Recently in Photo of the Week Category

I don't know why I was bellyaching about spending money on an IR filter for the new camera. For some reason, the first time I googled it, I swear I saw one for about $280 or so. Figuring it would be awhile before I'd drop another $300 on camera accessories, I've been Photoshopping photos I've taken with an IR type effect.

Yea, the IR filter wound up being like 40 bucks. I'm a moron. I don't know what the hell I was looking at when I saw it the first time. Maybe it was after one too many cocktails.

So I finally ordered it earlier this week, got it yesterday, and was all gung ho to try it out this morning. Well guess what? Today's forecast? Overcast. So what maybe would have been a cool picture if the sky was a nice blue with white fluffy clouds turned out to be a washed out mess with the blah overcast skies. The contrast between the trees and the sky would obviously have been so much better without all the damn clouds.

And guess what? The forecast for the next 4 days? Overcast! Sure, I spent over a week with gorgeous blue skies twiddling my stupid thumbs because I thought the damn filter was really expensive. Then I finally realize I'm a moron and order it, and now I can sit for another week twiddling my thumbs because of crummy weather. I guess that's the penalty I pay for being stupid.

Yea, I know, it's not like there's never going to be a clear, sunny day ever again. But the urge to play with yet another new toy is sometimes just irresistible.

I think I've become a woman obsessed. I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now I just can't help myself. I went out in the back yard this morning with a tripod so I could test out longer exposure times. Unfortunately I think longer exposure times are mostly necessary if I'm actually using an IR filter. Since I just shelled out a bunch of bucks for the camera, it's going to be awhile before I can plunk down more on a filter. If anything, I'll be buying a new lens first.

I think I got more a more dramatic effect in this photo than the previous since the sun was almost directly overhead when I took the picture. In the last photo, it was almost 6:30PM when I took it, so the sun was a lot lower and the shadows were deeper.

So again, I post-processed the IR type effect in Photoshop - I'm not happy with the way the middle of the grass looks, under the tree - I had to clone out a brick fireplace we have sitting in the yard because I just didn't like the way it looks. Unfortunately my clone-brush skills kind of suck. Oh well, I guess I can't expect much from the 15 minutes I spent messing around with it.

Practice makes perfect, I guess. Or at least it makes me borderline obsessive.

Time has been scarce to do anything lately, but I did get some time in today to play with my new toy - a Nikon D40. Since I'm new to SLR cameras of any kind, I decided to get the Nikon D40/D40x Digital Field Guide to supplement the manual that came with the camera.

I kind of fell in love with the examples of IR photography in the back. Since I still only have the lens that came with the camera and still know nothing about filters, I read up on how to duplicate the effect in photoshop. This is my first attempt, post processed in Photoshop from a photo of the front yard facing the street:

It's not perfect, and I'm still learning, but wow - I think I have a whole new appreciation for black and white photography. I think I might need a bigger SD card.