Day 237- Good while it lasted. . .

Just when I decided that my amazing Nik Color Efex Pro was here to stay, it unexpectedly and tragically expired last night.  What will I do without the Detail Extractor and Contrast Color Range filters? Well, since I didn’t know they existed until a few weeks ago, I will be going back to my usual practices until I decide to buy the software.  But since I’m eying a Wacom tablet right now, Nik will have to wait.

I’m going with the topic for yesterday’s challenge- letters.  I decide to photograph mailboxes and had an image in mind of mailboxes along a country road.  Since I couldn’t find any rural looking mailboxes nearby, I added a sepia effect and some texture and called it done.

With apologies to my neighbors (they don’t read my blog anyway. . .)-

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Day 236- Homework

Inspired by Scott Kelby’s seminar yesterday, I set out today to take some bracketed photos to practice HDR.  Of course, Scott’s photos were shot in Paris- and mine were taken in Benicia- but it was all about the techniques, right? So next time I’m in Paris, I’ll be ready!

I’ve dabbled in HDR before, using Photomatix and Scott’s preset for Photoshop, but this time I did a little finishing work in Photoshop and Lightroom.  My eye isn’t trained yet, so I spent a long time with the sliders trying to decide what looked best.

 

 

This one isn’t HDR, but was edited with Color Efex Pro, one of the freebies we got for attending.

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Day 235- Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Look who I spent the day with!

That’s right- it’s my good friend, Scott Kelby of Kelby Training, Photoshop Magazine, and a zillion books! I say my good friend, because Carol and I sat front row center, oohed and ahhed over his editing techniques, laughed at his jokes, and sat next to someone who actually knows him and is pictured in his newest Photoshop book. None of the other 450 attendees could say that!

We weren’t among those who asked him questions at the break, but we did generally stalk him, paparazzi-style (except with short lenses and better ethics).  Here is Scott at one of the breaks; Carol is stalking him on the right.  The shadow people were lined up to actually speak to him.

Scott is a fantastic presenter and incredibly skilled at photography and photo-editing.  The topics ranged from editing in Adobe Camera Raw/Lightroom to portrait retouching to creating panoramic images to HDR and more. We had a fabulous day and learned a lot (none of which I attempted to do tonight on these photos)- and, after it was all over, we were brave enough to crawl up on the stage (yes, crawl- don’t ask. . .) to have our photo taken by our other new friend, also named Scott, the one who actually knows him.

All these photos were taken at ISO 6400.  You would think they would have better lighting for a room full of photographers!

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Day 244- Texture Tuesday (and my love affair with black and white. . .)

Last week, my photo buddy, Carol, took a fantastically clear photo of a white feather stuck in the weeds down by the water with her amazing Nikon D800.  She didn’t post it to her blog, but I still remember it from when she was uploading her photos at my house. When I went to the same spot yesterday, the feather was still there! I took a couple quick photos, not nearly as clear as Carol’s, but, to be fair to my camera, I also didn’t take much time with it. Last night, I decided to use it for my Texture Tuesday photo.  I love Kim’s textures and learned to not be afraid of Photoshop from her clear teaching style!

So, here it is, desaturated and layered with Kim Klassen’s dream it texture.

And now on to my love affair with black and whites!

I have always loved black and white photography.  When I was in college taking photography, that was what I learned (and I wasn’t particularly good at it).  My father had a darkroom in our garage, so I have many images of my children in black and white from when they were small.  Now that there are digital cameras- and Lightroom and Photoshop- there are so many ways to process the same photo.  I often try a black and white conversion along with my regular editing- especially when the color doesn’t add much to the photo, or there are strong lines (or strong emotions)- or just because. . .

So here is the feather with a more contrasty black and white treatment (no texture this time).

My Flickr group’s theme for today is starts with R.  I got out some ribbons left over from a bridal shower I gave for my god-daughter, Andrea, a few years ago and took a few photos.  This first one is how I originally envisioned the final image- pastels with a soft focus.

But then- I just had to do a black and white, which I think I like better!

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Day 233- Monday Morning

My husband and I took our coffee down to the water off 12th Street today and were early enough to wake up the Canadian geese and watch the fishermen setting up their poles.  I took some bracketed shots, thinking I would do some HDR work, but ended up playing with my Color Efex Pro demo that I got (for free!), because I’m going to see Scott Kelby Wednesday (love you, Scott- sorry about what I said yesterday. . .).  I’ve had the Nik Software collection on my wish list for over a year (it is EXPENSIVE!), so I’ve loved using this demo version for the last month.  I think it doesn’t expire- it is just not the complete set. I can report that it is all it’s hyped up to be.

I did my regular Lightroom adjustments, and then went into Photoshop to apply the filter (I could have gone straight from LR, but I needed to do a bit of cloning).  The filter I used on this photo is aptly called Monday Morning, and I love its “instagram-ish” look.  One of the sliders is called smear!  I turned it down a bit, but otherwise kept everything full strength.

Happy Monday!

And here is another shot that I also edited in Color Efex Pro- to bring out the color and detail in the shadows.

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Day 232- Flower Rebel

Yesterday I watched an episode of The Grid with Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski.  It was one of their blind critique episodes, which I always find a bit irritating (even though I have learned SO MUCH from those two- and this week I get to see Scott in person!).  They totally dismissed flower photography, because flowers are naturally pretty and all have been photographed before.  And you should never photograph a flower with spotty irregularities on it.  I get their point, but there are some wonderful flower photos out there.

My intention was to go down to the waterfront at sunset tonight, but I’m losing steam.  In desperation, I took some shots in our yard of an oleander just budding. I know, I know- it not only has flowers, but the most mundane of flowers!  But I liked how the late afternoon sun was lighting it. It was windy, which made my attempt to do a macro shot of a moving target a kind of comedy of errors !

Since the oleander is white and the background turned black when I shot it, I decided to turn these into black and whites.  Feeling rebellious, I chose to not use the spot healing brush on these flowers, which I normally would have done. There are specks of dirt on the blossom!!!

I like the lighting on this one. . .

 

and the shape (of the same bud) in this shot.

 

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Day 231- Saturday Scenes

Cloud formations and the promise of a good view led my husband and I to the vista point overlooking the Benicia Bridge and Suisun Bay this morning.

Here is a view of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet and Suisun Bay.

And here is my favorite shot- the Benicia Bridge with a view of Mt. Diablo.  After this shot was taken, we got in the Prius and drove across the bridge to buy new shoes for both of us- and to shop at the Pleasant Hill Farmers’ Market.  All in all, a good morning!

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Day 230- Low Carb/Schmo Carb

I have been going through my low carb cookbooks trying to get inspired.  I feel better and am definitely more healthy the more I stick to a low carb diet (and when I exercise).  Arthritis in my knees, hips, and feet has been my excuse for not exercising as diligently lately- and I have been very bored with my low carb diet.  The Shutter Sisters prompt today was cooking, which I certainly do- but I decided to focus on the low carb issue for this photo.  I chose these cookbooks, because the bottom one is 15 minute recipes (yay!)- and the top one has photos of wine and chocolate chip cookies on the cover (double yay!).  Please note that the cookbooks are placed next to the microwave, because some days (okay, MOST days) I just want to get the cooking over with and move on to the eating!

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Day 229 Tabletop

Tabletop photography is the topic for today in my Flickr group, Our Daily Challenge.  I could swear this basket was made by Shakers or some other very American group, but it was, not surprisingly, made in China.

 

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Day 228- A Walk by the Water

My photo buddy Carol and I took a walk by the water today- always a great place for photography, even at midday.

I couldn’t help taking fence photos on our walk to the park.

Anise is always abundant by the water; this time I converted my photo to a black and white.

My pesky Canadian geese friends were there again. I liked this view of them best (Carol got some beautiful shots of them in flight with her D800).

And here is Carol taking a closeup shot of a feather in the weeds!

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Day 227- Texture Tuesday


The theme for this Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen’s Cafe is Look Down.  The photo was taken looking down at the edge of my tub this morning.  It is textured with two layers of Kim’s subtlely yours, both using soft light, the second at 50% with some masking.  Two notes- I used my flash (it was just too dark at 7:00 a.m.), and I “stretched the canvas” using free transform, because I didn’t want the edge of the tub to show (and I actually knew I was going to do that when I took the photo!).

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Day 225- Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . .

Friday’s  photos of Olivia riding are still being culled and edited. I took way, way too many, most on burst mode, because I didn’t want to miss anything- and I am finding more and more keepers.

So I am posting a few more, followed by an animated GIF of her riding. I have no idea if the animation will show up on phones- so we’ll just have to see.  I put together a random sequence and realized afterward I should have used some of the later shots where she was doing some fancier stuff (cantering with lead changes). Next time- video!

And before I forget, here is my photo of the day of one of my fading mums, to satisfy the topic, delicate.

 

And now, back to Olivia. . .

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 224- Open

I’m sure I’ve written about my favorite piece of furniture before- the one hundred year old mahogany dental cabinet that belonged to my father.  It sits by the front door and holds drawerfuls of family memories- as well as some old liqueur glasses behind the little glass doors above.  I took this photo for today’s Flickr topic- open.

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Day 223- Olivia

Olivia has been a part of my life since before she was born.  I became friends with her mom, Barbara, when she joined our staff as a first grade teacher. At the end of the next year, Olivia was born.  My daughter was her babysitter when she was just a few months old, and I became her teacher when she went to first grade.

Olivia always loved horses- and still does at age twenty-one.  But how she got to be twenty-one so fast I do not understand! She goes to college, works at Fed Ex, is a Cross Fit trainer, and does work at the stable so that she can ride.  She is beautiful with a great head on her shoulders- I’m so proud of her!

Today, her mom and I drove over to Sonoma where Olivia gets to ride Peru.  I know nothing about horses, but I do know this one is gorgeous! I took over 600 photos during the hour Olivia put him through his paces.  Here are just a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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