It has been a minute-but here is a new one of Mercury

I was taking a few pics in my basement studio when I noticed a spectator.

I cloned out some distractions an added the vignetting so the eye was drawn to this guy.

What do you think?

olc

Can't believe it is week 12

My wonderful sister had a vaca in someplace really exotic, Ireland. While she was there, she remembered my beautiful Runtyun and purchased this beautiful pendant. I think I know what could make it better, do you have any ideas?

 More in the series of lighting and learning. This one was taken with only ambient light.

 This one had the flash at a low setting and off to the left.

I really wish I had a longer lens than this 100-400 on a Canon 70D so I could get closer to these two. Truly, I was about 40 feet and 15 feet below them.

Again, I wish I had a longer lens. A female Cardinal. 

More on the series of lighting. This one is, of course is ambient light. Truly, I spent more time on this one than the flashed image because I was trying to make everything disappear but the subject. No luck. Does anyone out there have any sugesstions?

This one is the silhouette. Again I am having problems with the dark side of this image.

I went to to Beaver Lake, my stand-by place, and found this squirrel napping in the middle of the morning. Truthfully, it was difficult to get any pictures due to a school project to clean up the park. The kids were doing a Community Clean Up project and they did a wonderful job, but they were having a loud and fun time, so it was a challenge to find a bird to photograph. As a photog, I have learned to find images in places that I may not have thought about.

A female Hairy Woodpecker in the backyard.

It is becoming a little more difficult to find time for this project.  Honestly, the lack of feedback is a little discouraging. While I am doing this project for my learning, it takes a few minutes to post these pictures. I really want to know what you think about these photos and how they could be better, yet I am getting very few comments.

What can we do to make this blog more interesting?

olc

And we have Week Number 11!

I was trying to get some more pictures of birds at the feeder when this guy got out of the porch. He looks a little smug to me.

There is this little pond around the corner and the water is held back by a dam. This is the other side of the dam. 

More in my study of light. This time I built a cylinder. This one is the first with only ambient light.

The light is at a 45 degree angle up and forward from the subject.

I dropped the angle of flash to the same height as the cylinder.

Walking around the neighborhood, I saw this Japanese Maple. The leaves are just begging to sprout so I got really close and took the one.  

Brian Turner at The BPR event hosted by Hy-Wire.

Well, I was at a car show and got some good shots of the participants. However, The Grinner was sittin' pretty. 

When I started her up she sounded fine, but by the time I made it down to the light she died. Back in the shop again and maybe this time we will get it right!

Maybe I should rename the bike The Frowner?

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Later! olc

Week 3 in 365 Project

We actually got some kind of grin out of Dad for this shot. While The Runtyun allowed a rare picture with her in it. And Martha relaxed enough to get a nice smile through. As for me, you asked? This is a good representation cause, I am always a little out of focus. lol!

This is a broche I found, it measures around one inch. I had to get really close to get this.  

 When in doubt, I can almost always get one of Da Brat. This one is in the basement rafters, a fav place for him while I am playin' 'round in the basement.

 Now this one is a 10 inch Brass Cormorant. I started out trying to get a full image, but as I got closer, the beak began to stand out. I wanted to see what kind of focus I could.  I really like the detail in the eye and the way the beak wanders out of focus. What do you think?

Do you see the way the candle is lit from the inside thus throwing a little yellow against the wall. Maybe I should have used a darker room top bring out the highlights. 

 I was too tired to do anything really imaginative, but needed to get some kind of image...

 I have wanted a sturdy studio tripod and after a bunch of searching found this movie style tripod. It is heavy, which is good and the center column rises as much as 16 inches, I think. The thing is supposed to hold an 18 Lb camera, so my 6D and heavy lenses will be no problem for it. But the best thing about this tripod is the price. I asked some people on a Photo site what they recommended for studio work and they made a bunch of great suggestions. However, some of the suggestions went as high as $2000...way out of the field for a wannabe amateur.

So, here are my photos for the 3rd week of the photo challenge. Please leave a comment. Your comments, when they come, are always welcome.

olc

A Great Blue Heron and it's short story to fame

Brandy Lampert is the Owner/Operator of the finest little framing studio around. I walked into her shop a while ago and saw that she has all the bells and whistles one needs to create  the final touches to my photographs--the matts and frames.

Here is her web page: Frameit Asheville.net
And Phone Number: 828-808-0923

She has taken care of my needs as a photog and charges vey reasonable prices every time I have used her services.

Here is an example of her work. The first image is the original picture, the next is a simple pic of her work. The last is my meager studio with the picture in its' final iteration.

 

Later, olc

A wonderful thing happened to me Yesterday!

First a little back story:

I was going through some of my parents things with the Runtyun and she found this old Photo of my Grandparents, her Great-grandparents. It was taken at a retreat they went to for summer vacation. This was when even working class families could afford a week off in the summer for vacation in an “exotic” place. In this case, they went to Stinson Lake, in New Hampshire(Google: Stinson Lake, Rumney, NH).

I am sure that other pictures are around which show My Grandparents, but we found this one and I decided to see what I could do for it. I was able to produce a digital image and with the help of Photoshop, I cleaned it up a little.

About that time, my Mother had to go to the hospital and eventually we have made arrangements for her to stay at the VA Rehab Center in Black Mountain until we can bring her home. Of course Christmas is coming, so a light went off in my dim little brain; A present from the family for my mother.

I have been doing business with Brandy at Frame It: https://www.frameitasheville.net, for a bit and really like her work. While I can take a pretty decent image, I have no real artistic ability. I can walk in and show her a photo I want framed, or matted and she makes my picture look even better.

This is the original photo.

Then I reshot it and played a little in PS.

          Aw the magic of digital photos. I was able to get rid of that crease in the upper left and increase the contrast a little.

And this is what Brandy did for me. 

Not only did her matting and choice of frame enhance the image, but her price is really reasonable!

Finally, because I know everyone out there really wants to know what my studio looks like:  

olc 

Still life set up

This is the studio I made for my still life work. You know the beer bottles and figurine and such.

Did ya' nice the spy?


olc