Hickory Hill Photography » Fall

Fall Family Portraits

Jim Fox — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:51:22 +0000

Oh boy, what did I just get myself into? Turn this way, tilt your head, smile, chin up, chin down, left, right, etc. Some friends of mine are living in my Grandmothers house while their new house is being built. So they wanted some fall family pictures around my grandmother’s property to remind them of their time spent out there. The property is surrounded by farmland and woods, plus includes a century old barn. At first I was kind of at a loss as far as poses, where to stand, place hands, look, etc. For someone who keeps to himself, this was kinda tough for me to get past. But once you start you develop a little feel for what needs to be happening. I still have the little things I need to watch out for; hands, hand placement, straightening up clothes, smiles, eye glass glare, etc. ENJOY!

Don’t ask me “What about this pose?” cause I might just take a quick picture of it!

Sometimes you just have to stop…

Jim Fox — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:41:44 +0000

How many times do you drive by something and say you need to take a picture of it but don’t? Well this is Vandercook Hall on Western Michigan University’s Historic East Campus. During the late spring, summer and early fall months I probably drive by this building 3 or 4 times a week. It is a beautiful old brick building that was completed back in 1940. It is now covered in Ivy from the ground to roof line. I’ve never taken a picture of it until now. I’ve always said I would stop by and get a picture of it because the contrast between red brick and dark green leaves always intrigued me. But driving by the other day and the ivy changing into it’s fall colors made me stop for sure. I only wish I had a tripod with me. Hopefully I can make it back there before the fall colors are gone.

Fall 2009 Edition

Jim Fox — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:35:38 +0000

A buddy and I Went out at the crack of dawn this morning (7:30 am and 35°F) to see if we could capture some of the fall colors for 2009. Weather at home was calm, clear and cold. About 15 minutes away from Hall Lake we started picking up scattered fog and it only got worse. You couldn’t see anything at the lake with all the fog. So we wandered down to the pine forest to see if we could pick up some fall foliage there as the fog was clearing out. After a 20 minute walk and not much luck we headed back to Hall Lake. The sun was rising fast, so we ended up just messing around with Neutral Density Filters and Polarizers trying to get a couple keepers for the day. Below are my only two keepers of the day and unfortunately the one I missed the branch hanging out into the frame………..oh well. If it doesn’t rain much this week, maybe we can try again next weekend.

Fall Color and Nik Software’s SilverEfex Pro

Jim Fox — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:13:13 +0000

Really not a lot of work into this post processing wise. Nik Software’s SilverEfex Pro did most the work. After doing my initial Level and Curve adjustments in Photoshop, I also applied two unsharp masks of 150, 1.5, 3 and 20, 50, 0. I then ran the finished image thru SiverEfex Pro and applied the Sepia preset. I then took both the color version and the sepia version into Photoshop CS4 and blended the layers. Click on the image to see a larger version.

ENJOY!