Author: Melinda

Another Kelby Training seminar today!  This time it was Matt Kloskowski at the Sacramento Convention Center teaching the ins and outs of Lightroom 4.  I have been studying and using this program intensely for the last few months, but still learned some good tips- and had a great time seeing one of my favorite photo-editing teachers in person.  And it was even more fun, because my friend, Carol was there too.

We sat in the FRONT ROW!

Probably the most interesting part of the day was when we arrived and saw this:

Yup, those trees have blue trunks! The trunks have been painted with a supposedly non-harmful paint which will wash off within 6 months (some has evidently washed off already  in this week’s rain)- all to call attention to global deforestation.  Don’t try this at home, kids!

It’s been my intention for awhile to learn to use my iPhone camera in a better way- and to become better acquainted with Instagram.  I joined Instagram a year or so ago and only have ten or so photos in my feed (and only two followers).  I just am not clear on the concept- and the workflow.

So today, I decided that, since I was downtown without a camera, I would use my iPhone to take a shot of the First Street sign (today’s topic is first), post it to Instagram and the blog and be done with it for the day. I think the problem started when I underexposed the photo, making it grainy.  I edited it in Snapseed, exported to Squaready, and then sent it to Instagram.  I didn’t like my crop, so I repeated the process.  But then I couldn’t figure out how to get it from Instagram to my computer.  I e-mailed it, but it just showed me a preview with no way to save it.

I then went back to my iPhone camera roll, re-edited the photo in Snapseed and e-mailed it to myself, saved it, opened it in Lightroom, where it looked so awful that I had to tinker more, eventually turning it into a black and white.  I don’t know if I will re-upload it to Instagram, because there are already two versions of it there- and I don’t know how to delete them.

The process was not quick.

So- if any of you blog readers love Instagram, please let me know why- and how you manage it (especially how you upload it to your blog).

And the deal is, I am having to stop myself from taking another photo for today with my REAL camera- I still may go out later!

These images are from two different times today- early-ish this morning, when the rain was falling and just a few minutes ago, when it started getting dark outside.

Rain on the window:

The color in this photo was already pretty monochrome in the RAW image- so I did a very straightforward black and white conversion, using one of the CM Paparazzi presets- and tweaked the clarity a bit to emphasize the raindrops.  I used this shot for one of the Daily Challenges- pieces.  Raindrops are pieces of rain, aren’t they? Aren’t they???

The second photo I actually planned out last night, when I noticed this Christmas tree as I drove up the hill.  Christmas tree? Isn’t it still November? I am already behind as usual. I thought the lone tree sparkling on the hill above made a nice image for at the top, another challenge.

Armed with a list of undone daily challenges from my Flickr group, we took a drive downtown through the fog to see what would fit the bill.  Today’s challenge was orange– easy with the mass of leaves littering the sidewalks.  I haven’t edited any of those photos yet and may post some later.  But what caught my eye were the boats and cars in the junk boatyard downtown- perfect for the challenge, ravaged by time.

This detail of an old Fageol truck is the one I will use for the challenge.  Not sure what the Christmas lights are all about.

Love these old boats- and have photographed them many times.