time today to get Darby and Tim's slide show online. Enjoy!

Eric & Tracy's Destination Wedding!

2010-07-15T10:14:00.003-05:00

I was lucky enough to be asked to help photograph the wedding of Eric Brown and Tracy Tompkins at the Mountain Home Lodge, in Leavenworth, Washington. Regan Van Huffel Botsford was the other photographer for the wedding, and you can view her fantastic work on flickr by clicking here. This was my first destination wedding where I needed to take a flight since 2009, and I've accumulated a ton of gear since then. I really tried to pack light, but ended up taking more than I needed to ensure that I captured this event for my close friend Eric properly. 3 Canon dSLR's, 2 GoPro HD Hero's, a Canon G11 with CHDK, and a Sony HDR-SR1 HD camcorder. The goal was obviously to focus on photography, but I wanted to try and expand my photojournalistic skills. The ceremony was captured from multiple cameras and locations. Here is the list of shots:

GoPro HD Hero on a Tripod using a Lawn Sprinkler timer as a panning device: Time Lapse
GoPro HD Hero on mini-gorrilla pod on lawn directly in front of the alter: 720p HD Video 60fps
Canon G11 on Tripod on elevated Deck (Right) running CHDK script: Time Lapse
Canon 7D on Tripod on lower elevated deck (left): 1080p HD Video
Sony HDR-SR1 on elevated deck: 1080i HD Video
Canon 50D with 70-200mm f/2.8 IS Zoom Lens: Monopod
Canon 5D Mark II with 16-35mm f/2.8 Zoom lens: -R-Strap

The goal with all of these angles and different media types is to be able to put together a slideshow with images, videos, and time lapse sequences, with music. Here is my first attempt at coming up with a worthy presentation:

Click on the image below to view slideshow with pics, video, and timelapse!

Star Trails!

2010-07-14T10:44:00.002-05:00

I've been waiting for a chance to try star trail photography for quite some time now. I don't get out into the wild away from the lights of the city very often to get a good glimpse of the stars. I was really hoping that when I was in Washington shooting a wedding, that I would have my chance. Luck would have it, I got clear skies on Sunday night during a new moon, sot he skies were covered with stars. I had read about different approaches, and I had 3 dSLR cameras to play with, with 2 remotes. I discovered that stacking images works the best, and using 30 second exposures and a fairly wide aperature was the key. Here are a few examples.

This one turned out okay, but most of the images were out of focus. The end result after stacking them with StarTrails, was okay, but in the future, I'm going to ensure that I'm not trying to focus automatically, and set my focus manually. I may try and redo this one, as cars pulled up into the parking lot, and added a bunch of light to the building. I think I can pull those specific exposures out and re-stack. I also think that this one is more dramatic, as the camera is pointed towards Polaris, or the north star, and everything else seems to rotate around it.

This one was on a 7D, and not as wide of a lens, but the results is much sharper. You can see how many stars were out on this night, and I pressed the trigger manually on this camera after each 30 second exposure. Although it takes hours to get these types of results, it is definitely worth the wait.

New Panning Time Lapse Device: Lawn Sprinkler Timer?

2010-06-29T09:36:00.003-05:00

I've been using a Stainless Steel egg timer that I bought off Amazon.com as a simple panning device for my time lapse sequences. The egg timer will rotate a full 360 degrees in one hour. I thought that having other options would be nice, and found a lawn sprinkler timer at the Home Depot that rotates 360 degrees in 2 hours. Basically, the rotation is half as fast. I bought one, and immediately dis-assembled it to see how it worked. The actual timer is very similar to the egg timer, so the gear ratio must just be different. I added a 1/4" screw, which is a standard size for cameras, to the top. Then I drilled another hole in the bottom to add a 1/4" screw and coupler, which can attach to any standard tri-pod fitting. I sawed the hose fittings off, and used a Dremel tool to smooth out the plastic where the fittings were removed. The lawn sprinkler seems more stable than the egg timer, and I'll be testing it out soon to see the differences in panning speed.

I'll post a video when I get a chance to test the new lawn sprinkler panning device.

2010-06-28T11:43:00.003-05:00

Lightning photography has been on my list of things to attempt, but it's pretty much a waiting game and being at the right place at the right time. A line of storms rolled through Madison this last Saturday night, and I was able to set up shop overlooking the lake from the University of Wisconsin Lifesaving Station. Since I had never attempted this before, I took a few test shots, and ended up with some pretty good results. I set the exposure on the camera at 30 seconds, and kept the aperature at about f/6.3. Click the shutter and hope that lightening strikes. Here are a couple of good ones from Saturday night.

For more images from this Lightning set click here!

Renneckar / Sugar Wedding: Light Art at Club Manitou!

2010-06-16T13:43:00.004-05:00

I decided that I wanted to try out a technique called light art. Basically, you get in a dark area and set the camera to a really long exposure, and then you have someone use a flashlight to spell something out in the air, or trace something. Katie helped me, and we had a great time trying to figure out how to spell stuff backwards and seeing the results!

For additional light art images, click here!

Renneckar / Sugar Wedding: Kite Aerial Photography

2010-06-16T14:04:00.004-05:00

I was only able to get 2 sessions with the kite aerial photography rig during the Rennackar / Sugar wedding. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough wind, and I was only able to fly with the GoPro HD Hero Camera. I was able to get a few aerial images to make me happy, but would have liked to put the G11 up in the air too. Here are a couple of samples from the first and last days.

For additional KAP images from the Homestead Resort, click here.

Renneckar / Sugar Wedding: Canoe-Kayak Time Lapse

2010-06-16T12:20:00.004-05:00

The morning of the Renneckar / Sugar wedding, Darby and Tim planned a canoe and kayak outing going down the Crystal River in Glen Arbor, Mi. We utilized the Crystal River Outfitters and drove upstream about 6 miles. We had a group between 50 and 60 people and about 30 canoes and kayaks. I brought along the GoPro HD Hero and attached it to a different canoe at different locations. I created 2 time lapse sequences from the shots. One is a fast sequence, and the other is slightly slower with a cartoon effect.

Click on each image to watch time lapse video

Lake Mendota Time Lapse

2010-06-01T08:08:00.003-05:00

I spent the weekend in Madison, Wisconsin working at the University of Wisconsin Lifesaving Station, and made it a goal to capture a number of time-lapse sequences. I had just finished creating a panning mount using an egg timer, specifically for the GoPro HD Hero camera. So in addition to capturing images every 2 seconds, the camera is also slowly moving from right to left. The sailboat images were captured with a Canon 7D on the roof of the Lifesaving Station, and show the 2010 Collegiate Sailing Team National Championships hosted by Hoofers Sailing Club and the the University of Wisconsin Sailing team.

Click on the image below to preview time lapse sequence

H8 eScow Regatta Time Lapse Photography

2010-05-18T09:48:00.003-05:00

Using the Motorsports mount, I attached the GoPro HD Hero to the stern of the Sugar eScow at the Lake Geneva Spring Regatta this past weekend. Using the build in intervelometer, I captured over 8000 images at 2 second intervals. Using Adobe After Effects CS5, I created this time lapse sequence of the sailing race. Hugh Sugar, Time Sugar, Darby Renneckar, and Annie Newman were the crew aboard Gr8 Expect8ions. Click on the image below to view the movie.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 2010

2010-05-01T19:56:00.002-05:00

I went up to Milwaukee this morning to help support the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, 2010 walk. The wind was out of the Southwest, and I decided to try a session on the kite, even though my last 2 trips to Milwaukee for kite photography were sketchy. Good wind, although gusty. Here are some of my favorites:

The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk started and ended at the Discovery World in Milwaukee. These aerial images were captured by suspending a camera to a kite. You can help by making a donation by clicking here.

SEO Testing: Bristol Renaissance Faire

2010-04-17T11:03:00.021-05:00

I am trying to get a handle on Search Engine Optimization, SEO for my photography website. I have thousands of images posted on my m2 photography site, and it's very difficult to get them to show up on Google. However, many times the same image posted on flickr, or linked from my blog, or external forums do show up in the results. I want to ensure that I'm doing everything possible to improve my ranking, and maybe gathering some ammo to take back to SmugMug for enhancement requests. There are forums specifically offering advice for optimizing your SmugMug site, and I have taken many of the tips and implemented them without seeing many changes in my searches through google. I thought I would perform some simple tests to see if any of my methods are working.

I have recently uploaded some of the same images to both flickr and my smugmug website. I will link to a couple of them here to provide some inbound links to the images.

Flickr image: Bristol Renassaince Faire Aerial Image Captured by a GoPro HD Hero Camera

m2 Photography image: Bristol Renassaince Faire Aerial Image Captured by a GoPro HD Hero Camera

You'll notice that I've been using as many hyperlinks in my post as possible, linking both to external sites and also back to my SmugMug and flickr accounts. It seems as though Google ignores the keyword meta tag, so visible content is king. Having other sites, such as this blog, facebook, and forums link back to your image is also very important. In addition to this blog, I will be posting links to the same images on facebook, and a couple of forums including dgrin.com, photography on the net, and also the Kite Aerial Photography forum.

The images on SmugMug and flickr have the same keywords, as well as this blog post. The file names are the same, but the titles on flickr have been changed. The description field for the gallery in SmugMug is similar to the description of each image in flickr. I tried to modify the caption in SmugMug for each image in the gallery, so that it's not using the same language for each similar image. SmugMug does not allow sitemaps, which is a huge disadvantage in the SEO game.

I will monitor the Google Analytics for my m2 Photography website, as well as perform simple search queries using Google to see what happens, and post my results here.

Results:

Day 1: Less than 5 hours after posting the original images, one of my images from flickr shows up as number one in Google when searching on "Bristol Renaissance Faire Aerial", which is pretty specific to my image. A few hours later, the first three results on Google are from flickr.

Day 2: I did another google search this morning, and the results are starting to get interesting. The number one returned item was my photos on flickr, but returned from a site called flickriver, which just displays flickr images with a different skin. The 3rd, 4th, and 7th, search results were all direct flickr links. The 2nd page of search results, at number 15, brought up my testing post regarding this issue on dgrin.com.

Day 3: 4 of the top 5 search results on google are Flickr or Flickriver. No SmugMug in site. :(

Day 4: 1st page, 4 flickr/flickriver results. 2nd page, Facebook, Dgrin post, and blog results. No SmugMug results up to 10 pages in.

Day 5: 1st 2 results are flickr. 3rd is my blog. 4th and 5th are flickr. Second page reveals dgrin and facebook. No results for SmugMug found.

Instructed by SmugMug to modify setting in Gallery so Google can find Gallery. Not exactly sure why this setting was off, as it's default is on, and other galleries were set this way. This setting is called "Hello World!" I made the change and have waited a few days to see if the results were any different.

Day 9: Flickr ranked 1 and 2. Blog moved up to 3rd position. Flickriver at 4 and 5. Page 2 of search results have Dgrin, Facebook, and Dgrin. Page 3 has my blog again. No SmugMug results found.

After 2 weeks: Flickr, Facebook, Dgrin, Photography on the Net, and KAP forum all returned results in the first 3 pages from Google. Nothing from SmugMug. My findings confirm what other users have been complaining about, and that the structure of the programming at SmugMug fails at providing any legitimate method for SEO. Unfortunately, they seem to re-hash the same links from dgrin on how to improve your rankings, which doesn't work. They need to realize that other sites have figured this out, and maybe, just maybe they need to take a step back and try something new. SEO is not an exact science. SmugMug is create for customizing online galleries. If you want people to search and find your images through Google, use something else.

Apple iPad with Custom Vinyl Skin!

2010-04-03T22:34:00.002-05:00

Although I have a Motorola Android phone, and anticipate the release of the wePad with Android OS, I broke down and bought an Apple iPad on the launch date. I anticipate using this not only for web browsing and e-mail, but actually for photography.

The ability to copy a portfolio of images to the device and have them appear on the specatular iPad screen will help sales and also be a nice novelty at weddings. After getting a few hours of tinkering with it, I desicded that I need to create a custom vinyl skin for the back.

I dug out the vinyl cutter from the basement and also the flatbed scanner. I scanned the back of the iPad, and created a template in Adobe Illustrator to cut out the Apple logo and iPad specs. I then added my photography logo vector art and my contact information. I realize that this won't prevent thefts, it will at least keep honest people honest. Hopefully, the vinyl skin will also help protect the back from scratches. I will need to be careful until I can get a decent sleeve to carry it around in.

Custom Vinyl iPad skins can be obtained from m2 Photography for $40 single color, and $50 for 2 colors, and have any design you want.** Contact mike (at) m2-photo.com if you are interested in a custom vinyl iPad skin.

** Design must be submitted via vector format, or be a standard font.

What do I think of the iPad? It is really nice for surfing websites, at least the ones that don't require flash, and checking e-mail. Coming from the Android Market, spending tons of cash on apps will take some getting use to. I bought 2 apps, one for sketching and one game. The interface is nice, but I'd like it to be more like the android where I can customize it. The sample book on the backlit screen was easy to read, and will be nice as an e-book reader, or for magazines and multimedia. The Netflix app is great, as you can watch instantly right on the iPad. outside the ridiculous price for the device, I'm very happy so far with the purchase, as least until the wePad comes out.

Gold Pyramid House!

2010-03-31T21:08:00.009-05:00

After getting skunked in last night's KAP attempt, I looked on Google Maps this morning for a new and fresh spot to launch the Kite and camera. After browsing Lake county and a few Google searches, I came across an interesting piece of property known as the Gold Pyramid House. Once I saw the house from Google maps, I knew that I needed to go there for to capture some images. I called the number and talked with Jim Onan, the owner of this private residence, and asked for permission to come an take pictures from the kite. I think he was a bit skeptical at my technique, but was open for me to visit. I asked a friend of mine, Mac, to come along. He was essential in ensuring that the camera rig didn't crash into the ground, as the wind was really flukie today, ranging from 5 - 30 mph gusts.

Jim was nice enough to give me a private tour of the King Tut's tomb, which is a scale sized replica of the one in Egypt, sarcophagus and all! I then launched the kite and attached the goPro HD Hero and the Canon G11 on my Gryo Stabilized rig. My bad luck from the previous day caught up to me, as the transmitter was dead, left on from the previous night. I tweaked the rig so that it would at least be flyable in a static direction and got them up in the air.

Here are a few shots from the Kite Session:

There is also a 60+ foot statue of Ramses, or King Tut, depending on which website you look at.

You can see the huge statue, with the Gold Pyramid House in the background with a line of sphinx statues lined up on the driveway leading up to the house.

Here is the Gold Pyramid House, which is surrounded by a moat.

The house apparently was plated in 24k gold at one point, but Mr. Onan explained that they made him change that to something that wasn't so shiny.

After the KAP session was completed, I grabbed my regular camera to get some shots on the property. Here is one of the Sphinx statues that are lined up down the driveway.

For additional images from today's session at the Gold Pyramid House, please visit the Gold Pyramid Gallery at the m2 Photography website.

The Gold Pyramid House is located at: 37921 Dilleys Rd., Wadsworth, IL

http://www.goldpyramid.com/

Milwaukee Skyline

2010-03-31T11:20:00.005-05:00

I drove up to Milwaukee last night to try and capture the Art Musuem and Milwaukee Skyline from my Kite Aerial Photography rig. Unfortunately, the wind did not cooperate. Instead, I walked out to the breakwater next to the Discovery World pier, and captured some images of the skyline. Each of these shots is bracketed with 3 images and combined with Dynamic HDR.

Milwaukee Art Museum and Skyline at Night

Milwaukee Discovery World on the shores of Lake Michigan

Additional Milwaukee images can be found here

Kenosha Southport Lighthouse and Harborside Park

2010-03-28T21:50:00.007-05:00

There was plenty of wind in the forecast today, so I packed up the KAP gear and headed down to Kenosha beach. It was a rare NNE wind direction, and I have been waiting for a day like today to capture the Southport Lighthouse in Kenosha Harbor. I launched the flowform 16, which was slightly over-powered. It's still early spring, so the colors are pretty dull and brown, but was pretty pleased with the results from both cameras.

Here is a public water fountain with a statue of Christopher Columbus atop at Harborside park in Kenosha.

The main reason for me to try this a launch was the Kenosha Electric Streetcar. I waited for the trolley to come around, and was lucky enough to capture it a few times as it passed. I think that I need to go back with my Pole Aerial Photography rig and capture that downtown.

The Best of Kite Aerial Photography: Volume 1, 2009

2010-03-09T17:11:00.004-06:00

The Kite Aerial Photography forum has been a great resource for me in learning the in's and out's of KAP. I came up with the idea of creating a "best of" book, and let anyone who participates in the forum submit pictures. I just finished editing the book this morning. I use Photoshop almost exclusively, and didn't use the built in templates of Blurb. We had 18 users send in pictures for Volume 1 of the "Best of Kite Aerial Photography" book, and is posted on Blurb in 2 sizes, 7x7 and 12x12. I, of course, have an image in the book, which I captured in Mexico less than a month after taking up kite photography. You can click on the image below to preview the first few pages in the book.

The Best of Ki...

Volume 1: 2009

By The KAP Discussio...

Book Preview

Minnesota State Capitol Building HDR

2010-02-26T22:33:00.002-06:00

I was traveling in Minnesota, and walked to the State Capitol building. It's very ornate and has gorgeous marble and granite. I didn't have a tripod, but tried some quick bracketing for some HDR images. The colors in the building were fantastic, and I think the High Dynamic Range images turned out great.

Additional images from this session can be found here.

West Coast Panoramics

2010-02-18T10:30:00.004-06:00

I was going through some pictures last night from our December 2009 trip to Seattle and Whistler, and forgot that I had captured a number of sequences for creating panoramics. I use a combination of Photoshop CS4 photomerge and Adobe Lightroom to process the pictures. Here are a few from the west coast trip.

(Sorry, but these are all watermarked.)

Looking down at Whistler Village from the top of Blackcomb mountain

Whistler Mountain and cloud cover

Looking down from Whistler Mountain towards Creekside

One of the Scenic Overlook stops on the way down from Whistler towards Vancouver.

Blackcomb Mountain

View from the top of the Space Needle in Seattle, WA

For additional m2 Panoramic images, click here

Winter Ice Sports: Part II

2010-02-08T12:01:00.004-06:00

The nice thing about the HD video on the GoPro HD Hero, is the ability to grab fairly decent frames from the video to use a still shots. I created a custom mount to attach to the kite lines for snowkiting and kiteboarding, and didn't have time to set the camera to capture still images. Here are the results using the frame grab:

Here, the camera was attached to the top of the mast, and I was able to pull a frame off the 1080p video.