MCT Images

Prints on Sale to Support Habitat for Humanity

Posted by Martin:

I have two new prints up for sale this week.  These are of the lighthouse in Manteo, North Carolina in the Outer Banks.

A portion of this auction goes to support Habitat for Humanity.

Click on the images to check out the auctions.

Photography sale to support Habitat for Humanity

Posted by Martin:

I have some new photographs up in my Ebay store.  Sale of these prints support Habitat for Humanity.

    Click on the images purchase a copy.

Sale to support Habitat for Humanity, The Nature Conservancy, and The Nationals Aquarium in Baltimore

Posted by Martin:

I have put a few of my photographs from my eBay store into auction format this week.  They're less expensive (possibly) in auction format.  Check them out and support a good cause!

I have few others for sale as well.  Click on the pics to go to the auction.

If you visit this page after the auctions are over you can visit my store here.

New Photographs on Sale to support Habitat for Humanity and The Nature Conservancy

Posted by Martin:

I have just posted two new photographs to my eBay store.  As most of my photographs, I sell them to help support a cause that I like.  This time around it is Habitat for Humanity and The Nature Conservancy.

This Napoleon Wrasse I photographed at The Georgia Aquarium.  Twenty percent of this sale goes to support the Nature Conservancy.  The photograph is signed and dated on the back by me, thus making it a unique collectible.

This photograph is the Governor's Mansion in Colonial Williamsburg.  I got the look of it by using a color dodge setting, I'll probably post about that later.  Twenty percent of this sale goes to Habitat for Humanity, another cause that I greatly support.  This photograph also comes signed and dated by me on the back, again making it a unique collectible.

Click on the pictures to go to the sale.

And as always these sales are organized through the Mission Fish service of eBay.

Click here to see other photographs for sale to support the Nature Conservancy.

Ebay Sale to support The Nature Conservancy

Posted by Martin:

One of the places that I see my work is in my eBay store Tiller Photography and Gallery, although also sell Star Wars stuff and other collectibles.  Today I put up for sale three matted prints to support The Nature Conservancy.  I like that eBay uses Missionfish to let sellers support their favorite charities.  I have several prints that support The National Aquarium in Baltimore, and I'm going to change my store so that all prints support one charity or another.

These three prints I shot at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. 

The first print "Ghostly Whales" is of two Beluga Whales, and I just love how they seem to have an ethereal quality to them in the shot.  

The second print "Sea Dragon" is of a rare sea horse.  My wife and I went on a behind the scenes tour and we were told that this tiny fish has such a specific diet that it costs more to feed it, than it does the giant whale sharks they have on display.  I am still in awe over that.

The last print "Flying Rays" is of a school of Cownose Rays in the main tank at the aquarium.  I just love how they look like a flock of birds flying.  Apparently cownosed rays can also be found off the coast of North Carolina, I read that some where.

Anyway, check out the auctions.  If you purchase one, not only do you get a one of a kind piece of art work, you also get to support a great cause.  Check them out!

James River Shots

Posted by Martin:

Digital Photography Schools new assignment is water shots.  Here are some shots I got last summer on the James River.  Hope you enjoy!

 

Cropping a pic to get the right image

Posted by Martin:

Sometimes when looking for an image we need to look into cropping a shot we already have.  This color shot on the left is the shot I started with.  In my mind I was looking for a dynamic image of this cross, consequently I closed down the f-stops to get the background to blur.  I got that, but I want a little more pop to the image.

I've been into making black and white images recently so I decided to try my hand with this one.

Mixing channels in monochrome, and then working in curves to get more detail in the shadows and more clipping in the bright areas.  After fiddling and trial and error I get an image I am pleased with, which got me to this:

I find this image to have more dynamic and moody look that I was originally looking for.  But this is a full frame 3:2 raw image, and I sell 8x10 prints.  I have sold straight 11.5x7.5 prints.  It's an odd size, but allow me to sell a complete frame.

But I thought I should see what I can get by cropping to 8x10, from there I get to this:

This image is a crop of the middle part of the above image, and yet it is similar, I think it gives a different feel, because the cross doesn't seem as skinny as the above images show.

I end up liking this image probably even more because it gives a less even feel to the arms of the of the cross, the outside parts seem bigger than the top and bottom sections.

Share what you think in the comment section.

Click on the image for a link to my eBay store.

My cats in the window

Posted by Martin:

Blatant fatherly 'pride' (oh the humor)....

My cats in the window.
I'm using this is as my lines entry in the Digital Photography School assignment for the week.  The diagonal lines of the bottom frame of the window, plus the blinds.  With added furriness!

I'm also offering this in my eBay store as well.  Check it out!

Smiling Beluga Whale: How I got the images

Posted by Martin:

This is an 8x10 print I just put up for sale in my eBay store.  I went to the Georgia Aquarium last March and I am still working through the photographs I took there.

I was pleased that I could get a shot of the whale almost smiling at the crowd.

But the original raw shot looked like this:
With a nice big head in the way.

Using the clone tool with a fairly large pixel setting, but with soft edges I was able to paint out the head and replace with blue water.  Sometimes using the clone tool, I find that you need to use very little pixels, as in 5-8, but because I was trying to replicate water I was able to use a bigger brush of about 15 pixels.

Although you really can't tell it in these thumbs nails, the original was fairly noisy due to the 800 ISO I was using to get the image.  Using Noise Ninja to reduce the noise, which was really distracting in the face of the whale and with a lot of noise in the water, I used settings as little as 1 in the luma strength of the filter.  When I first worked on this shot, I did too much noise reduction and it blurred the eyes of the whale, making it look more like a painting.

I'm pleased over all with how the pic came out.  The tank is huge and the whale was several feet above me, but I like how it shows the whales happiness.  This whale was taken from a Mexico park that couldn't take care of it, but it thrived for a while at the Georgia Aquarium, and I think this pic shows the animal's happiness at the time.  Unfortunately, it was already very sick and I read it had recently been euthanasied because of all it's previous ills.  I was very sad to read that.

Dowdy's Abandoned Amusement Park-How the image was done

Posted by Martin:

I want to post and describe how I've done some of my shots, especially ones that can be purchased in my eBay store Tiller's Photography and Gallery.

This one I simple call Dowdy's Abandoned Amusement Park.  I wa s on vacation in the Outer Banks in North Carolina, my wife and I were out driving around and I saw this what seemed to be a recently abandoned amusement park.  I was struck by the idea that someone just one day decided to go out of business, but didn't even bother to clean up or try to sell the place.  It had the feel of a place that was once very popular with the tourists.

When I was editing this shot I wanted to give the feel of a faded photograph that may have been taken in the 1960s.  I was thinking that although the place was recently abandoned, if I made the image have a slight yellowish tone to it, it would make seem that it had been abandoned for decades.

I got this look by selecting certain colors and then adjusting them within the Hue and Saturation tool.  By increasing the saturation I was hoping for that older Kodacrome look.

I also adjusted the Curves in reds, to give more detail to the grass and certain places in the shadows.  When working in Curves I recommend trying to work with only one color and see what result you can get.

Click on the link for a larger example of the picture.