February 8, 2012 – A year of portraits – Lowell Mendyk

02.08.12 Lowell Mendyk

Lowell Mendyk has been a good friend and photographic mentor every since I was a junior at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School. Over the years we’ve had many photographic adventures together and still do today. I stopped by his house today to help with a computer issue; he is a little technology challenged when it comes to some things, and made this portrait in his office with two of his “kids.”

Post processing for this portrait was done with Photoshop CS5 with very little work done on it. I adjusted levels, dodged the edges a little and applied Topaz Adjust’s “Simple Pop” filter to round it off.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/80, f/4.5 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

February 7, 2012 – A year of portraits – Pat Walters

02.07.12 Patrick Walters

Sometimes portraits present themselves where you least expect it, as with this one of Patrick Walters in Earlington, Ky.

We were having lunch with members of The West Kentucky Photography Club, which Pat is a member of, and a couple members started taking pictures of Pat to go with an upcoming club program and after they finished I caught this portrait using the light in the restaurant.

Photo was shot using my iPhone, but processed using Photoshop CS5.

Levels were adjusted slightly and I did some dodging on the eyes as the light coming from overhead produced darker shadows than I wanted. I then applied the Topaz Adjust filter “Simple Pop” to produce the final look.

Technical Details:
Camera: iPhone 4
Lens: Built-In Camera lens
Exposure: The iPhone doesn’t record shutter speed or aperture information
Apps Used: Standard phone app

February 6, 2012 – A year of portraits – Maria Lee

02.06.12 Maria Lee

For Maria Lee creating things from fiber is her obsession. She is the owner of Black Dog Fiber Studio in Madisonville, Ky. Her favorite tools are her spinning wheel and rigid heddle loom – each allows her to work closely with the fiber she dyes and cards into batts and roving to create one-of-a-kind art garments. She also weaves with exceptional commercial yarns, many of which she has hand-dyed. An outstanding artist and business woman in our community.

On the Web:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/blackdogfiberstudio
https://www.facebook.com/BlackDogFiberStudio

This photo was processed using Photoshop with levels being adjusted, a slight amount of sharpening and burning in on the edges to bring the eye to her.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/80, f/4.5 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW