dalekincaid.net Blog

Whether I am out doing a nature shoot or an event such as a wedding or portrait session, I generally arrive home with at least several hundred digital files. When I first began shooting in digital 6 years ago, I was faced with the big question…”Do I shoot in jpeg or raw file format”? Although my results with both formats were similar, I determined very quickly that I would commit to capturing images in raw format to maintain the highest quality and flexibility possible. I knew this would require a little more work editing and processing images, but as a professional, I believe quality has top priority over saving time using what I call the “Digital Polaroid”. 

Once I have all my images downloaded into the computer its time to edit using Adobe Camera Raw. This program has enough features to cover more the 90% of the editing process, which nearly eliminates using Photoshop altogether. Some of these features are not always apparent on the screen, so I thought I would share one with you.   

One of the steps in editing pictures is to trash any that were unsuccessful and eliminate any that will not be saved or used. You can delete these images right inside the Camera Raw window. With the thumbnail selected, press the ‘delete’ key on the keyboard. A red ‘X’ will appear on the image, marking it for deletion. This will send that file to the trash bin when you click ‘done’ or ‘save’. If you change your mind to keep the file, pressing the delete key again will unmark it.

How does the saying go…”There’s more the meets the eye” in Adobe Camera Raw.       

            Dale Kincaid

Last Sunday was the conclusion of our Natureslite series of butterfly photography sessions. We were greeted with “mostly cloudy” for sunrise, but some breaks here and there gave way to an impressive illumination of the rising fog. 

The highlight of the morning was an unfortunate swallowtail that found itself entangled in a garden spider web. It appeared to be quite a sizable meal for the spider. Most of the butterflies we visited throughout the morning looked battered and beaten as if they have experienced some rough tumblings with nature. 

As the bright sun began to challenge our photography skills, we decided to call it a morning and head back to the car. Of course there were at least a half-a-dozen stops to take a picture here and there on the way back. Often, the last shot of the day can be the best. A quick glance and there it was…a beautiful species of butterfly I have never seen before. In trying to match up identification, the best I can find is a Red Admiral. I could be color ignorant, but it appears more orange then red to me.

    Dale Kincaid

This is definitely one of those “what is it” pictures. It looks gruesome and a bit scary, huh? Ok…So, I won’t keep you in suspense. It’s a close up of my son, Jeffrey, enjoying some blueberry pie, or I should say he was consuming blueberry pie in a contest at a “Cruisin Car Show” held at Bakers Square in Parma, Ohio. Next to Jeff is his girlfriend, Nicole. We had all convinced her to participate in the pie-eating contest too. She was definitely a good sport. You can probably tell from the pictures below that Jeff won the contest. What was the award? You guessed it! A pie of your choice.    

I recommended a French Silk Pie!!

     Dale

I spend a great deal of time working with creative techniques to enhance pictures or convert them into one of my “Artistic Expressions”. This is sometimes referred to as playing with pictures, which is the term I prefer to call it since I generally do this during my free time. Whether you are testing out a new technique, working with a picture or playing; often we get to a point where we determine the results are not what we want. We take a deep breath, sigh, and decide to start over.
 
One method of starting over is clicking in the history pallet either to a point that was previously saved or at the very top where the picture was first opened. A quick and fun way to go back to the very beginning is to hit the F12 key. That will “revert” the picture back to its original state. You can find the revert command in the file menu. Using the F12 key will add this step to the history instead of erasing it, which can be an advantage in some situations.
 
Wouldn’t it be nice if life had an F12 key.
 
      Dale 

Continuing our Natureslite series of butterfly photography, we spent another splendid morning at Pine Hollow in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I arrived early for sunrise. The morning mist and fog over the valley always provides a delightful mystery to the landscape. We wasted no time heading down the trail to discover what surprises would be in store this week.
 
The diversity of subject matter to photograph in Pine Hollow is amazing. From landscape to macro, wildlife to wildflowers, the list is endless. We immediately encountered a plethora of spider webs adorned with dewdrops, and a young deer feeding in the meadows. A white tiger moth caterpillar (or at least that’s what I think it is) was an attractive macro subject as well as a few garden spiders. I’m officially naming this area the “Land Of The Little Giants”. Many of the little insects are the biggest I have ever seen in Northern Ohio. The food must be plentiful, rich and fattening.
 
Our search for early morning butterflies came up short, but when they finally dried out their wings and began to flutter around there was plenty to do. Here are a few pictures from the morning.

It just keeps getting better and better!!
 
     Dale

Over the years I have made many purchases of cameras, equipment, computers, accessories etc… I consider the best investment I ever made was when I purchased a Ceiva as a gift to my Father in Florida. The Ceiva is a digital photo receiver with a 5 x 7 viewable screen. It simply plugs into a power outlet and a phone line. Push the button on the back and Waalah!!! Pictures appear every day.
 
My Father never took the leap into the age of computers, internet and email, so he wouldn’t get a chance to see much of my photos if it weren’t for the Ceiva. Each day he receives 20 images that I have uploaded to the Ceiva web site. I can store up to 1000 images on the site and set the preferences to select random images or if I have a group of new pictures, I can choose to send those. The Ceiva dials up to the server every night and downloads the new set of pictures.
 
My Dad keeps the Ceiva on the kitchen counter where he sits and has his coffee and reads the paper every morning. Dad says its one of those little things that he looks forward to waking up to in the morning. On his birthday or holiday (or just for the heck of it), I create a special greeting card in Photoshop and send that for the next day. When neighbors, friends or company visits, he always takes them over to the Ceiva to view the current selection of pictures.
 
I won’t begin to describe how much the Ceiva means to us, but there’s no doubt it holds a special value. Here’s a link to the web site for more information.  http://www.ceiva.com/
 
      Dale

I have been enjoying some time off from shooting events over the past couple of weeks. It’s sort of a “time out” from devoting many hours of processing and working with massive numbers of images and files. I work very hard until I get tired. And then I rest. So, this has been a good “time out” for me to rest and work on some of my own personal projects. One of these projects that I am very excited about is “Artistic Expressions”: creating a work of art from a photograph. The concept is not new, but rarely offered as an alternative to just a standard print. Partly because of the time involved in creating these, whereas the value of that time often becomes uncompensatory. Now there’s a new word to add to spell-checker.    I want to provide clients with something special. Something they will absolutely love and treasure for many years to come. My idea was to develop a variety of artistic styles to apply to a photograph, thus giving a choice that is appealing to them. The challenge is to create a process that is repeatable, yet maintain a unique quality to each work of art. The next challenge is my choice to remain true to my photography by preserving the photographic quality of the print.      

Preparations are underway to rollout a new addition on my web site to introduce the “Artistic Expressions” and show some samples of my work. I thought I would post a sneak preview of a favorite of mine.

The bouquet is an important part of any wedding and truly provides a precious memory as an “Artistic Expression”.      Dale