Longwood Gardens at night

Longwood Gardens at night

check out our "lights at night" slideshow

Lisa Cuchara featured on Photographers of Planet Earth

Lisa Cuchara featured on Photographers of Planet Earth



http://photographersofplanetearth.com/lisa-cuchara/

Tom Cuchara featured on Photographers of Planet Earth

Tom Cuchara featured on Photographers of Planet Earth 

http://photographersofplanetearth.com/tom-cuchara/

Posing Tips for How to Look Your Best in Photographs

This is a very good article for our models! And for people in general.

Dear Model: Posing Tips for How to Look Your Best in Photographs

http://petapixel.com/2013/05/24/dear-model-posing-tips-for-how-to-look-your-best-in-photographs/

"Dear (new’ish) Model, My name is Other Model. I have spent the last couple of years finding out a few things that I wish I’d known from the start. Please don’t think I’m patronising as I mean this only in goodwill, as there is absolutely no gain for me by sharing these cheats. Not all of my points will be valid for you as posing varies in each genre. Just take what you can and ignore the rest. If only one suggestion helps your future career then my time has been well spent. Rule one, the mirror is your BFF. Stand there, perfect your poses and learn how your body shapes. The mirror is a perfect tool to show you what the camera can see – try to imagine it behind your photographers head when shooting and always consider what can be seen from that angle. "

Read the rest here and see all the photos: http://petapixel.com/2013/05/24/dear-model-posing-tips-for-how-to-look-your-best-in-photographs/

Create separation between your limbs from your body. Not only does it prevent the arm/leg from being squashed against you spreading out any fat, it is also an optical illusion for a slimmer appearance in terms of overall width. A basic cheat that makes a massive difference.

Fat arm to thin arm

Body width shrunk by optical illusion

Read the rest here and see all the photos: http://petapixel.com/2013/05/24/dear-model-posing-tips-for-how-to-look-your-best-in-photographs/

Lisa's photos win Eastern State Photo contest

So Excited! My two entries both won at the Eastern State Penitentiary Annual photo contest. Hall with the Red Chair (inspired by Tony Sweet) First Place Color and Reflections of the Past Third Place B&W.

http://www.easternstate.org/explore/tour-guide-chronicles/congratulations-our-2013-members-photo-contest-winners

Stephanie at the Moravian Tile Factory

Here is a sneak peak of our photo session Sunday at the Moravian Tile Factory. Stephanie was great, lots of expression, easy to work with, and I love all three outfits!

 

"THE" Red Chair Panorama

Here is my version of "THE" Red Chair Panorama. I just had to try it after seeing Tony Sweet's photograph at the recent Triple Header (the audience clapped when they saw it, as they appreciated that it is hard to create an awesomely different image of such an iconic scene). I could not find Ton'y version online so I cannot link to his version for you to see his awesome originality.

I posted three versions, which do you like the best? the top one, the darker version or the Nik midnight blue version?

105 images taken at Eastern State Penitentiary -- 98 images (14 compositions, 7 exposures each, tripod not moved) were HDRed and stitched into this panorama. Then another composition (7 exposures, taken from the doorway) were taken and HDRed and then this HDR image was layer-masked back into the doorway. Versions 2 (glamour glow, duplex and detail extractor) and 3 (midnight and detail extractor) were processed in Nik.

Lisa

I cannot wait to go back and try again! We are leading a workshop to Eastern State Penitentiary on Sept 21st and we will have the entire place to ourselves before the public arrives. 

More about the 77 image panorama from Eastern State Penitentiary.

I got a bunch of questions about the 77 image panorama that I posted yesterday from Eastern State Penitentiary so I thought that I would elaborate...

I cannot wait to go back and try again! We are leading a workshop to Eastern State Penitentiary on Sept 21st and we will have the entire place to ourselves before the public arrives. 

I took 9 different compositions each of 7 exposures images from the hallway (without moving my tripod feet I took 3 compositions (7 exposures each) looking left left, another 3 looking right and one head on); all at 17mm with my back against the wall. I also took 2 compositions (of 7 exposures) each looking inside (21mm) with my tripod at the doorway.

7 exposures of each composition

I HDRed the 9 sets of 7 images into 9 images and then merged them into one. Cool, but you really cannot see inside very well.

I HDRed the 2 sets of 7 exposures into two HDR images and then merged them into one (photomerge).

 

Then I layer masked this (14 image) composite into the doorway. 


Then I applied Nik midnight and detail extractor. 



If you are not versed in HDR capture and processing you could just take 9 images (instead of 63) and photomerge them into one panorma.  You would not have detail in the shadows and highlights.  

And the bar would be across the door, which would obstruct the view inside (that is why I created another 14 image merged photo and layer masked that one image into the doorway so you could see the bed inside. 

No HDR, just 9 images stitched below

versus 63 images HDRed and stitched (inside of room not so good)

versus 77 images HDRed and stitched and layer masking the inside of the room 

The End Result

I cannot wait to go back and try again! We are leading a workshop to Eastern State Penitentiary on Sept 21st and we will have the entire place to ourselves before the public arrives. 

A 77 Image panorama of Eastern State Penitentiary

77 Image panorama of Eastern State Penitentiary

After being inspired by Tony Sweet at the recent Triple Header in Hamden CT I had to try out a long hallway at Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) for a panorama.

• -- I took 9 sets of 7 images from the hallway (3 left, 3 right and one head on) at 17mm, my back against the wall and then 2 sets of 7 images inside (21mm) from the doorway. 
• I HDRed the 2 sets of 7 images into two images and then merged them into one. 
• I HDRed the 9 sets of 7 images into 9 images and then merged them into one.
• Then I masked the 14 image composite into the doorway. 
• Then I applied Nik midnight and detail extractor. 

I cannot wait to go back and try again! We are leading a workshop to Eastern State Penitentiary on Sept 21st and we will have the entire place to ourselves before the public arrives. 

Lisa earn's award for Best Amphibian at the Glennie Nature Competition.

Lisa earn's award for Best Amphibian at the Glennie Nature Competition. 

"The judging for the thirty-third (33rd) George W. Glennie Memorial Nature Salon was conducted on March 16 at the Greater Lynn Photographic Association's club house. The judges for this year’s salon were Jake Mosser, Art Vaughan, and Mike McNeill. It was a challenging competition with 900 images from clubs around the world. We had clubs representing the following 7 countries & 21 U.S. states "

http://mvcameraclub.org/Glennie/2013/ResultsSlideShow/Awards/bestOfCategory.htm

Pixel (the red-eyed tree frog) learns to skateboard

Pixel (the red-eyed tree frog)  learned to skateboard,  thanks to my friend Edie who found him the perfect sized skateboard. As you can see he had a blast! He really got very good very quickly, even able to transverse the railing on the stairs (fourth photo). At one park, see the third photo, he had a lot of on lookers, haven't they ever seen a red-eyed tree frog skateboard before? I also think he was very proud of how much AIR he got at the last skateboard park (see the last image). Tomorrow Pixel is going canoeing, he really likes Connecticut!

Gianna at Grand Central Terminal

Gianna at Grand Central Terminal, see more here

Gianna met us at Grand Central Terminal for a HDR photo shoot, she was wonderful to work with! Flexible mentally and physically. I cannot say enough wonderful things about her!