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Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

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!

 

Foto Friday: Old Paint and a Tenth Blog-o-versary

Friday, August 21st, 2015

Hi everyone!  Happy Friday!  It is, according to my calendar, my TENTH anniversary of blogging?  How the heck did that happen, ten YEARS?   So I’m celebrating with TWO posts today.  The first is my Foto Friday from my 52-Week Photography Challenge class with Ricky Tims, and later today I’ll post about my Dinner@8 interview.

So this week’s challenge was Old Paint.  Here are my top three choices:

This is the photo I submitted as my class assignment. A picturesque (means falling apart) buidling on our property. LOVED this shot but it needed some work. Deepend the leaf shadows, then dodged the shadows on the left part of the hinge so it was more visible. Reduced highlights a tiny bit. Selected the cracked windowpane and lightened as it was too dark—overpowered the rest of the door. Summer in Maine!

This is the photo I submitted as my class assignment. A picturesque (means falling apart) buidling on our property. LOVED this shot but it needed some work. Deepend the leaf shadows, then dodged the shadows on the left part of the hinge so it was more visible. Reduced highlights a tiny bit. Selected the cracked windowpane and lightened as it was too dark—overpowered the rest of the door. Summer in Maine!

Here are a couple more:

This might have been my choice but once I was home (and didn't want to drive 22 miles back into town round trip). Had high hopes for this one, but disappointed in the depth of field…f/13 not enough. Would have been better with flowers and siding crisp. May try to head into town and try again.

This might have been my choice but once I was home (and didn’t want to drive 22 miles back into town round trip) I saw on my laptop that it wasn’t crisp. Had high hopes for this one, but disappointed in the depth of field…f/13 not enough. Would have been better with flowers and siding crisp. May try again the next time I’m in town with my camera.

Another shot of the picturesque (aka decrepit) building on our property. Why no door on the right? Because it LITERALLY came apart into a crumpled heap. And the plywood that has covered up the opening blew down late last winter. Need to fix. Soon. Autumn is trying really hard to begin! Decreased shadows a tiny bit, knocked back highlights a bit more. Punched up contrast.

Another shot of the picturesque (aka decrepit) building on our property. Why no door on the right? Because it LITERALLY came apart into a crumpled heap. And the plywood that has covered up the opening blew down late last winter. Need to fix. Soon. Autumn is trying really hard to begin!
Decreased shadows a tiny bit, knocked back highlights a bit more. Punched up contrast.

Other photos from this week are on my Flickr site, here. Happy Blogoversary everyone!

 

Foto Friday: Radial Symmetry

Thursday, August 13th, 2015
A tiny scrunch on the light end in Levels, smart sharpen.  Otherwise straight from the camera.

A tiny scrunch on the light end in Levels, smart sharpen. Otherwise straight from the camera.

Each week I learn a bit more.  This week’s photo challenge was Radial Symmetry.  I love Hawaiian quilts for that very reason, and wanted to try to make my own kaleidescope.  Jeannie Sumjall-Ajero has great software that, alas, works only on PCs, and I don’t want to bother with partitioning my hard drive, buying and installing Windows just to run her software.  So I tried to do it on my own in Photoshop.  It was a bear!  And in the end, I liked this photo of the bee best.  If I were to do it over I’d increase the ISO so I could increase the f-stop one or two to get both the front florets AND the bee sharp while keeping the background blurred out.  The background was our (ugh) dark brown house, but the combination of fast shutter and shallow f-stop just turned it to dark, which I like.

Here are my  better attempts, but after about 5 hours I threw in the towel!

A good idea, but I lack the knowledge of Photoshop.  Really wanted to create a 22.5 degree wedge/triangle, have 16-point symmetry, and a mask to create a star like a Mariner’s Compass.   Totally beyond me.  I’ve done so many edits I have no idea what all I’ve done.  This isn’t perfect—seams show, but enough for now!

A good idea, but I lack the knowledge of Photoshop. Really wanted to create a 22.5 degree wedge/triangle, have 16-point symmetry, and a mask to create a star like a Mariner’s Compass. Totally beyond me. I’ve done so many edits I have no idea what all I’ve done. This isn’t perfect—seams show, but enough for now!

RadialSymmetry45Grn

45 degree symmetry of bittersweet leaves and berries.

Another variation on the yellow-pink.  Like the other one better.

Another variation on the yellow-pink. Like the other one better.

Busy week:  Eli home from wrestling camp (pick up in Boston at 11:49 pm…home at 3:45 am…ugh ugh ugh).  Lots of work whacking back the goldenrod–bought a new brush cutter attachment for my Ryobi–LOVE IT!  Hair cut, visiting with Kathy, ice cream.  In other words, summer in Maine!   Also working on a project for family (lap quilts) and finishing an article for Machine Quilting Unlimited.  Got it sent off (it will publish in January), so more time for gardening.  And Saturday I head down to Lowell, Mass. to the Whistler House Museum of Art where I have two works in the current art quilt exhibit.  The Reception is Saturday–since my quilt is on the publicity I wanted to go Even MORE!   Stay tuned!