When my husband invited me to accompany him on an insurance claim in San Francisco today, I jumped at the chance to photograph something other than my backyard and family heirlooms! Unfortunately, it was a foggy day ALL day, so my plans for a gorgeous Golden Gate Bridge shot went out the window. You could see a bridge was there, but you couldn’t easily recognize as the Golden Gate.
But, with the magic of HDR, I managed to create this shot- and, I assure you, it IS the Golden Gate!
My ODC Flickr group’s latest challenge is “with a flower on it.” My first thought was dishes. My Blue Ridge and my china definitely are flower decorated- but I have photographed them for this blog several times. So I wandered out on the deck this morning to see if there were any flowers left that I actually have not featured on this blog.
I think I found one. One exactly! The last geranium on the plant, alas.
Because it is Texture Tuesday (and because I like it this way), I added 2 texture layers (Kim’s bent edges and canvasback). I played around with the image for awhile and decided to change the whole thing to a black and white. I’m not sure if that is supposed to work well with textures, but I like the effect.
I think I will be photographing dead leaves next. . .
Macro Monday plus the Flickr group ODC’s topic seven= today’s photo. I used seven beads from a craft project that I’m working on and called it DONE! 🙂
f/22, 1/80, ISO 800 85mm- and used my FLASH (!)
9.11.01- 9.11.11
One of my photography goals has been to take more landscape photos- to step back and see the whole scene not just the details. Cows on the hillsides are a frequent sight here in the SF Bay Area- yes, we do have cows! So today, while on an afternoon drive, I took this shot of a cow silhouetted against the sky. I even incorporated some negative space (another goal), but I did crop slightly.
I ran Pioneer Woman’s Old West action to adjust the color, and then added Kim Klassen’s antique texture.
My grandmother collected coffee spoons- those little spoons you see on sale at tourist shops everywhere. When I was a little girl, I was fascinated with them. They are all different, and most are over a hundred years old. The one in the foreground is from the 1892 Chicago’s World Fair, the Columbian Exposition, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in America. I think her mother must have bought it, since Mimi would have only been four years old at the time.
I used a sepia tone and texture in the processing of this photo.
I managed to squeeze in a few photos before meeting my Rapunzel friends in Sonoma for lunch today. I had noticed this gated walkway on a previous visit back in April, but was with family and didn’t want to make them wait for me while I composed my shot and adjusted settings (I was a lot more self-conscious about those things back then. . .). So today I had my chance!
f/5.6, 1/50, ISO 500, 18mm
Bosc pears caught my eye at the grocery store. Later, at home, they caught my photographer eye- aha! A photo op!
I played around with them a little in Photoshop. I hadn’t thought to put a backdrop behind- and who wants to see my family room?- so I darkened the background and added Kim Klassen’s crackerjack texture in multiply mode. I like the resulting mysterious, dark mood of the photo- quite different from my original shot.
To backtrack- I had just this morning read an inspiring piece by wildlife photographer, Moose Peterson about how important it is to not crop and to visualize the final image as you photograph it- finding the light etc. etc. Well, I didn’t crop- but my final image is quite different from my original concept! Oh well- not having to crop is a step forward for me!
f/6.3, 1/8, ISO 200, 85mm
I volunteered at my old school again today, working with students on letter formation- a traditional beginning of first grade emphasis. It is soooo much fun working with small groups or individual students and not having the responsibility of the whole class! I love it!
As I was finishing up, I remembered that one of the challenges in ODC (the Flickr group I recently joined) was “arrow”- a subject I had no interest in photographing. But there they were on the worksheet right in front of me- arrows! I whipped out my camera and took TWO photographs- and TWO photographs only! This is a record for my 365 Project- I have never taken so few in one day. Maybe soon it can be ONE! 🙂
It is Texture Tuesday- and the task was to use at least one layer of Kim’s new crackerjack texture. I used two- one with multiply blend mode and one with soft light. I also used a golden fill layer to warm things up a bit. Follow the link to Kim Klassen’s Cafe to see some beautiful photographs using this texture.
f/2.5, 1/125, ISO 200, 35mm
Did you know there is a star inside every apple?
f/10, 1/10, ISO 200, 85mm
Happy Macro Monday!
No photography outing today- but I did manage a photo of our late blooming lavender in the late afternoon sun.
A nice relaxing Saturday morning- coffee with friends and then a walk downtown- perfect!
There are always lots of photo opportunities in our little town, especially down by the water. This abandoned, disintegrating boat caught my eye, and I like it best with a black and white processing.
f/10, 1/500, ISO 200, 200mm
I’m participating in Fence Friday today with a shot through the chain link fence of the school where I spent most of my teaching career. I volunteered this morning, and as I left I thought of Fence Friday!
Through the fence you can see the wing of classrooms on the left where my last classroom was located and a VERY blurry Mrs. Campbell and student on the far right.
I just shot a couple photos, however, because I was afraid someone would think that, as I aimed my lens toward the fence, I was stalking children on the playground! I can see the headlines now. . .
f/2.2, 1/1000, ISO 250, 35mm
I think there must be an art to photographing crystals.
My goal today was a quick indoor tripod shot of a crystal sparkling in the morning light. I could see the sparkles, even occasional starbursts at certain angles. I used a small aperture (f/22-29 most of the time) and a slow enough shutter speed for correct exposure- but no starbursts. Lots of bokeh, however . . .
Good focus was difficult for me today too, even though I was focusing manually. Finally, I took the crystal outside, because the good indoor morning light was going away- and I got a pretty good exposure with the front part of the crystal in focus. No starbursts, however.
f/29, 1/160, ISO 250, 85mm
Unfinished is one of the topics suggested in a Flickr group I just joined. Each day a new topic is posted, which you can ignore or not, and you have about a week to complete and post a photo for that topic. No photos may be used that were taken before the topic was posted.
I’ve been doing Project 365 for eight months now- longer than I have ever stuck to anything requiring discipline! But, I have needed some inspiration- and this Flickr group should help on those days when I can’t think of anything to shoot. Yay, Flickr!
I actually took a photo yesterday of this same tomato plant for Facebook (not even thinking of my photo of the day- and that it could fit into a topic!). When our family was here, Miles loved to water the plants with his Papa, so I was posting the picture to show him that they are finally turning red. So out I went again this morning, to photograph the “unfinished” one. You may recall this earlier post. Similar photo, similar theme, same plant, but not the same exact tomatoes! 🙂
f/1.8, 1/125, ISO250, 35mm
