Fall is in the Air

I have not been out too much with my camera do to my shoulder injury but today I just had to give it a try.  Went for a little stroll around Holmes lake and was so glad to see the sunflowers which to me speak fall, there was also a gentlemen with his faithful companion that was just wiggley to be fetching his "duck" out of the water.

New Camera with Flippy Dippy Screen

 I have been using the Canon 7DMkii for about a year and a half but I always shoot in manual and when they moved the exposure level meter to the side instead of at the bottom it was darn near impossible to see, especially in daylight.   It was a struggle just couldn't live with so when the 80D came out I made the decision to actually go down a step in cameras but am so much happier with the features on the Canon 80D.   One of the most helpful features is an articulating screen, I think I will really find it useful for still life photos, especially the top down.

Howling at the Moon

Sometimes I myself don't know how the squirrels take over my thought process, I was looking for flowers, ended up coming across a Christmas picture of Thor, thought the light shade looked like a moon, then I remembered I had a texture with a moon and down the rabbit hole I went.  I am happy with the results but not sure what a therapist would have to say.

original

Kerstin Frank textures plus I loss count number of
other textures and layers 

Paths of Color

  It seems I was drawn to paths leading me into the color, whether it was the gold's and greens, or the bright oranges, yellows with a touch of red.  There is a mystery about them I think, never knowing for sure where they go or what you might find around the bend.

  

A Little Artsy Fartsy

  You either love it or hate it, it seems.  Dan is not on board with this technique at all but I am enjoying some of the effects, it reminds me of a painting. 

Love Is In the Air

  This big boy was making sure none of the other bucks were going to get his ladies.  As loud as they are with all their bugling during the rut it is nothing compared to the cranes.

 

God is so Amazing!

God is so amazing, it is beyond words to comprehend  sometimes the artistry we try to capture with our cameras.  He must just laugh at us for even trying but I hope He knows the immense pleasure he has given us by allowing us just a glimpse of his glorious creation.

Push not Safe

  Photo forum met at the Rail Yard this week, it is always a dilemma to decide which lens or lenses to bring.  I usually go safe and take my 70-200 but I really want to push myself and not always do what I know and am comfortable with this year and to be more intentional when taking a photo.  So I took only my 10-22, I knew it was going to limit me and that I was going to mess a lot of shots up but it is the only way I am going to learn.  I love the look you get with the wide angle and will definitely be working with it a lot more and yes there were a bunch of rejects but live and learn.

 

Bud to Bloom

  I have no idea what this flower is but I had fun taking photos of it in all it's stages of development.   The texture was like velvet on the buds and the petals like paper when it was in full bloom with a curly kate scrubby for a center.  I used the print module in LR for the first time to make my colleges,

lots of great futures projects if I can figure out how to use it to it's maximum potential.  Update:  I found out it is a Japanese anemone.

Details and Isolation

It's amazing all the details and the isolation I am able to get with the extension tubes and macro.  The first one is with my LR import preset only, the second has my import preset plus a filter, the last has a couple 2LO textures added.

Monday Morning Coffee

 We took Nikky to IKEA last week for her birthday and this coffee mug decided it needed to come home with me for no other purpose than I knew it would make a good photo prop.  What I didn't realize was how many "friends" that cup was going to require, so after a trip to the craft store and my favorite antique store and purchasing a nifty fifty lens (can you believe I have never had one) I came up with this still life image.  I really need a garage all to myself to store all the props I keep buying but I am enjoying the process of still life photography so very much.

Annual Pierce 4th of July Gathering

Now that's how you slice a watermelon!

It is a Pierce 4th of July tradition to blow up a watermelon and this years was spectacular.  Bruce provided the denotation device, he and Cory installed it and the rest was history.

Lupine Meadow

Like the title implies these images were taken at the Lupine Meadow, it is on a road the leads to a trailhead for hikers and never seems to be used much.  It kind of seems like our little secret garden. 

Schwabacher's Landing Sunset

I finally got our photo cards from our trip uploaded this evening but I had to get all my images for City Impact finished up. I did manage to get at least a couple images tweaked though and can almost feel the cool air and smell the rain as a shower had just passed through.  It was a beautiful night and an equally beautiful sunset.

Summer Photo Forum Florals

These are some florals from our photo forums second summer outing.  We had a cookout at the Moravec's, their grounds were beautiful but I was getting eaten alive by the mosquitos.

Hickman Barn

  I have wanted to photograph this old barn for quite sometime, I love the brick with the old weathered boards.

Rose with Textures

  I haven't played with a texture for awhile and decided to use one of the images from yesterday.  I had saved this quote that I came across and thought it went well with the image.