Clan O'Cleary - In Concert - Sailfest 2011

Each year Sailfest boasts some fantastic entertainment in various locations around New London. Custom House Pier has been the home to several different Irish bands on Friday night over the past few years. This year Clan O'Cleary took the stage in front of a bit smaller crowd than usual, probably due to the impending rain storm. Those that braved the weather (it did end up raining quite a bit) were treated to a fine performance! Since the only escape from the rain was right up next to the stage I got lots of close-ups of this great band.

This was also the first big batch of photos that I every processed in Adobe LightRoom (along with the Tall Ship Gazela photos from the same evening). As you can see from the gallery I made liberal use of one of the black and white treatments and a split tone treatment that yields a high-contrast sepia tone image. So far I'm very happy with the results I've been able to get with this new tool.

Clan O'Cleary - Sailfest 2011 See the entire album!

Clan O'Cleary plays a variety of instruments

Hands of Richard Hawkes - Drums

Steve Cleary - Guitar, Mandola, banjo, voice

Mike Corman - Celtic harp, recorders, guitar, voice

The steady drizzle didn't slow down the band or the stalwart crowd of fans. It did send me to the cover of the stage awning with my camera, though.

Albert Yost - flute, irish whistle, fife's, concertina (squeeze box)

Denise Yost - Violin

Clan O'Cleary with the Gazela in the Background

Denise loses the hat for better lighting

I presume that's the "squeeze box" Albert's playing

Cleaning up to make room for the next band

Ginger Fox #1

I shot portraits of Erika and her new puppy, Ginger Fox, back in July. I'm just starting on the post-processing and here are just a few shots from before we really got started. Poor lighting? Maybe, but I love the interaction between the two of them. Watch for more puppy pics in the near future!

Coaxing our subject out for the photo shoot

Kisses

Cold Nose Tickles

Puppy Love

Never Enuff - In Concert

Never Enuff played in concert at Esker Point Beach on July 28, 2011 as part of the annual Summer SoundWaves Concert Series. It was a beautiful night and the concert drew a pretty lively crowd.

These guys really know how to rock! They played a mix of classic dance rock cover songs. Lead singer Mick Marra demonstrated a powerful voice that was equally at ease belting out AC/DC or any of the several more contemporary hits on the set list. The crowd got involved and the show had fans of all ages screaming and dancing with their hands in the air. By the end they had a stage full of kids (I think one of the guitar amps actually got shut off when a kid stepped on a switchboard) and there were people wearing Never Enuff bumper stickers in all sorts of creative places (not sure that was the intent, but folks were sure having fun...) One of their last songs was entirely dedicated to teaching the rising generation the careful art and discipline of head banging!

Once again, I took too many photos, deleted most of them, and still ended up with a huge gallery of pics. I processed them all in one evening in LightRoom and was pretty happy with the results. Here's a link to the full gallery along with my favorite shots from the evening. Do you have a favorite?

Never Enuff Concert See the entire gallery!

Sunset Concert

Dave Siswick plays like he means it!

Jen Hebert - Rumor has it the band found her working in a restaurant wearing a guitar pick for a necklace...

Joe Goddard on drums

Tipsy hoopers daring me to take their picture...

Yeah, I dared.

"It's easier to hoop when I'm not drinking," he told me right after I snapped this.

Jami's Gorgeous Green Guitar

Head Bangin'

Jami Blackwood on guitar. Probably my favorite guitar picture to date.

Jami and Jen Over Cymbals

Mick Marra

Never Enuff

Jen on the Bass Guitar

Last One For this Post...

Ticket to Ride - In Concert

Quite a crowd gathered in front of Koffee Works in Old Lyme this past Saturday evening to watch Ticket to Ride, Connecticut's premiere Beatles tribute band. These mop tops put on a great show! Also, my neighbor Dave plays George, which is pretty cool. As usual, I took too many pictures and then processed them in Adobe LightRoom. Let me know which one's you like. Also, check out the band website at tickettoridect.com.

Ticket To Ride Concert See the entire album!

Beatles through the Koffee Works window

Over the hedge

A four-legged fan and her(?) person

In case the band loses track of which guitar cases belong in their van...

Ringo loves peace

A great way to spend a summer evening

The show included a costume change at intermission

There was some twisting and shouting going on in the audience

I wasn't the only photographer there

Paul

True fans

John

Another four-legged fan

More fans

George (my neighbor) and John. George can really wail on that guitar!

They have a few instruments to choose from.

5th Grade Graduation

5th grade graduation was another great opportunity to shoot candid event photos. I enjoyed seeing my daughter and her friends in the culmination of their elementary school experience.

It was a challenge to get clear pictures in the low light so I cranked the ISO up to support a faster shutter speed. Then, at the recommendation of a friend I downloaded a 30-day trial installation of Adobe Lightroom and tried it out on this batch of photos. One thing I like about Lightroom right out of the gate is its ability to reduce the graininess and noise caused by the high ISO. Once I adjusted one picture I could easily paste the settings across all the other similar pictures at once and then just make minor adjustments. I can see how this could become a major time saver. It would (will?) be a pretty hefty investment to purchase in another 20 days, though if (when?) I decide to purchase the program.

Center School 5th Grade Graduation 2011 See the entire album!

Please note the exits

Listing a few defining attributes of Center School

Hand shake for a diploma

A hat for Mr. Pomroy

No, thank *YOU* Mrs. Walters!

You're not leaving without posing for your parents!

Stage presence!

Mr. Pomroy - The "Cool" Principal

Citizenship Award Winner

A Proud Mom

Why so blue... er, red and blue...?

The graduates leave in a flurry of flash bulbs

Citizenship Award - An Exclusive Close-up

Goodbyes

A Fresh Crop of Photos

The way you choose to crop a photo can dramatically change its overall balance and feel. For me, a successful crop of a photo can sometimes take an otherwise boring picture and turn it into something noteworthy. Finding that right crop is often a process of trial and error for me.

I took this photo on at Bluff Point State Park the other day. While trying to find the best overall crop for the photo I came up with several different versions. Each is pleasing to me in its own way. I thought it might be interesting to demonstrate a little bit of my process and how I think about the pictures I decide to keep. I throw away a lot of pictures. However, there are some of them that I end up keeping in multiple different crops and treatments.

I often use my wife and kids as a sounding board when trying to find the ideal version of a photo. They are usually helpful and quite patient with me, however, my wife has on one occasion informed me that she has had enough of trying to choose between seemingly identical photos for a given evening!

As you look at these nearly identical shots, do you have a favorite?

 
1 - Here's the original photo, un-cropped.
This one fits the rule of thirds on the horizontal axis (the road vanishing point is kind of along the right third of the frame), but I thought I might improve it...

 
2 - I cropped it down to shift the horizon down to the lower third of the frame... I like the balance of this one. It makes me think about what's around that bend.

 
3 - Then I shifted the horizon up to the upper third of the frame... Both of these are interesting in their own way. This one puts more focus on the lines of shadow on the road. It's more about what's right in front of me than where I am going.

 
4 - Here's an 8X10 ratio with the focus still on the road.

 
5 - This 8X10 draws your eyes up into the trees a bit more as they follow around the curve in the road. Again, it's got me wanting to see whatever's around the bend.

 
6 - Flipping the 8X10 to a portrait layout yields a shot that might look good framed on a wall as a large print.

 
My Final Pick - After spending way too much time sampling all the above crops, I finally scrolled to the next photo in line (which I hadn't even looked at yet) and decided what I was really looking for was this un-cropped photo which I think may have a better over-all balance than all the others. Incidentally, I ended up cropping this several times, too, until they all started to look exactly the same to me... Sometimes it's just tough to decide!

Ultimately, I have to just make a decision with each photo and move on or I'd never get any of my pictures processed!

Groton Long Point - Misc.

Here is another comparison between filtered black and white and the original color capture. Does one of them speak to you more effeectively than the other one? If so, what does it say to you...?

 
A tattered, snow-aged little flag, just waiting for the end of the off-season...

 
Ahh, the classic self-portrait

Groton Long Point - B&W

Here are a few more filtered black and white conversions. It was cold with a brisk wind on the sound side of Groton Long Point this Saturday but there was calm water just a few hundred yards inland in the harbor.

 

 

 
The New London Ledge Light is visible on the horizon.

 
In contrast to the waves on the sound, the water in the harbor inlet was calm and glassy.

 
Looks like the winter wind has taken its toll on this flag.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

First of all, thanks to all those made comments on my recent posts! I enjoy hearing your opinions both in emails and in the actual blog comments online. The opinions on my fishing lure pictures were quite mixed. I think each of the four shots got at least one vote from someone. This just goes to show that everyone has their own opinion and sometimes there is no wrong answer!

The other evening a couple trains came past while we were down taking pictures by the river. As the first one came past I decided to try tracking it to see if I could keep the train in focus while showing motion in the background. I didn't have time to slow the shutter speed down and they, ehem, sort of turned out.

I take so many pictures now that I am really trying to become more ruthless in my editing. I delete far more pictures than I keep now but I didn't want to give up on these without at least trying to liven them up a bit. So, I cropped them, adjusted the contrast ratios, and even added a graduated tint to them to give them some more depth. I used to spend a lot of time making this type of adjustment in Photoshop but now I find that Google's Picasa does most of what I need very quickly and efficiently.

So what do you think? Were they worth saving? Does the gradient shading work for you or do you think it is somehow cheating? I have included one unaltered photo for comparison.

 
I think this turned out to be my favorite...

 
Here's the first one right out of the camera with no post-processing

 
My 12-year-old daughter likes this one best

 
See the driver's silhouette in the window?

Later on a sleeker train came from the other direction. This shot was cropped and the contrast was tweaked just slightly -- no shading added.

And this picture of a boy watching the train go past is almost unaltered with only minor contrast adjustment made just to lighten up the foreground detail.