Coming Back

Week Six: Night and Light; Edits Coming Soon!

1. Wine List: Cafe Atlantico, Washington D.C.; 2/20/10; f 6.3; 5.0; Canon Powershot S51S

2. John on the Potomac: Washington D.C., 2/20/10; f 2.7; 4; Canon Powershot S51S

3. Doors Closing: Washington D.C. Metro; 2/19/10; f 2.7; 6; Canon Powershot S51S

4. Cell Swirl: Steph's Room, Kensington MD, 2/19/10; f 2.7; 10; Canon Powershot S51S

I was in D.C. without a tripod! So sad. But, I managed by balancing the camera on metro benches, tables, and even on the ground. My ride didn't get me o to the mall this trip, but I had some fun from the other side of the Potomac.

Week Five: Panoramics and Edits

Covington Fields: Covington, Washington, 2/13/06; f 3.5; 1/500; Canon Rebel


This weekend, I drove through the Seattle area with a good friend. In the few minutes it wasn't raining we stopped at a few of the old barns along the backroads. For this shot I didn't have a tripod, but I balanced the camera on my fist and leaned on a fence post. The editing was the easiest so far. I didn't even have to use a clone stamp! I'm excited to try this on more summery scenes soon.

Week Four: A Week of Photos

1. Maverick Mustard: 2/9/10; Rexburg Maverick Store; f 2.7; 1/60; Canon Powershot S5IS

2. Shakers: 2/8/10; Rexburg, ID; f2.7; 1/25; Canon Powershot S5IS

3. Pili's Chair: 2/7/10; Rexburg, ID; f 3.5; 1/20;Canon Powershot S5IS

4. Austin Building: Rexburg, ID; 2/6/10; f 3.5; 1/1600; Canon Powershot S5IS

5. The Best Horse: Rexburg, ID Livestock Center; 2/5/20; 2.7; 1/8; Canon Powershot S5IS

6. Pottery Pedal: Rexburg, ID; f 3.2; 1/8; Canon Powershot S5IS

Ahhh.... the template I planned to use.

I have a week of edited photos. I think you'll like them - portraits at the seed house, mustard packets at Maverick... Alas, it's 2:54, and I still cannot manage to make a clipping mask work. So, I'm off to teach my English class with high hopes of another, more successful attempt tomorrow.

Best to you all,

Hillary

Week Three: Portraits; Better Late than Never

1. South Window: Rexburg, ID, 3:30 pm; 2/7/10; f3.5; 1/20; Canon Powershot S5IS. Here we set a studio with a gauzy piece of fabric in the background. I also added blur and warmed the sats just a touch.

2. Hey, Love: San Angelo, TX; 11/25/09; f 5.0; 1/320; Canon Powershot S5IS. Turned up sats a touch.

3. Winter Slippers: Rexburg, ID; 4:00 pm; 2/7/10; f 3.2; 1/15; Canon Powershot S5IS. This might be too close to major editing, but I wanted to play up the paint texture so I sharpened the image and adjusted hue and saturation.

4. Pili in a Puddle: Rexburg, ID: 4:15 pm; 2/7/10; f2.7; 1/160; Canon Powershot S5IS. Hue moved towards red.

Week Three: Edits; Better Late than Never

1. Pili Untouched: Rexburg, ID; 2/7/10; f 3.2; 1/25 Canon Powershot S51s

2. Pili with skin smoothing. Same as above.

3. Pili with Luminosity.

This is Pili - my darling Hawaiian friend. The first shot is near a south facing window at our apartment complex at about 4:00 in the afternoon. In the second shot, I used the healing brush just to smooth out a few pock marks or blemishes. I didn't want to overhaul her skin. It has a texture that I know, so I was sparing. I used the luminosity in the third edit.


As you can see, I gave luminosity two or three attempts. This is my sister Robyn in a quick shot at some burger joint near Grand Junction, CO.

1. Sis: Some burger joint; 7/31/09; f3.5; 1/300; Olympus FE-340 point and shoot. Untouched

2. Sis with Luminosity.

Week Three: Edits

Apparently, we're celebrating ducks as a class this week. Really, I think they're the only fauna left in town.

1. It's a Crowd - Blur: Rexburg Nature Park, 1-24-10, f 2.7, 1/125. Tried to copy the Picasa blur effect using Guassian blur and mask.

2. It's a Crowd - Burned Edges: Rexburg Nature Park, 1-24-10, f2.7, 1/125. Sharpened, blurred edges, added a black border and reduced the opacity.

3. Color Kids: Rexburg Nature Park, 1-24-10, f 2.7, 1/250, Sharpened, blurred edges, added a black border and reduced the opacity.

4. The Chase: Rexburg Nature Park, 1-24-10, f2.7, 1/1000, edited for a touch of blur on the edges.

Okay, so I know that the fourth one has little to no editing - but I love the moment. You should have seen this darling girl squeal and run when the ducks turned to come after her.

P.S. I tried to get away from the hard lines when I burned the edges, but couldn't seem to do it. It doesn't look too bad, but I'm hoping for the one simple thing I'm missing. Ideas?

Week Three: Flora and Fauna

1. Havasupi's Wild Grapes: Havasupai Falls, AZ, 8-4-09, f 8.0, Canon Power Shot G10, unedited.
2. Sleepy: Rexburg Nature Park, 1-24-10, f3.5, 1/1000, Cannon Power Shot S5 1s, turned up the saturation a touch.

3.. Dragon Feet: Rexburg Nature Park, 1-24-10, f3.5, 1/320, Cannon Power Shot S5 1s, unedited.

4. Shine: Rexburg Nature Park, 1-24-10, f3.5, 1/100, Cannon Power Shot S5 1s, used a circular color fade effect in Picasa.

Week Two: Blending and Type

1. Kensington Girl's School: I took these shots at an abandoned girls' finishing school in Kensington, Maryland Sept. 2006 around 7:30 a.m. The school was inspired by the 1893 World's Fair and features buildings in ten-styles inspired by various world architechture - you'll even find a Japanese pagoda!) Even though the photo of the bust is a bit out of focus, I think that it worked well as a blending texture. It offers the suggest of the statue without demanding attention. Further, the texture of overgrown ivy and chipped plaster is predominant at this site. The site is not open to visitors, but I admit its still one of my favorite places to explore and one of my favorite memories in Maryland. I downloaded a font from dafont that seemed to be chipped and wrapped in ivy of its own.

2. Columns: Kensington, MD; 9/2006; f4.0; 1/80

3. Statue and Plaster: Kensington, MD; 9/2006; f3.5; 1/60

Week Two: Landscapes and Still Life

1. Hogsbacks: Near Vernal, Utah; 7-31-09; f 5.0; 1/320; saturation increased, levels adjusted with adjustment layer to keep the sky from looking too blown-out.

2. Hibbard Sillouette: Hibbard, Id.; 1-19-10; f 4.0; 1/1000, cropped

3. Bamboo: Home, Rexburg, Id.; 1-14-10; f 3.5; 1/10; guassian-blur; increased saturation

4. Handle with Care: Budapest, Hungary; 3-19-07; f3.5; 1/8; increased saturation

I like the still life shots best. The eggs from Hungary are my favorite and increasing the saturation just a touch made them pop. I love landscapes, but I'm still working out the kinks on having sky and land that BOTH turn out. I love the colors and layers in the scape near Vernal, even if the shot didn't quite catch them. I tried to work with what wasn't a great shot and see what happened. In the Hibbard shot, I love the ball of sun being caught in the top of that tree. I played with exposure levels, but ended up loving the contrast. I need opinions... How do the rest of you feel about a blackened subject?

Week One - Cut Outs

Pelican: 09-12-06; Washington D.C. Zoo; f 3.5; 1/125; Canon Power Shot S2 IS

Didn't your Mom tell you the pelican poem? You know, the one that goes, "A marvelous thing is the pelican; his beak can hold more than his belican..."

I followed the tutorial to the letter with the exception of changing the foreground color to black. The clean up with the magnetic lasso tool took longer than I expected because of all the feathers this fellow has, but I like the final product.

Week One - Study In Orange

I love to photograph green things, so I challenged myself a bit by attempting shades of orange.

Peak Foliage: 10-18-2006; University of Maryland, 4:30 pm; f 3.5; 1/25; Canon Power Shot S2-IS

Cutie: 1-9-10 ; Home, the kitchen table, 4:30 pm; f 3.5; 1/8; Olympus FE-340 point and shoot. Macro setting. Color saturated slightly in Picasa

Kenworth 9: 1-10-10; Rexburg, ID, Zollinger, 4:45 p.m.; f-4.6; 1/100; Olympus FE-340; Saturated in Picasa.

Deliverance: 1-10-10; Rexburg, ID, 2nd West, 4:55 p.m.; f-3.5; 1/40; Olympus FE-340; Used tippy-toe angle and Picasa color saturation and soft-focus effects.

Oh - and for those of you who are guessing - the road cone is the most common splash of orange in Rexburg.