Photography

Silhouetted Tree at Sunset

2010-04-15T17:35:00.002-07:00

Most recent KT Imagery original now available on Etsy.

5x7, double matted for $20.00 plus shipping.

See details at http://www.etsy.com/shop/KTimagery

Also, follow KT Imagery on FaceBook and become a Fan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/KT-Imagery/107077225993979?ref=ts

Or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/KTimagery

Soccer!!

2010-04-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

Spooky Halloween Night

2009-10-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

If I can't have a little fun, what's the point? :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

What is this all about?

2009-10-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

I looked back at my very first post - Over two years ago. I quote myself, two years younger:

"I went into a funk for a few days, having lost my "mojo", my passion, my fire. Photography for the sake of photography wasn't going to be good enough ever again. It was time to face the music. I had to take another step or I'd get sucked back into the empty void lacking inspiration."

And I realized I never took that step. No, I tried. Once. And got shut down by the stock photography website. And so what did I do? I took lots more pictures, and a class, and went places and took more pictures... And eventually DID get sucked back into that void lacking inspiration. . .

What I didn't tell you, dear reader, was that I found an outlet at my previous job where I photographed the exciting world of cables and connectors and antenna on a white background and tried to make it all look sexy. This kept me quite content as I photoshopped out the background that didn't stay white enough, and put together little arrangements of black cables, gold connectors, silver amplifiers. . . I learned photoshop much better. Created some pretty interesting pieces considering it was such an un-interesting subject. And learned a little about printing, colors, and even a touch of Adobe Illustrator and In Design. These were published to the website, on tradeshow signage, on spec sheets, on instructions and in catalogs. I even got to design mass email blasts through Constant Contact. It apparently quenched my thirst for creative work. Up until last October when I got laid off. It seems that engineers and techies aren't interested in the photographic quality of the items they're buying - only that the item works.

So back to dabbling and taking photographs rarely, and not being quite as amused by it all.

Until my current boss came across my background on my computer: Fall leaves caught in a Wave. She asked me to print out a photo for the silent auction fundraiser. That and the fact that I was going through "The Artist's Way" (so I actually followed through with it), lead to the sale of the 11 x 14 inch photograph matted and framed for over $100.

Encouraged by the first sale of a photograph, I'm taking baby steps towards actually doing what I set out to do 2 years ago: Creating a business in photography. Add to that a splash of fine art, and I've got a business.
My trade name is KT Imagery. I'm making progress. And better yet, having fun and being inspired. See http://ktimagery.blogspot.com/.

It's not photography, but. . .

2009-10-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

I just finished "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. This book is about "unblocking" as an artist and I've slowly but surely managed to shut up the inner voice telling me how many ways I can and will fail. Okay, it still rears its ugly head, but I know that it's name is "Fear" not "Truth". And I know it's there to scare me out of creating and being happy.

I've also figured out that I don't have to be Picasso today. Or Ansel Adams. Or my grandpa. I can just be Katy, the artist. The photographer. The inspired and and at least pleasing some people with my work. But mostly just being happy doing it, and enjoying the outcomes myself. If all else fails, I'll have tons of photos and artwork that I love and created hanging around my house to please me.

I am a recovering blocked artist. Be gentle. Don't tell me how to fail, I already know that. Encourage me. Play with me. Have fun with me. Delight me and inspire me.

After four years of untouched artist's drawing pads and unused art supplies (that I found in my son's room as I'd given up myself) I am finally just picking up a brush. Finally just picking up a pencil. Finally able to look at my art and call it "beautiful."

This is my first attempt at painting after so very long:

And you know what? I think it's beautiful.

Leaves!

2009-10-07T19:49:00.001-07:00

I have decided to go nuts on leaves this season. I find myself delighted with last year's leaf photos, and decided to celebrate fall by capturing every ounce of changing leaves that I can.

Wedding Photos

2009-10-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

Not long ago, I posted yearbook photos of my little sister-in-law, Shari...

And not long before that, I helped her at age nine do her homework. . .

And now, Shari is a married woman. . .

And she deserves all the best. . .

Congratulations, Shari & Nick!

Vedauwoo, Wyoming Take 2

2009-08-10T19:46:00.001-07:00

Playing with Raw images. . . All of these images I edited in Raw version only. I'm learning a lot. That a point-and-shoot is a lot more forgiving than an SLR. That Raw images capture amazing detail so that even at 200% you get a clear image. Add in some noise reduction (which in my last post I actually did not apply so is not relevent) and the image is pristine. I need to work on the light metering, and blurry images. I like darker shots, but when I try taking a photo of a person the speed ends up blurring them out sometimes. More often than I care to admit.

I'm re-learning how to keep a steady hand.

Stabilize and hold my breath. . .

Scoping out the day's climbing opportunities in the guide book.

Climb.

Dan climbs as Ryan belays from above and Russ stands on top of the rock.

This includes some play with color curves and contrast.

Raw Photos

2009-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

My friend "Sophie" has been using the Raw setting to capture her images for over a year (maybe more?) and I've been looking forward to it immensely. After playing with the basics I already knew about my SLR for a couple months, I finally picked up the manual to find out what else I could do. A LOT!

So I clicked over to Raw + JPG to do a comparison with a couple shots and was frankly dissapointed. What could I do in Raw that I couldn't do with a JPG in Photoshop? Didn't appear to be anything but the same tools with different names.

I knew there had to be more to it.

This weekend I took a few shots while I was upright and feeling as though I was well (when in fact I was thwarting my healing efforts by being anything but horizontal), and decided to do a real comparison.

Here's the original shot. The white balance was set to cloudy or shadows, as I recall, giving it that yellowish mystical aura. I like it.

So then I set to editing it. Separately, the JPG on Elements (left) and the RAW on the camera's editing program that's the only one I can view and edit raw images on (right).

It's difficult to exactly match anything on different programs. But they both turned out nicely. No big difference as far as I can see. I did sharpening & noise reduction on both, played with the curves, a little contrast...

I blew it up further to see the finer details at 300%. Again JPG left, RAW right.

There I saw the difference. The RAW (right) when sharpened capture more detail in the face. So much so, though, that it became pixelated and noise-y. No bueno. But I really like the depth it gave to my son's face.

So, take the RAW edited image, and despeckle it in Photoshop Elements, and I keep the depth and the noise reduction from the RAW processing smooths out the skin beautifully I can now see, while photoshop's despeckle got rid of the sharpened pixels. If you compare this with the Elements only above on the left you can see how Elements was not able to get rid of the noise in the skin like the RAW adjustments.

And we have a winner.

So while RAW photography wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be, it is not quite the worthless vehicle I originally thought. In theory everything I was able to edit with the RAW software I should be able to make adjustments for on the camera in the field. But until I become a pro at setting the perfect settings, I can fall back on the RAW editing program.

Rocky Mountain National Park

2009-06-26T10:06:00.001-07:00

The thunderstorms roll in quickly over the Rocky Mountains, especially way up here at the continental divide. There's no telling what's coming until it's on top of you! So while we started off in sunny weather, we were chased off the mountain side by a looming thunderstorm that arrived and overtook the blue skies in minutes.

Since a good portion of the trail was bare of trees, we didn't want to take any chances of being a magnet for lightning!

Weekend Trip Back East

2009-06-04T21:01:00.001-07:00

A few of my favorite shots while I was in Ohio. . .

Graduation!

My baby sister's graduated.

The Stallion.

I played with the images, trying to "enhance" them in Photoshop Elements. When I posted them, I didn't like them. I suppose liking the photos better fresh from the camera than edited is a good thing! Okay, the graduation hats shots still got some editing. But the other two are completely unedited. Maybe my screen is funny, but edited wasn't working for the bottom two.

Simple Pleasures

2009-05-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

My friend recently wrote about small things to do to make yourself happy.

A few bucks and several new pens later...

. . . And I still don't have a pen I love to write with.

Maybe I should just stick to buying 12 packs of cheap medium point Bic pens.

Magic Dirt '09; Last hoorah with the old camera

2009-05-07T19:09:00.001-07:00

It's not a bad little Kodak, I just needed more. It's not you, it's me, Kodak. I needed to move on to an SLR. Something serious that I can grow with. I need to build a little family of lenses and techniques that you're just not ready for. I'll always cherish the times we've had together. Like our last hoorah:

Magic Dirt Trip '09.

The Miraculous Staircase

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Taos Pueblo

Taos, New Mexico

One of the more cheery scenes at Taos Pueblo.

Enter: Chimayo

Home of the Magic Dirt

(Blessed Dirt to those who aren't heathens)

Crosses made from anything from barbed wire, to sticks, to bubble gum layered the fence and surroundings at Chimayo.

Permanent residents of Chimayo.

Their haunting songs were audible within the walls of the church

No, I'm not Catholic. Not even close. So, yes, this was an odd journey for me.
And my Kodak.

For Ashley's humorous and photographically beautiful take on Magic Dirt '09:

http://twistsonlemon.blogspot.com/2009/04/home-again.html

$1 luxury

2009-05-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

Any other day, I might have looked at this, smirked, and wrote it off as trash that will be in a landfill someday - probably soon. But this brightly colored package of tiny gift cards wrapped prettily in a ribbon called to me on this day. I almost don't want to open it and ruin the nice little bow.

I will open it. And I will drop these little cards to people in my life who need a little pick-me-up and spread that dollar around to brighten sixteen different peoples' lives. Now that's a bargain!

New Camera

2009-05-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

I can actually choose what to focus on!

Skating in the neighborhood.

Awesomeness intimidated by impending hill.

Moab, Utah Spring 09

2009-04-04T14:00:00.001-07:00

Delicate Arch.

I thought I'd try some black and white.

But honestly, who can resist capturing the red rocks and blue southwest sky?

How could I possibly edit out these colors?

Fisher Towers, Utah.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T11:21:00.001-08:00

Architectural Elements

2008-10-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Fall leaves caught in wave

2008-10-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

Yay, Photoshop Elements!

Praying Mantis in Colorado

2008-10-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

Albeit, not one of my best pictures ever, still quite a find!

"Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick," came a familiar rattle from the side of the trail. Although typically easily distinguishable as a grasshopper's wings flapping, this one gave me pause as it didn't move in any direction. I've never heard a rattlesnake in real life, so I was cautious. "Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick." Still in the same place, this time my ears lead my eyes in the direction and a spotted the rather large grasshopper's wings. I was about to go about my hike, when it struck me as something still unusual. "Tick, tick, tick, tick." The grasshopper was flapping, but not going anywhere for some reason. It was stuck. On a blade of grass, it looked like.

No, not a blade of grass. It was captured and being held by the back of its neck (do grasshoppers even have necks?) by this blade of grass.

Then I spotted the small limbs coming off the blade of grass, as it struggled to keep hold of the grasshopper, whose mouth was working and legs flailed as it desparately, and failingly, tried to excape.

A Praying Mantis in Colorado???

I was enchanted and sat down on the trail next to the feeding to witness it, with fascination and dismay I watched the praying mantis hold on as its pray slowly gave way to it's preditor. The grasshopper never stopped lurching and twitching, although the praying mantis let go with its death grip by its bite to begin feasting. Eyeballs seem to be the reward all preditors devour first.

Having come up with an anxious mind for my hike, seeking something I couldn't place my finger on, I saw this as my sign. I would not be the victim. I would not allow my carcass to be fed on. I went away empowered from the experience, knowing that I have control of my life. Empowered to fight off the praying mantis in my life while I still could.

Summer Hike in the Rocky Mountains

2008-10-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

All Unedited

Wedding

2008-07-06T20:41:00.001-07:00

We were privileged to be able to attend the wedding of Matt and Chrissy, my husbands brother and his now wife. I was able to get a few good shots, if I do say so myself.

"Yeah, I snagged him."

Love is...

Ryan got to finally meet his little cousin, Ayden, who looks on as Ryan impresses him with his bubble blowing.

They were like miniature versions of their Daddies - same age difference and strikingly similar appearance to how their Dad's looked at that age! (From pictures I've seen anyway.)

Happy bride, Happy groom, Happy Ring Bearer,
Beautiful Family.

Now if anyone has their address, give it to me so I can send them some prints!!!!!

Easter

2008-03-28T11:42:00.001-07:00

Eggs: Before and After

Senior Portraits

2008-03-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

From Typical Senior Portrait to Edgy Downtown Scene. It was a fun day to play with the definitions of "Senior Portrait".

PhotoShop

2007-11-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

All I have to say is: I love Photoshop!

I used "Apply Image" and just applied this image over itself, ad the colors became so vibrant and amazing. It just took a great photo up to the next level.

Photography Class Arvada Center

2007-08-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

Beyond Basic Digital July 17, 2007

At only $60 for two classes and a field trip with the instructor, I had to jump on this offer! Especially after having been photographically stagnant since my stock photography rejection. (I did discover that it's one of the most difficult ways to get published, which helped mend my bruised ego.) However, I know there's more for me to learn before I become a superior photographer, and this class was sure to inform.

On Saturday, July 21, we met at the Arvada Center at 8 in the morning and carpooled to Old Arvada a few blocks down. Old Arvada is one of those wonderfully historic areas with the quaint feel of a small town, despite the Denver Metro area having expanded like an ever progressive flood in all directions surrounding this old fashioned cut out.

The morning was a typical blue skied sunny Colorado morning. Perfect. I set off with my friend to find and photograph the hidden treasures of Arvada. The architecture in old brick two-story style, street lights draped with flower hangers, color dabbed sidewalks, tree lined streets, railroad tracks, churches, parks and a fountain all within a few square blocks were enough to inspire my artistic eye. My technique, however, left much to be desired.

Here's my favorite shot that came out without tweaking:

A bit underexposed, but I like the composition, and all lines pointing towards the water tower.

Another was a good idea for a shot, but I underexposed it, too, and got too much in the frame:

However, a little cropping and "dark room" correction, and I love it!

After wandering around downtown Arvada for a while, we hopped back in our cars in search of Two Ponds Wildlife Refuge to the northwest, but still in Arvada. By this time the sun was higher in the sky, and the heat of the day was making me wish I could have splashed through the fountain in Old Arvada!

Once again, I underexposed. But at least I framed it alright this time:

Oh but I do love the ability to edit:

Lessons Learned?

I need to play with my manual settings more, but at least I remember how to now!

Even when playing with manual settings, you've still got to take basics into account. Like framing...

Any other suggestions?

Digital Photography Noise

2007-06-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

I was on a mission. It didn't take more than a brief google search for "photography noise" to get answers.

The good news was it had nothing to do with my ability to see and capture an image. The bad news was that there's no solution, really. No matter what you do or what you own, digital noise exists as a digital photographer's thorn in the side.

Photography noise or digital noise is like feedback in audio. Basically, the camera, and the way the picture is captured digitally, creates blotches and blemishes on a tiny scale. It comparable to grain in a film image, except that grain on film is acceptable. Digital noise is not.

So what do you do about noise?

Buy an expensive program. Typically these programs will even out the "skin tone" of the photo while at the same time making the image more blurry. It sounds as if it's a delicate balance. Although there are at least half a dozen of these programs at your finger tips that have different features and methods of keeping your image true while cleaning its pores.

Buy better quality equipment. I guess there's my reason to graduate from my Kodak.

Mess with the ISO setting. The longer the exposure, the more likely the lighting will even out and you'll capture a more true image. Time to bring along my tripod!

I'm also thinking that perhaps the printed forms in postcard sizes, perhaps calendar sizes will be more forgiving of noise, so what I may not be able to remedy due purely to noise, I may still be able to publish elsewhere where they're not scrutinizing every pixel.

Otherwise, it looks like it's time for a significant monetary investment in my photography.

Any more information or corrections about noise, please comment on. I need all the help I can get!

Rejected!

2007-06-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to see that first thing the next morning, shutterstock had already gotten back to me! "Status of your recently submitted batches" sat waiting for me. I opened the e-mail anticipating directions for submitting more photos, and telling me about a couple that could use improvement.

I scanned through the e-mail too eager to read every word. "Thank you for your submission" blah blah blah... Need seven of ten approved to continue uploading... yada yada yada... "We invite you to resubmit in 30 days."

Wait... What? If I can't resubmit for thirty days that means... I scanned down more. There I saw the graph laying out the status of each picture... "3473217 Rejected: Noise--Noise, film grain, over-sharpening, or artifacts at full size." Rejected... Rejected... Rejected... All ten rejected. I stared at the monitor in disbelief. All but one was due to noise.

I closed down the computer and packed up for work, crestfallen and disappointed.

Noise? Noise... I had no idea what that meant. Maybe I had too much going on in my pictures. Were they looking for studio shots with clear and individual subjects? Maybe there were too many bushes with my waterfall. Too much excess information in my windmill picture. Noise... I pondered the idea of noise all day. So if it's noisy, do I need to take a more quiet picture? How do I take a quiet picture?

"Hmm... This picture is very quiet," Shari quipped as she helped me hang some professional photos at work. "And look! Here it's muted!" She pointed to the wide expanse of negative space above the dead tree. We laughed, both of us confused by noisy pictures. Once I'd told Shari about my rejection, it felt a little better.

"I like your screen saver there," my boss commented as she looked on while I opened Quickbooks. "It's very nice." It was the photo of the sand dunes with the foot prints.

"Thank you, I took that myself!"

She told me it looked professional. I told her, apparently not.

By the end of the day my heart sinking disappointment had disappeared and I was bound and determined to figure out what it was that made my pictures noisy. My confidence in my photography was jarred, but not crushed. I now knew that there was something I needed to work on to give my photos that professional touch, and with thousands of great images in stock, I wasn't giving up. I was learning from the experience. And I'd decided I was going to share my experiences in a blog for others to learn from and to gain their own confidence from.

The First Attempt - See the Photos

2007-06-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Inspiration struck online. Someone posted a topic on a photography group about submitting your photography to one of the many online stock sellers. I let it sit in the back of my head for several days until it finally solidified in my head that I must do something about the photos I had or I'd never do anything with them. It was do or die. And I was miserable doing nothing.

Shutterstock.com. They wanted ten photos submitted- Ten of my best. Narrowing it down to ten that I wanted to submit was the most challenging. A little editing was necessary for most of them. But I had my ten ready to go within an hour or so. I took a deep breath and downloaded my images. Then I went through and labelled them with keywords so they'd be directed to the right place. Most fell into the Nature and Parks/Outdoors categories. I wondered if that would be a problem with them all being of the same or similar topic.

They must accept at least four of your initial photos or you won't be able to submit anything for a month. They could reject up to seven. I felt confident and satisfied that I'd taken the step. I expected to hear back within a few days, and was eager to see which ones they would accept and which, if any, they'd reject.

I've included four of the ten images I submitted. What do YOU think?

Passion for Photography

2007-06-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

I knew there was a problem when my pictures became scarce. I've always loved taking photos. Capturing those beautiful scenes, framing them and focusing on those things that my eye naturally draws to which so many others seem to overlook. I'm an artist. A non-practicing artist for the most part, but my eye still sees the beauty. When I stopped seeing the beauty, I stopped wanting to capture the beauty, and the passion left me.

I was artistically silent for over a year. Sure there were some photos taken here and there. I have a four year old - there's no lack of pictures! But the photography, the art, the capturing of beauty was gone. I was merely capturing a memory, a lost moment, taking my snapshots in hopes of reliving it later. The camera rarely came out except on special occasions under obligatory family duty.

At some point this Spring, perhaps as I watched the screensaver of past experiences flash in front of me on the computer, something stirred in me. I picked up my camera again. Not only did I pick it up, but inspired by a friend, I decided to persue a dream of publishing my photography. It started with a simple one evening class at the Arvada Center where I learned the steps to start selling photos. I began travelling (see my journeys blog) and snapping as many shots as my husband had the patience to endure. Luckily, his patience is better than mine. I snapped picture after picture after picture. Sand Dunes, Chatauqua, Colorado National Monument, the flowers in my back yard, the light post on the corner. As I snapped off a few pictures last weekend as we were ending a hike in Boulder, I had a revelation. I'd been taking pictures for weeks. And I continued taking pictures. But I was no closer to being published than months before. Only now I had thousands of images.

It was time to take the next step. I was going to have to actually attempt to get published. I knew this meant rejection and had been putting it off while I happily snapped shots. But snapping the shots was no longer good enough.

I went into a funk for a few days, having lost my "mojo", my passion, my fire. Photography for the sake of photography wasn't going to be good enough ever again. It was time to face the music. I had to take another step or I'd get sucked back into the empty void lacking inspiration.