September 25, 2015

Norway redux ...

I am impressed with how many restaurants have black and white pictures on their walls, such as, Olive Garden; even Firehouse Subs!

The following are pictures, taken in Bergen, Norway, around the harbor area.  Again, click on a picture to enlarge it.

I added the cobblestone street because I cannot imagine laying out the cobblestone on a street and still have a pattern as this.  Think of what they could do with today's technology.

September 21, 2015

Happy Birthday, Linda!

Someone once said that, "I would rather be lucky than good!"  I think that this is true in photography and this is not to diminish the photographic skills that some have developed.  Being in the right place at the right time and having you camera in hand when the opportunity arises are key factors in capturing photos that are 'keepers.'

I was diving Saturday morning when I came upon the balloons in the first two pictures. The yellow balloon was about 100 feet off the ground and the 'character' was front and center.  I stopped the car, got my camera out of the trunk, and by the time that I turned it on, this is the shot the I had before me.  In the meantime, the other balloon went on the other side of the trees.

A little while later, after I has arrived at my destination, the third balloon appeared and was about to go directly over me.  Great perspective.  My camera was on the front seat, but the door was locked.  by the time I could take the picture, this is what was available.

To paraphrase Palidan, "Have camera, will shoot!'

September 18, 2015

I took this picture a couple of years ago and have drawn back to it a number of times.  When I look at it, I imagine a story prompted by the scene.  I think that if five people studied the photo and then made up a story line, there would be different stories.  I think that I know which direction Alfred Hitchcock would take the story.

September 13, 2015

Panorama pictures can be done by taking a sequence of pictures and stitching them together on post-processing or by cropping a picture to a 36" x 12" photo.  Here are a few that I have done.  I like to do them, but the problem is that it takes more time in composing the shots.  There are times when the opportunity does not cooperate.

The first picture is a cropped photo.  I planned on doing it the former way, but the weather did not cooperate when I had the time to take sequence of shots for post-processing.  It is of the waterfront in Bergin, Norway.
I cannot remember how I shot the second picture, without going back to the originals, and the third picture is of our backyard.  Notice the diffraction caused by the wide angle lens.  This could be corrected some in post-processing, but I chose not to for some reason.  Remember to click on a picture to enlarge it.

The following were multiple photos that were stitched together.  The first picture was taken in Destin, FL.  The second is a Fjord in Norway on a rainy day.  The third is a panorama in Western North Carolina.  It was very overcast and much processing was done. The last picture, which was one of my first tries at panoramas, is of Nubble Light, in York Beach, ME and happens to be my favorite, up to now...

September 7, 2015

We are in Highlands, NC for the weekend and drove by this meadow with a great backdrop and a small grove of Birch Trees.

The following pictures are of Dry Falls.  The next picture has Linda standing under the waterfall.  The remaining two are of different compositions, which portray a different effect.

September 5, 2015 b

AFTERTHOUGHT... There are times that one wants haze in a photo to remain.  This photo is a great example.  It was taken in October, just north of where 'The Old Man of the Mountain" was before nature led to its demise.  I think that if I had to pick ten photos to keep, this would be one of them.

September 5, 2015

Ever have a photo that has haze in it?  Most photos with haze in them tend to be put aside.  Clarity is at the top of the list when looking at a photo, unless belong to the "Photo Critique Police."

Newer versions of Lightroom and Lightroom, that operates in the 'Cloud,' have functions that do a great job in romoving or lessening haze.  Click and button, move a slider, and the haze is gone.  My version does not have that!

Not to be deterred, I played around with this following photo to try to lessen the haze.  The picture is of a suspension bridge that has a tunnel at one end and a normal approach the the bridge at the other.  It was taken near Bergin, Norway.

The first picture is the original and the second is my attempt to remove the haze, which took about 10 steps in the processing.  The good news is that I can save the sets as a "PRESET," which can be applied to other photos and allows additional processing, as required by the specific photo.  The effect is better seen if the pictures are 'clicked' upon to enlarge them.