Capturing the beauty of the Earth in a colorful and captivating way.
Weekly Newsletter 5 Week of November 9-15, 2020
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Jeffrey's Weekly Newsletter
Week of November 9-15, 2020
Weekly Recap
Hi everyone, and a warm welcome to all who joined this week.
This week, I focused a lot on getting images edited. The adventures in the Smokies and Blue ridge that I took in the weeks prior saw me accumulate many images that are now sitting in Lightroom. I've started to chip away at them this but have only gotten around 4 done. The first set of images will be coming out on Instagram starting next week. Look forward to that! Other than editing, not much to be excited about. I see a lot of editing in the future as I have over 40 selected images to go through and process.
This week's images are a throwback to Boston, my second home. 2 of my favorite spots in the city are Fan Pier and the Esplanade on the Charles River.
This shot comes my friend Kevin Howley! You can find him on Instagram (@kevinphowley) A few months ago, I asked you guys for RAW files to edit and Kevin graciously lent an image from his home state of New York. The goal of this shot was to display the busy-ness of the harbor as well as keep the composition clean. I cropped the image so the main subject would be the line of rooster tails leading the eyes. They provide a great line as well as contribute to the busyness. I loved the little boats hanging around. They added more interesting elements to the blue water and added to the story. The 2 docks in the frame provide a sense of balance as they are on opposite sides of each other. their staggered nature helps contribute to the depth as well as add to the story. For editing, increasing contrast, and adding a deeper bluer grade to the overall image to give it more watery vibes.
"Shoot for the Stars"
I've been hyping this image quite a bit and it's quite technically advanced. If you haven't read, this project took 2 months to complete. The idea came in February 2019 when I decided to see if shooting stars trails as possible. Really, it came about during the blood moon when I was able to take the image in Boston on the Charles and clearly see stars. That spurred the idea that star trails might be possible. Unfortunately, there was next to nothing on the internet in the form of a guide on how to create star trails. I knew starstax was a piece of software to create these star trails so I went out one day and tested this idea by shooting a 30-minute exposure on the Charles. I saw a few stars but nothing incredible. But, I knew this was possible so with that in mind, I went out a month later to create this. Not going delve too deep into the process as I've already written a 10-page guide you can read here. I don't want to write it again.
"Zoom By"
One of my favorite spots in Boston is over in Fan Pier. Extremely photogenic, boasting one of the most iconic cityscapes of Boston. Come here with a wide-angle and you can't go wrong. For this shot, I created a 5 minute long stacked exposure. What this means I took 30 10s exposures and in photoshop, used mean stacking to blend them all to create a 5-minute long exposure. I love how the clouds just out from the center like light rays. With a clean and balanced composition where the horizon line was straight and no elements were cut out, the clouds really added to the drama of the image. Add in a blue hour edit and it becomes a unique and eye-catching piece of art.
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Photographer of the Week
This past week's Photographer of the week was Jurij Pelc, also known on Instagram as @jurij_pelc! Check out Jurij for dreamy aerials and magical long exposures Based in Slovenia, many of his images depict the lush Slovenia countryside with rich natural colors and sharp details If you’re a fan of dreamy fine art landscapes like I am, definitely go to Jurij’s profile
Check out last week's Photographer of the Week
Cody Conk (@codyyconk)
Gifts This Week
Be sure to grab your free gifts from my Shoot for the Stars remaster if you haven't already. Click the link here to be directed to the download link! The folder includes 8k wallpapers, a city star trails short field guide (meant to be used in conjunction with the blog), and a 4k timelapse of the 5 hours I was on the river.
A thing I learned this week/ my thoughts:
Not really a thing that I learned this week but I came across a quote that really hit me.
"Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly... until you can do it well"
-Zig Zigler
I don't want to delve too deep into it but just think about it for a second. Any skill of worth will take tons of time and dedication to mature. The things that are truly valuable, that change the world will be hard to accomplish and everyone who starts will suck because the skill required is so difficult. Just like how in photography, in the beginning, we all suck. But, the rare and successful ones keep pushing despite the initial loss in motivation until they can be successful.
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Plans for Next Week:
The majpr plan for next week will be getting my store up and running and allowing you guys to purchase my prints. I've created a new printing workflow that takes my images and optimizes them for every size. Look out for that, a few free gifts, as well as a guide to optimizing your own prints for printing.
