Results tagged “camera”

I am in camera heaven with my new D90 and I can't stop taking photos. 

In fact, my camera has not only opened up some new photo taking opportunities, but I've also met a few interesting folks because of it.  On Friday, while the fella and I were walking through the park, one of those park cop guys pulled up next to us.  I thought he was going to say something ridiculous like "You can't take pictures of that tree!" but as it turns out he just wanted to know which Nikon I had, being a fellow photo enthusiast himself.

Then yesterday as I wandered through Union Square,  a nice guy named Sam and his buddy Carl approached me to ask what lens I was using.  We ended up hanging out for 20 minutes or so talking cameras and taking shots together. 

So on the heels of my Comic Con adventure where I opened up and met new people, I find the door is opening even further.  In the last week I've met more interesting strangers than I probably have in a year...and in the end, I have my camera to thank.  (Whether it be the new one, or the older one I used at NYCC to take pictures of the awesome people I met there). 

Now I just need to work on taking shots of strangers in the park and then actually speaking with them.  That one is going to take a little more confidence. 

This is one of my favorite photos I've taken to date.  It was shot Christmas day while traveling from my parents house back to Brooklyn and after staring at it for the zillionth time, I started to think about all the things we do to entertain ourselves in transit.

I tend to over pack, but not clothes and necessities.  I over pack my travel bag.  Always and even for short subway trips.  I know if I just bring a book I'll want to do something else, so I end up with a bag full of knitting, reading, my camera (of course), video games, notebook and pens, etc.  It's ridiculous.

Especially since I usually just fall asleep or stare out the window.

So,  how do you prepare yourself to travel?  Is a good book enough to keep you busy or are you an entertainment pack rat like me? 

One of my favorite things about digital photography is being able to manipulate old photographs and turn them into something completely different.  This photo is pretty boring in it's original form (left) so I decided to play with something called the Tilt Shift effect which makes everything look like it's in miniature (right). 

There are special lenses out there that create this look organically.  However, I'm still struggling to save up for this big girl camera with all the whistles and bells. That will be a very, very long time from now at this rate. So for now I use my fave editor the GIMP!

I do have an old copy of Photoshop and also PSP, but I prefer the GIMP because it provides just about everything Photoshop does and it's free!  I'm a big supporter of programs like this and Open Office who make their products accessible to the every day user.  Go grab yourself a copy!

Anyhow, why don't you give it a try, it's really easy!  Here's how you get this look in GIMP:

1. This really works best with a photo looking down on the subject,  Particularly well if it's at an interesting angle as opposed to a direct bird's eye view.

2. After you open your photo, you'll want to toggle the Quick Mask.  You can do so by either clicking the little dotted box at the bottom left of the photo tray, using the Select menu and choosing Toggle Quick Mask or hitting Shift+Q.

3. Choose the gradient tool which can be found in the Gimp bar and looks like a little black square fading to white.  Once selected, go to the drop down menu below and set the gradient to Bi-Linear. 

4.  Choose your focal point of the photo. In my example I chose the woman in black at the center of the shot.  Click and drag away from that point and you'll see the red mask turn into a smaller red, blurry line.  Adjust this until you get the size you want.

5.  Toggle Quick Mask again and the mask with disappear, leaving behind a bunch of marching ants (selection) where your gradient was.  Now go up to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur.  I prefer to set my blur to somewhere around 10 but you can play with this setting as you like.

6. Once the blur is set, go to Select>All.   This clears your current selection and now you can see the photo without the marching ants running through the middle of it. 

7. Go to Color>Curves and play with it until you get the desired look.  Brightness/Contrast control can also get you similar effects.  That's what made the image darker and more crisp.

So!  Give it a try and show me your results!  It's such a simple little effect and I've applied it to half a dozen images now. 

Also, check out this fun Tilt Shift video: