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.