Day 303- No Brainer

Loving the ODC challenge today- TAPE!  How easy is that?

No, the package isn’t for YOU (whoever is reading this. . .)!

Or for anyone- I wrapped an empty box.

Now here is the “impressive” part: a few months ago I created some presets in Aperture 3 to try and imitate some of the actions I have seen for Photoshop. This one has a yellowish haze- I call it 1970’s extreme. I’ve only used it twice, but I like it for this one.

f/1.8 1/100 ISO 400 35mm

Day 302- Chasing Fall

We were on a mission today: find some fall color before it disappears!

We ended up driving almost all the way to Tahoe today until we finally found fall foliage. None of my photos do justice to the gorgeous golden yellows contrasting with the dark evergreens, but I liked the way the late afternoon sun was hitting this beautiful aspen.

Day 300- Boo!

DAY 300- Woo Hoo!

I’m following the daily theme today from my Flickr group- through a hole.  Since it is almost Halloween, this seemed like the obvious choice to me. I exposed it correctly, but ended up darkening it in Photoshop to make it SPOOKIER. . .

f/13, .4 sec., ISO 400, 85mm

Day 299- Clock Tower

Today’s photoshoot was at the Clock Tower, one of the oldest buildings in Benicia (1859).  I took bracketed photos for HDR, but couldn’t seem to commit to it in processing.  I vacillated- standard processing, black and white, HDR, texturing- so many choices!  I tried everything but texture and ended up going with black and white.  I think it looks a bit spooky, which is appropriate for the season.

And, BTW, I did NOT take this photo at 4:o8- it was 9:47!

f/11, 1/80, ISO 400, 18mm

Day 298- Going Green

This is one of those uninspired days. Thank goodness for Texture Tuesday and for Flickr topics- otherwise I would be even blanker than I am right now! One of the ODC topics this week is Going Green, so I took some photos of the green leaves in our yard and textured them with one layer of Kim Klassen’s cool grunge and another layer of peacock.

Day 296- It was intentional, seriously!

Yes, I intentionally took this photo OUT OF FOCUS!  It’s called Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)- probably invented by someone like me who struggles to get their photos IN focus! There are even Flickr groups devoted to photos taken this way- and some of the images are stunningly beautiful.  Anyway, I had so much fun trying it out- and had no clue what I was doing.  I ended up liking several and chose this one taken in my back yard (of course).

f/22, 1/6, ISO 160, 35mm

 

Day 294- Black and White

Grainy Black and White was today’s challenge- hmmmm…

I love black and white portraits- actually black and white images in general. My husband cooperated with me by looking away from his computer for a moment (he works from home), so that I could quickly snap a photo. He didn’t mind that I show his unshaven self to the world (how come men can get away with this and still look good?). I made some adjustments in Aperture 3 and then converted it to black and white in Photoshop. I struggled with the graininess part of the challenge, but did as much as I could to emphasize lines and shadows.

Day 292- White Pumpkins

White pumpkins! I don’t remember when I started seeing these in stores, but this year I bought three. The below is actually a macro shot; they are actually mini pumpkins.  I only took two photos and chose the second, so I really haven’t had my fill of white pumpkin photography yet.  Don’t be surprised if more white pumpkin images appear in the blog over the next week!

f/22, 1.3 sec., ISO 160, 85mm

I added two of Kim Klassen’s textures to this photo: tattered (2 layers) and just white.

Day 290- Colors

The colors in the web are what attracted me to this photo.  I was trying to quickly find some colored leaves this morning for a macro shot, but noticed the web. I added a texture because. . .well, the photo needed rescuing!  There were blown highlights I couldn’t recover- so I filled them in with texture.  I love Photoshop!