A Little Early Morning Fog

 

Yesterday morning was really foggy. After walking Gussie I grabbed my cameras and went to the bandstand in Fort Valley, thinking the Christmas lights might be cool in the fog. AS I was getting out of the truck, an SUV passed me.  I got the above shot with the 15mm showing an overall shot of the band stand area in downtown.

 

The driver stopped at the light, and I had the time to swap cameras for the D90 and 70-300 for this shot. It was pretty much with the car dead center, framed by trees and lights. Not bad with the fog diffusing the lights.

 

Another car came along and stopped for the light. This time I had a bit more time for composition, and I moved the car to the right in the frame.  Makes an entirely different looking image, and I am not sure which I like the best.  The second one is so simple and clean. 

Anyway, Tis the Season.....Go shoot some Christmas lights, and be creative!

Overcoming a Gloomy Day

It is a gloomy day, one of many, with several more before we have sunshine. Even with the rainy days, God has supplied us with beauty. We just have to look.  Yesterday I went out with my camera and this is some of what I saw.

 

Beauty is all around us, even in the debris in the gutter.

 

Early Morning Light

My D90's shutter died some time ago, after opening and closing over 100,000 times.

Not too bad, it was supposed to make it to 100,000, so , "Thank You, Nikon."

Sent it off to be repaired, got it back after several weeks and it died half way through the first assignment I shot with it.  So it went back to Nikon.

Got it back this week and the above image is one of the first I shot with it. This morning in a pecan grove of Highway 49 north of Fort Valley.  Saw this as I drove by and had to stop. LOve the light in this image, the beams breaking through the dust, nice compression with the 300mm.

Glad to have my little camera back.

A Halloween Treat

Yesterday was Halloween, and if you didn't buy a little candy and turn on your porch lights, you missed a real treat.  Deborah and I have done Halloween each year we have been in Fort Valley, but for one. We took last year off but were ready for the zombies, vampires, fairy queens and other young visitors to come calling.

Our first was cute little bumble bee. She came accompanied by her older sister around 5:45. Waited about twenty-five minutes for our next callers. The evening started off slow enough that we were a bit worried if anyone would come this year.

But it did get busy. We had almost one hundred kids to come along.  What a joy. Happy, smiling faces even under the zombie makeup. Some alone, some in the company of older siblings or parents. All really polite and enjoying themselves.

Only one other house on our block gave out candy, there were other participating in the neighborhood, but most houses were dark.  This was a great opportunity to get to visit others in the community, to share a few minutes of hospitality with strangers.  To make a child smile.

And that is what it's all about.

This May Sound Corny..........

 

"Stately mansion and hut forlorn,
All are hidden by walls of corn.

All wide the world is narrowed down
to the walls of corn, now sere and brown.
 What do they hold - these walls of corn
whose banners toss on the breeze of morn...."

From "Walls of Corn" by   Ellen P. Allerton

 

I love corn, every year I end up in someone's cornfield with a camera. Could spend all day seeing things to shoot.  There are so many textures, the shucks and stalks twist and bend in so many ways.

Always wait to shoot when they are dried and golden. Like an old man's

lined and weathered face, full of character, a touch of sadness. Their season almost over.

Up Close and Ugly

 I was walking the dogs Saturday morning, about to leave for work when I saw this cicada in the edge of the driveway. Uusually I find the old dried shells after they are gone. This one was either just out or on his last legs, Not sure which. I refer to it as a "he" I have no idea about cicada gender traits. Just know this year they have been really loud.

Anyway, went and got my D200 with the 70-300 macro. While I was grabbing it, I thought, "Hmm, how about the fisheye?' I shot the top image with the macro, nice tight on his ugly face. Guess a girl of anything couldn't be this ugly.  Then switched to the fisheye and got really close.  Made a different image, kinda like it.

 

The next day we were outside with Gussie and I found the garden spider. Got the camera and my 2x closeup lens for this one. It was really hard to shoot. The wind was blowing the web hard enough that it would move two or three inches. I had a hard time keeping it in focus.  Positioned myself so that the backgound was a dark solid color and the backlight was bringing out the detail in the web.  Wanted a tighter image, but just could not keep a closer one in focus. Oh, well, maybe next time.

A Little Help For Photoshop

 

 I recently photographed Elena  at the old concrete plant in Fort Valley. It

has become a favorite place to shoot. Love the shapes and wonderful backgrounds available,

and seems like the late afternoon sky is always great for photos.

 

I have always done all my editing, enhancing and post production effects in Photoshop.

Tried Portrait Professional and several other programs, especially for portrait/glamour work, but

never really liked to results. Always  did the long drawn-out methods in Photoshop for smoothing skin, removing blemishes and making my subjects glow.

I have found some software that I really like. I have been playing with NIK's Color Efex Pro4 for several months now, and it just keeps getting better.  It is a pluin that will work with Photoshop, Elements and LightRoom.

 Some of the filters probably will never be used by me, but several of them get a workout every shoot.

It has caused a huge change in my work flow. 

Check it out at http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/index.php?view=colorefexpro

Close Ups

 

I bought a set of closeup lens a while back and have been playing with them from time to time.

Got a set of four, ranging from 1x up to 10x. I saw the water drops on this honeysuckle while walking the dog and decided to see what I could do . 

 

The top photo was shot with my 70-300 Macro. I used the 2X for the middle

photo and then the 4X for the bottom one. This was hand held, and I had a few that were out of focus.

It is best to shoot with a tripod. There is no depth of field with these things and the slightest move will throw your focus off.

 

Close up lenses are like filters, they screw onto the front of your lens. Like filters you buy them to fit the threaded rings on the front of your lens.  You can buy them individually of in sets. The lower number is less magnification, and the higher gives more.

They provide a really inexpensive way to do some close-up photography and are fun to play with.