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.