Modified 4-Jan-10
Created 4-Jan-10
143 photos
When I saw that a construction project was starting across the street from my home I decided that this was a good opportunity for a summer photo project. As the two homes began to take shape and I accumulated more and more photos I decided that I would have the photos printed in print-on-demand books and give copies to the new neighbors who bought the homes. I shot these photos in a photojournalistic style using a Nikon D700 DSLR. Over the four months that it took to build both homes I shot about 350 RAW format pictures, which were processed in Adobe Lightroom v2.6 and finished in Adobe Photoshop CS4... here are the best photos from that 2009 photo shoot.
The 1950's ranch style home (see black & white photo New_Homes-001) that used to be on that lot had a family living in it until a few years ago when they couldn't pay the mortgages balloon payment. During the last part of June 2009 the old home was demolished in a couple of days by the excavation contractor who also prepared the two lots for their concrete foundations. By July 5th the concrete foundations were finished and then by the 13th new water and sewer lines were installed for the south home (north home used the existing utilities). The framing carpenters, plumbers and HVAC contractors finished their work on the north home so that the prefabricated roof trusses could be nailed into place on July 20th. The pouring and finishing of the sidewalks and driveways were completed on August 5th. By August 25th the cabinets and floor coverings had been installed which completed the interiors of both homes. By September 6, 2009 both homes had their yards fully landscaped. Over a period of four months about fifty skilled craftsman labored through the summer heat to build these homes.
The last five photos in this group of pictures are of the two photo books that I created at Mpix.com and a composite of photos that were used in the production of the final book. Photo #139 shows the cover and first page of the construction photo book, and photo #140 shows a couple of typical pages with it's accompanying text. Photos #141 & 142 show a sample book that I had printed so that I could see exactly what an Mpix printed books would look like. This became a valuable resource when it came to determining how to layout my photo book. Mpix provides a free downloadable page layout program that you use to create your photo book. After the layout is completed you submit the book, but first you have to view a PDF preview of your book to sign off on the project. Even though all of my photos were shot in the same camera and processed in the same software they didn't all preview the same. About twenty percent of them had to be adjusted in PS-CS4 and replaced in the book's layout. Photo #143 is a composite of the books PDF proof output, the JPG's used in layout and a scan of a final printed page. In #143's composite images #1 & #2 you can see how the book proofs changed as a new photo was placed in the layout. Images #3 and #4 show how an increase in contrast and saturation made the final printed picture look OK as you can see in #5 which is a scan of the printed page.
The 1950's ranch style home (see black & white photo New_Homes-001) that used to be on that lot had a family living in it until a few years ago when they couldn't pay the mortgages balloon payment. During the last part of June 2009 the old home was demolished in a couple of days by the excavation contractor who also prepared the two lots for their concrete foundations. By July 5th the concrete foundations were finished and then by the 13th new water and sewer lines were installed for the south home (north home used the existing utilities). The framing carpenters, plumbers and HVAC contractors finished their work on the north home so that the prefabricated roof trusses could be nailed into place on July 20th. The pouring and finishing of the sidewalks and driveways were completed on August 5th. By August 25th the cabinets and floor coverings had been installed which completed the interiors of both homes. By September 6, 2009 both homes had their yards fully landscaped. Over a period of four months about fifty skilled craftsman labored through the summer heat to build these homes.
The last five photos in this group of pictures are of the two photo books that I created at Mpix.com and a composite of photos that were used in the production of the final book. Photo #139 shows the cover and first page of the construction photo book, and photo #140 shows a couple of typical pages with it's accompanying text. Photos #141 & 142 show a sample book that I had printed so that I could see exactly what an Mpix printed books would look like. This became a valuable resource when it came to determining how to layout my photo book. Mpix provides a free downloadable page layout program that you use to create your photo book. After the layout is completed you submit the book, but first you have to view a PDF preview of your book to sign off on the project. Even though all of my photos were shot in the same camera and processed in the same software they didn't all preview the same. About twenty percent of them had to be adjusted in PS-CS4 and replaced in the book's layout. Photo #143 is a composite of the books PDF proof output, the JPG's used in layout and a scan of a final printed page. In #143's composite images #1 & #2 you can see how the book proofs changed as a new photo was placed in the layout. Images #3 and #4 show how an increase in contrast and saturation made the final printed picture look OK as you can see in #5 which is a scan of the printed page.
© John Mantzefield Photography