Art or Over-Processed Image?
Posted on July 23, 2014
Many photographers say that they don’t take pictures but make images. This is very true in this day of digital imaging. Indeed, with digital processing it seems as though the possibilities are endless to what one can create. I am a huge fan of getting it right in-camera, which is one reason I still love shooting film. That said, there are times when I feel an image is created by taking some creative liberties with it so as to make the image what the photographer had in mind. This is definitely the case when it comes to making abstract images.
An example of this would be the photo here. This photo was taken of the flowering portion of some dill weed that I had growing in my garden. It was an okay image but in my head I saw something abstract that I wanted to create. I therefore converted the image to monochrome, split toned it to give it some color, adjusted the contrast, and finally added a border. This is the final image.
Purists would balk at this image as over-processed and nothing more than a product of filters and tweaks with computer programs. Yet, the image took over 45 minutes to get just they I saw it in my head and in this regard I feel that it has become art. You may not like it, you may like it, it really does not matter. I think we should embrace the idea of taking creative license when creating images as that is what makes photography art whether straight out of the camera or digitally modified.
“Processed”
Nikon D600 with Nikkor 105 mm
Post-processed with Lightroom 5, Silver Efex Pro 2, and Exposure 6
Cardinal Song
Posted on July 5, 2014
Good morning! I hope that everyone had a very happy and safe 4th of July. I love weekend mornings in the summer. Just sitting outside and listening to the birds sing their songs. We have quite a few cardinals around the house, which are one of my favorite birds in this region. They were really singing this morning, so in honor of them… this post. This photo is from earlier this spring as the leaves were just starting to make their appearance on the trees. I saw this cardinal perched in a tree in my yard and the contrast between the red of his feathers and blue sky what very pretty. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Cardinal Song
Nikon D600 with Sigma 150-500 mm
1/400th sec, f/7.1
On Being an Internist
Posted on July 3, 2014
We are a simple bunch, internists, that is. Of all the medical specialties, ours is probably the least “sexy”. We don’t have fancy high tech equipment or do amazing surgeries that make the front page of newspapers. What we do do, however, is treat the common diseases of men and women and strive to keep people healthy so they don’t have to have amazing surgeries or be subjected to high tech equipment.
My tools are simple. Most days I rely on just my eyes, ears, and stethoscope. I find this to be incredibly rewarding that with just these few tools we internists are able to diagnose the majority of the maladies that affect our patients and develop a treatment plan. Now I am all for the wonders that modern medicine have provided us, and use them freely when the need arises, but it is still the simplicity of internal medicine, and the fact that it is patient-centered which made me fall in love with the field.
Nikon FE2 with Kodak TMax 100 Film
The Midnight Rose
Posted on July 2, 2014
I went out in the backyard and noticed that my one rose bush was finally starting to bloom. I decided that I would try to capture some images of the roses. The lighting was not fantastic for flower photography but I did manage to get some nice shots. Despite that, when I really started to look at the images they just seemed to lack something; there was no umph to the photo, if that makes sense. The colors were pretty, but the photo was just so so. This particular image, for example, I liked the composition and the angle of the flower but the color just distracted me. I really wanted to emphasize the petals which just lacked punch in color. I converted the image to monochrome and the photo immediately took life. Here is the final product, which I have called, “The Midnight Rose.”
The Midnight Rose
Nikon D600 with Nikkor 105 mm
1/200th sec, f/9, ISO 400
Post-processing with Lightoom 5 and Silver Efex Pro 2
Monday
Posted on June 30, 2014
It is Monday, which means back to work. My first stop this morning was to the intensive care unit to see a patient who recently had surgery and has not done well. She has been on the ventilator for some time now, and it does not seem like she is going to get off the ventilator anytime soon. I had a lengthy talk with the family and they do not want to proceed with any further aggressive care. It was a hard way to start the day, yet I am very proud of this family. Despite the ability to direct the patient’s care as the patient is not able to do so at this time, they are honoring her wishes (she did not want to be on the ventilator for life sustaining purposes) rather than allowing this lady to suffer because they are afraid to let her go. I respect these people. I am sad about the outcome and grieve with the family and about the inability of medicine to cure all disease, but I take comfort in knowing that this patient has a loving family who loved her enough to let her go.
Prescription
Nikon FE
Kodak Tri-X 400
D-76 Developer
Frustrations
Posted on June 29, 2014
Quite frustrated. I purchased a Nikon FE off ebay, which appeared to be in great condition. Indeed, when it arrived everything seemed to be functioning well. I loaded it with a roll a Kodak Tri-X 400 and started shooting right away. Unfortunately, after about 15 shots the camera started to lock up. It will function only when it is in fully mechanical mode but you only have one shutter speed in that setting. Any other mode the mirror locks up and the shutter won’t fire. The only way to get the mirror to unlock is to put it back in full mechanical mode. I have checked the batteries and that is not the problem. I guess I will take it to the shop, I am just hoping the fix does not cost me more than the camera did. Moral of the story: this is why you should purchase used camera equipment from a local camera store as they will test out the equipment first to make sure it is sale-worth.
I went a head a developed the frames that I was able to capture. Here is one of my rose bush in my back yard.
The Rose
Nikon FE
Kodak Tri-X 400
D-76 Developed
Welcome
Posted on June 29, 2014
Welcome to A Daily Record. I have redesigned this website to better share my photos. Please note that this is still a work in progress and I am trying to work out all the kinks. I welcome comments to make this site better. Thank you.
All work on this website is Copyrighted by Jeremiah Rutherford
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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