Sunday, February 23, 2014

Hungry?

A different kind of shoot today.

Maybe not completely well balanced but full of vitamins and minerals none the less.

Red and Almost Ready For the (Big Green) Egg  

Greens Are Supposed to be Good For You

 More Greens Are Even Better For You

Vanilla Dreams are What You've Been Waiting For!!!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

LEMONADE

OK, I do like to play with post production programs.  On a day like today, they helped make lemonade.

Last night we had about 6 hours of rain.  Following that we received a little less than an inch of snow.  Meeting some friends at Archie Coulter Conservation Area for sunrise with temperatures about freezing, delivered deep gray skies.  No sun, no sunrise, no blue sky, no shadows.

All these shots needed lots of help.  Software to the rescue.


Fence line

Probably my favourite of the day.  Remember, I said less than an inch of snow?  That snow clung to every branch and wire.  In Lightroom, I reduced the clarity of all the background parts and increased the clarity of the fence post.  Increasing the exposure overall (even though I did over expose in camera) gave this a very soft, white result.





Tree tops

Remember, I said no sun, no blue sky?  This is an HDR image.  Back in Lightroom I increased the blue colour saturation and luminance.  If you look closely, you will see the snow on the branches.  It's not a "tell" of HDR as the white is not on the bottom of the branches.






Catfish Creek

 Here, the lack of sun or shadow worked well in monochrome.  Lots of playing with getting the level of detail and balance of whites and blacks just right.


And yes, Ron and Charon, I did these while watching TV.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

I couldn't believe how cool this house was and how near to where I live.

Over the past few months a friend had emailed me collages of this old house and its surrounds.  I finally made it there shortly after Christmas.  The cold wind coming in off Lake Erie set the mood.  This would have been a very grand house in its day.

Don I hope you like these.









 


Lunchtime Picnic

When we speak of backyard lunches, warm summer days come to mind.  Not true for this Broadwing Hawk (or his quarry).  Can you see the snow flakes falling?  Shot from inside our house, through two panes of very dirty glass, this hawk ate his lunch then proceeded to "brush his beak" with the tree branch at his foot.  Very cool.