Darder Photography

Controversy?

2010-10-09T19:12:00.000-04:00

In a previous post I uploaded a photo I worked on in Photoshop.

At the same time I submitted the before and after of the photo at the Digital Photography School "Before & After" forums for feedback and critiques. What I failed to realize was the somewhat controversial nature of my photo.

You can read the forum post & comments here.

What are you thoughts? Did I go to far? Or did I make a justified artistic statement?

How I learned to use Photoshop!

2010-09-20T21:24:00.002-04:00

For the novice Photoshop is a daunting product with hundreds of thousands of options and tools, I know I was overwhelmed and never used the program. That is until I discovered that I sucked at Photoshop, and if you are reading this riveted to your seat then You Suck At Photoshop as well. As recently seen I’ve been able to manipulate this powerful piece of software, albeit not expertly but well enough for my needs.
Now that we have come to this epiphany much like an alcoholic we can now begin the process of healing, the process of helping ourselves. That's where “You Suck At Photoshop” comes in. Its a web series and it makes learning how to use Photoshop enjoyable and engaging, much the way the Plinkett reviews are deep in depth analysis of film and yet so much much more, so is are these episodes of Photoshop mockery each episode uses Photoshop in useful and relevant ways. I suggest if you have, in anyway, been interested in using Photoshop but didn’t know where to start watch these videos, and if you don’t give two damns about Photoshop but love to watch a man slowly go insane being overwhelmed with impotent rage then watch these videos.
FYI if you have a soft stomach when it comes to “harsh” language don’t click the links or watch the videos. Also FYI if you need to learn a tool quick each video covers a different tool or need just read the titles.

If that embed video doesn’t work try YouTube's.

*edit* Not everyone has the resources ~~or the know how~~ to get Adobe Photoshop but never fear for I will show you the light, the following are excellent open source, i.e. free, alternatives.
GIMP
Paint.Net
Picknik
splashup

Wherein I try Windows Live Writer to post a blog… or is it blog a post?

2010-09-20T08:39:00.004-04:00

The family recently went on a little road trip down south and I come back with photographic proof of purchase.
This first photo is my attempt at photoshoppery, of which I admit is not a strong point, hence the reason I try to avoid having to do a lot of post editing.
Here is the after:
and the before:

Not bad for one who doesn’t use the photoshop very often, if I do say so myself. Morbid yes but it strikes me as funny.
These next photos are of my Son and Wife. Just some white balancing and cropping that's all.

All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.

2010-09-14T01:15:00.003-04:00

I'm still updating the look and feel of the blog. Added some widgets, taken others away. I have a new title image & text as well. Hell I even add a flavicon, the tiny little icon that shows up in the in the way upper right corner of your browser/tab, it'll even show up in the bookmark.

I added some links to the link roll, one in particular I think everyone should click on especially if you have any interest in photography as a hobby or as a professional, in fact I'd say you would be doing yourself a disservice if you don't click the link.

Photography Is Not A Crime

There are some who criticize his techniques, but he's doing a public service fighting to get our civil rights reaffirmed. So please go take a look read the words, watch the videos but be warned one you step through the looking glass it can get to be a scary place once you realize whats going on around you.

On that note I'll leave you a fun little picture of me eating a peanut butter, bacon, banana sandwich, enjoy.

appellation

2010-09-11T16:43:00.001-04:00

Wherein I share a couple of older photos, these of an older model Ford was taken with my Motorola Droid, a lot easier to carry around then a DSLR.

Theres something about antiques, a personality imbued into them over a lifetime that makes them unique, gives them character. Once they were anonymous, just one out of a million others made faceless in a factory.

I really love this photo, its very surrealistic.

Is it man or is it beast.

This was of course taken with my K100D

What have I been doing?

2010-09-10T12:38:00.000-04:00

Yes its been a while since my last update so what have I been up to this whole time? Well, if you must know my wife and I had our first child. In fact shes started a blog for him, darder family, take a look leave a comment.

No new photos for this update but here is a short film I created with the help of my friends.

I made a video, using photos!

2010-03-02T12:54:00.001-05:00

So I decided it would be kinda cool and creative to make a montage of all my photos. I was playing around in Lightroom™ library mode when I pressed and held down the arrow key and my pictures flew by, *ding* inspiration. I decided that I would film my monitor while I flip through the pictures using with my Droid™. I liked the kind of off putting low def feel to it. Well anyways enjoy, and let me know what you think.

New Feature, Voice Mail!

2010-02-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

I've integrated a new feature for your benefit, and mine... maybe. Anyways you can leave me voice-mails now.

Wherein I take a large panoramic picture and flush it through snapdragon

2010-02-25T23:26:00.000-05:00

Wherein I share a few photos from my Alma Mater, just a few.

2010-02-22T03:33:00.007-05:00

Pro Deo Domo Patria

Good ole' University of Mary Washington

wherein I experiment with new technology

2010-02-19T00:30:00.006-05:00

Microsoft Live Labs has some very interesting and exciting technology going on.

Like this,

As well as this which I find extremely intriguing.

Snapdragon let me do this

I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and madness...

2010-02-18T00:46:00.014-05:00

And there I lay covered in the vegetation creeping along, lest I make notice of my presence, it is here... the place where I belong where I must be the utmost of careful, for those who dwell here take unkindly to my presence. I slowly raise my camera and steeled myself for the inevitable click clack of the mirror, trusting in my Pentax™ to hold true in the face of what was to come.

I snapped a photo, then two, three more in quick succession, I didn't have much time but I had to make this endeavor count or all would be lost. click clack, click clack, I depressed
the button and the shutter winked its eye and cut off the last beams of light. Quickly now I was done I must fly away from this place before.... hastily I thrust through the over growth and fled as fast as humanly possible enhanced by the fears of the supernatural.... then nothing, I realize there is nothing without these photos, there is nothing....

Quickly hide. I fear for our souls.

There is no escape, there is only eternity.

Does this madness end?

How is it possible to go on...

what treachery is this what has happened to my beloved....

Look who tried to sneak up on me.

2009-07-31T23:27:00.002-04:00

There I am minding my own business taking some pictures at the civil war battlefield when some jerk decides to stick his/her nose into my kool-aid, so I fight back photographer style!

At this point I try and be sneaky and creep through the grass trying to get as close as I can, I probably have deer ticks all over me now.

This is about the time he decides I'm boring and that theres more interesting stuff to look at in among the trees.

I'm still working on the photos I took, so far they look quite good if I do say so myself, which I do. I'll post the ones I think are best and might use for the art show later when I'm done processing them. Until then adios!

Wherein' I decide to push myself

2009-07-30T14:22:00.004-04:00

I've decided to put my work in an art show. Wow right? The Soundry is a cool little place where you can rent studio space to work and place your art up for the public to see and buy. They've had a few art shows since they opened but nothing that has really piqued my interest until now.

"12 Angry Women"
September 26th
8:00-11:00pm
at The Soundry

This will be our first JURIED ART SHOW. Here's the deal: The jury will be comprised of 12 women (whom we will announce as soon as commitments are solidified), and the art in the show will be by male artists only. There are no stipulations based on theme or medium. Artists can submit up to 5 pieces to be judged for entry into the show. All entries must be submitted digitally, as judging will take place in a digital format. All digital submissions are due to melissa@soundry.net by LABOR DAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH. Judging will take place that week, and the final artwork must be at The Soundry no later than September 21st. Awards and acknowledgements will be announced at the show. Submission fee for non-members is $30 for up to 5 submissions. If you have any questions, please let me know!

So the race is on, I have some ideas for some pieces and I plan on submitting all new work, maybe one old photo if I can spruce it up some. So that is the plan, I have about a month to submit my work digitally, but I want to print it up huge and on canvas so I'm looking at the following sites. I wonder how big I'll be able to get my 6 megapixels before quality degrades too much.

MPIX
WHCC
Image Kind
Photogonia
Canvas Press

Thats all for now, see you on the other side.

-Darder

p.s. If you live in our around the greater Washington D.C. area, especially Northern Virginia go check out The Soundry and buy some art, especially from Matt Patton, but be quick his stuff sells fast.

wow I suck at blogging!

2009-06-18T20:00:00.002-04:00

I must apologize for not posting anything between now and February, computer issues and lack of time have resulted in what I hope to be a great blog to falter. I'm aiming to have a dedicated computer for my photography and maybe even a new camera, man that Pentax K7 looks cherry. I'm putting in some overtime at work so maybe I'll have some extra cash. What do I do you ask? Why I'm a GIS Analyst, sounds cool huh, well check out this video Geospatial Revolution Project, makes my job look pretty damn epic, and make it seem that I'll have some long term job security coming up in the next half a century.

The Purpose

2009-02-10T19:35:00.003-05:00

I feel like I should explain my blog. Its here to expose my photography to a wider audience but more importantly to gain feedback so I can improve my photos. I believe that learning should be a life long goal, well at least for me, and I am consistently striving to improve myself and my work.

So if you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas for not just my photography but for my blog or even life in general please share with me.

As a thank you here is a picture!

p.s.
Heres a link to a good tip Stop wishing for that amazing camera and appreciate the one you've got because Lord knows I get funny looks from people when I tell them I shoot with a Pentax K100D, which I love.

War! What is it good for.

2009-02-10T18:40:00.004-05:00

So here are the photos I linked to before, I figure it'd be better to show them directly on the blog rather then forcing you to click links to them.

These are photos from the documentary Survivor Stories.

I was trying to emulate the kind of photos army photographers would have taken in the midst of battle, I also did some editing to make them look like they could have been taken during the war.

Please tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions as to how I'd be able to improve my photos. This blog is here to not only share my photography but to improve it.

All photos taken with,
Camera: Pentax K100D
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

Oh no under attack!

Run away!

Ze stupid Americans attack!

FIRE!

Surrender!

Apparently these guys don't know whats going down.

But they're just kids!

Tired

We got wounded!

Flowers are girly time to man up!

2009-02-06T22:30:00.006-05:00

This wasp thingie was on a trashcan on campus of my Alma Mater, I had to get a lot closer to it then I wanted to, to be able to get these shots ugh.

Click to enlarge!

This sucker I found on the front porch of my house one night, it really was massive. I had a lot of trouble taking this guy's picture. I just have the built in flash, and the porch light was weak, so initially it was either way to dark or washed out, I finally grabbed a sheet of white paper to hold in front of the flash to diffuse the light. I built a bounce card the other day so I shouldn't have this problem anymore lol.

Photos By Chris Darder
Camera: Pentax K100D
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

Hey look flowers...

2009-02-05T20:10:00.007-05:00

No post yesterday guys sorry about that but I was busy… watching LOST! Hmmm Perhaps I should have posted that I wasn’t going to post because of LOST, anyways back to why you are here.

Wait why are you here? Why am I here? Is there a reason, purpose to it all? Have I become a nihilist? I know what to do! Hey look flowers!

Now as I stated in a previous post this is one of my favorite pictures, well the final product was. As you can see the first is the original.
Click picture to make gooder.

Same picture with color correction, sharpening and cropping.

Then some weird thing I did in Photoshop that I forgot how I did, I think I had to look it up in the first place. That is kind of why I don't use Photoshop too much, I try to do everything in camera, because I'm not good with Photoshop.

This is also another favorite of mine, its colorful, the whole frame is filled and the best part, shallow depth of field! I love how the foreground and background is out of focus.

Please comment and let me know what you think.

Hey look at what I made

2009-02-03T21:09:00.012-05:00

So here's the deal last August, 2008, I went on my honeymoon with my bride. We flew across the country and ended up on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, "the garden isle". While there we decided to go see what Mark Twain supposedly described the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific", Waimea Canyon, now if you knew me you'd realize that this was crazy since I have an insane irrational fear of heights, seriously I feel like I'm on an incline and slipping off towards the edge. I digress, I decided to take a series of pictures to make into a panoramic view of the canyon from the lookout area, and here they are.

This one turned out kinda funky, but I like it, like I'm on top of the world looking into infinity and I'm able to make out the curvature of the earth, or something.

Self Portrait

2009-02-02T20:33:00.003-05:00

So I was trying to grow my beard out, hard to do when you are half Korean. My wife wasn't too thrilled about it, she said I looked like a homeless person. My wife, my muse, she inspires me so. That's when I took these much to the bewilderment and chagrin of my charming and beautiful bride.

From i have a camera, now what

Previous works posted elsewheres...

2009-02-02T15:28:00.011-05:00

This picture was taken on the campus of my Alma Mater University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. I noticed a group of them outside on of the buildings as I was leaving class, luckily I had my Pentax with me so I took a bunch of shots. I think this photo really illustrates one of my favorite techniques, actually two. Macro photography, although its not too macro, and the other is use of a shallow depth of field.

I'm going to put in some links, in the link list of course, of some of my previous photography. Ah hell, I'll even post the links within in this post as well.

This first link is to some random photos I took, some are artistic like the above previous flower, some suck and I need to take them out, and others are just me with "celebrities".

Darder Photography, it is in flash format made in LightRoom.

This next one is a series of photos I took for a WW2 documentary called Survivor Stories.

Here are my Survivor Stories Photos, again flash format made through LightRoom. Have I mentioned how much I love LightRoom? I did a bit more post production on these then I do with most, I was trying to capture the feel of the old war photos. When I was taking these photos I tried to imagine myself in North Africa, as a war correspondent, and how I would have taken these photos when there would have been a battle raging around me. I think I did a decent job, let me know.

One final thing, about this blog, feel free to post comments please, especially comments that consist of sentences. I enjoy constructive cristisicm, let me know what you like and why. Let me know what you hated and why? Please offer me tips and hints at how I can improve my photography and this blog. If you comment and or email me I promise to take the time and effort to reply.

Light Tent DIY

2009-02-02T00:52:00.013-05:00

So I'm going to start using this blog as my photo blog, and here is my first photo entry.
I decided to make a light tent, instructions of which I received from Digital Photography School
These first few images are the light box in progress and the rest are pictures I took of my old analog Pentax Asahi K1000

Phew now thats built onto taking some photos.

Yea i'm liking the way everything is lit but without any harsh shadows.

Photos By Chris Darder
Camera: Pentax K100D
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6