Most of my photographic efforts this week have been directed at editing and processing images from the C
alifornia trip. It seems that every beach town in the state has it’s own pier. This one is in Cayucos just north of Morro Bay on Hwy 1. One thing about travel photography is that sometimes you are there when you’re there and the light sucks as in this case. I decided to try to make lemonade though and went for a serious grunge look using Topaz texture effects (they really should be paying me for all the times I mention them but they are not). Then I added a grungy border just to finish it off. I like it.
Category: Art
Tree Abstract
It was mostly about post processing this week though I did get out yesterday to find some Wood Ducks. Still I liked this abstract enough to designate it image of the week.
This was shot at the butterfly grove in Pismo Beach. I used a low ISO and slow shutter speed to capture this while deliberately moving the camera.
Then in Photoshop I added vibrance and saturation. Next I took it into Topaz Texture Effects and just started looking for something I liked in the presets. Once I found it I drilled down and started playing with the preset filters. I changed the texture to give it a more foresty look and changed the light leak to give a hint of a sunburst in the upper left. Then I added a border just for visual interest. I finished it off in Color Efex Pro with an image border so it wasn’t totally squared off.
I like that it is still obviously about trees but abstract enough that it is definitely not a straight photograph nor could it be easily reproduced. I think for photography to be art it should not be easy to reproduce, which is getting harder and harder to do.
Fountain
I have been experimenting with black and white lately. This image is a closeup of the base of the fountain across from the band shell in Lithia Park. I can’t say how many times I have walk by it and photographed either the whole fountain or the statuette on top but it never occurred to me until now to photograph the detail at the base. You can also see how badly it is crumbling when looked at up close. But part of the beauty of the 100 days project is I go back to places I’ve been before and see things I’ve missed or from a new perspective.
Sunset with Dog
This is an image I passed by in earlier editing because the sky was overexposed. It finally occurred to me as I sifted through images at the end of the year that I had the correct exposure on another frame without the dog. So, I blended the two images in Photoshop and came up with this beauty.
How did I do that, you may ask. Just open both images in Photoshop. Put the dog image on the bottom and the good sky image on the top. Add a layer mask to the top image. Select the brush tool and paint with black let the dog come through. I used the lines of the ocean and the rocks shadow to get a nice blend. I also had to insert a levels layer between the two images to help get the exposures to line up.
Image of the Year – Red Poppy
Well, it’s been a mad dash this week. I’ve been culling my files for my favorite images of 2015. I started with over 6500 images and ended with around 4000. Yes there is probably more opportunity for opening up disc space but it’s a good start. At the end of the day I had 65 images on my best of list and had to cut it down to 25, which in the end wasn’t that hard after all. I went through the list without seeing the images and certain ones just stood out in my mind.
Among the final 25 there were 6 flowers and 6 birds, three coastal sunsets, and only 4 that showed the hand of mankind. Ten could fall into the macro or closeup category, 6 had alternative processing, meaning a texture or painterly treatment was added after the fact. And two were black and white, which seems to be calling to me more these days. To see all 25, go to http://jeannehoadley.com/Fav2015.
But when it came down to choosing the image of the year this was more of a Sophie’s choice. I love them all but in my mind I kept coming back to the Pansies and the Red Poppy, though sunset with dog had it’s moments. On a different day I might have chosen differently but in the end I had to make a choice and today the red poppy rose to the top. As for the new sidebar image on this blog, I needed a vertical and the Iris was hands down my favorite of the three verticals.
I’m still not sure anyone is reading this blog but happiest of new years to you if you do!
Christmas Lights at Shore Acres
The lights at shore acres were beautiful in spite of the fact that it was pouring rain. I kept the camera tucked under my raincoat and persevered. I found that shooting one stop under worked well. In post I darkened it a little more and added some saturation.
Grunge Abstract
It’s always fun to roam the back alleys of small towns to find the old buildings with patches on patches and with a little graffiti thrown in it makes for a pretty interesting image. I tried this one rotated in all directions and finally ended up back where I started. The colors were a little dull so I took it into Topaz Restyle for a makeover. So many good options! Bur I ended up choosing dingy attic. I wanted to add a grunge texture but I see I have have not yet uploaded my textures to the new laptop. Always takes a few outings to get the bugs worked out.
Blue Guitar
I was hanging out with some musicians this weekend and was taken with this blue guitar leaned up against a tree. The afternoon light was a little too harsh and there were some nasty reflections on the face of the guitar so I knew I had to simplify it somehow. I liked the idea of a monochrome treatment that still preserved the blue of the guitar so I took it into Topaz Black and white effects where the tea green fall off preset gave me just the look I wanted. I then added back a little saturation in Photoshop to bring out the blue a little more.
Redwoods in Fog
I’m still processing images from the Redwoods trip. One thing I learned was how hard it is to properly expose dark trees with white fog. It didn’t occur to me until afterward to try HDR so I’ll have to save that for another time. In this case the exposure was pretty good but there were a lot of extraneous branches and distracting detailsso I decided to try Topaz Simplify to see if I could boil it down to the essence of Redwoods. I think it worked well. Now we have tall straight trees with green foliage and of course the ever present fog. I added a rough edged border to reflect the texture of the tree branches.
Seascape
I spent a few days exploring Redwoods State and National Parks on California’s north coast this week. It wasn’t until the last day that I allowed myself a stroll through the Crescent City harbor area and now I’m wishing I had spent more time there. How often do you get fishing boats and a lighthouse all in one picture?
It was early morning at the time so this image needed some brightness and saturation added. I finished it off with a Cezanne treatment in Topaz Impression.