I’m a bit late in getting this message out.
The 2010 Photo Walk was a whole lot of fun and an interesting challenge. I do feel that I learned a lot and would love to go back and “fix” many of my photos… and maybe some day I will.
I’m grateful to Tammy, Karen S, Julie and Mary Lou for giving us the 2010 Challenge… and very, very appreciate of everyone’s time and effort that they put into commenting photos.
But onward to 2011 in which the challenge is to take photos of 365 themes.
ISO 80; f/8; 1/320; 7.7mm (Canon Powershot SD950IS)
Desert Golfing: one of my favorite forms of relaxation. This is Mary taking her shot from the wash that she landed in.
ISO 80; f/8; 1/125; 7.7mm; 2:13PM (Canon Powershot SD950IS)
This Christmas Kitty has such soft fur! And she thinks her “people” are fairly soft for dressing her up and biking around the park.
This photo was cropped way down… since I did a fairly bad job of zooming in on her. I ran it through Topaz deJpeg and then used the Aperture to paint in definition (eyes, ornaments, fur) and then out to Topaz Detail and used Feature Enhancement which just gave it enough to make her stand out. Love these tools!
ISO 80; f/2.8; 1/640; 7.7mm (Canon Powershot SD950 IS)
This is the other half of the “Donkey and Bull Show.” I thought he was rather large to be riding around in this van.
Processing in Aperture.
ISO 80; f/8; 1/400; 7.7mm; 12:24pm (Canon Powershot SD 950 IS)
I wish I had been just a bit quicker in “seeing” this image… instead I had to work with what I had and cropped it to get the focus on the dog looking up at the donkey.
I used Aperture to lesson the shadow around the dog and then used the detailed brush to pull out a bit more on the dog and the donkey. Then I ran it through Topaz Simplify Image CrispEdge.
I wish I could take it over again… but at least I did have my camera with me when the van advertising a “Donkey and Bull Show” came through the park while I was working on Christmas Eve.
Guess what Santa Claus brought me? A copy of Photoshop Elements 9!
This is a combination of two photos. I first used Topaz Adjust (from PSE) on the Snowman, which is from a photo I took about a week ago. I then used Topaz ReMask with PSE to cut this snowman from the photo. The background is one of the accidental images I captured two nights ago when the parade of lighted vehicles came through the park. After combining the two photos, I imported the new image into Aperture, tweaked the levels and added vibrancy to the blue sign and the reds, and tweaked the red hues a bit more. (I tried some of this in PSE, but find Aperture easier to use for this kind of work.)
Although I have been a Photoshop Elements user since the first version (and actually from a pre-version), I still had version 6 on my Mac. I bought Aperture earlier this year and wanted to know it inside and out before I could reward myself with a new version of Photoshop Elements. Recently, however, I decided to forego the PSE update in order to take advantage of the discounted bundled price for Topaz. (And am SO glad that I did – let’s call that an early Christmas present!) Good thing there is a Santa Claus because now I have everything I need. Guess I better sign up for the 2011 Photowalk!
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday!
Iso 80; f/4; 1.0s; -1ev; 14.2mm (Canon SX10 on tripod)
I was caught by surprise last night when the RV Park next door came through with their vehicles all lit up to bring us holiday cheer. I grabbed the Canon SX10 and ran out the door… and starting shooting. I chased the vehicles around the park a few times and reset up. Most of the photos came out as interesting light blurs. I couldn’t figure out why the camera seem to take so long to take the picture even when I tried to increase the speed… everything was happening so fast, I didn’t take the time to run through the camera settings. So, I took a page from Ron’s book, and just continued to shoot assuming something would come out of it.
It wasn’t until I downloaded the photos this morning that I realized my mistake… I had left the camera in bracketed mode from when I went out earlier in the day. Of course, I could have corrected that if only I had thought to look. (Note to self: reset camera after each use to be ready for any shot that might come along.)
The vehicles finally stopped briefly in front of me and I got these bracketed shot in… the surprising thing is, I liked the -1ev better than the 0ev shot because we can see the “WooWee” license plate better.
This was processed in Topaz Adjust with the Dramatic effect. Then I brought it back into Aperture and adjusted the Black Point. I retouched the photo removing the drivers head (it annoyed me), parts of a palm tree, and a few other distractions. Last step was to run it through Topaz deJpeg. Oh, and then I dodged the bow and the license plate.
ISO 80; f.2.8; 1/640; 7.7mm (CanonPowershot SD950 IS)
Used Topaz DeJpeg and painted the palm tree fronds with Aperture definition.
ISO 80; f/3.5; 1/10; 10. 4mm (Canon SX 10, no flash, no tripod)
ISO 80; f/3.5; 1/10; 10.4 (Canons SX10, no flash, no tripod)
I’m reaching back to November themes to show off Carl’s early Christmas/Birthday present. He is making a Quad Helicopter from a kit, specifically the AeroQuad. Eventually the plan is to add a camera so that it can take photos from the air. Not sure if it will be one of MY cameras… anyway, this is fairly cool technology. Carl’s says that this little board (once completed) is all you need to make the Segway work. The red pieces are a 3-axis gyro and a 3-axis accelerometer (used to measure acceleration and is what helps it stand still, which is why it will make a great platform for a camera).
Personally, I like how there is so much red and green in the photo, which makes it look like a Christmas present.
Since some of you wanted to know more about what a Pinzgauer is, I thought I’d show you a few more photos of this primitive mode of transportation… actually it is highly mobile all terrain six-wheel drive (or in the smaller models, 4 wheel drive) vehicle, used for military applications. From that point of view it is not a primitive vehicle. But if you look at from a comfort point of view, believe me, it feels quite primitive, with its natural air conditioner and bench seating.
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