A Photo Challenge

I have a photo challenge for you.

Walk out your back door and pick an object. 

See how many different interesting photos you can take of this one object in 25 minutes.

I tried last week with this wind chime.

                                                                            Use different lighting

Different angles

Different lenses.

See what you can do.

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day. Too many of us have forgotten the real significance of the holiday. To a lot of us its the Indy 500, a long weekend, a time to really kick off the summer activities, cooking out, going to the pool, lots of warm weather fun stuff.

It used to be a very solemn day, a day of mourning for those who gave the ultimate price for our freedom. Businesses closed, most towns had parades and speeches, gathering to offer up prayers honoring and remembering their fallen heroes who died in the service of their country.

Its not a bad thing to watch the Indy 500, its an American tradition. Always good to gather with family and friends and fire up the grill. But make sure you take time to remember those who died to give you all the freedoms that come with being an American. If you have a family member who died serving our country, then make them first and foremost in your thoughts and prayers.

The National Moment of Remembrance will occur at 3pm local time. Pause for one minute and remember and honor the sacrifices made by so many Americans. And take a moment to say a prayer those who are actively serving today, putting their lives in jeopardy for you.

Backyard Safari

I came home from running errands today and noticed the sun falling of some flowers Deborah planted next to the walk. I unloaded the car and started taking pictures. The original flower selection did okay, but I found some other subjects that really rocked. I shot the tomato after the flowers, and went inside to grab my lunch.

I dumped my camera gear in the ofice and Deborah came in asking if I wanted to photograph a really cool bug. I followed her out and shot the top photo. She can spot a great picture.  After shooting the bug, I shot the middle photo of the Hosta. Love the subdued light.

THese were all shot as RAW files. I am really enjoying the control you get by shooting RAW.  I am doing a lot less in Photoshop due to using Camera Raw.

I also am using the Shadows/Highlights controls available in Photoshop Elements 9. I very seldom use full Photoshop any more. I miss the History brush, but it is easy enough using Layers and Layers Masks while working with images. The patches of sunlight on the tomato and the detail in the bug's wings show the effect of using the Highlights slider.

These three were shot in the backyard in less than thirty minutes, so I don't want to hear anyone else say "I can't find anything to shoot."
Go forth and create some kickin' images.

Shooting Raw

I have been watching Lannie Fenster's wheat field for over a week now, waiting for the right photo. Today was my day. I was coming back from Warner Robins and knew I wanted the day's wonderful clouds in my image.  I shot some with the 15mm, but was not getting enough sky, so I swapped the 15 for the 10mm fisheye. Love it.

I have been shooting a lot of my personal work in RAW for the last couple of weeks. It is nice to have the range to play with every part of the image that Camera Raw provides.

Both the wheat photo and the photo of Keyaira below were shot RAW and run through Camera Raw before Photoshop. The two photos show some of what you can do with RAW files. The two were processed pretty much the same except for the Clarity slider. The wheat photo was all the way right for maximum detail. The Keyaira photo was way over to the left, for the softer look.

Kinda neat.

Animal Week or What?????

Guess this has been my week to grab some kinda interesting animal shots. The lower photo will probably upset some folks. Deborah didn't like the picture of her "Sweet Elsa" with the bird in her mouth. She is a really sweet and loving cat, but she is a cat. Stephen King so rightly stated that cats were the outlaws of the animal world. Too true.

I was at the Houston County Relay For Life last night when I spied Cloie,  a miniature  Dachshund and her master Mike walking down the Relay course well before the 6:30pm beginning ceremony. They were in the company of another small dog and master. Seems the Relay folks had asked that no doggies accompany the walkers, so Cloie had to leave. No telling what damage a three inch tall wiener dog could have done to the assembled masses.

Earlier in the week I was headed out to a shoot and found Elsa with her prey. She is quite the hunter. We have seen her snatch a flying bird from the air. Not like we don't feed her regularly. Purina should consider a Finch flavored cat food. Our four would be all over it. Guess it would not be the same, cats gotta be cats.

Photographers gotta be photographers, too. It was too good a photo to pass up.

Girls Soccer

I shot my first soccer game of the year last week. I aways worry a bit about shooting soccer. I guess I have not logged the hours shooting soccer that I have other Middle Georgia sports. Soccer is the "new sport" to me. It is fun to shoot, and the action never stops. Not like football or baseball where you have an idea where you want to be aiming the camera. I follow the ball most of the time shooting football, but you still have an idea where its going.

The top photo of Warner Robins Maggie Dimes was one of those shots where I wished I had been on the opposite side. As you can see, it was a heck of a photo, but would have been better had her foot not covered her face. But even with her face partly covered, from the other side you would not have seen her toes against the ball.

The second shot I didn't turn offer up for the newspaper, but thought it was a cool photo of Erin Hill lining up her kick while team mate Maggie Dimes takes a moment to put her hair back up...all the while keeping her eye on the ball as she ran forward.

You won't see that at a boy's game.