If there is one photographer in the USA today that I truly admire and am inspired by, its Trey Ratcliffe, aka, Stuck in Customs. Trey is the pioneer and voice of High Dynamic Range photography. His work is goes beyond vibrant and enters the realm of exuberant. He’s posted several tutorials on his website/blog and in his newsletter to help educate and spread the word about HDR photography, and today, being a rainy day in Maine, I decided to have a go using some of his methods. I set up some very basic still lifes using some fruits and vegetables I had just bought from the local farmers market (would have shot the market itself if it wasn’t raining so hard!). The flowers came from my garden.

I shot indoors using natural light from a nearby window. Remember, the day was cloudy, overcast and rainy, so the natural light was quite muted and very soft. I also shot late in the afternoon, about 4pm, EST. I bracketed the shots at -2, 0, +2. I used Adobe Photoshop and a trial version of PhotoMatrix to compare the results of merging the bracketed shots into one composite HDR shot.

Below is a small sample of the results. I do love the effects you can achieve with Photomatrix. I was so easy to use, but I couldn’t have posted this without Photoshop either. What a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

under exposed image	over exposed image	normal exposure
using Photomatrix to merge and style HDR image
Using Photoshop CS4 to merge and style HDR image
under exposed image	over exposed image	normal exposed image
using Photomatrix to merge and style HDR image
using Photoshop CS4 to merge and style HDR image
under exposed image	over exposed image	normal exposed image
using Photomatrix to merge and style HDR image
using Photoshop CS4 to merge and style HDR image
under exposed image	over exposed image	normal exposed image
using Photomatrix to merge and style HDR image
using Photoshop CS4 to merge and style HDR image

For more examples of my work, visit www.angelacoulombe.com

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009, another photographer friend and I attended a photography workshop held by Lynn Karlin, an internationally published photographer who specializes in homes and gardens. The workshop was held at Blackrock Farm, Kennebunkport, Maine. It was wonderful to have some one-on-one time with such an accomplished, local photographer. Lynn was amazingly approachable, knowledgeable and inspirational as she conversed about her career in the photography business whilst dispersing tips and tricks for creating stunning, close-up images of flowers and gardens.

Below is a small sample of images taken on the night. For more of my flower photography, please visit http://www.angelacoulombe.com/flowers.php.

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Considering the weather we’ve been having lately, it seems pure luck that Jessica and Aaron had the perfect day for their wedding.

The wedding took place at the Wilde Chapel in Portland, with a wonderful reception held at Camp Ketcha, Scarborough. Being an art teacher, Jessica personally designed the table arrangements, decorations and choose Camp Ketcha as a way of giving back to the community.

All in all,  it was a delightful ceremony and an even more delightful occassion.

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