Window Washers - Print-a-Day-5

This is number 5 in the series "Print a Day for 30 Days"

The Woodman of the World building is the second tallest building in Omaha. These guys are out there a lot. In this photo they're somewhere near the 17th floor. Whenever I caught sight of them in action I was glad I had an inside job.

Printing this photo was very much about the paper stock. The color of the paper influences the color of the highlights. As I've said before, Lightroom's soft-proof can only get you close. If you have a specific result in mind, you'll need to select your paper stock carefully and make test prints.

gs

Portrait - Print-a-Day-4

Number 4 in the "Print-a-Day-for-30-Days" project.

This is my grandson in one of the few moments where he is standing still. I caught him in the window light while he was on his way out to play with friends.

This was the easiest photo to print, so far. Everything seemed to fall well within the capabilities of the printer and nothing special needed to be done.

gs

The Burlington Building - Print-a-Day-3

Mike Johnston of the Online Photographer suggested that you may improve your printing skills by printing a different photo every day, for 30 days.  This is the third photo in the series.

This is a detail from the interior courtyard of The Burlington Building.  Originally built is 1879 as the headquarters for the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, this building has been remodeled several times, and is now general office space.

A skylight provides most of the light to the atrium.  It's supplemented by several electric globes.  This extremely high contrast lighting was more difficult to photograph than to print.  The HDR treatment compressed the high contrast range into a relatively flat, easier to print image.

gs

St. Bridget's Church - Print-a-Day 2

Day 2 of the Print-a-Day-for-30-days experiment is this photo of two of the altars in St. Bridget's church. 

This is another test shot from the same church in yesterday's photo. Photographing the church will be a longer term project for this year.

Given all of the linen and marble in the photo you might think setting the white balance would be easy. In this photo, the perception of white is more important than a technically correct white. In a print, the color of the paper has an effect on the "whiteness" in the photo.

Lightroom can help with this if you've calibrated your monitor and have accurate profiles for the ink and paper you've chosen.  But the process isn't perfect.  A simulation on a monitor will never perfectly match a print.  So, there isn't any substitute for a test print.

gs

St. Bridget's Church - Print-a-Day 1

A few days ago, Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer suggested that you may improve your printing skills by printing a different photo every day, for 30 days.

Today is my seventh day into the project and I must admit that I'm getting more comfortable with printing.  My skills may or may not be improving but I've learned a lot about printing through Lightroom 4.

Now that I have a 7 day cushion I'll post screen versions of the photos I've selected for prints.
St. Bridget's is the beautiful old church I attended during my grade school and high school years. I'll be returning over the next few weeks to get additional photos. This is one of the initial test shots.

gs

Omaha Union Station

At one time this was Omaha Union Station.  Opening in 1931, this was the terminal for every passenger railroad except the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Burlington had their own station, connected via skywalk, nearby.

After passenger rail service ended in 1971, the station was unused and had become very run down. It has since been restored and given new life as the Durham Museum.  In addition to the many travelling exhibits, the Durham has many permanent exhibits on railroad and Omaha history.

This is the main hall where people would buy tickets and wait for their trains.  The Durham houses thousands of items related to Omaha and railroad history, but the station itself is counted as the museum's largest artifact.

gs

Power Drive 2012

Saturday was the Power Drive 2012 Final competition.  Teams of high school kids spent the last year designing and building electric cars and Saturday they finally got a chance to see how their creations performed.

It was a long day.  It started at 7 AM with check-in, safety inspections and performance trials for braking and maneuverability.  Then, there were three races that each lasted about an hour.

You can find several more photos here.

I've enjoyed photographing this event for the last couple of years and look forward to doing it again in the future.

gs