Check out my recommendations for a DSLR kit. This is everything you need to get started. Are you missing anything? www.outofchicago.com/recommended-canon-dslr-starter-kit
And so shines down
The world to me
But what I make
Is what I shall be
 
This past Saturday I got out twice to shoot the city. In the afternoon was the photo walk with some great photographers. More on that in the coming days. In the morning, I found a new location for me at the University of Illinois Campus.
I walked the stairs at the UIC parking garage and was able to get a totally new view of the city. To get here, you head west on I-290 from the circle and get off at the first exit. From here you will cross over the expressway to the UIC campus and look for the parking garage. Hopefully you can find somewhere to park. I found a parking lot with the gate open.
Usually in a situation where something lands in my frame for a shot, I'll take my time to move into the perfect location, put on the right lens, make a good composition, check the camera settings, and take one last look before taking the shot. And usually the thing that popped up in the shot takes off right before I hit the trigger. In this case, the crow took off a fraction of a second after I got the shot. So, I don't know why, but I think this image was meant to be taken. And so I'm sharing it with you. Have a great week!
From www.outofchicago.com
I think everyone got this shot on Saturday. The surprising thing was how different everyone's shots looked. Even on the back of the cameras. I saw people that had yellow green skie. The only difference was the white balance. Today, I've started a series on color. The first article shows you how drastic changing the white balance can be to your image. You can read the article at http://outofchicago.com/mastering-color-series-part-i-white-balance-the-most-powerful-color-tool/
Out Of Chicago Blog | Google+  | Facebook | Twitter | 500px | Tumblr This may be my favorite shot from our walk Saturday night. The sky was boring without a cloud in the sky. But when I was taking my HDR brackets I realized that the sky looked fantastic when underexposed by a couple of stops. This image is a combination of the HDR image and the 2 stop under bracket. I painted the HDR image in for the buildings and left the single image alone for the ice and sky. Pretty much everything that I learned to do in Photoshop for this shot, I learned from Tony Reynes. I have asked Tony to contribute to the site as our resident Photoshop expert. Meet Tony at www.outofchicago.com/introducing-tony-reynes.
This is from one RAW file that I edited in Lightroom. I chose one of my darker exposures to bring out the color in the buildings and especially the sky. Come check out a guest post by Luis dos Santos about shooting some of Chicago's best architecture. http://outofchicago.com/guest-post-by-luis-dos-santos-chicagos-architecture-from-an-out-of-towner/
Review: Magic Lantern Firmware for the 5D Mark II http://wp.me/p1Yeel-1tf
Go to http://cjsmithphotography.com/2012/07/28/lake-county-fair-motocross/ to read about how I shot my first motocross race. It was a ton of fun!
I think everyone got this shot on Saturday. The surprising thing was how different everyone's shots looked. Even on the back of the cameras. I saw people that had yellow green skie. The only difference was the white balance. Today, I've started a series on color. The first article shows you how drastic changing the white balance can be to your image. You can read the article at http://outofchicago.com/mastering-color-series-part-i-white-balance-the-most-powerful-color-tool/
Out Of Chicago Blog | Google+  | Facebook | Twitter | 500px | Tumblr This may be my favorite shot from our walk Saturday night. The sky was boring without a cloud in the sky. But when I was taking my HDR brackets I realized that the sky looked fantastic when underexposed by a couple of stops. This image is a combination of the HDR image and the 2 stop under bracket. I painted the HDR image in for the buildings and left the single image alone for the ice and sky. Pretty much everything that I learned to do in Photoshop for this shot, I learned from Tony Reynes. I have asked Tony to contribute to the site as our resident Photoshop expert. Meet Tony at www.outofchicago.com/introducing-tony-reynes.
Check out my recommendations for a DSLR kit. This is everything you need to get started. Are you missing anything? http://www.outofchicago.com/recommended-canon-dslr-starter-kit
Check out my recommendations for a DSLR kit. This is everything you need to get started. Are you missing anything? www.outofchicago.com/recommended-canon-dslr-starter-kit
Check out my recommendations for a DSLR kit. This is everything you need to get started. Are you missing anything? http://www.outofchicago.com/recommended-canon-dslr-starter-kit
See photo in original gallery.