Here’s a view of Market Street- one of the busiest streets in the city.
Cute!
When we were in San Francisco, I found the little water taxis very appealing and cartoon-like, so I made some adjustments in Photoshop and Topaz Simplify to accentuate these qualities.
The Rock
Yup- it’s Alcatraz, almost obscured in the late afternoon haze, and a flock of pelicans flying low over the waves.
Icon
One of the most iconic sights in San Francisco- Coit Tower:
The Fisherman
One of the many fishermen on the pier near the Ferry Building:
San Francisco Architecture- Then and Now
THEN:
The beautiful and ornate Southern Pacific Building (completed in 1916) was right across from our hotel at the corner of Market and Embarcadero. This was taken through the window in Carol’s room.
NOW:
This reflections in this skyscraper seemed to create a column of Japanese Kanji running down the side of the building- fascinating!
Floor with a View
My husband had a meeting in downtown San Francisco last week, so I accompanied him for a (very) quick getaway, which consisted of one day and two nights. My friend and photo buddy, Carol met us there, and she and I had a great time visiting and walking around the Embarcadero area with our cameras.
Lonnie went to get ice shortly after we arrived, and informed me that he had found THE shot- and it was right down the hall.
THIS is what he found when he looked out the window at the end of the hall:
We were on the sixteenth floor, right across from the Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge! Yes- a great view indeed! Carol had mentioned that she wanted to do some night photography, so I was happy that the perfect view had been found- right down the hall- even though it meant shooting through glass.
Carol had brought an extra tripod for me (one of her old ones, which is exactly like mine), so we set up at the window the next night for some fun night photography. Trying to lean the tripod with camera attached flat against the glass and keep it there without slipping, in order to prevent reflections of the hallway lights during long exposures, was a challenge for me! I managed to take a dozen or so shots- and most had reflections and less than tack sharp focus. The above photo is one of the better ones (but I did have to clone out some reflections).
A beautiful city by day- and equally beautiful at night!
Twists and Turns
I spotted this tree by a hotel where we were staying in Phoenix and was fascinated by the twisty branches. Although I would normally edit a paloverde in color to emphasize the green bark, I thought a black and white treatment better showed off the gnarled quality of the branches.
Sunshine and Shadow
The Grand Canyon
Layers of Colour
Don’t you think colour looks better than color? One of my favorite quotes is “Keep calm and fake a British accent,” so this is in that spirit (nothing to do with Brexit. . .).
The above is from last week’s trip to the Grand Canyon. The hazy sky desaturated the colors, which I brought back with Lightroom’s Dehaze brush and some other adjustments. THEN I added a very slight adjustment with Topaz Glow, which is such a cool little plug-in- it does things I don’t know how to do otherwise. Very fun! The frame is from On1 Effects.
The Dark Side
I’ve been experimenting with some new (to me) Photoshop techniques which are a departure from my usual style- if I indeed have a style. No textures, more obvious textures, frames, and now this:
What? A black background? Drama? Not my usual thing, but I like the effect on this photo.
And now this:
Holy Cow! If you use Photoshop, you probably recognize the Topaz Glow filter (a new purchase), which I used almost full strength on this photo. A little over the top- but FUN!
Go Away!
The perfect photo would have had a crow sitting on the scarecrow, but it was not to be. However, there were birds everywhere- just not in my photo!
Bucolic
bu·col·ic
adjective
1. of or relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.
Shot at the community garden by Joe’s Farm Grill
Made for Climbing
After we picked up our friends, Joan and Rudy at the airport in Mesa a couple weeks ago, we had an al fresco diner dinner under the trees at Joe’s Farm Grill in Gilbert-what a delightful place! We fell in love with the HUGE trees that seemed to be made for climbing- in fact, NO CLIMBING signs were everywhere.
Wouldn’t you love to sit in the fork of this tree?
Love Locks
Spotted in Jerome:
I love this new-ish tradition- although I know it can be viewed as vandalism.
melinda anderson photography 