Category: Art

Image of the Year – Bicycle Arles

Bicycle

So, I have nearly 15,000 images in my file for 2019. Is it time to do some culling?  Yes. Is this the best image I made this year? Probably not. But when I tried to think of stand out images this one came to mind. I like the subject, I like the pop of color, I like that it represents dabbling in experimental and artistic photography, I like that it was made on my birthday in Arles, France on a magical, wonderful morning camera walk. For me, photography is about creating art and enjoying the process, not about competition or perfection. This image makes me feel good on many levels because I so enjoyed the process of creating it and everything that went into getting me to a point where I could create it.

Day 99 – Rooster

Rooster

I worked a full day shift at the Genealogy Library then had to run to an OLLI leadership training. Needless to say, photography wasn’t at the top of my priority list today. I would hate to have dropped the ball on day 99 though. I found this metal rooster at grower’s market the other day. Just sharpened it up a little with a high pass filter and added a texture to rough up the background. Oh yeah, shot with the Velvet 56.

Day 96 – Teasel

1_Teasel

I took the Velvet56 for a walk on the Greenway this afternoon. I found a little bit of lingering fall color but I’m always intrigued by the Teasel. The Velvets have a feature of offering a little bit of a glow at large apertures. This was shot at f1.6 so shows off that feature well. I added a high pass filter and two textures to add interest to the background and just a wee hint of color.

Day 91 – Iron Mike

IronMike

We’re mighty proud of the Pioneer statue that graces the Ashland Plaza. I have to admit that growing up I was more aware of the fountain than the statue, maybe because he was up there so high…. or maybe because it produced pure clear water you could use to rinse out your mouth after sampling the Lithia water fountain nearby.. or maybe because, as far as I know, he hadn’t been named yet. In any case, I took his picture with a background of autumn leaves a couple of weeks ago using the Sweet50. It lacked a certain something so I cropped it quite a bit as I had to stand back away to get the right perspective with that 50 mm lens. I added a high pass filter to give Mike a little more definition and I bumped up the exposure and vibrance and saturation. But it wasn’t until I put the texture on that I decided it would pass as a work of art. Even though the color is a bit off from reality I like the blur in the bottom of the image which is transformed into a grungy look by the texture. 

Day 87 – Sheep Barn

SheepBarn2

On the coast road from Sutherlin to Reedsport is this barn which I have photographed a number of times. Sometimes the sheep are present, sometimes not. But the fall color made it particularly scenic this time. I had the Velvet 85 on the camera so I just went with it. It was pretty soft out of the camera so I thought to give it an impressionistic look but in scrolling through Topaz Studio, I came across a filter called clear day which actually sharpened things up a bit for a look I really love.

Day 84 – Footprint

FootprintI was a

I was a little hard pressed for something to post today. Many photos were taken but none with lensbaby lenses. Just didn’t have the right subjects for that. So, I had to turn back to yesterday’s beach walk as there hasn’t been time for a beach walk today. Lot’s of eating though…  Anyway, I processed this in Nik Silver efex pro using the Film Noir filter. I’m afraid it looks a little more creepy than artistic but hey, Halloween is coming.

Day 81 – Beach Walker

BeachWalker

So, today was mostly a travel day and it mostly rained. Though I have to say if you have a chance to drive the road from Sutherlin to Reedsport along the Umpqua River the colors are just stunning right now. I’m hoping the weather will be a little better when I go home.

In any case I stopped in Depoe Bay and played a little with some Wind Socks on display and the sweet 50 but I didn’t get anything I really loved. So when I got settled in my hotel room I stepped out on the balcony to take some pictures of the beautiful view and decided to play with the Omni again. One of it’s attachments is called the rainbow filter. I still can’t get it to do exactly what I want but I liked the effect on this image and the lone beach walker. To process it I took it in to Nik Color Efex Pro to add detail because the clouds were very washed out. I also bumped up the vibrance and saturation to emphasize the rainbow effect a little more. I thought about adding a texture but realized I don’t have any textures on my laptop and I forgot to bring the portable hard drive that has them along. So, short of downloading some onto the laptop it looks like I won’t be using any textures this trip.  

Day 80 – Bear Creek ala Cezanne

BearCreek

Since I am starting a week long photo expedition tomorrow I thought I could get away with pulling from the archives for one more day. This one was taken with the Trio 28 at North Mountain Park the other day. I bumped up the vibrance and saturation then took it into Topaz Studio for an impressionist look. I aways seem to go for Cezanne or Van Gogh. Today it was Cezanne.

Day 75 – Grasses

Grasses

Well, the good news is it’s day 75. The bad news is there are still 25 days to go. The latest offering from lensbaby is not a lens at all but what they call a creative filter system. I got my Omni last week but today was the first day I really had to play with it. I’m afraid it is going to take a little more practice to get the effects I really want but I do see some potential here. The Omni consists of a ring that attaches to your lens that has some magnetic sockets to which you can attach wands and move them around in front of the lens. It seems to be helpful if you are shooting into a light source. the wand I was using here created a sort of bokah effect as the sunlight bounced off the edges of the wand. Moving the wand around, keeping the image in focus and trying to get the right effect is a bit of a three ring circus. the other wands offer a rainbow effect and a stretching effect. There are also three more supplemental wands that you have to buy separately but I didn’t get around to them today. I considered going black and white with this one but I liked the gold tone so I added vibrance and saturation and a couple of textures with a gold hue to try and tease that out a little more. Well the whole point of this exercise is to learn and I have much to learn about the Omni, which for the record does not come with an instruction manual.

Day 64 – Paisans

Paisons

This one is from my first round of Street photography in Medford. Sometimes an image just keeps calling to you. I saw this one as grunged up and desaturated. So I took it into Topaz Studio to find a look that almost got me there then let some of the color bleed back through. Then I took it to Topaz black and white effects and did the same until it came close to what I had been envisioning. I should also say that there was a lot of pre work in photoshop getting rid of air conditioning equipment on the roof.