Friday, May 9, 2008

Finally, Some RAW

I decided to take a minute and read through an article Joel Cornuz wrote on his blog. He described how he used UFRaw to convert his images. So, I had a go and I have to say, I'm rather impressed. The images aren't perfect, but they look better than I thought they would.

I took these pictures of the sky this morning before I left for work. Normally, I'm not outside at just past 7am to do anything, but I'm excited about my camera and new hobby, so, I'm a little more motivated to get out of bed in the morning.


This morning was a perfect morning for shooting photos and the perfect birds presented themselves to me as I was driving to work. I grabbed my camera, rolled the window down on my truck and rested my camera across my left arm. I took a couple dozen pictures and left for work. I was flying pretty high with excitement about having these shots.... that is, until I plugged my card reader into my computer. Every single one of the shots turned out dark. I had the exposure compensation turned down a stop for some pictures I took just a few minutes early (I deleted 'em all). If this doesn't teach me to look at the histogram and preview while I'm shooting, I'm much more dense than I originally thought I was.

With a little work in UFRaw, I was able to get the levels back up to where they should be, but the pictures are noisy. The crops and resizes don't look so bad, but I fear they won't turn out good if I print them. Here they are.


Tomorrow, I'm going to Gee Brook State Forest with a friend from Church. There is a river and a stream that run through it with some nice falls. They're small, but nice. There is also an older bridge over the river. I have a few shots that I have been planning even before I got my camera. Hopefully I'll come back tomorrow with that shot to blog about.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

pics are soooo good! What a great photographer you are! I look forwrd to seeing some more! hey eventually this good be a great career for you!!!! I'm serious they are that good! well at least I think so!

John Brainard said...

Thank you JoJo! I appreciate that. I have a LONG way to go. Take a look at Steve Paxton's stuff. His Least of These series is excellent. This man is very talented.

I got some really cute pictures of the girls today. We'll send you some.

Anonymous said...

I will look forward to it! his pictures are amazing! don't worry you'll get there! Your are great too!

Mrs. Dorky Musician said...

I agree with Jo Jo. :D