The Pink Rose

 

I took this photograph at Larry and Shelley’s house. Actually, I took it with my cellphone . I believe this is the first image I have used from my phone. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the resolution. I am not real happy with the way this looks so I may work on it later. (Update: I did change it and it looks a lot better, it is just rather small compared to my other photos). It has been several months since I posted and now that the weather is warm, I will work on doing more.  I downloaded the image using Adobe Bridge into camera raw where I increased the vibrance and lowered the exposure a little. Then took it into Photoshop and cropped it. Usually I show my metadata in the caption under the photo, but I really don’t have any to share today. I will give this a tag of Blackberry 9530, but that is all I have to report!

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Lily at 6-1/2 Months Old

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 17mm, f/2.8, 1/25, ISO 1000

I know it has been a while since I posted here. I have been VERY busy, which, of course, is no excuse. Here is my Miss Lily at 6-1/2 months old. She is sitting up and showing a lot of personality. I cropped it to make it more of a close up. I love this expression on her face. Oh to have that skin! I did a levels adjustment to get the photo to pop. I ran some other software to get rid of some grain. I also love the light hitting her face. She is so beautiful.

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Lily Marie at Three Months

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S18-55mm, 45mm, f/6.3, 1/60, ISO 125

Lily looked so cute when we were there for a Father’s Day barbecue. I liked this close-up photo because you can see her pretty eyelashes. Her hat looked really cute too. At least she is not frowning! I brought the image into camera raw and did an exposure adjustment to brighten it up a little. Then in Photoshop, I did a levels adjustment, some noise reduction and a little sharpening. I do enjoy taking photos of her but I think she is getting tired of seeing me with a camera in front of my face!

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Purple Petunias

Canon 7D, Raw, 48mm, f/2.8, 1/200, ISO 100

I took this yesterday at Larry and Shelley’s when I was over there to take Lily’s one month photo. She is so cute! Anyway, they have some very nice flowers in their backyard and I went back to take some different photos. These were so pretty but I forgot to ask Shelley what they are called. Could it be a petunia? My Canon 7D takes such great photos I really don’t have to do much in Photoshop. The main thing I did was a levels adjustment which helps the white balance and then I did some noise reduction. I am a little unclear as to why it needed this since I shot it at a low ISO.

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A Work of Art or Trash?

Canon 7D, Raw, f/11.0, 1/50, 43mm, +4 Filter, ISO 400, Nik Stylizer Filter

How long do you think this was buried in our backyard? I remember it when it was new. I used a close-up filter (+4) and then took a lot of photos. I enhanced the colors in Photoshop using the Nik Stylizer Filter and I changed the blend mode to soft light. You can really enhance a lot of your images just by changing the layer blend mode. Even though I had my aperture at f/11.0, I still didn’t get much depth of field because of the close-up filter. I set my focus towards the middle by where the door is. How do you like that engine and sunroof? 

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My Photographic Study, Part V

Canon 20D, Raw, f/8.0, 1/200, ISO 100, 37mm, +2 Macro Filter

Here is my last image in this study of normal household items. The images were shot at different speeds and aperatures. The only comman elements were the macro filter and photocube. I don’t know how many of you have an oil can in your home. I didn’t until I got this one from my mother. It is brass and there is a lot of patina on it. I shot this in the mid-day sun in my backyard (that is another common element to all the photos). I am very happy with all five photos in this series. I hope I can get some feedback from you.

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My Photography Study, Part IV

Canon 20D, Raw, f/11.0, 1/80, ISO 100, 35mm, +2 Macro Filter

Here is number four of five. Again, I used the portacube along with a macro filter. This knife belonged to my mother. By looking at it, you can tell it is very, very old. Unfortunately, I do not know the knives history. I liked the embossing that is in the middle between the handle and the blade. Willie thinks the handle looks like part of a deers antler. What do you think? Is is a carving knife or a boning knife?

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My Photographic Study, Part III

Canon 20D, Raw, f/11.0, 1/60, ISO 100, 41mm, +2 Macro Filter

Here is my third image in a study of everyday household items. What do you think of this one? A lot of us cooks have this in the kitchen to wrap up a roast or truss a chicken, etc. Maybe you don’t use it very often, but when you need it, it better be there! I know the “rule of thirds” says you should not center your subject in the frame. Well, I centered this item and think it worked great. I used a +2 macro filter to get in close. I had to adjust the white balance some in Camera Raw.

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My Photographic Study, Part II

Canon 20D, Raw, f/13.0, 1/60, ISO 100, 35mm, +2 Macro Filter

Here is the second image for you to see in this current project of mine. Do you like it? We all have serving spoons in our home, but have you ever looked at one in this way? I have several spoons like this of different colors that my mother-in-law gave me many years ago. I took this photograph outside in the mid-afternoon sun and I used my portacube. It is a great thing to have for product photography.

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My Photographic Study, Part I

 

Canon 20D, Raw, f/10.0, 1/30, ISO 100, 59mm, +4 Macro Filter

 I decided to do a five-part study in photographing everyday items most of us have in our homes. We never look at these items in an artistic or photographic way. I thought I might give you a chance to look at some common items in a different way and with a different eye. I have five different items and this is the first one. On this image, I upped the contrast and saturation. I would love to hear what you think. It was very enlightening and I am enjoying doing it. I shot this outside, using my large portacube, a great item.

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