Justin Acuff Photography » Travel

April and May 09 Summed Up

Justin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:25:13 +0000

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I want to get around to posting some other things, but want to finish these summaries up as well. That is why this post will be about April and May.

During the last few days I was in Brazil, I spent in Recife. There is a really old area near Recife called Olinda that I was interested in seeing. This is the Church of Saint Benedict in Olinda. One of the things I really loved about my stay in Brazil was how well the sky polarized when using a circular polarizer. The sun is really high in the sky most of the day, so it is also easier to get a polarized sky.

One of the subjects that is more challenging for me is flowers. It’s mainly because I get the feeling that it has all been done before. So when I do shoot flowers, there are some very specific criteria it has to meet. How are the colors? Is there another interesting subject? Can this make for an interesting composition? Actually, I’ll consider those with most every shot, but it’s more strict with flowers. For this, I headed to the UT Gardens while the tulips where in bloom. I saw the red tulip in a flowerbed of yellow tulips so I had color and an interesting composition.

For the water fountain shot, I knew that I wanted to do some night shoots of it at World’s Fair Park during what is commonly called the blue hour. The blue hour a time after sunset (and before sunrise) where the sky turns into a deep blue. Another interesting thing that I did not know about this fountain, was that at 30 minutes before they turn the fountain off, it runs through a program complete with music.

This shot at Norris Dam was really neat to get. I had heard that TVA was opening the spillways on several of their dams in the system. Having previously photographed sunrises and sunsets at Norris Dam, I knew the sunrise would make for a good shot. The spillway running makes it even better. I used a graduated neutral density filter to hold back the sky allowing it to go into that deep orange and red but not darken the dam.

This photo was taken while I was waiting for the sunrise on the riverwalk. It provided an interesting composition with the placement of the great blue heron and the arches in the bridge. I got some really good sunrise shots, but being a photo-a-day, I knew I could go back and get a sunrise shot another day, this shot I may not be able to get again.

March 09 Summed Up

Justin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:14:40 +0000

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After work I decided I would go walk around downtown Knoxville/Market Sqaure with only a 50mm lens to see what I could capture. I thought this sign was kind of amusing, so I took a photo of it and processed it using another Lomo action I found.

The East Tennessee Veterans Memorial in World’s Fair Park is kind of a recent addition. I wanted to go just after sunset, during “the blue hour”. I shot it with a 16mm lens. I love how the colors turned out, but still think this shot would benefit greatly by using the 17mm Tilt-Shift lens.

Sticking with a veterans theme, I decided to shoot the replica of the War Dog Memorial (original in Guam)

One of the things you have to do if you are ever in Natal, Brazil is ride the buggies. The dunes of Natal are simply amazing. In the end, I liked this image the best. It is at a zip line place called Aero Bunda.

Jesse and Juliana’s wedding was a lot of fun… apparently the flower girl thought so too. Too much dancing and too much drink and she was passed out on the floor.

This was taken with my Powershot G9 with my underwater case. I meet up with some friends that were staying at a Pousada. Some of the missionary kids came along as well. It didn’t take many shots to get what I wanted. I prefocused on the area I knew I wanted the capture and anticipated when to shoot, bearing in mind that shutter lag on a P&S is longer than my SLR.

Coming Soon…

Justin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:51:29 +0000

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I’ll admit it… I have really been slacking when it comes to blogging. So for the next few days, I am going to post some of my more favorite photos from the Photo-A-Day project I am doing this year. After I finish up January through June, I’ll post on some of the lifestyle family portrait sessions as well as some events.

This post will focus on the month of January. I’ll give a little info on where it was shot from and also how it was shot.

For the shot of the keyboard, I set my camera on a tripod and composed it how I wanted it. I had two remote flashes setup and used the Canon timer remote to trigger the camera times 6 times with a 10 second delay between shots. I then proceeded to play. Of the six images, this one came out the best. Since my keyboard is predominately silver anyways, I decided that a B&W conversion of this image would suite it best.

For the night driving shot, I set my camera up on a tripod in the back seat and mounted my 15mm Fisheye lens. I used the timer remote to fire a series of long exposures. It took some experimenting to get this right. I would drive a little bit and then pull into a parking lot to check my photos. Once I got a combination I was happy with, I left it there and drove around some more. If I recall correctly, this was in the old city area.

The shot of Gay Street Bridge is simple, yet a favorite. I love shooting at night time. A subject can present itself in a totally different light (pun intended). Not much to explain in this shot, I set my camera on a tripod and did a long exposure. What makes this shot, is the time it was shot. Several minutes earlier or several minutes later would have resulted in a much ligher or much darker sky.

The group shot was a 26 image stitched panorama. I’m guessing there is somewhere right around 1,000 people in it. By far, my largest group shot ever. For the past 4 years now, I’ve been one of the official photographers for Gulf Coast Getaway, a Church of Christ conference targeted towards college-aged students. To shot this, I was up on the roof of one of the penthouse suites of one of the towers at the Edgewater Beach Resort. I oriented my camera vertically, set my exposure, and shot away. Although I posted this images as the Photo-A-Day, I have a much better image I was able to process after I got home. I have it available here: http://www.justinacuff.net/potn/637772.html.

This is kind of a cliché shot of Downtown Knoxville. I drove up to the top floor of the 11th Street Garage and shot World’s Fair Park, the Convention Center, and Downtown Knoxville. As cliché as it is, an image like this sales.

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The photo of Regas’s sign is quite unique. Since I work during the day, I found myself shooting at night a lot. I really hadn’t planned to shoot the sign, but thought I’d give it a try with an ultra-wide angle lens. From that one exposure, I envisioned doing something similar to my final photo. This photo combined several techniques to give it that look. The first is it was a multiple exposure (7 exposures) HDR image. I tone mapped it, but it still didn’t have this final look I had imagined.

January 19, 2009

Justin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:37:57 +0000

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Here's some advice, never fall asleep in a car on a long ride when one of the passengers is a photographer and the others are your former youth minister and his wife.

January 15, 2009

Justin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:46:54 +0000

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Welcome to Florida. This morning Todd, Ryan, Alex, and I set off for Panama City Beach, Florida for Gulf Coast Getaway. Todd serves on the board, Ryan and Alex are volunteering and I am coming down as a photographer. I actually took several really cool shots later in the evening, but had already decided this rather plain and simple image would be the photo of the day for today.