It's Been Too Long

"Opening Night"

I know you're shocked. Or maybe not. No sunset shot today, no towering architecture, no flowers, no historical ships. This is my image for today, and it's been too long since I've explored the streets of downtown Hamilton with the Nikon. It's been too long since I've had something so different to share with you all. I kind of did a little jig when this image demanded my attention!

Joined our local Hamilton Flickr Group last weekend for a photowalk. And I'm glad, very glad, I did. Not only did I get a chance to connect with a fabulous group of people for a few hours, wandering the streets, being inspired by the different things that would stand out to different people, but I was reminded that it's still fun to hunt for those "photographic gems" that are available to us if we care to look hard enough.

Several telephone and hydro poles were sporting this particular poster... for a rave or music event... and the eyes would follow you no matter where you stood. They really got my attention, and the graphic face emerging from the shadows screamed to be photographed. In my experiment to see how far the eyes would follow me, I wandered past the pole, then looked back in the lens... I realized if I got my exposure right, I'd get the "open" sign in the dark window of the dance studio behind it. Take what you will from it, paper vs neon, the solitary vs the city bustle, blue vs red (ha). Is it the most stunning image I've ever produced. Nope. But it was so much fun to take, and I can't wait to print it up. And that's the point.

If it's been too long since that was you having fun, being excited, creating something you can't wait to share, causing you to give an unrestrained giggle of accomplishment, then maybe its time to revisit something you once had time for. Doesn't have to be photography, and it doesn't have to be complicated. Just has to bring you joy. 

Thanks to the HFG for the great night, for John who got us into the local fire hall with our cameras last minute (and to all the firemen out there, stay safe and thank you for all your hard work at all hours of the day and night)... 

..... and thanks for the Ramble here on the blog, gang! Have a good one!

Peony Love ~ Mono Monday!

"She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not"

(1/200 sec.@ F7.1, 180mm fl, ISO 160, 55-200mm Nikkor telephoto VR, shade)

I love love love peonies. Love them. Every aspect of them. Their scent is what heaven will smell like, I'm sure of it. That's heaven wafting through my window and across my work station right now. Their shape, their delicate profusion of petals like all the ruffles on a lady's skirt. Their sweet subtle colors. Out of everything God created for us to enjoy, I think the Peony is His most beautiful and poetic. Did I mention I LOVE peonies?

They're in full bloom right now in my garden which means I make time each day to run out there with my camera in different light and weather to get tons of pics. And I promise I'll try not to smother you in peonies all week... but hey, I'm prone to be a little less motivated to keep promises of that nature right now when they all look so darn delightful!

Mono Monday, so I have taken one of the close-ups I got this weekend and converted it. But a straight conversion didn`t yield the nuances of each petal the way the color version did, so some layers work occurred. After creating a duplicate layer of my initial conversion to the platinum B&W in PSPx2, I made sure I took the original layer into the adjustments menu and really brightened the overall image, more than usually necessary. Then in the duplicate layer I applied the B&W to the Curves option, taking the highlight and shadow points to areas where they made both extremes pop. The duplicate layer`s opacity was opened up slightly and then I proceeded to use the eraser tool to reveal the really bright layer underneath only in areas where there were natural highlights on the edges and topsides of petals. The image began to take on a depth it needed from the original conversion into B&W. A little time consuming, and required some vision as to what I really wanted to be important to this conversion. Am thinking already that I need to do this again in a really true B&W option now, that I may like it even slightly starker than it is now.

And that`s okay. Some images evolve. Your vision for an image will evolve, change, improve, become riskier. It`s called art. And more than peonies, I love art. What do you love? And have you pursued expressing it lately? Or taken the risk to show it to the world? ....More peonies anyone?

Thanks for the ramble! It`s an editing week for me, so except for the blog I may be off the grid for a bit... so have a fabulous Monday! Oh, and shameless plug here - please be sure you click on the pink vote button on the right side of the blog for Circle of Moms to place my photography in the Top 25 Photog Moms! You can vote daily! Thanks!

B&W Beauty ~ Floral Friday!

"Simple Grace"

Well, I did promise Floral Friday here at the blog and deviated from the Doors Open theme. But thought I'd stay with my theme of B&W that I kept with also through the week. I'll be curious to see what your thoughts on this are. When I thought about the perfect flower to convert into mono tones, orchids came to mind... unique shapes, great veins of texture, and a bit of a compositional challenge when you lack a macro lens to fill the frame with.

The Platinum fx filter in Corel is lovely to work with, or at least, it's become one of my personal faves. When you take it into the curves function in PSPx3, you can fine tune every tone, every shadow, every highlight with a nice depth that is a little less stark than a classic B&W option. Perfect for floral shots. But that's just me. Every artist has their own approach. In a separate layer I added a bit of subtle texture, and with an eraser tool erased most of the clean background revealing the canvas effect underneath, leaving the flowers for sharpness. I merged the layers when I decided I had achieved the right opacity. Otherwise, the background was too bright for the image.

I shot this in my kitchen actually. I was playing with window light, a cheap white sheet stretched across the window acting as a diffuser, and my telephoto to get in close to the orchid in the foreground, blowing out the backdrop slightly and using a larger aperture so that I could get a much shallower depth of field artistically.

Enjoy today's image folks, and thanks for the ramble! Have a fabulous weekend and please remember to click on the Circle of Moms badge on the right hand side of my blog page if you've been enjoying my photographs! Thanks everyone who has already voted!

Today's Tulips ~ Floral Friday!

" A Time For Tulips"

(2.5 sec @ F/9, ISO 100, 50mm fl, 50mm f/1.4 prime lens, Nikon Speedlight Sb-600, Gary Fong Light Sphere)

Happy Friday everyone! My post today is short and sweet. I'm just itching for the weekend!

I've been playing with my flash more this week, and I have to say that when I pair it with my 50mm prime and Fong's flash diffuser, you get some wonderful results. Light is dispersed nicely through the light sphere, and the 50mm lens makes me more conscious of my framing and my DOF. Here's two very different results.

There has been some slight editing to both images. In the above, I applied some of PSPx3's clarify filter, and desaturated the color a tad which emphasized the textures from the clarify application. In the image below, I only had a bit of return strobe happening as the shutter released and relied more on the available light coming in from the right side. Later in editing, I selected the warm light tones and heightened them a bit in a new layer before saving. I like them both, but I believe my favorite is the later...which one is yours?

Have a fabulous weekend folks, and thanks for letting me ramble on!

"Tulip's Last Light"
(1/2sec @ F/9, ISO 100, 50mm fl, 50mm f/1.4 prime lens, Nikon Speedlight SB-600, Gary Fong Light Sphere, diffused side light, tripod, remote shutter)

Up and Away ~ Exploration Thursday!

"My Blue Heaven"

(1/125 sec @ F6.3, ISO 160, 28mm fl, 18-55 mm Nikkor kit zoom, pattern metering)

Once in a blue moon I catch myself daydreaming. Sometimes I'm craving traveling to distant destinations, often because I've hit on a case of cabin fever. Sometimes I need a change of pace to get motivated, to be creative when everything begins to feel static. Sometimes I peruse all the lenses I could add to my kit, thinking of all the crazy optical options I still need from all the catalogues and sites. Think of the images I could make then! But, it's only daydreaming, because I know great photography doesn't come from the latest glass or gadget or guru. It comes comes from constant learning and never letting something as material as the next new gizmo take the place of your passion. I've known this simple truth since way back in Mr.Shoveller's high school photography class, where he would walk the classroom, orating that the only real tool you needed to hone was "vision" while he waved the broom handle at you that never left his hand while he taught... (on the off chance he'd need to slap it across a sleeping students desk).

So for this post, I once again have dug deep into my files, but have only just edited this shot this week. So technically, it's new. I simply let my daydreaming inspire me! This is an image taken in London, England. This particular building with it's retro patterns and walls the color of sky sits tucked in behind the Tate Modern (think modern art and design on regal display) ... and unless you take the most round-about path you can possibly find to the Tate, as I did (story of my life), you'd never see it.

For me, I'd always wished I'd a had a more creative, fun lens with me that day. After a while, no matter how cool the buildings are, they can all start looking the same. For ages now I've often thought about fisheye lenses. They give you a sprawling view, but in order for that to happen there's this wonderful circular or spherical distortion to your composition. Alas, money never has grown on trees. And in the interim I've begun to play with similar effects but in my editing program. And suddenly, the sky's the limit!

Now playing and manipulating an image is all well and good, but I'm going to say this; you still need a plan. Going in to this edit I knew what I was wanting to achieve. I knew I wanted the perspective to stretch up and out, I knew I wanted it to feel like it could grow right into the sky, unhindered. It's how it felt when I first saw it shining in the sunlight. I also knew I didn't want it looking so fantastical that it wasn't a believable perspective or shape anymore. With all that in mind, I applied PSPx3's simple perspective distortion tool and used the fisheye fx in the drop down menu. It took some playing with the sliders back and forth till I got a sweeping point of view that still utilized the clouds up in the corner, and didn't so badly distort that it no longer looked like architecture. It wasn't difficult, since I had already shot the composition on this angle anyway. I only enhanced it. Now when I look at it, it feels new and exciting. Found me a creative way to be, well, more creative. And so much better than trying to dig up several hundred dollars for a lens... although it's been ages since I checked the couch cushions. Hmmm...

A simple change, but a dramatic one, and now it's got me daydreaming about new possibilities.

Thanks for the exploratory ramble folks! Have a good one!