Sunday, February 28, 2010
Baskbetall Sunday...
Tough game, woulda thunk that one team of 7th graders could have so many 6 footers...good game overall, just not the win we were looking for. Got home just in time to see the USA Hockey lose to Canada in overtime. Can't win 'em all, just nice to see it when it does happen from time to time.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
ICME: Blue Hand
Friday, February 26, 2010
"Soy" for 2/25/10
In spanish I'm told it translates roughly into single person or in this case the single tagger not a team?
In other news Ceramic Artist Heather Shaw and myself are teaming up to host an artists reception. One with a twist...both of us will be there with paint brush in hand on one canvas. This should be interesting as though both love impressionists and paint in that style she's an up close and personal still life kinda gal and am more of a broad stroke landscapist. Regardless, the final result will be up for silent auction bid with the proceeds going to the Monrovia Association of Fine Artists and all the work they do supporting the arts in the area.
Mark you calender for the evening of March 6, 2010. It will be held at the Paint n Play 2 Art Studio and Gallery at 418 S Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia, CA 91016. Time is 6:30-9PM.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wild Flower from Raw
First of the wild flowers in bloom along the San Gabriel River. Post processed from a RAW file to correct for color and contrast (heavy overcast day today). Final image washed in Optiverve's Virtual Photographer to mimic the saturation and warm shift of the old Kodachromes.
Image for 2/23/09:Selective desaturation
I like the look of this final image. In a way it reminds me of the selectively recolored black and white photo's from back in the 30's and 40's. Some studios were still doing it in the 50's as I have floating around somewhere a portrait of my grandparents done just that way. Very interesting effect when part is hand colored and part is simply left shades of gray.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Study in clouds...
Influenced by the old Dutch Masters I set out to shoot clouds today. Nothing more. Nothing less. These HDR images were compiled from RAW files shot bracketed +/- 2 stops from normal.
Labels:
Clouds,
daily diversions,
daily photo,
Dutch Masters
Sunday, February 21, 2010
ICME: "Parsnip" Pete
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Another Saturday spent in Basketball Tournament
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
New Milestone in the daily camera walk
You will have to check flickr to see what else I shot today. This image isn't particularly stunning or show stopping. It does however have great importance to me. I started walking at mile marker 35.50...this represents 2 miles one way. Allowing for meanderings off the trail for shooting and some exploring that is 4 miles solid walking, part of my resolution this year to "ask myself what can I do to live in a healthier way".
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Power of 3
I wrote about it a while back the "rule of three" in that odd numbered items tend to grab our eyes and be more pleasing design wise. Applies to photo, writing and wiccans. Google it for yourself once and see what you come up with.
I liked this image of all I shot this morning. The contrast between this years bloom and last years remnants, the 2 objects setting up a fading perspective to the snow covered mountains in the back. The contrast of the light yellow blossoms against the brilliant blue sky (its 80's again today in the LA area...not bad for February).
This was shot bracketed, not for the purpose of HDR imaging, but a fine bracket of 1/2 stop +/- from "normal". The subsequent RAW file I fine tuned the exposure further. Voila...shadow detail, brilliant sky and of course all the details in the sunlight pale yellow blossoms.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Two wins today...
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Didn't get out for shooting...much that is
So I didn't get out for a walk with the camera. I attended a long day of games with my youngest son in Anaheim. That's him, #15 in action during the game. Life can either interfere or enhance your ops with a project, I'm taking the latter option.
PS...they won all their games today.
False Color for Friday 2-12-2010
I spent a little time reworking an image I liked with false colors in part to see what would happen. This time around I experimented with the idea of contrasting colors. In this case I used deep purpley-blues to make the bright yellow flower "pop" better. It worked.
To get here I took a RAW file and opened it with CS2. I used highlighted the background and used the replace color option choosing the purpley-blues to be substituted in for the natural muted gray/green of the plants leaves. I then used virtual photographer to emulate an older Kodak Ektachromes contrast and color depth, manipulating contrast further to get to this image.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
View from the River
The little stroll into the world of Black and White continues. Now to find a paper that will give the prints justice and be archival. A trip to Swain's in Glendale is like in order for a paper run.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Fresh Snow in the San Gabriel Mountains
The snow came down low(ish) during yesterdays storm. "Ish" as in about 2,500 feet which was not quite low enough to get me into real snow for shooting this morning.
I shot this with the B&W option on my EOS 20D, maximum file size for best detail. I opted to use the "red" filter option to darken the sky to increase the contrast with the clouds and snow details on the distant peak. That filter option made the green of the plants in the foreground darker in tone as well to further accentuate the bright white of the clouds and the snow.
This image is show on CA Highway 39 near where it is blocked off with barricades along the West Fork of the San Gabriel River. Aside from the stunning mountain views, this stretch of road is one of my favorites to just get in a car and "drive" and enjoy the twisties.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Great little stencil
Monday, February 08, 2010
San Gabriel River and San Gabriel Mountains
Today I hiked the river. Intent was to concentrate on just shades of gray and contrast. I dialed in slowest relative ISO for minimum noise and maximum detail. Whilst I was at it I selected the "red" photo-filter option so the jpegs would have the appearance of a black and white film shot through a red filter.
Back in the day of Black and White silver based photography one would slap on a real "RED" filter, deep red no less for a variety of reasons. For landscape photography it lightened the yellows and reds of flowers while making the blue sky and green foliage darker. You did this in particular when you wanted to accentuate the sky and get better cloud detail. With portraiture it tended to help lighten the skin and even out the complexion. Obviously I went for cloud detail today.
Of course, I shot with RAW/Jpeg combo. The RAW images have all the detail and colors there just in case I get a wild hair and want to do something with them one of these days.
Labels:
black and white,
daily diversions,
daily photo,
filter effects
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Rosebud and the promise of spring.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Not a day out with a camera, with reason though.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Misty Skies...an exploration in Black and White
Its raining today...
To call it rain is a bit of a stretch. More like spitting misty stuff but I'll take it as it is good for the gardens. It also makes for a nice meander once one is all bundled up.
Today's images were worked from HDR files created from 3 RAW exposures representing normal, 2 stops over and 2 stops under-exposure. I used both Photomatix and CS2 for generating the HDR files. Photomatix did the tone mapping as I like the controls available in it better than CS2. (Someone wanna get me CS4 as I hear it really rocks for HDR work?).
I also meandered down the black and white path with one of the images. I liked the composition of the hard edged bridge against the natural slope of the mountains in the back ground. The framing accentuates the more flowing slopes of the hills in contrast to the sharp curvilinear edges of the arch on the bridge. I think I like the B&W version better as its lack of color accentuates the contrast better.
Labels:
daily diversions,
daily photo,
HDR,
meanderings,
photomatix
Thursday, February 04, 2010
What I did today instead of shooting...
I actually entered a piece in this show. I actually was busy with the arts and blogging in general which kept me from the camera. The full post can be found over at LA Metblogs. Tomorrow is another day n'est ce pas?
Another walk...and an icme
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Mile Marker 37...a new personal best
Today I set out to fulfill one of my goals towards a healtier me and went for a walk. Along the San Gabriel River trail as its an easy walk with plenty to keep me visually entertained. Easy to get a quick pace going to help with the cardio and simple calorie burning, its all good.
One of the first things I spotted was the orange hazard cone in the midst of some plants and rocks. Why? Beats me but someone must know the answer, just to lazy to start making calls to the city of Duarte to find out why its there.
One of the first things I spotted was the orange hazard cone in the midst of some plants and rocks. Why? Beats me but someone must know the answer, just to lazy to start making calls to the city of Duarte to find out why its there.
Happy February 1st.
It was an artsy fartsy kind of day. Brought out the trusty che-ez snap and grabbed a few shots of the hibiscus in bloom on the patio. Love that crazy little camera, no focus control, no color control, no contrast control...but the images it yields are totally artistic in nature...very impressionistic. I like it that way.
(This would have been posted yesterday but the day was pretty hectic so my apologies for making you wait).
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