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
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
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.
It’s back to the white pumpkins again!
I used a small aperture with a two second shutter speed- and then edited with my HDR program (Photomatix) to bring out the detail in both the pumpkins and reflections.
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
I’m using ODC’s topic today- Starts with J. Seemed pretty easy as I was pouring a glass of orange juice. . .
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.
Rain is the topic today in my ODC group, and it isn’t raining. Not feeling too inspired, I turned the hose on some leaves and snapped a quick macro. It’s not cheating really- it’s improvising. . .
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.
My friend and fellow photoblogger, Carol came to spend the day with me. After a day of laughter and talk, Carol, my husband, and I went out for dinner and some sunset photography. My instant fave is this image of Carol photographing the Carquinez Bridge.
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!
I ventured no farther than my back deck today to take this closeup of my wind chimes. I then had fun with Aperture and Photoshop changing things up a bit- creating a black and white image with textures and pink tones.
A quick macro shot today- my lucky bamboo, which has been photographed for the blog before, but this time from the TOP!
I got the idea in response to the topic of luck for my Flickr group, Our Daily Challenge. After yesterday’s YELLOWJACKET adventure (yes, I googled them- I was calmly standing in the midst of about 8-10 wasps!), I didn’t feel like venturing outside. Not going to push my LUCK!
f/4.5, 1/20, ISO 500, 85mm
Not sure what this is- bee? hoverfly? But there were a bunch in the camellias today.
f/5.6, 1/200, ISO200, 85mm
Hadn’t done my photo yet, husband comes home wanting us to go to the gym, want to get a photo quickly, go outside, watch birds and squirrels, then come across THIS!
I know I’ve done webs and “fairies” before- but WOW- look at that bokeh! There was just ivy and a fence behind it, no water drops, no colored lights- no clue where all that bokeh came from. It is amazing to me the things you see when you LOOK! And now- off to the gym! 🙂
melinda anderson photography 