Baroquebloke.com

A shot from this afternoon after leaving work. I’ve seen...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:41:00 +0200

A shot from this afternoon after leaving work. I’ve seen this dog countless times, but never still and quiet like this. Usually it charges the gate barking and howling. I can only assume the recent carnage scattered around is the reason behind the indifference shown me and my camera.

-Baroquebloke-

At long last the weather has taken an undeniably bright turn for...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:46:05 +0200

At long last the weather has taken an undeniably bright turn for the better. The sun has been relentless recently and clouds have been a distant memory for the past week. Days like today tend to make Heather and I almost wish we weren’t leaving.

Oh, that’s right! I’m not sure I’ve told you yet. Shortly after the winter holidays I decided it was time I finish my undergraduate once and for all. So, starting in the fall, Heather and I will once again be living in Oberlin Ohio, and i’ll be so busy practicing and studying I may not see the light of day till all is over next summer…

Only joking. I think i’m going to need frequent outings to help keep me sane. So, rest assured that photos will continue, although my subject matter is likely to change. Oberlin is a very, very small town.

Anyways, the above photo is a shot from a couple of hours ago. Taken with my phone and edited with Snapseed. This was just near by the Tram station where I work in the evenings. Gives you an idea to how beautiful it’s been lately.

Hope you all enjoy.

-Baroquebloke-

Here’s a fun one from last night on my way to meet...

Thu, 30 May 2013 10:09:00 +0200

Here’s a fun one from last night on my way to meet Heather. There was one hell of a storm moving through and the clouds over Versailles were amazing.

This is a composite of five individual photos stitched together. From a distance it looks ok, but once you get farther down to pixel level you can notice inconsistencies in focus and alignment. Oh well, considering it was shot hand held I can’t complain too much.

Hope you enjoy!

-Baroquebloke-

As a nice change of pace from my usual routine I’ve been...

Wed, 29 May 2013 10:39:00 +0200

As a nice change of pace from my usual routine I’ve been touting my Canon 20D and the always exciting Plastic Fantastic 50mm f1.8 II. Not to mention the beautiful old Manfrotto tripod that my dear friend Hal Gober sent me as a gift some months ago. My Nikon V1 has been with me as well but not the main focus.

It’s interesting, the difference between camera capabilities. I have gotten so use to the IQ of the Nikon, and the versatility the raw files show during post processing. The Canon raw files, on the other hand, are significantly less cooperative.

That’s not to say decent results can’t still be achieved, just that the effort required to get there is noticeably greater.

So, I’ve included some of my favorites from the last couple of days.

Also, I don’t think I’ve announced it here, but Heather and I are getting Married! So I have included a couple of shot of the two of us.

Hope you all enjoy!

-Baroquebloke-

This young man ran up to me earlier today while I was out for a...

Mon, 27 May 2013 19:31:51 +0200

This young man ran up to me earlier today while I was out for a walk. He was with his dad but had no qualms about enthusiastically asking me to take his photo!

He carefully placed him self in front of the crates with out my asking, and this is the result.

Side note: this is with my Canon 20D, for the first time after almost 6 months.

-Baroquebloke-

Sorry for the delay friends. Work has this nasty habit of...

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:20:00 +0200

Sorry for the delay friends. Work has this nasty habit of sucking time and energy away from hobbies.

Anyways…

Behold Amboise!

This was a cool chateau for numerous reasons. But, I think I’ll leave that particular avenue of information to Heather, as she’s the one who stuck through the whole guided tour. That, and she’s far more fluent in French than I am.

One cool thing of note: Da Vinci lived here for the last few years of his life!

And so I leave you to enjoy the photos and turn you over to Heather for the post guided tour.

-Baroquebloke-

Next up for your consideration is Chateau Villandry. While...

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:51:12 +0200

Next up for your consideration is Chateau Villandry. While processing this batch I realized I had only one shot with the actual building in the background. The main attraction here was definitely the gardens.

This was the first chateau we biked to, a whopping 23 kilometers west of Tours. Ok, so not too far, but it was a fun trip all the same.

-Baroquebloke-

Chateau Chenonceau. This was actually the last chateau we went...

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:04:24 +0200

Chateau Chenonceau. This was actually the last chateau we went to visit on our trip, and it was by far the most crowded. Not entirely pleasant. Truly unique, however, as it spans the entire width of the river! Very cool.

Heather and I decided to take a train part way there and bike the last seven kilometers along the river banks. The grounds and the scenery along the way were absolutely beautiful.

-Baroquebloke-

I realized that I never announced that Heather and I were on...

Sat, 11 May 2013 10:45:25 +0200

I realized that I never announced that Heather and I were on vacation in the Loire Valley, biking and bussing to numerous chateau and gardens!

Here’s the first installment of chateau photos to come over the next few days, and one of my favorite from the trip:

Azay-le-Rideau

-Baroquebloke-

I’ve really been enjoying playing with colors on a lot of...

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:15:46 +0200

I’ve really been enjoying playing with colors on a lot of my shots lately. Here’s one I took while out with Heather today. I intended to leave it as Black and White, but I couldn’t help my self.

This technically isn’t even monochrome, but rather two tone. The blacks have a slightly red tint while the mid grays and whites have the greenish cast.

I find it amazing how much a little bit of color can alter the mood or feel of a photo.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!

-Baroquebloke-

Todays photo I decided to have fun with the colors. As an...

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:28:44 +0200

Todays photo I decided to have fun with the colors.

As an update, I decided to go back to OSX. The hardware support with Linux was almost there, but the few little quirks that remained became too much of a drag. So, back to Mountain Lion, Aperture 3, and “just works” functionality. The complete fresh install seems to have worked better than before.

On a plus side, I’m still using Corel AfterShot Pro, but only as an external editor for Aperture. The Nostalgia Film Simulator plugin is outstanding as well as significantly cheeper than the likes of Alien Skin software (only $5!!).

So, I’ve managed to keep the best of both worlds. Let’s see how long that lasts. I only want to be able to continue shooting editing!

-Baroquebloke-

Public Poll (Respond in Comments)

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:48:37 +0200

I have a question for all you loyal readers. As many of you know I started putting photos up on Etsy to see if I might be able to sell a few photos.

No, I haven’t been uploading hundreds of photos to the site. Perhaps my key-word and tags are lacking. Perhaps my pricing is off. Regardless of the reasons It hasn’t worked so well.

No, I’m not going to close it down, but I would like to try something else. So here’s my question for all of you:

With every donation of a dollar or more you pick any photo I’ve ever uploaded, I email a full size version to you (or anyone you like) for you to do with as you please (within reason. As in no commercial reproduction, etc.)

So, let me hear your thoughts below!

-Baroquebloke-

A daily activity of mine is to read about cameras and...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:29:55 +0200

A daily activity of mine is to read about cameras and photography techniques. One reoccurring topic is how to achieve decent bokeh (out of focus blur). Many people maintain that a large camera sensor paired with a fast lens is almost obligatory. While it’s true, that combination of equipment will result in magnificent bokeh I don’t believe its always necessary. Sometimes, when working with limited resources one must be willing to approach a scene from a different angle.

The above photo for instance:

aperture: f/5.6

focal length: 30mm (81mm full frame equivalent)

That is by no means a fast aperture setting, and no, the bokeh present is not the sort of creamy goodness you would find with a full frame sensor (my nikon v1 has a very tiny sensor!) but it’s still effective and, in my opinion, beautiful.

I think I’ll put this one up on the photo store. I’ll let you all know when it’s available!

-Baroquebloke-

It’s always the times I don’t bring my camera with me… Thank...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:22:19 +0200

It’s always the times I don’t bring my camera with me…

Thank you iphone! Unedited, right now in front of the Chateau waiting for Heather.

-Baroquebloke-

Here’s a first for me. The above photo is a composite of...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:48:40 +0200

Here’s a first for me. The above photo is a composite of six (6) individual handheld shots overlooking Paris. I processed it as black and white so that you could see the bands/borders between the photos (haven’t yet learned how to avoid that, along with other issues, more on that another time). If I had been able to upload the full sized image it would be 180MB large, 18,598 x 2435 pixels, and be printable at over 10 feet on the long side.

I think I’ve discovered something to use my tripod for!!!

-Baroquebloke-

We all start out young and care free, then it’s all down...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:15:44 +0200

We all start out young and care free, then it’s all down hill from there.

-Baroquebloke-

Here’s a shot from the other day in Paris, behind Notre...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 09:01:05 +0200

Here’s a shot from the other day in Paris, behind Notre Dame. The street musician on the right was one of the best I think I’ve ever heard. Even so, hardly a soul was bothering to stop and listen on this beautiful day. The Blue Collar with the headphones and his head down trying to block out his surroundings was no exception.

This sort of scene has become all too familiar in Paris. It’s unfortunate, really. After 15 minutes I dropped in what change I had and thanked the man. A tired, gentle smile and an eyes closed, nod of the head was given in return. Never a break in the music. A beautiful day.

-Baroquebloke-

Hey, todays a two photo day! I overlooked this one earlier....

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:39:10 +0200

Hey, todays a two photo day! I overlooked this one earlier. The flowers are in full bloom! This was all shortly before an afternoon of rain came our way.

-Baroquebloke-

The other morning while taking a morning walk through the...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:21:14 +0200

The other morning while taking a morning walk through the Versailles gardens. I liked the look of this more in sepia than true black and white.

-Baroquebloke-

Le train a destination de La Verriere arrive voie des pigeons.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:30:00 +0200

Le train a destination de La Verriere arrive voie des pigeons.