domain

I finally got around to registering the domain again. I’m pretty sure no one would snipe it, but since I’ve had systematic serendipity for as long as I can remember, I don’t want to lose it.

How long have I had it? Check out this blast from the past:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://systematicserendipity.com

Yikes

Blog inertia. I need to get out more and take more pictures. Grad school, work and a nasty head cold have kept me sidelined.

The Church Courtyard

The Church Courtyard, originally uploaded by Systematic Photos.

We had a work lunch thing at the John Hancock building and I got some interesting shots from above (once the clouds broke up a bit). I had seen the church on my way in but, after thinking about it, I realized I really needed to go down there and get a few pictures.

On one side of the court yard there are some steps upon which I was able to set up my smaller camera and I was able to get this 9 shot HDR. I’m incredibly pleased with the way it turned out.

I find myself using the same sort of settings in photomatix and photoshop each time. I think i said this before, I guess I’ll say it again…while I like having a ‘style’ or ‘feel’, I think I need break out of that a bit. I notice that a lot of my colors have stone textures to them and are a bit pale. I need to get out an challenge myself to fool with colors.

Having said that, it could be a while before that can be a reality. Winter in Chicago isn’t exactly the most colorful time of the year, unless you like gray and white. Then again, with an impending trip to California….maybe I have options…..

Also, here is the shot from inside the church.

Chicago Board of Trade

Chicago Board of Trade, originally uploaded by Systematic Photos.

Here’s one I’ve been wanting to get for some time. It was only after I was able to go to some training from Oracle in the Sears Tower that I was able to capture a picture of the Chicago Board of Trade.

I wanted the colors to be cranked up, yes some what washed out….in a style that reminds me of some of the first color pictures (or maybe even a colorized black and white picture). It seems to make it look older than it is to me.

Again, there is a dash of ‘orton’ on it. I’m really in love with the look that orton gives things. I’ve used it a bit now and just dig that ‘dream like’ quality of it. It softens it, but also adds some surrealism to it. More so, perhaps, with the last picture of Beck Chapel than with this one….but there is an aesthetic that I cannot get enough of with it.

with all the snow we are getting today, I think I’ll need to get out this evening and get a few pictures. I think it’s time for the pendulum to swing back the other way and do some non-HDR shots for a while. But who knows…..

Beck Chapel

Beck Chapel, originally uploaded by Systematic Photos.

I’m really happy with the way this one turned out.

I was walking around the IU campus taking pictures near the memorial union and as I was walking toward beck chapel I kind of saw this picture in my head.

I really tried to nail the composition by aligning the sidewalk to the right and trying to frame the photo the way I wanted. I think that came out right. Although Beck Chapel is in the heart of the campus, I wanted it to almost look like it was a little chapel out in the middle of the woods and I think I got that.

It’s a little darker than I wanted, but when I try to raise the exposure, it looses the atmosphere the darker tones create. Also, some of the detail in the limestone bricks gets lost, so I just left it how it was.

LUC Library Shot

library, originally uploaded by Systematic Photos.

Okay, I feel like i’m getting closer to where I want to be with this stuff. I think this picture turned out well.

This was a combo of a very ugly and noisy Fattal with a Photomatix render. I lightly masked in the noisy Fattal render to give the stone the look I wanted.

What makes this a little different is the addition of an Orton layer to give it a softer feel. I also tried de-noising it too, but that made it all look too blurry….

Then it was off to a little post-processing and curve adjustment and I was done. The whole process took me about three and a half hours.

Somehow I want to bring out the noise but not have it be as obvious. I’m also less than thrilled with the noise in the clouds at the top of the building. I wanted to bring out the definition in them rather than having a giant white blob….but the grain is a little less than desirable. I’ll have to work on that next time.

GrandCentral

GrandCentral, originally uploaded by Systematic Photos.

This is my latest HDR. Flickr has inspired me to go back to some of the older pictures I’ve been sitting on and give them a shot.

I’m still in the process of trying to find my style. I think this is closer to what I’ve been wanting than I’ve gotten before. I’ve tried incorporating renders from various softwares to get these results….but it’s still missing something (Orton?).

What I’m trying to do is draw out the detail in the brick without making it look too cartoonish. I’m also trying to make the image ‘glow’ without it being over the top. There’s a fine line between good HDR and pure shit. How to walk that line is the key, I guess.

I think this is pretty good. Especially when you consider that this was taken with the small point-and-shoot Canon running CHDK.

I’ve got a series of 3 high resolution pictures for an HDR that I’m trying to work on now. I just can’t seem to get it right. I had a decent copy, but it was just too dark. I’ll play with that more and we’ll see how it goes.

Once and Again

There is another Systematic Serendipity out there and yes it is mine. It’s from very distinct periods of time in my life when I felt like I needed to shout at the the void — angry rants against god only knows what. Probably my last job. There was a lot of that. If you find it and enjoy that sort of thing then… enjoy, I guess.

I think the tenor of this blog will be different. I think there will be more of a focus on photography of the HDR variety. Maybe some technical/security stuff. Who knows. Maybe I’ll even forget about it and let the sands of time ravage it.

That last outcome probably more accurate. But we’ll see, yes? Anyway. That’s about it for stunning insight.