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:

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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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water’s Edge

20150724-MMA_0815_melinda_anderson-EditWhen we were walking at the lake a week ago, I was captivated by the green of this tree, which contrasted with the darker trees bordering the lake. It was hard to photograph because I could only see it through branches- so I didn’t.  But I saw it again on our way back- with a little girl under it- and knew I had to try.  I was already envisioning it as a painterly image.  I took the resulting photo into Lightroom and then Photoshop for some cloning work. Then, I used Topaz Simplify to remove details and give it a bit of a watercolor look.  I blended it with the original image, bringing back some detail- and finished it off with some textures. Playing with images is part of what keeps stress out of my life- and it’s so much fun!