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Foto Friday, Week 36: Re-Do #3

Monday, September 21st, 2015

Um yes… things are out of order.  That’s what happens when you try to blog away from home, using an iPad to blog, grabbing images from your Flickr feed instead of photo files on the laptop and generally not paying attention.  So LAST week I posted Week 37’s challenge, calling it Week 36, when it was in fact NOT Week 36.  So now, following Week 37, we are going back to Week 36 which was “Re-Do.”   Got that?  Moving on!

Re-do of footwear.  Wasn’t a successful week for photography.  Tried to re-do several weeks:  Footwear, Power of One, Silhouette.  Sigh.  This was the best of the bunch.  Used magnetic lasso (for the first time, successfully) to isolate shoe on duplicate layer.  Converted base layer to monochromatic.  Slight crop retaining proportions.

Re-do of footwear. Wasn’t a successful week for photography. Tried to re-do several weeks: Footwear, Power of One, Silhouette. Sigh. This was the best of the bunch. Used magnetic lasso (for the first time, successfully) to isolate shoe on duplicate layer. Converted base layer to monochromatic. Slight crop retaining proportions.

This is our third and, apparently (sigh) final “re-do” of the year.   The timing was good…Ricky was traveling and teaching in Europe, his dad died, his mom asked him to take care of things and do the eulogy, and all in all it was time for Ricky to take a break with all our encouragement to do so.   I had several things I wanted to re-do, and not much time.  And then the weather didn’t cooperate.  So I ended up re-doing “Footwear” which was from before I started sharing these photos here.

These photos are from the heap of stuff the kids left on the edge of the Cross Country course when up at Belfast Area High School.  In the photo above, the jacket was pink, the bag handle dark magenta.  And red?  Ick!  Photoshop to the rescue! Then for the “toe print” shoe soles I couldn’t decide which framing I preferred.  Clearly I was having a “dithering” kind of week!

Not a successful photograhy week.  Weather didn’t cooperate for the silhouette I wanted (night shot of the stars), and the dark skies at the cross country meet meant I couldn’t get a fast enough shutter speed AND depth of field to get non-blurry runners.  Saw the piles of shoes at the end and decided maybe I’d re-do footwear!

Not a successful photograhy week. Weather didn’t cooperate for the silhouette I wanted (night shot of the stars), and the dark skies at the cross country meet meant I couldn’t get a fast enough shutter speed AND depth of field to get non-blurry runners. Saw the piles of shoes at the end and decided maybe I’d re-do footwear!

Slightly different framing on the green shoes.  Not sure which I prefer.   Despite the aperture, I think the depth of field is probably too shallow for this shot.

Slightly different framing on the green shoes. Not sure which I prefer. Despite the aperture, I think the depth of field is probably too shallow for this shot.

OK, I am now going to prepare NEXT week’s blog so that it is DONE, properly, on time.  What a concept.  Harrumph! (and grin)

Foto Friday on Saturday, Week 37: Selective Color

Saturday, September 19th, 2015
Submitted this one as my class photo. I kept two colors, the red and the green. I keep thinking of the Wizard of Oz with the black and white world.

Submitted this one as my class photo. I kept two colors, the red and the green. I keep thinking of the Wizard of Oz with the black and white world.

This week’s challenge was to take a photo, any subject, keep one color, then edit the rest to black and white.  I didn’t think I would like the results, but I can see where they would get interesting.

Lady, dog and blue

Lady, dog and blue

My favorite food group!

My favorite food group!

Foto Friday, Week 35 (already?): White on White

Saturday, September 12th, 2015
Bottle tops at the Lavender store in Camden

Bottle tops at the Lavender store in Camden; original photo, un-retouched.  NOTE:  if you right click on all photos you can seem them larger.

This week’s assignment was White on White.  At first I thought WHAT can I find that is white on white other than eggs, which Ricky had in the assignment PDF?  All of a sudden I realized it was ALL around me!  I also didn’t want to do white fabric, but I looked up in my studio and BINGO!  White on white.  It didn’t quite meet the specifications, which were to not have any other colors or dark bits (like dark lines where there was a shadow), so some of the following photos didn’t quite cut it, but I liked them anyway.  The photo above is as I took it.  The next one is after photoshop to remove that one bit of label and edit the top left corner:

Well, I went a bit overboard this week.  There is white on white everywhere it seems!   But this was my favorite, so hope it is close to what RIcky wants.  Had to remove a tiny bit of label on the bottom right, and something blurry in the upper left corner was a tad to orange-y for the assignment, so required some cloning and fiddling to lighten.  I actually kind of like the original photo better as a photo, but this is better for the assignment.  I’ll post a link to my Flickr album with other pics in the comments.

Well, I went a bit overboard this week. There is white on white everywhere it seems! But this was my favorite, so hope it is close to what RIcky wants. Had to remove a tiny bit of label on the bottom right, and something blurry in the upper left corner was a tad to orange-y for the assignment, so required some cloning and fiddling to lighten. I actually kind of like the original photo better as a photo, but this is better for the assignment.

Ceiling of my basement studio:  primed joists and underside of the upstairs sub-flooring

Ceiling of my basement studio: primed joists and underside of the upstairs sub-flooring

Another angle (pun sadly intended) of the same ceiling

Another angle (pun sadly intended) of the same ceiling

The steel "I" beam, which I can easily reach up and touch.  So far I have resisted the temptation to put stuff on the ledge.

The steel “I” beam, which I can easily reach up and touch. So far I have resisted the temptation to put stuff on the ledge.

Flower.   Duh!

Flower. Duh! In the Children’s Garden at Camden Public Library.

Mohair throw in the Lavender Store

Mohair throw in the Lavender Store

 

Jackets at Maine Sport

Jackets at Maine Sport

Wood siding on a downtown building

Wood siding on a downtown building

Tin ceiling in the Lavender store

Tin ceiling in the Lavender store

Empty cat litter buckets that I use for dyeing fabric and holding water when we think the power will go out (well pump runs on electricity--we are rural!)

Empty cat litter buckets that I use for dyeing fabric and holding water when we think the power will go out (well pump runs on electricity–we are rural!)

Yup.  I got carried away!   And even though it is scarcely Saturday morning in Maine, I’m hoping it is still Friday somewhere just this side of the international date line!

A delayed Foto Friday

Sunday, September 6th, 2015

So the week got away from me!   Eli has the first official Cross Country meet of the season, and I’ve been working on assorted projects and, well, the week got away from me!   The theme for the previous week in Ricky Tims’ 52 Week Photo Challenge was the Power of One.  I think mine is more the power of Red, but it’s the best I came up with.  Next week’s assignment is Do Over, so I will try either silhouette or Power of One again…… (and sorry, but the reminder that all photos and imagery are (c) Sarah Ann Smith…I forgot to watermark these).  Right click on photos to view larger.

Adjustments to decrease both shadows and highlight (just a little—too much on hightlights makes a bizarre halo on the treeline!), only 3 on vibrance.  Smart sharpen.

This was my class entry.  Adjustments to decrease both shadows and highlight (just a little—too much on hightlights makes a bizarre halo on the treeline!), only 3 on vibrance. Smart sharpen.

I took the same photo as a horizontal, which is more typical for shoreline shots, but I liked the emphasis on the masts and reflections in the one above better which is why I chose to submit that one.

Slight adjustment to increase constrast and lower highlights.  Smart sharpen.  Cropped to eliminate excess sky and water (and the tippy tops of some rocks on the bottom).

Slight adjustment to increase constrast and lower highlights. Smart sharpen. Cropped to eliminate excess sky and water (and the tippy tops of some rocks on the bottom).

And a few more options I considered:

Smart Sharpen, adjustment to red layer to make the “one” more accurate.  Digital cameras mess with reds!

Of course I had to do one that was quilty!  This is part of my stash for a thousand pyramids quilt I hope to make.  The quilt on our bed is over 10 years old and is really starting to look it!   Smart Sharpen, adjustment to red layer to make the “one” more accurate. Digital cameras mess with reds!

I need to review our lessons.  Tried to do a vignette, but had to resort to using the dodge tool on the corners.   Wasn’t able to highlight the woman without making it look forced.

I need to review our lessons. Tried to do a vignette, but had to resort to using the dodge tool on the corners. Wasn’t able to highlight the woman without making it look forced.  If I had used selective focus, with her sharp and the rest blurred, that would have created a stronger focal point, but I wanted the idea of her looking out on the harbor.   Perhaps I should have moved up hill…….learning, learning!

Waiting for the runners at a cross country meet.  Increased contrast a tad, cropped off a bit on the bottom, lasso and content aware fill to remove a sliver of a person on the far right.

A rare shot of the hubby, who usually scowls at the camera.  Waiting for the runners at a cross country meet. Increased contrast a tad, cropped off a bit on the bottom, lasso and content aware fill to remove a sliver of a person on the far right.

Have been busy dyeing fabric, making slacks, making a top, and working on a small quilted thingy.  Must take photos.  Must blog!   Stay tuned and enjoy the last gasps of summer!

Foto Friday: Found Alphabet

Friday, August 28th, 2015

This week’s assignment was to find a letter in the alphabet–specifically one of your initials–for your assignment.  Since I teach this exercise in my quilting design class, I didn’t want to go with the expected like a creek or shoreline or the neck of the pink plastic flamingo.   So I opted to take a photo of the top of the dining room chair, duplicate, flip, and tweak in Photoshop.  Fun!

Egads what a production!  Such a simple idea:  merge the tops of my dining room chair into an “S.”  Took eons with deleting, blending, re-doing, etc.  Finally used liquify when I couldn’t manage to blend the variations in the blue wall!  But I didn’t want to go find a stream or hose, so here we are!

Egads what a production! Such a simple idea: merge the tops of my dining room chair into an “S.” Took eons with deleting, blending, re-doing, etc. Finally used liquify when I couldn’t manage to blend the variations in the blue wall! But I didn’t want to go find a stream or hose, so here we are!

Been busy dyeing fabric and puttering about the house this week.  Hope to have a few more posts soon!