Light, Shadow, Light

The latest prompt for Kim Klassen’s Studio had to do with light and shadow, which she related to ups and downs in her own family. It was easy for me to use that metaphor for the twists and turns that have been part of our 2015.  Life has been mostly wonderful, but we have stepped into the shadows a few times in the last couple months.

Although I considered this theme, I have not yet done the still-life assignment.  Instead I took some sunrise lensbaby shots of the sunflowers I bought the other day (that I had INTENDED and STILL INTEND to use in a shadowy still life).  Somehow, I always find myself drawn to impromptu still lifes, rather than styled ones, and in this case, the morning sun on the sunflowers was too beautiful to pass up.  There is shadow in these images- but the light is predominant.

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Three Views, Three Styles

One of the highlights of our trip to San Diego was Point Loma, an area we had never visited before- and we certainly plan to return.  In fact, we visited it twice this trip! There is a spectacular view of San Diego, tidepools, trails, and a view of the ocean that goes on forever. And there are TWO lighthouses- the current one operated by the Coast Guard, and the historic one, built in 1855. The old lighthouse was only operational for 36 years, because its beacon was often obscured by fog. The newer lighthouse sits much closer to the water for better visibility.

Today’s photos are of the historic lighthouse- 3 views, 3 styles.

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Beach Blur!

20150311-DSC_0292_melinda_andersonWe’re not in Arizona anymore! We are . . .  o n  v a c a t i o n !

And these photos are from my brand new Nikon D7100! My camera ended up having to be sent to Nikon after all; the shutter was replaced, but there were still problems.  So, I now have a second camera, which will, of course, become my first camera. It is the newer version of my old camera- basically the same, but with a better sensor and a few other tweaks. It’s on sale right now, because the even newer version comes out next week.

I had so much fun today using my new toy with the Lensbaby Sweet 35.  Of course, many of my lensbaby photos didn’t turn out, but my ratio is getting better. These shots were both taken at Pacific Beach in San Diego.

I love Arizona, but it is sooooo nice to be taking photos at the ocean!

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Retro Blur

I found myself playing with my Lensbaby Mobile recently. Although it really is a cool little lens for the iPhone, I hadn’t been using it much after I got my Composer Pro and optics for my Nikon. As I’ve mentioned before, Nik Snapseed is my usual first stop when editing my iPhone photos, and this time, it was my ONLY stop.  It has a cool little set of filters within the app called retrolux, which give a desaturated, vintage look (actually 12 looks) with lots of options for adding or removing scatches, light leaks, vignettes etc.

The photo on the left has been edited with Snapseed only, and the one on the right has several Kim Klassen textures added in Photoshop on top of what was done with the retrolux filter. It’s hard to spot the differences- just a little more texture, a little less haze and a slightly darker flower.

retrodip

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BLUR

I love the soft and dreamy Lensbaby look for flowers. I was missing my Lensbaby this week, so I spent a few hours playing with some flower macros I took when my Nikon was still functioning.

I love black and white- even for flowers- so had some fun editing this image 3 ways.  I created a preset a few months after I started with Lightroom. It’s kind of a dramatic, over the top black and white with some tones applied that I first used on a photo of the Clocktower in Benicia.  Although it doesn’t work well with most images, I still find uses for it occasionally. For this daisy photo, I first applied the preset at 87% (using the Fader plug-in). The second shot has the same preset applied, but its effect is reduced way down.  The third photo is edited the same as the second, but has a texture added at low opacity.

fadingOne of the things I love about Lensbaby macro images is that they have that soft, painterly look without adding texture.

20150208-DSC_2303_melinda_anderson-EditBut, often I feel that a texture adds to the look I want, as in the image below.

20150103-DSC_0045_melinda_anderson-EditHave a great weekend!

 

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Just Having Fun

Last week I showed some friends how to add textures to their photos, which inspired me to play around with this Lensbaby photo I took last month with my Nikon. I added several textures, one being a freebie I downloaded from a Photoshop Elements website- fun!

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Driving Around

We took a short drive in the country on Valentine’s Day.  What a day-  beautiful weather, horses, mountains, blossoms on the trees!  Unfortunately, we spent a good portion of our time looking for a gas station, so that we could add air to a tire that was low. The one gas station in the little town where we were did not have air, so we ended up driving 30 miles back home.  But I did manage to take a few Lensbaby photos along the way.

rural

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Moody Portraits

Last week’s unexpected visit with our beautiful daughter gave me an unprecedented opportunity to take some portraits of this busy mom (without the beloved boys) using the Lensbaby with the Edge 80 optic.  I asked her to look pensive and moody in these first two- and she cooperated.

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Melinda7 Comments