Makeup Day 6 - July 8, 2012 - Mannequin - And finally this mannequin posing atop a dresser at Jackalope has a whimsical note that appeals to me. It needed the shadows to be opened and lots of saturation added as well as some close cropping to remove distracting junk around the edges.
Makeup Day 5 - July 7, 2012 - Peeling Paint Abstract - Had to reach back into the archives again. This abstract of paint peeling off an old bench at Jackalope has always been one where I liked the concept but did not really embrace the execution. With some added saturation and sharpening I like it much better.
Makeup Day 4 - July 6, 2012 - Flag - This is the one I wish I had found for 4th of July. Oh, well, happy belated. What interested me in shooting this image was the reflection of the flag in the window. As you can see I was too close to get the whole flag in and when I backed off I was not at a good angle to see the reflection so I had bypassed this one. It's still not that great in my humble opinion but gave me another chance to practice. Once again I had to bring down the highlights to deal with a blown out sky. I also increased the saturation and luminance in the reds to highlight the flag. I wanted to bring up luminence in the blues but that messed with the sky too much. And no, I haven't made it out to chase as the thunderstorms are mostly sticking to the mountains and I'm still hoping for something to chase within a 50 mile radius.
Makeup Day 3 - July 5, 2012 - Spanish Door - Here is another door, I just can't resist them. This one is at El Rancho de los Golondorinos just outside Santa Fe. Didn't even take much post processing, although it was a little crooked, so I straightened it up, opened up the shadows, then had to brush down the steps, and added the usual modicum of clarity, vibrance and saturation. This afternoon I am going to chase lightning...wish me luck.
Makeup Day 2 - July 4, 2012 - Gas Cans - I thought I might be able to give this image a red white and blue effect using split toning but it just came out looking pink. Then I tried taking out saturation for all the colors except red, white and blue but that didn't really work for me either. So I gave it up and just went for a pleasing image which I think this sepia tone achieved. Happy 4th of July!
Makeup Day 1 - July 3, 2012 - Flowing Water - Flowing water always makes an interesting and challenging subject. This was shot on Big Tesuque Creek this spring. I imagine the flow may have diminshed to a trickle by now but I will have to go back and see. I think the most effective adjustment on this one was bringing down the highlights. I also tried to bring in more color by bringing up saturation on the greens and oranges. I found myself wishing that lichen on the upper part of the rock was a red leaf instead.
Day 100 - July 2, 2012 - Turquoise Tepee - Well here we are at day 100. I wish I could say this is it but if you have been following along you know that I have 6 makeup days to do. Five from having surgery and one from just being flat out lazy and rebellious. So, we'll see what else I can come up with. For today I have another image that I originally considered a throwaway but after I started playing with the exposure and such I brought back the blue in the sky and decided it might be a keeper for the Route 66 collection. This one was shot in Williams, Arizona which is a bit over the top in its celebration of its Route 66 history. The biggest challenge with this image was getting the right balance between the blue sky and the turquoise tepee. I would have liked to bring out the tepee a little more but then the sky would have been trying to dominate.
Day 99 - July 1, 2012 - Vinyard - Back in post processing mode I wanted to show the before and after of this image because the before, I think is pretty ho hum and I was dissapointed when I saw it. The after really pops and is more of what I had in mind when I shot the photo.
Day 98 - June 30, 2012 - Dutch Iris - Here is another take on the Dutch Iris. One issue with this image were trying to balance the exposure by bringing up the shadows and brushing up the exposure on the dark purples. The other was the background which came out way more yellow than it is in reality. I had a hard time comeing up with the right balance of adjustment to soften the wall without taking the yellow out of the iris. I alos added some vignetting because the corners on the right side were pretty blown out.
Day 97 - June 29, 2012 - Dutch Iris - Wow, day 97, too bad I have those six makeup days. Well, today I decided to buy a boquet at Whole Foods and practice my macro photography. I had the vase sitting on a kitchen chair in front of the slider in my living room and the afternoon sun made for some nice backlighting. In post processing I cropped to 8x10, which made me sad because I liked the composition the way it was but I have been seeking ease in framing and trying to train myself to keep that in mind when composing but not quite there yet. Anyway I added luminence to the yellows and purples but only a little saturation.
Day 96 - June 28, 2012 - Abandoned Adobe - One more from the Mora trip. What I really liked about this one was the contrast of the various woods boarding up the windows. Also the grasses heading out in the foreground. Had to really open up the shadows to see the building sides and enhanced the yellows to bring out the grass and the reds and oranges to bring up the rust on the tin roof. The blue New Mexico sky, however, needed no added saturation!
Day 95 - June 27, 2012 - Adobe Church - I mentioned the other day that New Mexico is not known for it's barns. What it is known for is its little adobe churches. This one I found in the Mora Valley a few miles east of Mora. Had to clone out a cattle feeding station in order to make the composition I liked best work.
Day 94 - June 26, 2012 - La Cueva Mill - I took a little trip to Northern New Mexico with Mora in mind. I almost drove by this old mill in La Cueva a few miles east of Mora. Actually, I did drive by but it kept nagging at me so I turned around after I got to Mora and went back. I'm glad I did as it may have been the best subject of the day. There were a couple of other things I'm kicking myself that I didn't turn around for. New rule is always turn around if you think you should!
Day 93 - June 25, 2012 - Impala Taillight - In the original shot I had much more of the backend of the this Chevy Impala from the early 1960's. But what I really love with the old cars is to go almost abstract in celebrating their design. This one really capgtured my vision in that regard. Simple, graphic, bordering on abstract. There may be a book here....hmmm. As far as post processing, can you guess? Serious croppiing to zero in on the taillight, up with the shadows, down with the whites But what really made this one pop was maxing out the vibrance. I also added som lumience to the reds but didn't quite get the effect I was hoping for. Tomorrow, back in the field! Look for something new but it will be late.
Day 92 - June 24, 2012 - Wigwam Motel - I used the yesteryear preset in Lightroom to give this photo a retro look. I wish the sign declaring the motel's historic status was not there blocking the full view of the wigwam but what can you do. Of course, I added some furtheradjustments of my own. The preset was far to yellow for my taste so I took that way down and brought up the blue and aqua to enhance the cars and also opened up the shadows under the canopy. And then I thought the black corners invoking thoughts of photo albums from vacations past would be fun.
Day 91 - June 23, 2012 - 1941 Packard - Despite her rough condition, isn't she a beauty? I tried to desaturate everything but the car but I thought the color of the car was important so I worked on that through saturation and luminence. Also had to clone stamp out a very ugly barbeque in the background. You may be wondering why I haven't shot anything new in 2 weeks. Should you care the answer is that I have been trying to get a ceiling fan installed by a Lowe's installer who has his own agenda, which does not, apparently, include installing ceiling fans. Soon as I can leave the house I look forward to exploring some new territory.
Day 90 - June 22, 2012 - Barn in decay - Continuing on the barn theme. There were three barns on the same property in the back hills of the California coast range. This one was in the worst shape and may not be standing next time I drive by. But this close up of the front tells a story. In its heighday it was a white barn. Someone once tried to patch it up. But now the roof is gone, the sides are failing, and the patches seem in vein.
Day 89 - June 21, 2012 - Barn with Fencing - For some reason I have been into barns lately. New Mexico is not known for its barns. California and Oregon have great wood barns like this one. In Pennsylvania I was always awestruck by the stone barns. I'm planning a trip to the midwest soon and hope to see some good barns there. In any case the light was not too great when I dove by this place but it does look like someone's ambition for fencing was not realized and I liked the composition that offered. I did alot of fussing with saturation and vibrance on this one. I found that increasing the vibrance but decreasing saturation actually got the best result.
Day 88 - June 20, 2012 - California Poppy - I had taken two shots of this poppy, one at f16 and one at f2.8. I liked the first for how in focus the flower was but I also liked the soft background of the second. So I thought, why not combine them for the best of both worlds. So I copied the sharp image as a new layer in photoshop over the soft image. Then I created an eliptical mask and added maximum feathering. Finally, I cropped what had been a horizontal image into a vertical. I think it turned out pretty well. I kinda wish I had been a little more careful to crop it in a way that it is not so centered in the frame, but I am planning to do a gallery wrap of it so this may work out.
Day 87 - June 19, 2012 - Train Station, Esparto, CA - This abandoned train station has a special place in my heart because my grandfather's family once lived in Esparto so I try to imagine what it was like "back in the day" when they may have arrived or departed from here. For this image to work I had to bring the highlights down and open up the shadows. I also added saturation in all the colors except the green grass which I thought was fine the way it was.
Day 86 - June 18, 2012 - Leaf with Acorn - This is a picture from my parents backyard. I kept wanting to like it more than I did and I finally figured out why. The bright green grass was overwhelming the leaf and acorn. So, I went in and took down the greens and yellows and brought up the reds and oranges. Now the photograph is about the leaf and acorn as it was meant to be.
Day 85 - June 17, 2012 - Porch - I got so wrapped up in learning to do gallery wraps (no pun intended) yesterday that I forgot to do a post. So, I did two images today and pretended one was from yesterday.This one was way underexposed on the original so I passed it by. But on revisiting I just brought up the exposure and it reminded me of what I loved about the subject in the first place. I tried it as a black and white but the green door and blue bike begged to show their stuff. The doorway was originally lost in shadow but was easily recovered using the shadow slider.
Day 84 - June 16, 2012 - Door - This door had alot of warm light around it in the color version but some cool light at the bottom. I tried to adjust it in color and that helped but in the end I think the black and white version works better. Just as I was typing this it occured to me that what it needed was some sepia toning to bring back some of that warmth.
Day 83 - June 15, 2012 - Barrel - I like the simplicity of this image and converting it to black and white, I think, adds to that. I tired cropping it to standard size (i.e. 8x10) but it just didn't work for me. I like the negative space on the adobe wall and the contrast of light and shadow from the morning sun.
Day 82 - June 14, 2012 - The Power of Post Processing I too grew up in the world of it has to be right in the capture but in the past few months I have really embraced the power of post processing. In this image, which seemed like a real dud with a washed out sky and not much pop, I started with bringing down the highlights which returned the blue to the sky. I then brought up the shadows which gave the foreground more pizaz. Then I cloned outa road sign and very large white house which were distracting elements. Finally I did some selective saturation and luminence controlto brighten the sky, the rocks, and the lake. I also noticed when I was about to post it that the horizon was slightly askew so went in and straightened it a tad. I think you will agree that post processisng makes for a much more pleasing image.
Day 81 - June 13, 2012 - Back Alley Santa Fe – Here is another shot from the workshop that I originally thought was a throwaway. But with a little post processing I really like it. I added a lot of saturation because one of the things I liked about this was the contrast of the blue sky and the yellow building. I also did some brush work to bring up the coyote fence in the foreground.
Day 80 - June 12, 2012 - Stars – One of the fun things about visiting the old files is that you may see an image in a new light. This one I considered a failure. I was trying to photograph these hanging stars in a stores display window. But because of the time of day, early morning, the stars were overwhelmed by the reflection of the buildings across the street, not to mention the photographer. With my newfound lightroom skills I darkened the photographer (can you find me?) and upped the saturation in the colors in the stars while toning down the sky. I also lowered the luminence in some of the colors which seemed to help. Again, probably not going to win any prizes but a fun interpretation of downtown Santa Fe.
Day 79 - June 11, 2012 - Busy bees – Just as I was leaving the rose garden these bees came along. The were very intent on pollinating and paid no attention to me.
Day 78 - June 10, 2012 - Rose with buds – And one more from the rose garden.
Day 77 - June 9, 2012 - Rose – Here's another one from the rose garden.
Day 76 - June 8, 2012 - Pastel Rose – Well the roses were not looking too good at the rose garden but I found a few that were not too beat up. With this one what I wanted to celbrate was the beautiful pastel colors. So I used a shallow depth of field and enhanced the colors using the HSL tools. Also added vibrance, saturation and clarity, as well as some luminence.
Day 75 - June 7, 2012 - Nightmare – Looking at my dates I just realized I lost a day. I think it must have been Sunday or Monday. But the count is right so I'm not going to add another day, just keep on keeping on. So this image is a motion blur from jackalope of masks on a wall. It reminds me of something you might see in a nightmare, hence the title. Tomorrow is field day and I'm planning a trip to the rose garden and next week I may get back to the Botanic Gardens where the butterfly house is now open!
Day 74 - June 6, 2012 - Aspen Leaf – Long day and pretty tired. I just got to playing around with this leaf enhancing the colors and such. Then got the idea to take all the saturation out of the background.
Day 73 - June 5, 2012 - Crosses – Wooden crosses in an old spanish cemetery at El Rancho de las Golondorinos.
Day 72 - June 3, 2012 - Bucket – Another nostalgia shot from El Ranco de las Golondorinos. The bucket that hung on the well. I like the contrast of texture, wooden bucket, stone wall rope.
Day 71 - June 2, 2012 - Lace Curtains – I've seen pictures from El Rancho de las Golondorinos that had lace curtains in them and could not figure out where they were from. Well, today I made it to the Madrid house and now I know. I like the combination of the lace curtains and the picket fence. The house was grey and there were colors reflecting in the window so I converted to black and white and brought down the distracting colors then gave it some warmth in split toning. My one regret is that I knew I was not shooting paralell to the building and I did not go back and reshoot it as I should have. I did other windows more square but the lace was not as visible so I felt this was the best shot.
Day 70 - June 1, 2012 - Pots – I intended to go check out the rose garden this morning but there was too much wind for flower photography so I decided to comb through the archives one more time. I think I would like this image alot more if it weren't for the price tags but it would be a massive undertaking to clone stamp them all out. I experimented with it as black and white but the colors were so similar it really went flat. I did work at bringing down the exposure on the pot tops and as always added clarity, vibrance and a little saturation. Can you believe it, only 30 (OK 36) more days to go.
Day 69 - May 31, 2012 - Aspen Leaves – I took my camera on my morning walk specifically to photograph these aspen leaves which I had noticed a couple of days ago. What really caught my eye was the veins in the leaves. So, in post processing I did everything I could to highlight those veins. I brought up the exposure in the shadow area on the lower leaf. I brought down the luminence in the green channel and brought it up in the yellow which helped make the veins stand out. I also added a lot of clarity and sharpening. No prize winner but good practice.
Day 68 - May 30, 2012 - Dreamcatcher – At first review I thought this image of a dreamcatcher for sale at farmer's market didn't amount to much, the sky was too blown out. But when I started to see it in black and white and made some exposure corrections I think it made a nice image, whatever dreamcatchers may mean to you. I guess the lesson here is that it is always a good idea to go back and look at your images again because you may see a different potential on a different day.
Day 67 - May 29, 2012 - Ancestors – Today I have been working on digitizing ancestoral photographs. Not very creative but I think it counts toward improving photo skills. I mean if I am not a master of the healing brush and clone stamp when I'm done with this it may not be possible. But really, don't you just love my great great granddaddy's hairdo?
Day 66 - May 28, 2012 - Sunflower split tone – I decided maybe I hadn't fully explored the sunflower project and got to thinking about black and white. So I converted this image then added some split toning. I also spent alot of time trying to hide the buises on the petals. I have to say I think the clone stamp and healing brush in Photoshop work much better than in Lightroom but I didn't go there this time. I also added some vignetting which was in part intended to further hide the imperfection in the upper left corner.
Day 65 - May 27, 2012 - On Strike – Sometimes your inner child just says no and this was one of those days. Rather than abandon the project I will just have to tack on another day at the end. The good news is I should be healed enough to get out in the field more by then.
Day 64 - May 26, 2012 - Psycadelic Sunflower – I wondered what would happen if I fooled around with the color and such on a sunflower picture. I started with one that had some build in blur because either I or the cat bumped the vase during exposure. Then I took it into Photoshop, fooled around with curves, made a copy layer, and added a color burn treatment. And here we have the result.
Day 63 - May 25, 2012 - Sunflower – Found some beautiful sunflowers at the market this morning. I'm still not quite up to a field day but maybe next week. Meanwhile, a nice change from citrus.
Day 62 - May 24, 2012 - Private Car – This is something from the archives. This caboose is in Gallup, New Mexico in a downtown parking lot. What I liked about this was the shadows of the various pieces of steel. I gave it a retro look using a preset in Lightroom.
Day 61 - May 23, 2012 - Citrus – OK, this is the end of the citrus, at least for now. Though I do not promise that there will be no more still lifes. So many fruits and vegetables to explore! In this case I had to really crop the original image to come up with a composition I liked. Then it called out for artistic treatment. So, after much experimentation in Photoshop, I finally settled on a watercolor filter. Normally I do not like the watercolor filter because it adds too much black but in this case it did not so I went with it.
Day 60 - May 22, 2012 - Lemon – Well, I don' know about you but my mouth starts watering in anticipation of the tartness of this lemon. I want to peel off that zest. I call this a success. On this image I darkened the corners and added some sharpening and vibrance but that was about it for post processing.
Day 59 - May 21, 2012 - Bullet Nose – Don't worry, the lemons are still coming. But today I felt like doing something a little more edgy so I went back to the Wigwam motel files, found this bullet nose Studebaker shot and just started playing. I found the tone curve most effective in getting the look I wanted but of course I also played with the hsl sliders as well as the overall vibrance and saturation. Hope you like it.
Day 58 - May 20, 2012 - Limes – For this shot I put the cut lime back into the fruit bowl and used a shallow depth of field. In post processing I bumped up the green saturation an pulled down the orange and yellow to help the lime stand out. I'm pretty happy with the result. Tomorrow on to lemons.
Day 57 - May 19, 2012 - Lime – I have to admit that I wasn't really feeling up to photography this day so I did two on day 58 and backpedeled. Trying to get the job done in spite of health challenges. Please forgive me. Anyway this is a macro shot of a lime. I wasn't expecting the background to go black but I was using natural light from the kitchen window and the lime cast a heavy shadow. Happy accident but I like the result.
Day 56 - May 18, 2012 - Citrus – Still housebound I thought maybe a little still life with citrus. I like the colors but the highlights from the overhead light in the kitchen are a bit harsh. Look for more citrs still lifes in the next few days. Though I have to say the bending over the tripod is still really painful.
Day 55 - May 17, 2012 - Carnation with cat – I was in the hospital on Mother's Day and the brought around pink carnations for all the women. I decided that would make a good quick subject for a day when I'm not feeling too much up to photography. The cat decided she needed to be in the picture too and I liked her furry face as a background.
Day 54 - May 16, 2012 - Catnap – Just hanging out at home with the cat recovering from surgery. She was having a pretty cute nap so I whipped out the cellphone a snapped this one. Did a lot of playing around with filters and such but not sure I'm happy with the look yet.
Day 48-53 - May 10-15, 2012 - Life Happens – I had to go to the hospital for an operation. I went into it thinking that I would just take some pics with my cell phone and move on. But I was supposed to stay only 2 days and ended up staying 4 and when I got home I didn't feel much like playing the photo blog game. So I decided to give myself a hiatus and tack on 5 days at the end. I'm still not feeling too great and it sort of hurts to sit in this chair, but doc likes me to sit up in a chair now and then so here we go.
Day 47 - May 9, 2012 - Hinge – I love a rusty hinge. But I was having a hard time finding anything to love about this one until I finally flipped the photo both vertically and horizontally. I just didn't like the way it was leading my eye. I'm still not in love with it but I like it a whole lot better.
Day 46 - May 8, 2012 - Sconce – Here's a bit of old Santa Fe from our wanderings during the workshop. Still practicing my post processing. I used healing to get rid of an ugly power line shadow and of course converted to black and white. I also brought up the shadows to allow the bracket to show through the shadow of the lamp.
Day 45 - May 7, 2012 - Doughnuts – This is one of those weeks where I have so much going on it's kind of hard to focus on photography (no pun intended). But I guess the point of a good photograph is to evoke emotion, or maybe saliva. So enjoy these doughnuts from the Farmer's Market and let's call it my contribution to documenterary photography!
Day 44 - May 6, 2012 - Hose – I like this image for just being something you don't see everyday and for the mix of texture and form and finally for the bright blue and red in a relatively monochrome setting. I was just leaving the Farmer's Market makinig my way back to my car when I saw this hose, presumably something to do with servicing trains, between the tracks. Brightened it up some with exposure adjustment, clarity and saturation.
Day 43 - May 5, 2012 - Bok Choy – I finally made it back to Farmer's Market. I always enjoy the neatly stacked vegetables. Bock Choy is not one you see every day though.
Day 42 - May 4, 2012 - Spring Dance – I love this abstract of Aspen in Spring, created by intentionally moving the camera during exposure. The colors and branches came out looking like streamers on a maypole. I did quite a bit of adjusting of color saturation and luminance in post processing. I think the result really works. For another aspen abstract see my weekly blog post for this week.
Day 41 - May 3, 2012 - Barn Reprise – I was playing around a little with the treatment of the barn from Day 15. From left to right here is the barn as presented on Day 15, a color treatment, and a new black and white treatment with a very subtle split tone featuring yelow highlights and redish orange shadows. I don't know, I kind of like them all, but I may have gone a little overboard on the yellow saturation in the color treatment. I guess version 3 is my favorite. I like the contrast, especially how it makes the plow go to black.
Day 40 - May 2, 2012 - Hats – Back in the digital darkroom. Today's lesson was on split toning. I went back to the Jackalope files where I found these hats. Adjusted the exposure and contrast a little then converted to black and white. Went into HSL and toned down some colors causing distraction in the background in the original color photo. Then I went into split toning and went for a sepia effect. When you look at the before and after this image actually has more color in the hats than the original color shot. I think I'm getting the hang of this! I was thinking about how to keep from getting so preoccupied with life chores that I neglect photography. I've been doing pretty well at scheduling a couple of hours in the afternoon for processing but when to shoot? So, the new resolution is that Friday is photography field day. This week I will head up Ski Basin Road to look for Aspen with fresh green leaves.
Day 39 - May 1, 2012 - Farmstead with Oak – Today's Lesson in Lightroom was converting to black and white. I got to thinking about the oak trees in California with their gnarly branches. While I didn't specifically target any I went back into the archives and found this shot of an abandoned farmstead that filled the bill. One of the lessons learned from my trip is I really need to seperate my photography days from my driving days. I just get too tired from driving and I get in a rush to get somewhere and my photography suffers. I was overall disappointed with what I brought back from this trip, but then it was never meant to be primarily a photography trip. And sifting through what I did get I am finding more and more I can do with it.
Day 38 - April 30, 2012 - Red Truck – This is kind of a fun picture. The original picture of my nephew's faded red truck was taken using the HDR app on my phone. Today's lesson in Lightroom was on using the HSL sliders. So I went in and desaturated all the colors except red and orange, then used the brush tool to desaturate some reds that were not in the body of the truck. I tried to bring down the highlights on the overexposed portions of the hood and fender but it kept coming out looking weird and artificial so I finally gave up. I was supposed to go to the botanic gardens for my April trip to day but got waylayed by a broken hot water heater. Will try to make it in the next couple of weeks since pending surgery will keep me out of circulation for awhile after May 10. May have to reach into the archives to practice post processing.
Day 37 - April 29, 2012 - Ford Truck Abstract – Still working with the cars from the Wigwam motel in Holbrook,AZ today. What I love about this photo besides the color and faded paint is the shadow of the doorhandle. I searched online for quite awhile to try and identify the year of this truck (and it was a truck, not a pickup). The grill and hood looked more like early 1940s but the headlights look more like late 1930s, by the '40s they were incorporating the headlights into the fenders. So I can't say for sure, most of the photos I found were of pickups so I'll have to dig a little deeper on this one. The abstract still works and I don't think the year is really that important for this image.
Day 36 - April 28, 2012 - 1956 Buick Special Hood Ornament – I only allowed time today to stop at the Wigwam motel. I had noticed on the way through that in addition to the iconic Route 66 schtick of the wigwams there was a permanent display of classic cars parked in front of the wigwam/cabins. I have to say I got more excited about photographing the cars than the wigwams. This hood ornatment from a 1956 Buick (I had to go online to make sure I had the right year) really caught my eye. I'm not sure the paint job on this car was quite authentic...it was turquoise and dark green..I just don't remember seeing that combination though I recall that yellow and green was quite popular. Anyway, I love this photo and it feels like what I want to develop as my style; simple, graphic, colorful, and nostalgic. I kind of want to polish the darn thing though.
Day 35 - April 27, 2012 - Elvis – Elvis has not left Williams, AZ. Williams is all about reliving the 50s and 60s and very proud of being the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40. I just didn't allow enough time to do all the driving I needed to do to get home and do my due dilegence on Route 66. So, I will just have to come back. Oatman, Peach Springs, Hackberry, that is a promise. At least I scored some '50s cruising music here in Williams. Tomorrow, homeward bound. (And yes, I know I should not have cut off the fingers of his left hand, but hey, it's been a long day!
Day 34 - April 26, 2012 - Wine Country – I cannot cry enough crocodile tears about how rainy it was in the wine country. I had a good chance to scout it out for the next trip but there is so much there and I had only 24 hours and then there was the rain (OK, whine country). If that wasn't bad enough the wineries were charging $20 for four small sips of wine. I woud druther spend my $ on a nice bottle myself!
Day 33 - April 25, 2012 - Bale Mill – Finally back to the internet. Did alot of driving today and not much shooting. I stumbled on this old mill in the Napa Valley mid afternoon but the light was worse than bad. I tried to rectify the situation by adding artistic filters but it still leave alot to be desired. Hoping to have more an better shots from the wine country tomorrow. But in the meantime hou have alot of catchingup to do.
Day 32 - April 24, 2012 - In the Garden – I took this picture with my cell phone then processed it in Lightroom, then took it into photoshop and added a dry brush filter. Kind of fun. I think the composition really works and this kind of treatment is especially useful for cellphone art.
Day 31 - April 23, 2012 - Clouds – I've been experimenting with my cell phone again. Just taking quick shots of whatever interests me. Today it was these clouds which would eventually turn into thunderstorms. I think a picture like this would look great as a gallery wrap!
Day 30 - April 22, 2012 - Happy Earth Day! – Here is a pretty red tulip for earth day. They seem to be a few days behind the yellow ones. Still no internet but I am keeping up the blog even if it isn't getting posted.
Day 29 - April 21, 2012 - Banner – This is just a grab shot to fulfill my duty as I was walking around Ashland, Oregon. These banners always take me back to my childhood. I'm sure they have gotten new banners but they look the same, red on one side of town, green on the other. They used to have some that said "Stay four days see four plays, now I think it is stay 3 days see 5 plays. And those of you not familiar with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival probably have no idea what I am talking about but I have tickets for Romeo and Juliet on Tuesday and one play is all I can afford at a time, alas.
Day 28 - April 20, 2012 - Yellow Daisy – No internet these past few days but I'm trying to keep up with the blog until I get a chance to post again. Still working on the garden files and now that the sun is out I'm glad I shot these when it was cloudy. May have to look for something new to shoot tomorrow.
Day 27 - April 19, 2012 - Tulip after Rain – I'm looking out the window now and it is pouring rain. So I'm glad I went out earlier and caught this tulip between showers. So nice to be where there are so many flowers in bloom. Practiced my Lightroom skills but only needed a crop to standard size and a little burning and dodging.
Day 26 - April 18, 2012 - Bee on Daffodil – I made it to Ashland and the first thing I saw was the beautiful daffodils in my parents garden. Just as I was composing my shot this bee came along and graciously posed for me. They have lots of other flowers and tulips coming into bloom so expect to see more in the days to come.
Day 25 - April 17, 2012 - California Poppy – What not to love about a California Poppy? I had hoped to find more in the foothills of the coast range but there were only a few. Too late, too early, too dry? I'm not sure. California is a big state and I have seen much of it today so this must be short. Tomorrow on to Oregon.
Day 24 - April 16, 2012 - Blooming Ocotillo – Once I got going today I was in hurry up and get there mode and decided to save Route 66 in Arizona and California for the trip back. The one thing that did catch my eye on the stretch from Kingman to Needles was all the Ocotillo cacti just coming into bloom. Stopped at a rest stop and went looking and sure enough there were some to be photographed up close and personal. I tried to get both the blossoms and the stickers in the picture to represent the true character of this desert dweller.
Day 23 - April 15, 2012 - El Rancho Hotel, Gallup New Mexico – Once again I found the amount of neon in Gallup somewhat underwhelming. But I got to stay at the El Rancho for the second time in my life. Probably the last as part of the charm of yesterday consists of climbing three flights of stairs to get to my room. Driving on Route 66 today I came to the conclusion that there are two overriding themes that represent the essence of photographing the Mother Road; decadence and nostalgia. While decadence has its place in fine art I think most people resonate more with the nostalgia and I know the pictures I enjoy taking and sharing the most fall into that category too. Tomorrow: Gallup to Barstow, may not have too much time for the old Route but will try to drive through each of the major Route 66 towns in AZ.
Day 22 - April 14, 2012 - Milkcans – On this one I used a Lightroom preset to convert to black and white with an antique tone. I had to go in and clone out some cables used to keep the milkcans where they belong. Tried to get rid of some of the highlights but without complete success. Looking forward to having some new material to work with tomorrow. Not sure the weather is going to cooperate for wildflowers in California but stay tuned.
Day 21 - April 13, 2012 - Rusty Wagon – Back into the workshop archives from the gas pump museum to practice my newly learned Lightroom skills. The original of this image was overexposed with lots of light and shadow due to the harsh morniing light. I went into Lightroom and decreased the exposure but that took out all the detail in the bed of the wagon so I used the brush to bring that back up. There were a lot of distracting elements in the upper right corner so I toned those down and I had lost the detail in front of the wagon so brought that up a little. I also bumped the contrast way up and for once in my life brought the saturation down. I'm pretty happy with the result given that it is my first attempt to burn and doge in Lightroom!
Day 20 - April 12, 2012 - Lilac Bush, Santa Fe Style – This image is just meant to celebrate spring and the lilac bush bursting into bloom on my front porch...or should I say portal. Just the usual enhancements of vibrance and saturation and a sharpen filter.
Day 19 - April 11, 2012 - Meadowlark – Another shot from the wildlife refuge. The story of the day was meadowlarks singing their hearts out. While I know this little guy is not going to win me any prizes I think he does capture the essence of my experience at the refuge that day.
Day 18 - April 10, 2012 - Rainbow – I finally made it to Las Vegas (NM) National Wildlife Refuge. There I experienced a lovely gentle thunderstorm. Too close to attempt lightning photography but I kept looking for the rainbow and sure enough it appeared. I knew I needed that 10-17mm super wide angle lens and now I know why. It was just able to capture the full arch of the rainbow. The one that got away? Imagine a bolt of lightning about a third of the way in from the left under the arch of the bow. Another day perhaps.
Day 17 - April 9, 2012 - Continental Trailways – Another bit of nostalgia from the gas pump museum. Does anyone ride the bus anymore? Are there buses to ride anymore? I used to ride the bus from Ashland to San Francisco to look for a job. Finally found one and moved all my suitcases on a Greyhound bus. I'm getting pretty itchy to get out and shoot but have to get this house on the market and its cramping my style. Six more days and I'm on the road again.
Day 16 - April 8, 2012 - Bottles – Another image from the workshop, another effort at improving my post processing. I'm not sure how successful I was but let's see if you can spot all the areas that have been clone stamped. In the lowwer left corner the floor was completely blown out so that was cloned back in. I think it is pretty obvious where the blur meets the sharpness. Maybe darkening the corner would help. Then there were some black metal chair legs that were very distracting so they are now gone. I can see the imperfections where they were, can you? I added alot of clarity and pulled down the highlights to get more detail on the front left bottle. Then of course I coverted to black and white which I think helped to hide some of the artifacts of the cloning. Finally I made it a sepia tone as this gives it a warmer look and feel that for me completes the nostalgia look. Good thing I have 84 more days to improve my skill. Now, I am going out to shoot.
Day 15 - April 7, 2012 - Barn – So, I confess, I have never gotten past the library module in Lightroom. My goal for the next week is to rectify this and learn the develop module. This is taking me way outside my workflow comfort zone which has been Bridge-Camera Raw-Photoshop. But I still have some issues with how Lightroom wants to file things so I end up having to take the image into Photoshop to save it...maybe that's another module. What I did do in Lightroom is to convert to Black and White, then used a split tone preset and added some vignetting, also using a preset. Back in Photoshop, couldn't control myself, I also bumped up the contrast and added a sharpen filter. Unfortunately, this image doesn't work too well as a jpg (streaky sky) and alot of the split tone effect is lost in translation. This barn, by the way,is the one used in the Movie Astronaut Farmer...great movie if you haven't seen it....which was filmed right here in New Mexico at a set location just south of Santa Fe which we visited during the workshop.
Day 14 - April 6, 2012 - Patio – Wow, 2 weeks down and only (gulp) 86 more days to go. Today I fully intended to head out to Las Vegas NWR to look for migratory birds. Then I checked the weather and learned that the wind was gusting to 36 mph over there. Last time I went on a windy day all the birds were hiding. So, instead I decided to play with the camera on my smart phone. This picture of my backyard was taken using the HDR app I just installed. Then I moved into Photoshop and added a dry brush filter for the artistic effect. Looks inviting, I think I'll go make a glass of iced tea and enjoy the space.
Day 13 - April 5, 2012 - Santa Fe Door – Yep, still playing in the digital darkroom. I'm still focused (no pun intended) on spring cleaning and I spent two hours this afternoon getting an upgrade to Lightroom downloaded and installed. I promise I will get back to shooting soon. But let's talk about this door. I think I may be in love with this door. I have photographed it often enough (about everytime I get to the plaza with my camera). The first version won me a best in show at the Western Montana State Fair low these many years ago. The weed is a new twist and since it always comes out looking like a painting I decided to take it to the next level with an artistic filter in photoshop. I tried on many for size but it was the poster edges that captured my vision.
Day 12 - April 4, 2012 - Burro – I'm still sifting through the workshop files looking for keepers. What I love about this shot of one of the burros at Jackalope is the mix of textures. Two kinds of wood, the galvanized steel and the softness of the burro's fur. I've taken to trying to crop to standard sizing and this one worked well for putting the burro's head in the sweet spot. I also added some contrast and edge sharpening to bring out the textures and as always bumped up the vibrance and saturation.
Day 11 - April 3, 2012 - Abstract with Rust – I had a long debate with myself today about whether "create a new image every day" meant from start to finish or if post processing an earlier capture would do. I decided that since the object of the game is to improve my skill and I probably need at least as much improvement in post processing as in capture that a newly processed image would do but it has to be shot after I retired. Happily, there is still alot of good material left from the workshop. This abstract is from the front of one of the gas pumps at the museum in Embusco. I went crazy with the vibrance and saturation, added some contrast and then to top it off added a poster edges filter. The result is fun and that was my intention.
Day 10 - April 2, 2012 - Easter Lily – I made a number of compositions of this Easter Lily but I wasn't really happy with any of them. I finally decided I needed to post something and get on with my other chores. So this is the best of the three that I processed.
Day 9 - April 1, 2012 - Blossoms – The miracle of this image is that it was shot handheld on a windy day. I was working on deliberately blurring spring colors but then I thought it might be nice to have something in focus. I liked this shot so much that I abandoned the blur project for another day and decided to just work on this one. I did some burning and dodging to bring out the cluster and had to clone out a dark branch in the lower right corner.
Day 8 - March 31, 2012 - Gears – Sad that the photo workshop is coming to an end today but I will be glad to catch up on some sleep. This morning we headed out at 5:30am to a gas pump museum just south of Taos. Lots of rusty and funky items and many successful images. I espeically liiked this shot of the innards of an old gas pump.
Day 7 - March 30, 2012 - Santa Fe Rust – The third morning of the workshop we spent photography along Canyon Road. I hadn't been there for several years so it was a treat for me to revisit. Got the juices flowing with alot of architectural detail. But this rusty adornment was my favorite in a day of many successful images.
Day 6 - March 29, 2012 - Bench – On day 2 of the workshop we headed down to the Plaza in the morning. This bench was found just outside the new Santa Fe Convention Center. I liked the monotone of the bench against adobe and the vast expanse of stucco wall above.
Day 5 - March 28, 2012 - Glass_abstract – Started a photography workshop today at Santa Fe workshops with Brenda Tharp The focus is on creativity. We spent the afternoon photographing at Jackalope. There is alot to work with there and I had a number of images I liked but this abstract of some small glass vases, which was made by deliberately shaking the camera during exposure, was my favorite. Have to run back to the campus now for instructors presentation of their work.
Day 4 - March 27, 2012 - Pansy – Made it to the Botanic Gardens. What a beautiful spring day. Tulips are almost past prime but the daffodils are looking good. But it was these multicolored pansys that really stole my heart. One thing I did not anticipate on a weekday was busloads of school kids. Fortunately there was enough space for all of us to spread out and enjoy. Had to heavily apply healing brush in post processing due to abundent pollen spilling onto the dark parts of the flower. I had planned to have lunch at the cafe next to the Aquarium but it is closed for remodel. I did take a swing through the aquarium and took a few hand held shots but even with high ISO and image stabilization had a hard time getting any good shots.
Day 3 - March 26, 2012 - Mandolin – One of the great things about retiement is flexibility. When I saw that the forecast called for less wind on Tuesday I decided to put off my trip to the Botantic Gardens for a day. After spending most of the day cleaning house I didn't really have the time or energy to go outside to shoot, and besides the wind forecast was spot on, so I decided to photograph my mandolin. One of my retirement resolutions is to learn to play the mandolin. Still need to get past the sore fingers though. What I love about this shot is the shadows of the strings produced by the natural light from a window.
Day 2 - March 25, 2012 - Bouquet – These flowers are part of a bouquet a friend brought me to help celebrate my retirement. I knew today was going to be tough as I had other commitments, then I didn't sleep well last night so I had to rouse myself from a nap in the easy chair to get something shot, processed and on the page. But I did it and now I'm done for today. Tomorrow should be better as I will be taking my monthly trip to the Botanic Gardens and may also pop into the Aquarium as well. Hoping to have the place to myself on a Monday. Now back to my nap.
Day 1 - March 24, 2012 - Farmer's Market – In addition to my 100 days project I have a number of retirement resolutions. One of them is to visit Farmer's Market every Saturday. Now that I can do my grocery shopping on other days I expect this to be a treat rather than a chore. I even hope to make it to the Sunday art market once in awhile. This image was hard to get because people kept walking in front of me and I didn't have my macro lens so I had to stand back a little. The Market is still all indoors and on camera flash is not my favorite light source but it is all I had to work with. One of the points of a 100 days project is to work on strengthening your weaknesses so I guess flash is one area I need to work on. If I were critiqueing this picture I would have to say I don't think it is as sharp as it should be. Postprocessing involved some serious cropping to get rid of alot of distracting elements on the vendor's table. I did add some sharpen filters in photoshop but not sure I am quite happy with it yet.
