Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen

Jon Larsen on drums

Volbeat’s Anders Kjølholm

Volbeat’s newest member Rob Caggiano

Love that moment just before the band hits the stage!

Posted on April 11th, 2014 under outside of ashland, people. Tags: concert photography, medford, Nikon D600, volbeat. Comments Off on Volbeat @ Medford Armory (April 10, 2014)

Rob Caggiano (currently with Volbeat) with Anthrax in 2012

This Thursday night will be the third time I’ve seen Rob Caggiano on stage, but it will be the first time with Volbeat.

Posted on April 7th, 2014 under outside of ashland. Tags: concert photography, nikon d7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon, volbeat. Comments Off on Rob Caggiano visits Southern Oregon in three days

Volbeat, Trivium, and Digital Summer @ Medford Armory – April 10, 2014

A photo pass to this event is coming my way so expect some photos next weekend right here.

Posted on April 1st, 2014 under outside of ashland. Tags: concert photography, medford, volbeat. Comments Off on Volbeat @ Medford Armory next Thursday (4/10/14)

Marquee at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom listing The Pink Floyd Experience

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing The Pink Floyd Experience while visiting Portland. They still have a couple more shows left on this tour. If you live near Bremerton, Washington (3/29/14) or Vancover, BC (3/30/14) you don’t want to miss them.

The Pink Floyd Experience @ Portland’s Crystal Ballroom (3/27/14)

Tom Quinn

21st Century concert experience

Jesse Molloy

Randy McStine

Posted on March 28th, 2014 under outside of ashland, people. Tags: concert photography, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D600, portland, Tamron SP 24-70mm Di VC USD, The Pink Floyd Experience PFX. Comments Off on PFX in PDX

This past weekend I was hiking on Upper Table Rock. The ground was covered with wildflowers and snow-covered Mt. McLoughlin looked splendid in the distance. So I took this photo of the wildflowers.

foreground focus

But I wanted a photo with Mount McLoughlin in focus so I took another one.

distant focus

When I got home I was a bit disappointed in each photo.

My photography and Photoshop skills are completely self taught. I have never taken a class, had a tutor/mentor, or even read a book on either subject. I’ve learned merely by trial and error with my camera and trying different things in Photoshop.

So what I wanted to do was combine the above two photos. I did so by using Photomerge (under File/Automate) in Photoshop and unchecking the “Blend Images Together” option. Hit F7 to see the layers if your layers box isn’t already open. Select both images, and use Auto-Blend Layers (under Edit) to stack the images. The result is below.

Photomerged focus stack

It’s not perfect, but now I have a new option at my fingertips in the future. Two things I need to do differently:
1) Take more than two photos. Notice how the finished result is out of focus in the middle. Had I taken three or four photos, each with a different focus point, the entire stacked photo could have been in focus.
2) Maintain the same, or nearly the same, composition (and camera settings–shutter speed, ISO, aperture). I recomposed the scene a bit after taking the first image which doesn’t make for the best stacking conditions later in post.

A more recent focus stack of a similar scene can now be found here.

Posted on March 25th, 2014 under nature, outside of ashland, photography, places. Tags: flowers, focus stack auto blend layers, mount mcloughlin, Mt. McLaughlin, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G ED AF-S VR, Nikon D600, photoshop photomerge, Upper Table Rock. Comments Off on My first (not entirely successful) focus stack

Oregon Ducks Baseball
Austin Grebeck

See my prior post for more information.

Posted on March 24th, 2014 under outside of ashland. Tags: baseball, eugene, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D600, sports photography, UofO. Comments Off on Ducks in Medford today

Oregon Ducks Baseball
Mitchell Tolman

Next Monday (March 24, 2014) during Spring Break the Oregon Ducks Baseball Team will be travelling down I-5 to Medford’s Harry & David Field for a workout, scrimmage, and a meet and greet with the fans.

Posted on March 19th, 2014 under outside of ashland. Tags: baseball, eugene, Harry & David Field, medford, Mitchell Tolman, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D600, sports photography, UofO. Comments Off on Oregon Ducks Baseball Team in Medford next week

Ledger David Cellars @ Rogue Creamery

This weekend is the 10th Annual Oregon Cheese Festival at Rogue Creamery in Central Point. Today (March 16, 2014) is the beer and cheese portion of the 2014 event. Tickets are limited to 100 persons. Yesterday they sold far more tickets than that and things were a bit crowded. The samples were fantastic though.

Posted on March 16th, 2014 under outside of ashland. Tags: Nikon D600, Tamron SP 24-70mm Di VC USD. Comments Off on 10th Annual Oregon Cheese Festival

Oregon Ducks Baseball
Mitchell Tolman laying down the bunt

Unfortunately, the game the Ducks lost was the game when I was there. Ryan Riga tossed a complete game shutout with 10 Ks for the Buckeyes in the rain on Saturday evening when I took today’s photo. The Oregon Ducks were trying anything to get on base including many bunt attempts.

Posted on March 9th, 2014 under outside of ashland. Tags: baseball, eugene, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D600, sports photography, UofO. Comments Off on Ducks take two out of three vs. Ohio State