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.