Stepping Out

I could have killed this guy when he stepped into my photo. But now I would give pretty much anything to have his foot in focus. This is why I try not to delete images on the back of my camera, because I'm so focused on the shot I'm envisioning that I can't see it when a better shot happens.

Anyway, please imagine this shot with the foot in focus, and the background less so. I kind of like it. What do you think?

Technicolor Tuesday

Well, after Monochrome Monday, I felt we needed a bit of color around here. And I feel that this unbloomed poppy (poppy bud?) does the trick. How cool is all that fuzz?

Radio Silence, and Monochrome Monday

I took the weekend off from blogging, instead I frolicked at the beach and in the park, drank some red wine and cleaned my house. It was necessary, and it felt good. But I'm back.

And as sure as I am that I am not the first to coin Monochrome Monday, I've been wanting to incorporate some black and white into my workflow. If you are similarly inclined, Craft And Vision has a new ebook out for $5 that's all about black and white photography. So from here on out, some Mondays may be black and white. I'm making no promises, I may forget by next week, we'll see how it goes.

And what better way to kick it off than with some blossoms? (If you're interested in seeing the color version, it's here.)

Mid-Air

Another shot from my recent ski trip. I must have waited at least 10 minutes for this guy to get up the courage to go down the hill. But it was worth it for this shot!

Pink, Pinker . . .

Another from yesterday's tree. I just thought the light on these was so pretty. I think this is cherry, anyone know for sure?

How Can I Resist?

I walk by them and they call my name.

Paws

Another from my photoshoot with the cat yesterday. She's usually not a willing model, too curious about what I might be doing she jumps this way and that, and then comes up and licks the camera . . .

BUT . . . when she's nice and warm . . . you could practically shoot her with a bazooka and she wouldn't mind much.

Warmth

We are all drawn to heat. My cat more than most, she misses the heat of Thailand terribly.

However, she has found a handy replacement: the laptop keyboard is a nice warm seat whenever we leave the room.

Some Links and the Blue Snow Resolution

Well, maybe resolution isn't the right word. I actually decided (unlike most of my commenters) that I like the color corrected image the most. I.e., the image that I globally added more yellow to. Yes, the sky and the lake weren't as blue, but I could just bump up the blue saturation and bring them back to where they were.

The deciding factor for me was the tree. I didn't like the tree being so blue, it looked much better with accurate color. I do, however, REALLY appreciate all of your opinions. They made it much easier for me to figure out my own.

Ok, that's that, now onto some links for you.

Really cool stop motion video of New York, with a tilt-shift effect applied. Worth watching all the way through.


Do you need a new blogging template? There are some here for just $12. They aren't bad looking either.

A little kitchen magnet wisdom never hurt anyone.

A fairly easy way to add a simple border and copyright mark in Photoshop from Canon Blogger.

40 examples of Conceptual Photography. Something I'd love to play with myself, if I ever get around to it.

And if 40 isn't enough for you, check out these 41 Delicious Flower Photographs, over at Digital Photography School.

A pretty complete guide to using aperture in your photography from the Discerning Photographer. If you can shoot on manual and understand exactly what you're doing, this post isn't for you. But if you've ever wondered about f stops or that Av setting, you probably should check this out.

And finally, 7 Things Photographers Should Never Do from Lightstalking. Pretty sound advice, in my opinion.

Well that should be enough to keep you out of trouble for a few hours, at least.

Head Tilt

I know this image is really simple, and maybe not that interesting, but there's something about it that gets me. I wasn't all that close to this seagull, but he (or she) was really checking me out. In a thoughtful way.

The Blue Snow Problem

One of my 'anonymous commenters' (actually not anonymous really, as I know who he is, and appreciate his comments very much) mentioned that the snow was a bit blue in the Vista photo yesterday.

Well, actually, the whole photo was a bit blue. I decided to show you two possible ways of addressing this problem only using Lightroom.

The first photo I adjusted globally, making the whole photo more yellow, and more color corrected. This is a smaller version, but you can click on it to make it bigger.

You can see that the sky isn't as blue, nor is the lake or the mountains. Everything got a little bit yellower. In general, this is the way I color correct my images. I try to have them pretty close to color neutral. Now, the photo yesterday I didn't mind the blue look, as it made the photo seem a little colder, a feeling that I was going for.

The second option for getting rid of the blue snow was just to desaturate the snow. I did that with the adjustment brush in Lightroom, and you can see the effect in the image below. I was feeling lazy, so I only desaturated the snow in the foreground, but I think you can get the idea.

So, of the three versions of the image, which do you prefer? Or do you care? How important is color management to you? Sound off in the comments. I have an idea which one I like best, but I'd like to hear your reactions first.

Vista

Another one from last weekend. This photo doesn't even begin to do it justice, it was so beautiful.

Backlight

I saw the light on these icicles on the tree, and I just had to take the shot.

I am quickly becoming one of those annoying people who says, "Wait, stop! The light! Look at the light! I need to take a picture."

Other (normal) people are so far pretty forgiving, but their patience can't last forever. And I'm pretty sure that this disease is incurable.

Bravery

I am certainly not brave enough to try this!

On the Slopes

I was lucky enough to get a day of skiing this past weekend (hence the two days without posts, my apologies!), and also brave (or foolhardy!) enough to bring my camera up for a couple of runs at the end of the day. I was fairly sure I wouldn't fall down on top of the camera and break it, but you never know. Fortunately, it all went pretty well.

To get the rays of sun I used f/22, and tried to get just the edge of the sun in the frame. I honestly thought this shot wouldn't work, as I was shooting straight into the sun, but I think it actually didn't turn out too badly. I've been shooting too much with my telephoto recently, occupational hazard of living in a city and being lazy with the compositions I think, there is just way too much clutter when I grab my wide angle.

I am going to try to use it more, though. I think it's good for my photography muscles. Don't want them to atrophy.

Sleep With One Eye Open

A view of the sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco.

A Bit Sheepish?

At the racetrack I spent some time at this past weekend (and practiced my panning), there happened to be some sheep. It was one of those odd confluences that you really can't wrap your head around. Racetrack + sheep = ?

So I decided to just let it be. Sheep are where they are. I believe this is an undisputed fact. Racetracks pretty much are where they are as well, although because of the high speeds some relativity, and therefore time travel (this is what sci fi movies have led me to believe relativity is, please don't disabuse me - I'm fond of the notion) might come into play.

Plus space travel. Cars, if not racetracks, are good at traveling through space. Or at least pretty good. Anyway. Sheep. Back to the sheep.

They were there. At the racetrack. Eating some grass. So I took a picture. What else do I do?

Well, it's been a while . . .

. . . so I figured I could post one more photo of blossoms, right?

Jason D. Moore Guest Post, Again

I'm guest posting over at Jason D. Moore's blog again. Come look!

Dream House

Don't you just wish this was your house? I sure wouldn't mind spending some time living here.

Pink and Green

Someone said earlier that this plant is some sort of flax? Whatever it is, I love it. It's just so photogenic. I captured it here late afternoon after one of our winter rains.

Panning

Panning is lots of fun. You should try it. The recipe is also pretty simple.

1. Find something that's moving. (In this case, it's a car. But it could be a bicycle, or a skateboarder, or even just a person walking.)

2. Make sure your shutter speed is kind of slow. I used 1/50s here, but that's because the car was moving fast. Usually I like 1/30 for vehicles, and 1/15 for bicyclists and people. But you have to find your balance. If too much is blurry, speed up your shutter. If it's not blurry enough, slow it down.

3. Track your subject with the camera. I like to use burst mode here and just take a bunch of shots while I move the camera with the subject. Out of three or four shots usually one is pretty good.

4. Practice! Chances are that your first tries at panning will suck. Mine sure did. But you'll get a lot better quickly if you just keep at it.

If you have any great pan shots, please feel free to link to them in the comments. I'd love to see yours.

Skyline

Another image from early morning, just a different angle but the same place I took the bridge photo. I have some exciting images from today's shooting, but I haven't processed any yet, so you'll just have to settle for this one. And proof that it's always somewhat foggy here in San Francisco.

In my watermarking journey I've been attempting to make it happen on export from Lightroom, but that just hasn't been working that well for me. For this image I took it into Photoshop and created it there, which works a lot better. I can control color, size, and placement much better. I'd still like to be able to automate the process, and the less I do in Photoshop the better, just in terms of time, but maybe for a while I'll work this way until I figure out what kind of watermark will work best with all images.

Joy

I don't have a dog, but there's nothing better than watching one run. I just love how dogs give a two second run everything, as if there's never been a run before and never will one come again. Which is why I had to grab this picture as I was walking by, even though I don't know this dog and likely never will. And why I'm posting it, even though it's not actually perfectly sharp.

If I could run with that much joy, I'd be in a lot better shape.

(By the way, thanks for all your helpful comments yesterday about watermarks. Many of you said insightful things. I am still trying to find the perfect balance between all the reasons for having one.)

Watermark? Plus some cows . . .

As you can probably tell, I'm working on finding a watermark that works for me. I'm still not wild about this one, although I do like the font. I'd like it to be really legible, but also elegant and unobtrusive. A tall order, in other words.

Let me know what you think.

Late

A very late post for today - I hope you can forgive me.

Curve

Yes, another early morning image from the same batch. I'm just going to have to get up early more often in the future, that's all there is to it. This one was shot probably around 7:30, 45 minutes after dawn.

Specs are -
Focal Length: 18mm
Aperture: f/11
Shutter speed: 1/50 sec
ISO: 100

Early Morning

Same early morning as yesterday, just a little bit later and a little further down the road.

I love fog. NO ONE can talk me out of it. And I think it's a reason to get out there and photograph, rather than a reason to put the camera away.

Thanks for the fog, world!

Got any good fog photos? Feel free to link to them in the comments. I'd love to see yours. I'm a sucker for a good fog photo any time.

Dawn

Was lucky enough to see the Golden Gate Bridge at dawn today.