April Siegfried – Page 18 – Just the other day

Colors of November

Dec 012009

[¹]

Who knew there were so many in a “gray” Midwestern month?!

This image is a screen capture from the Light Table layout in Adobe Bridge, showing color swatches pulled from photographs posted the last 30 days.

On reflection, the November challenge was akin to an extended workshop—generating more images than there was time to process, and more ideas than time to pursue. It’s given me much to explore during the coming winter. Cool. 🙂

If you’ve ever thought of taking a similar plunge, I can highly recommend!

—

¹Colors of the day:

Black R:0 G:0 B:0
Gray R:128 G:128 B:128
White R:255 G:255 B:255

Intake

Nature 6 Responses »

Nov 302009

[¹]

{click image to view large}

It was cold this morning. After not very long I couldn’t feel the shutter release, and had to open a package of Little Hotties. But, I’m glad I showed up because these clouds were a gift!

Today’s image is a combination of three bracketed exposures, blended by hand using Craig Tanner’s method. Though I first tried running the image through Photomatix, it had some trouble with the moving elements and the fact this was shot handheld. As “Andreas wrote yesterday”, it’s about having choices.

As I finished processing, there was a nearly full moon rising in a clear evening sky outside my office window. That seems an auspicious ending for the November challenge!

Thank you for your company on this adventure. It’s definitely not over. 🙂

—

¹Colors of the day:

Dark blue R:18 G:45 B:78
Medium blue R:97 G:113 B:139
Orange R:189 G:136 B:119

Sunrise №28

Nature 4 Responses »

Nov 292009

[¹]

{click image to view large}

Finally, something different! Clouds but no wind made for a beautiful morning on the lakefront, even though temperature was in the 30’s (F).

Today’s image is a composite of two frames: one to freeze motion in the clouds, and another of 3 seconds on the water to capture its calm and bring out the reflections.

Lesson of the day: Add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and lighten to do a final check for spots — which I just found on my brighter laptop monitor. 😛

—

¹Colors of the day:

Light violet R:170 G:169 B:209
Medium violet R: 105 G:99 B:148
Red R:153 G:110 B:138

Autumn Meadow

Nature 12 Responses »

Nov 232009

[¹]

{click images to view large}

Reading the weather forecast last night I thought, “Oh goody, clouds! Maybe there will be a nice sunrise on the lakefront.”

This morning…nope. It was a flat, dull overcast with only tiny waves on the lake. Oh well. At least I showed up. 🙂

On to Plan B. Working with the same combination of lenses as yesterday—the 18-200mm VR zoom with a Canon 500D closeup filter—I discovered something new: getting as close to the subject as possible with the focal length set to wide angle both exaggerated the subject and enhanced depth. That’s similar to what the wide angle alone would do normally, but the closeup lens added a blur to the background while retaining a suggestion of detail. Cool!

The second image today is probably stronger, and it makes me smile so I couldn’t resist processing to share. The first, however, is interesting as a direction I’d like to explore further.

In both cases I added +2EV exposure compensation, letting the sky blow out in favor of the subject.

—

¹Colors of the day:

Dark brown R:100 G:73 B:51
Medium brown R:139 G:96 B:51
Light brown R:162 G:138 B:109

Grace Note

Nature 3 Responses »

Nov 222009

[¹]

Our neighbors have a beautiful holly bush with rich red berries against glossy green leaves. I couldn’t help but think, “Holiday card!” Concerns about the sun getting high, and setting up a tripod near their front porch early on a Sunday morning, suggested a hand held combination of lenses I’ve not worked with in quite a while: 18-200mm VR zoom with a Canon 500D Closeup Lens and (thin) polarizing filter.

Nothing much resulted from photographing the holly, but that did point the way to other possibilities on this mild, clear day with no wind. Think bokeh! 🙂

I’ll try the holly bush again after a snowfall. Cliché, sure; but a challenge to do well. As a fellow-photographer once said, “It will be my holly.”

—

¹Colors of the day:

Green R:67 G:64 B:20
Brown R:140 G:86 B:46
Yellow R:203 G:164 B:110

Presage of Snow

Nature 4 Responses »

Nov 202009

[¹]

{click image to view large}

Photographing outdoors in November is helping me appreciate the subtle hues and textures of the season, though that’s challenging to bring out in an image. (Suggestions welcomed!)

Recently, in a nature sanctuary, I chatted briefly with a man who mentioned several other locations we both like to visit. After parting, I kicked myself for not asking if there were any others he could recommend. A few days later, I was fortunate to cross paths with him again and discovered that he is both a painter and maintains a web site listing his favorite walking trails in Chicago. Thank you, Thomas, for sharing some of your discoveries! This image was photographed in Ronan Park.

Flo, the story will ring a bell with you. 🙂

—

¹Colors of the day:

Brown R:132 G:121 B:115
Green R:140 G:136 B:119
Gray R:161 G:158 B:157

First Frost

Nature 4 Responses »

Nov 122009

[¹]

This morning I visited a nearby bird and butterfly sanctuary—my new favorite place to photograph—and it was a treat to discover frost on the ground. (Click on the image to view a larger size.)

Lesson of the day: remember to switch Image Stabilization back on when removing the camera from the tripod to shoot handheld. 😛

—

¹Colors of the day:

Blue R:118 G:138 B:143
Green R:127 G:136 B:114
White R:185 G:196 B:209

Low-Hanging Fruit

Nature 3 Responses »

Nov 052009

[¹]

Scouting a new location while our cat was at “the spa” (more on that tomorrow), there wasn’t much time to photograph. Hence the title of this image.

—

¹Colors of the day:

Yellow R:178 G:134 B:46
Red R:190 G:39 B:52

“Just Show Up”

Nature 10 Responses »

Nov 012009

[¹]

“Just show up!”, said Craig Tanner during a photography workshop last year. Sounds simple enough. Yet those three words have stayed with me ever since, because it’s not always easy and has many levels of meaning.

In another workshop two years ago, Freeman Patterson said he still makes it a point to photograph every single day—as a concert pianist will practice scales.

“Just show up” is my plan for the month of November: to photograph, process and post an image here, every day.

I hope you’ll join me and share your experience with daily photo projects in the comment section: tips, revelations, and links to your project sites are all welcome!

For inspiration, three links to other “daily” projects I’ve been following:

Andreas Manessinger—3 years and going strong
Ed-K—has posted an image to his site every day for five years!
SoFoBoMo (Solo Photo Book Month)—”A group event where a bunch of photographers all make solo photo books start to finish, in 31 days, at more or less the same time.”

Plus André Gallant, who is my inspiration for the “November” challenge with a series of some of the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen.

—

¹ Colors of the day extracted using ColorSuckr. Though the name is funky, it did a nice job on this image from within Firefox as an add-on.

Yellow R:210 G:182 B:96
Green R:124 G:128 B:94
Brown R:104 G:80 B:49

Newer Entries