Happy Fence Friday!
Day 299- Clock Tower
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
Day 291- Photography at Sunset
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.
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.
Day 275- Seeing the light. . .
I loved the way the light shown through the orange leaves along my walk today. This is an HDR image, with some of the effect masked in CS5.
Day 274- To Market, To Market
As we walked through the Orinda Farmer’s Market today in search of berries and heirloom tomatoes, this display of African market baskets caught my eye. I have a beautiful one at home from Senegal, but I think these were from Kenya.
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!
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!
Day 266- It’s Fall!
This display of gourds outside Trader Joe’s today reminded me that Fall is here- Happy First Day of Fall, everyone!
Day 260- Pretty in Pink
Out all day- and thank goodness there were roses!
Day 253- Cow on a Hill
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.
Day 251- Through the Gate
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
Day 249- Follow the arrows!
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
Day 246- Falling Apart
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
Day 245- Chain Link
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
melinda anderson photography 