Photography Links of the Month for JULY 2011

in

This is my latest installment of photography-related links that I have found interesting in the last month.

San Leon

Links for the month

Inspirational Photo Links

Other Photography Link Collections

--

"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." -Ansel Adams

365 Project 2011 – Week 30 in Review

in ,

This is a summary of the photos I posted for my 2011 365 Project from 7/24 through 7/30.

--

Sunday - Taken at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. I am actually standing in the middle of what should be a slough. The isolated rain we have been getting in the coastal region is just not enough.

1Sunday

 

Monday - Taken in the moments after sunrise. I Love morning/evening sunlight!

2Monday

 

Tuesday - Taken on an area bayou underneath a bridge just after sunrise. Made it black and white because I liked the contrast between the rocks and water.

3Tuesday

 

Wednesday - Took this on my walk this evening. I am surprised there are still flowers blooming in this 100+ degree weather.

4Wednesday

 

Thursday - Interesting graffiti on the side of a tattoo studio in South Houston.

5Thursday

 

Friday - There is a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico. When that happens we see the coolest cloud formations.

6Friday

 

Saturday - I was out in the yard with Jake and decided to pick up this pine cone. Thought the reflection worked out well.

7Saturday

Happy Shooting!

Smile

“A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into." -Ansel Adams

A National Wildlife Refuge Weekend

in , ,

5968382256_4dce0a2c8c

 

On Saturday morning I left before sunrise and headed toward the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. There were a couple of cool photo ops along the way. On FM 2004, there is a large bridge that goes over Chocolate Bayou. I stopped at a public boat ramp located underneath the bridge and was able to get a couple of nice photos.

5967824883_ecc51fa6945968382354_72b844fcb3

Once I arrived at the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, I was astounded at how low the water was. I guess I should not be surprised with the drought and all.

5967824785_45617458c65968382428_c68752da71

But even with the lack of water, there was such beauty. I can’t wait to go back when the water level is up and there is an abundance of wildlife to see.

On Sunday morning, both my husband and I went back to the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge for a short time and then began making our way to the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge, like the Brazoria refuge, was very very dry. We did find some water and there was a family there taking advantage of the water and doing some fishing. This is another area that we will definitely be going back to when we make it through this drought.

5971649701_c3a805f92c5971649643_9a1c8bed17

Additional Information & Links

017f0393419e49c4b63b8e7714a820d6_6    8556b53313e648ef90de09f5bd4113fa_6    d8c0e2d152134f3d9e3b0b3c90d31b49_6    ee4efb6361674b9a90ec927350eb757b_6

--

“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

365 Project 2011 – Week 29 in Review

in ,

This is a summary of the photos I posted for my 2011 365 Project from 7/17 through 7/23.

Sunday – Where It All Began

1Sunday

I went to see the last Harry Potter movie today and enjoyed it tremendously. So much, I decided to dig out a Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone lunch box I received as a gift back in 2002. It will be kind of sad to see it go...it's like we've watched the actors grow up over  the last 10 years :)

--

Monday – My Better Side

2Monday

My boy Jake being his normal precious self. :-) I was actually shooting some still life in my studio when I looked over and saw how the side light coming through my front door was hitting him.

--

Tuesday – Rain Drops

3Tuesday

There was some much needed rain in Houston today. It was nice to see it. :)

--

Wednesday – Bond. James Bond.

4Wednesday

Ran across this cool mural for a bail bonds business.

--

Thursday – Boats in a Row

5Thursday

Taken in San Leon, TX. It was very cool walking around all the fishing and shrimp boats.

--

Friday – Ariel and the Paw

6Friday

My silly cat. I think she's trying to give me the finger ;)

--

Saturday – Bridge Over Chocolate Bayou

7Saturday

Went on a photo quest this morning and took this off of County Road 227 in Brazoria County just after sunrise.

--

Happy Shooting!

Smile

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” -Ernst Haas

365 Project 2011 – Week 28 in Review

in ,

This is a summary of the photos I posted for my 2011 365 Project  from 7/10 through 7/16.

1Sunday

Sunday - End Hunger

I pass the Food Bank a few times a month and have always wanted to stop and photograph it. When I got up this morning, I decided to make it my main subject for today. I took 3 exposures and processed using Photomatix Pro.

--

2Monday

Monday - The Birds

Took this in Seabrook, TX. I could hear the little boy giggling from where I was standing. So cute

--

3Tuesday

Tuesday - Multiplying Like Kitties

This is my first time to take multiple shots of the same scene with a primary object (cat) in different spots and merging them in Photoshop. My husband will be surprised to see we have 3 cats instead of 1. ;)

--

4Wednesday

Wednesday - Peppers

Not a lot of time between work and a Photoshop meeting. Took this in my local grocery store. :)

--

5Thursday

Thursday - “I’m A Leaf On The Wind!”

Working with my Macro lens tonight. Picked up this cool leaf on the way home. If you are a Firefly/Serenity fan, you will get the caption. ;)

--

6Friday

Friday - Taking A Break

Attended a meetup with the League City Photography Group tonight (in San Leon) and while we were not able to photograph the sunset and moonrise due to cloud cover, there were several things of interest in the area of the restaurant we had dinner at. Caught this guy taking a break from bugging humans for food. ;)

--

7Saturday

Saturday - Calm Morning

I took this outside the building in which I work. I generally arrive early on Friday mornings because I'm never as productive on Fridays as I'd like to be ;-)

----

Happy Shooting!

“All life is of a past nature, photography enhances this fact.” - Patrick Summerfield

League City Photography Meet Up – 07.07.11

in , ,

lcphoto

The July 2011 League City Photography Meet up took place on 7/7/11. Below are my notes.

Announcements

Upcoming Events

--

Topic – Tips from the Digital Photography Book Series

David gave a great presentation that involved several tips from Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Book Series.

Tip #1 - Photographing Landscapes

    • When photographing landscapes, it is good to have something of interest in the foreground, middle ground and background
    • Landscape shots are best taken at F16 - F22 to get the greatest depth-of-field possible

Tip #2 - Initial Checks

WHIMS (checks to perform before every shoot)

    • White balance
    • Highlight warnings
    • ISO
    • Mode
    • Size (of the image)

Tip #3 - Importance of Trippds

    • Major discussion on the importance of tripods. Trudy and Scott displayed their tripods. Carbon fiber is the way to go for lightness.
    • Some tripod brands mentioned

Tip #4 - Sharpening

    • Sharpening after the fact - unsharp mask - Edit/Fade - Unsharp Mask - Normal to Luminosity.
    • Since I did not get good notes on the sharpening topic, I found a good explanation of sharpening in Photoshop on the following site: http://tresdesi8.multiply.com/

Here is what they say:

We sharpen every single photo we shoot using Photoshop's Unsharp Mask filter. Okay, it sounds like something named "unsharp" would make your photos blurry, but it doesn't the name is a holdover from traditional darkroom techniques, so don't let that throw you. Using it
is easy. Just open your photo in Photoshop, then go under Photoshop's Filter menu, under Sharpen, and choose Unsharp Mask. When the dialog appears, there are three sliders for applying different sharpening parameters, but rather than going through all that technical
stuff, I'm going to give you three sets of settings that I've found work wonders.
For people: Amount 150%, Radius 1, Threshold 10 1.
For cityscapes, urban photography, or travel: Amount 65%, Radius 3, Threshold 2 2.
For general everyday use: Amount 85%, Radius 1, Threshold 4 3.

Tip #6 - Lenses and Filters

    • Be careful with lenses in dusty conditions. If it is really dusty/windy...don't change lenses. Other times, just make sure you situate your camera and lens so the rules of gravity do not draw dust. Hold the camera pointing downward when changing lenses.
    • UV filter has a chance of protecting your high dollar lenses from some damaging situations. There are definitely two different churches when it comes to using a UV filter or not.

Tip #7 - Urban Shooting

    • Don't try to capture it all...capture details
    • Get closer to your subject

Tip #8 - Shooting Modes

    • Aperture Priority - You adjust the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed (good for most shooting situations)
    • Shutter Priority - You adjust the shutter speed and the camera sets the aperture (good for shooting sports)
    • Manual - You have control over both Aperture and Shutter Speed
    • Program - The camera controls all (Point and Shoot)

--

Additional Information & Links

--

Photos from the Group

Photos I took to the meeting

linesAndAngles  summertime

--

“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photography Links of the Month for JUNE 2011

in

This is my latest installment of photography-related links that I have found interesting in the last month.

june

Links for the month

Inspirational Photo Links

Other Photography Link Collections

--

"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into."  -Ansel Adams

Dodge The Bullet

in ,

Pulled out my 100mm Macro lens and some of my hubby's bullets. Also playing with lighting a bit. I have a friend that is in the hospital, so this subject matter brought to mind my hope that he "dodges the bullet" and gets better soon.

dodgebullet

  • Camera | Nikon D90
  • Exposure | 1/4 sec  ~  Aperture | f/5.6
  • Focal Length | 100 mm  ~  ISO Speed | 200
  • Flash off – Tripod  used
  • Complete EXIF Data
  • Post – LightRoom/Color EFEX Pro 

–

"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between."  -Karl Heiner

Lunchtime Enlightenment

in ,

On the way to the office, I spotted these coneflowers (also known as black-eyed susans, I think). I proceeded to the office, but during my lunch hour, I went to grab lunch and went back to the site. All I really had with me was my iPhone, but am satisfied with the result. The only thing I did in processing was the Auto setting in Camera+.  :)

lunchtime-enlight

  • Camera | iPhone 3GS
  • Post | Camera+/Auto

--

“All life is of a past nature, photography enhances this fact.” - Patrick Summerfield

Dad’s Tractors

in , , ,

I took this on one of my hometown visits. I try to make it out to Huffman at least once a month to visit family. My brother owns an auto shop and I always find something photo-worthy sitting around that place. Thought my Dad's tractors would make a decent HDR subject.

DadsTractors

  • Camera | Nikon D90
  • Exposure | 1/6  ~  Aperture | f/22
  • Focal Length | 13 mm  ~  ISO Speed | 200
  • Flash off – Tripod used
  • Complete EXIF Data 
  • Post – Photomatix Pro/Photoshop

--

"A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into."  -Ansel Adams

Peaceful

in , ,

Took a drive over to League City today. Never noticed this little pond near the center of town. Even got a couple of turtles sunning on the bank. :)

peaceful640

  • Camera | Nikon D90
  • Exposure | 1/1250  ~  Aperture | f/5.6
  • Focal Length | 16 mm  ~  ISO Speed | 200
  • Flash off – No Tripod 
  • Complete EXIF Data
  • Post – Photomatix Pro/Photoshop/Color EFEX Pro 

–

“If you see something that moves you, and then snap it, you keep a moment.” – Linda McCartney

Garden Angel

in ,

I ran across this little nature area at the elementary school down the street from where I live. I was on a Lensbaby kick today, so this is what I came up with. :)

gardenangel500

  • Camera | Nikon D90
  • Exposure | 1/400 sec  ~  Aperture | f/4
  • Focal Length | Lensbaby  ~  ISO Speed | 200
  • Flash off – No Tripod 
  • Complete EXIF Data
  • Post – LightRoom/Photoshop/Color EFEX Pro

–

"A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into."  -Ansel Adams

Pelican Formation

in ,

We went to Kemah tonight to photograph fireworks. While we were waiting for the show to start, we loved watching all the pelicans flying in formation. They were a sight to see. :)

pelicans500

  • Camera | Nikon D90
  • Exposure | 1/160 sec  ~  Aperture | f/8
  • Focal Length | 50 mm  ~  ISO Speed | 200
  • Flash off – No Tripod 
  • Complete EXIF Data 
  • Post – LightRoom/Photoshop/Color EFEX Pro  

--

“All life is of a past nature, photography enhances this fact.” - Patrick Summerfield

Abstract

in ,

I got the idea from a magazine to experiment with shooting food coloring in water. I don't think I had the lighting quite right, but I believe this shot came out as a decent abstract. I used Color Efex Pro to put a little soft focus on the edges, but otherwise did very little to it in post.

abstract500

  • Camera | Nikon D90
  • Exposure | 1/4 sec  ~  Aperture | f/8
  • Focal Length | 100 mm  ~  ISO Speed | 200
  • Flash off – Tripod  used
  • Complete EXIF Data
  • Post – Lightroom/Photoshop/Color EFEX Pro 

–

""A good snapshot stops a moment from running away." ~Eudora Welty

Yellow Flower

in ,

Decided to stop at the grocery store and pickup some flowers. This particular one caught my eye, so out of the 5-6 different flowers, this one got all the attention. Played with lighting a bit too. Used my 100mm macro lens for this shot.

YellowFlower

  • Camera | Nikon D90
  • Exposure | 1/20 sec  ~  Aperture | f/5.6
  • Focal Length | 100 mm  ~  ISO Speed | 200
  • Flash off – No Tripod 
  • Complete EXIF Data
  • Post – LightRoom/Photoshop/Color EFEX Pro 

Alternate Views

Backlit flower petalsFlowercloseupMonochromeFlower

--

"A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into."  -Ansel Adams