Challenging Yourself and Trey Ratcliff's Photowalk!

Hello Everyone,
   
      The last few weeks have been rather transformative, As I immerse myself in this journey, I realized that I am not longer fearful of my mistakes. Every failure or misstep in capturing an image is a building block to success. I have practiced some abstract work, some different editing techniques and I finally practiced Long Exposure technique. With a greater understanding of exposure, aperture and the lighting around you I am posting a photo taken at Astoria Park of the Triboro Bridge. The long exposure technique is the most challenging that I have tried. Let's get into the process.
1) Sturdy Tripod- Without this your camera will move. Every.Single. Time.
2) Intimate knowledge of your camera's modes outside of the Auto Setting. For these shots I used Shutter and Aperture Priority mode, I set the shutter speed to 15, 25 and 30 seconds and compared values for each. Because there was ample lighting on the bridge, the photo came out quite vibrant! For my other photos Aperture Priority allows me to control
3) Patience- You will screw up many times.
     I also attended +Trey Ratcliff 's New York City Photowalk, and I truly believe that the more you shoot the more you learn about yourself. There are the technical aspects of photography that have caused me to move up from an entry level camera, but there is also the way that I see the world. I believe that I had a command over my aperture, I did some long exposure, I did some HDR and the use of symmetrical composition is paramount to creating photos that you remember. The last few weeks have been memorable and below are a few of my photos. Please visit seansphotobridge.smugmug.com to see all of my work compiled together!

Seeing Things All the Way Through- Sharpening Your Photos

Hello Everyone,

       Time is passing, and as the days go by I feel more committed to the process of creating photos. We don't take pictures, we make them and I truly feel this as I dive more into this hobby. I don't post my photos or blog from the angle of being a professional, someone with years of experience, classes under their belt, or a full knowledge of the depth of this art. I create these posts from the viewpoints of someone who is learning day by day about visuals, lighting, personal style, and what I would like to contribute to a community where there are millions of other true photographers more talented than I may ever become. Today's post circles around gathering details as a novice photographer. In the photos I'm sharing the two aspects I will emphasize are the following:

RAW Capture 
      In one short sentence, a photograph is simply the collection of light information in a camera. The images that we are used to seeing from cell phones, point and shoot cameras, and the well known "Auto" modes on higher end DSLR cameras are images which are captured AND processed within the camera itself.  One well known format is .jpg. You see what the camera "thinks" the best image should be, yet you lose a bit of creative freedom in doing so. Most editing tools will give a whole picture edit, the format is "lossy" meaning over time the quality degrades, but for regular photography it is just fine. I love taking photos with my cell phone, and image sensors in these devices are getting better and better year by year. With all of that being said, when I take my Sony A6000 out, I shoot RAW ONLY. The files sizes are larger, and images can look a bit rough around the edges coming out of the camera. This frustrated me as a novice photo enthusiast because I simply did not know what to do next. This is where this blog was born from. On to my next aspect:

Sharpening
     Because I didn't have a great source to put everything together, the detail of sharpening photos has never been apparent to me even until recently. RAW photos can have high noise (variations of brightness, color and a "static" appearance). Using Adobe Lighroom, or Google's Nik Collection (these are my two favorite sources for image processing) I now apply corrections to my photos both before and AFTER I have made the adjustments I want to my colors, crop, style, contrast, smoothness, etc. (I will return to these in the distant future), I will not get into how to do this, as I feel the most important steps are to understand that these steps are almost always necessary. Numerous tutorials are available on RAW photo sharpening. Check the link below for one!

Sharpening Images in Lightroom

      To complete this long post (apologies), The photos I am posting have gone through the necessary rounds of pre and post photo sharpening, One is in my favorite HDR format which will be discussed in the future, and the other has been processed via the NIK Collection. I focused on the aspects of composition, hoping the viewers eyes are attracted to the details I tried to emphasize. Please enjoy the images of Roosevelt Island, a gem in New York City! Like, comment and share if you feel the urge. Also, please view my images at Sean's Photo Bridge.

Bringing it All Together

Hey Everyone,
         
             I try to keep my blot posts short so I will continue that trend, and this post will be my only post on this blog which doesn't contain a photo I've worked on. Today is the day I thought about moving my development forward and uniting my work on all fronts to share with the photography community, and to contribute to the learning experience of a novice photographer. Today I officially put together my website http://seansphotobridge.smugmug.com/ and launched a 500px page to begin unifying my work. I believe my goals will translate to different communities, and will be anchored by my blog where I focus on the journey to the results that I post. Each post will explore a different aspect so the reader can integrate that into their own work. I thank anyone who takes a peek at my pages, my work, and my journey from the bottom of my heart!

Under Construction

Hey Everyone,
 
         Unfortunately I've hit a little snag in my blogging. I recently lost most of my work to a hard drive crash! So here's my advice to anyone dabbling in the photography hobby like myself: invest in storage! I've upgraded my storage to the WD My Cloud Network Drive, and implemented redundant backups so this never happens again. This weekend, I was able to be a tourist in my city. Here's a shot of the greatest skyline in the world. New York City from the Hudson River. This shot could not be possible without the ultra fast shooting in bracket mode of my Sony A6000. For any beginner reading this, bracketing is taking multiple shots of the same image at different exposures (levels of light allowed into the camera). So for the next few weeks, this site, and my photo collection will be under construction, I hope it will make any reader appreciate the process that precedes the results!

Owning Your Style

Hello Everyone,
            It's been some time since I've been able to post but I'm happy to be here with some decent material. For sometime I have been studying many photographers presentation of content, and I wanted to argue before and against having a style. I am a huge fan of High Dynamic Range (HDR), but there is so much other room for development for a budding photographer. I love the use of color, but HDR is not always necessary, but in situations where the contrast elements blend well, HDR is absolutely fantastic. It also lends its way to the surreal. I am also a huge fan of long exposure photography. I look forward to showing the photography community my development in this area. Today's shot's were taken at the beautiful Roosevelt Island. I threw a filter on to tackle some of the UV rays, and I alternated between zoom and prime shots. I'll be sharing a shot taken with each. One is shot in HDR format and one was edited with Google's Nik Collection: a platform which is quickly becoming my favorite. Please leave comments if there are any questions on my styles, I plan to walk through them in future posts! Ode to Roosevelt Island!

Easy on the Contrast!

 Hey Everyone, 

      I have been enjoying choosing some of my photo collection to work on and present in this blog. This evening I wanted to explore working on photos in black and white. As I spoke in my last post, my main focus was composition, I felt I was able to achieve some satisfying shots, now the hard part is bringing them to life. Confession: Post-processing is in my blood! The photo you compose is your template, and I love exploring tools to make that image my art. For beginners checking out this blog, that means I am slowly transitioning to shooting in RAW mode only. In the future, I will definitely share some point and shoot, JPEG and mobile photography blogs. I have seen some amazing work done by iPhone and Android photographers alike, This photo was shot in RAW format,allowing me full control over how I can process it. I then merged three photos of different exposures (levels of light per unit area) to create a dynamic image. I didn't stop there, I made numerous adjustments in Adobe Lightroom, and then made the final edits using Google's Nik Collection. My style will go as follows, I will dial up the edits and pull back as I feel comfortable. Contrast truly is a huge part of a photo, as this defines what the users eye will be drawn to.  I enjoy the result, and I hope someone can find inspiration from it!

      

Downtown Miami

Composition Composition Composition!!

Hello Everyone!

     I am trying to post to the blog more often, as editing my photos is an outlet. I love being connected to a vibrant community of people who love to create beautiful photos. In this blog, I look forward to discussing all things photography, and on my last photowalk my main goal was to practice composition. Before listening to my Skillshare lessons on composition, I had the idea that I should include tons of information in my images. I was guilty of snapping without purpose.
This was a flawed concept, and my past photos were simply too "busy". I've focused on keeping it simple, applying the "Rule of Thirds" often, and framing my photos so that the viewers eye can focus on one subject. This is my latest shot, in High-Dynamic Range (HDR) format, my favorite style which I will also go over in the future! Have a great day and evening everyone!

Downtown Miami- HDR 

New Day,New Camera!

Hey Everyone,
 
        I am sitting out in Miami right now, and I finally have the tools I need to get this project moving! I have purchased the Sony A6000 Interchangeable Lens Camera, and a 55-210mm zoom lens to start having some fun! I have officially completed my first Photowalk here in Miami, and I look forward to sharing some of the results on this blog. My main focus will be connecting the end viewer to the concepts that I used to compose, and edit my photos. Here is my first post processed image from the shoot, along with one I took sitting on the Miami River bank of Bayfront park. I hope everyone enjoys!

Bayfront Park and History Miami 

Exciting Times!

Hey Guys,

     It has been a while since I've posted, life has been quite busy. However, I am in the midst of making some major advances to move on from the "Pilot" phase of my photo bridge concept. Today I was notified that I was approved for a scholarship for Aspiring Photographers from Skillshare and the Visual Supply Co (VSCO) team! I have an unlimited year of photography skill tutorials at my disposal and more tools to bring to the table! Stay tuned, for I am waiting for the last piece of my endeavor. In the meantime click my VSCO link below, to check out some of my cell phone photos, and download the app and join if you haven't already!

http://seanm.vsco.co/grid/1

In The Beginning

How did this journey begin?

     I've always loved art, but loving art and being capable of producing art are two different things. Being a person who did not excel at the hands-on arts, I always appreciated them yet yearned for my own way to express myself. I have always enjoyed the camera, and the rise of the Internet, and social media accelerated my love for photography. I have been inspired the most by Trey Ratcliff and the photography community of Google+. I'll go through those in another post on the Bridge. For now, I'll introduce you to my cameras! This is where it all starts. Whatever your budget, do your research and pick one up. Even if it's your cell phone. Start wherever you're comfortable and explore it. I use the Nikon D3000 and the Nikon J1 as my quick shooter,  I'm also going to say I don't care what you use. You are the artist, I won't choose your brush.

Welcome to the Bridge!

Hello Everyone, 

  

 Welcome to my photo blog! I am going to attempt to walk you through the journey that I have taken to transform from the person who admired photography, to the person who sharpens his own photo skills. I've gazed in the wonder at the photography world on the web, and through my personal interactions with photographers. From the moment I picked up a camera, all I had was the instruction manual, but I realized I wanted more. I want to be the "bridge" which connects the complex concepts which make photography an individual, vibrant art form into a format that could connect with those who have a passion, but are not sure where to start. This post begins that endeavor. In this journey I'll document where I started, how I started and show you not just the photos which I feel are improving on every shoot, but the photos which were complete failures. Thank you for visiting!