Day 285- Leaves and Bokeh

Awhile ago, I joined a Flickr group called Bokeh Wednesday and haven’t participated. I like having a topic to fall back on for those days when my photography mind is blank (uh. . . that would be most days. . .).  A busy day is ahead of me, so I considered my options, grabbed my zoom lens, and went outside early this morning in search of BOKEH.

Of course, there has to be an interesting foreground subject as well- a little difficult in my backyard these days. After zooming in on boring green or bare branches for awhile,  I finally settled on the few colored leaves that are way up high in our oak tree.  And thank goodness there is a small degree of bokeh-ness in the photo as well- nothing to submit to the group, but the topic got me started today.

f/5.6, 1/100, ISO 320, 200mm

Melinda4 Comments

Day 284- Red!

I’m suffering from leaf envy right now looking at the beautiful fall foliage photos (there’s some alliteration for you. . .) on Flickr (more alliteration!- I’ve been teaching phonics to first graders today).  There are some colorful trees in our town, but nothing compared to the photos I’m seeing online.

I found some leaves at my school today (where I volunteer, now that I have retired) and use one as the subject of today’s photo. It’s Texture Tuesday with a RED theme, so I added a layer of Kim Klassen’s grunged texture. Check out Kim’s Cafe for some gorgeous texture work.

 

 

 

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Day 283- Hello

It’s Macro Monday, so I chose to use my flowers again- this time, photographing details of some of the lilies. This image reminds me of sea creatures somehow.

f/14, 1 sec., ISO 160, 85mm

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Day 282- Landscape of a Rose

I decided to use my flowers as photography subjects again today and became entranced with the curves and lines in a single rose.  I moved closer and closer, eventually changing to a macro lens and getting out my tripod. I’m not sure this image says “ROSE,” but I like the color, curving lines, and composition.

f/20, 3 sec., !SO 160, 85mm

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Day 281- Filling the Frame

My husband likes to bring home flowers- especially now that he has discovered how reasonably priced you can find them at Trader Joe’s. When he handed me this bouquet, he told me it was for me to photograph for the blog.

I love having the decision made about what to shoot for the day almost as much as I love getting flowers!

So here we go- beautiful flowers! I decided to fill the frame, in response to the ODC group’s challenge- full.

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Day 280- Campbell’s Soup

I thought a quick photo of some soup cans (bracketing for HDR) would be a piece of cake for today.  I would use it for In the Kitchen, one of the topics for ODC, and it would be over and done. Plus, it is kind of a nod to Andy Warhol (and my friend, Kathryn). . .

Well, I discovered lighting was an issue (the cans reflect), stacking evenly (never did get that right and don’t care now!), and then there was the HDR processing.  I like HDR more for the fun of doing it than the actual end result, but this time it was not fun!  I ended up retaking the photos twice and doing the HDR conversion many, many, MANY different ways.  It bothers me that the lettering, which IS in focus, looks out of focus in the photo- but I guess that’s part of the HDR effect.  So, as sick as I am of this photo, here it is!

Melinda4 Comments

Day 279- Magnolia Fruit

Since I didn’t participate in Texture Tuesday this week, here is a textured treatment of a photo I took today of the fruit of the magnolia tree (looks like a pinecone).  I split-toned the image in ACR and added Kim’s bent edges– my favorite of all her textures.

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Day 278- Joy of . . .

We arrived home from Carmel less than an hour ago, and I am already having fun editing my photos.  This morning I wandered around town while my husband was at his meeting, and I had fun taking bracketed shots for HDR (as well as endless flower photos- it is so beautiful there!).

I was having trouble deciding which image to post, so I decided that I would look at today’s topic for Our Daily Challenge on Flickr.  Today it is “Joy of . . .” I decided my response to the challenge would be the joy of getting out of town– and that my photo would be of the inn where we stayed (conveniently, an HDR image).

These are the back steps of the inn, leading down to the street- less than a block from the main Carmel shopping area!

 

 

Melinda2 Comments

Day 277- Carmel Flora. . . and Fauna

My husband and I are spending the night in Carmel (he has business here in the morning).  So… I’m quickly getting my photo of the day done before we head down for wine and cheese in the lobby and then out for a seafood dinner.

My photo of the day is of this huge and mysterious flower (someone quick- tell me what it is!).  It reminds me of a pinwheel or a starfish as it turns in the breeze.

 

I’ve added a bonus photo today- an image of one of the thousands of California oak moths that have invaded Carmel (or at least our inn!) this October- truly mind-boggling! It is a sign of my dedication to photography that my first thought upon getting out of the car into the storm of moths wasn’t “Ewwww- MOTHS! Get me out of here!” – but was “Quick, I have to get out my camera!”

Melinda2 Comments

Day 276- Dark Side

I have been on a decluttering rampage.  I have several generations of, let us say, possessions– not exactly junk- to pare down, if my husband and I ever hope to move someday to the beautiful streamlined, low maintenance condo we envision in our future. Right now, I am looking at cabinets full of silver trays and bowls- and cut glass, lots of cut glass.  Although I LOVE china, I have never really been a huge fan of silver and cut glass- so it all tends to stay hidden away, gathering dust. Do I sell it, give it away, have a garage sale? I heard once that every bit of clutter is a decision not made- no wonder this is stressing me out!

My photo was taken in response to the topic from Our Daily Challenge- GLASS.  The image is of part of a beautiful carnival glass goblet, bought years ago at a garage sale. It is part of a set of 4 goblets and a pitcher- shades of blue, decorated in a grapes motif.  Any potential buyers reading this blog?

The topic of this post- Dark Side- not only refers to the dark side of my cluttered personality- but also to the fact that I may have crossed over to the dark side of photography with this photo.

It is underexposed.

There is only one small part in focus.

It is mostly bokeh.

But I like it so much better than the other photos I took where you can see what the goblet actually looks like.  Let’s call it ART!

 

 

 

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Day 273- Fence Friday

I spotted this white picket fence on the way home from my physical therapy appointment (carpal tunnel, not- hopefully- photography related), pulled over and got this shot.  This is actually more than one shot, because of the deep shade.  I had to blend two photographs in Photoshop in order to get enough detail in both foreground and background.

So, Happy Fence Friday!

Melinda2 Comments

Day 272- No place like . . .

I took a morning walk today, determined to get out of my rut of taking photos in our backyard.  I spent some time on shots of our neighbor’s Japanese maple, as well as pampas grass, fences, bees, flowers etc. in the neighborhood.  As I returned home, I liked the way the plantings on the edge of our front yard look like a forest, so I took a few shots.  And those are the ones that I ended up using. No apologies, no excuses- I just like this photo best!

 

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Day 271- I Heart Kalanchoes- NOT!

The weather was hot, the company was great, the food was fantastic (the best 6.95 salad I’ve ever eaten), the grandbaby (not mine) was adorable- and the photos? Wellll, not so wonderful.

Each outside table at the Petaluma restaurant where we ate was decorated with a beautiful red kalanchoe in a cute pot- so I focused on that for my photo of the day.  When I was editing tonight, I just couldn’t get the colors to look right- the red flowers with the green leaves looked like Christmas to me.  The more I looked at the photos, the more I disliked them.  I tried a sepia processing with and without texture- too bland.  I ended up with a simple black and white conversion- and called it DONE!

But wait- the day wasn’t over! After coming back to it a couple hours later, I still didn’t like it- especially the composition and the lack of contrast in the flower petals. I went back to the color version,  changed the crop, and did an HDR cheat on it (only 1 photo with 3 exposures), which helped some.

So. . . it’s 11:00 now and I have wasted entirely too much time on a photo that I don’t really like. There is something to be said for getting a good shot SOOC, Carol!

 

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