The photographs in this gallery originally appeared in separate monthly galleries for 2008. The photographs were part of a year-long project to take a photograph a day and post it to a monthly gallery.

The photographs featured here are a subset of the original monthly galleries for 2008. They are sorted in reverse, by date which means the oldest photographs are at the end.
Gallery pages:  <<  <  13  14  15  16  17  18  >  >>
< 137 of 231 >
Gerry Daniel > By now, everyone recognizes this as another entry in what is becoming a parade of water lilies. Like the image from yesterday, the colors are muted. One thing I have been experimenting with is selective sharpening. I use the Quick Selection Tool to select the portion of the image that I want to sharpen. My sharpening method is to use the Unsharp Mask. But sharpening the entire image can sometimes bring unwanted artifacts from the background, and sharpening just the primary area of the image helps it become the focal point. Once you get the area selected that you want to sharpen, refine the edges, then save the selection so you won’t have to reselect should you want to use that or the inverse later. The iTunes selection for the day is by Jimmy Eat World. The song is “The Middle (Acoustic Version) from the “Bleed American (Deluxe Edition)” album.
Gerry Daniel > Today offered another late afternoon thundershower and another opportunity to shoot after the rain. So it was a trip to the Aldridge Botanical Gardens in Hoover, AL. By now, it’s no secret that I like shooting plants that are wet from a good rain. There is nothing special about the image processing in this shot. About 80 percent of the color was drained away to give the colors a muted effect. The actual flower was bright red. Today’s iTunes selection is another Peter Gabriel classic, “Solsbury Hill” from the “Shaking the Tree – Sixteen Golden Greats” album.
Gerry Daniel > In my early days in this group, besides lack of experience with a DSLR, lack of knowledge of how to process my images, and a limited knowledge of how to shoot in various situations, one of my basic weaknesses involved understanding how to properly crop my images. I am not saying I didn’t know how to use the cropping tools, I knew how it worked but I didn’t really understand how to use it effectively. I later learned, a very important aspect of cropping was an understanding of the rule of thirds. My idea of cropping involved simply putting my main area of interest for the photograph in the center of the cropped image. It seemed logical because I would center my subject in the viewfinder for each shot. There was a sense of order and balance to that process. I am not saying that it is wrong to have a shot with the primary area of interest in the center. It’s just that I have learned that by using the rule of thirds to help me crop, my images are more balanced. If you are sitting there reading this and thinking that everybody knows about the rule of thirds, I would say to you that everybody doesn’t know about it. Presentation is such an important aspect of photography, I think it was worth mentioning and my photo today reminded me how easy it is to forget such a simple concept. My first run at this image had everything all centered and perfectly square. I know better but that didn’t prevent me from almost falling back into a bad habit. The iTunes selection for today is by The Weepies. The song is “Citywide Rodeo” from the “Say I Am You” album.
Gerry Daniel > Part of this is about today’s photo and part of this is about captions in my daily photo galleries. I’ll address the daily photo first. On the way home from work, I stopped at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and rather than shoot a bunch of subjects then eventually choose a water lily photo, I only shot the water lilies this afternoon. There is one with a dragonfly that I like and I will throw it in the Bonus Tracks and B-sides gallery. The captions part of the galleries has gone through various phases. Initially I was against captions. But I saw an opportunity to use the caption area for descriptions, thoughts, ideas, information, or just things on my mind. I don’t think it’s any secret that some people get something from the captions and some people wish I would be quiet and just post the images. It’s been well documented here that I am in this community to share with others that are also shooting daily photos and to learn from them. There is nothing special about my captions, they are just additional information. Like information of any type, it may or may not be of any interest or use to you. I totally get that. To some degree the captions have become somewhat of a tiny journal that is a companion to the daily photo. The iTunes selection is no more and no less than just a song for my mood at the time I am processing my images. I have my hands full taking and posting the daily photos so please don’t take my music selection as anything more than a footnote. For that matter, the whole caption is a footnote to the image. This is after all, a photo site and not a writing site. Hopefully that clears up a few things about the captions. Read them or ignore them, it’s your choice. So, today’s iTunes selection is by The Shins, is titled “Australia” and is from their “Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) – EP” album.
Gerry Daniel > The good news is that I have my desktop computer back in operation. It looks like the power supply was going bad. Today’s image is just a close-up of a lily. There’s not really much I can say about it other than that. When I first started this daily photo journey, I would have likely said that the type of photo I posted yesterday were one of my strong suits. I am losing a feel for them for some reason, maybe it was just yesterday morning and maybe it was that particular scene. The lake was the only place I shot and I was hesitant to even post the image yesterday. It just seems so ordinary. It lacks any feature that draws me in at all. Sometimes I think I go backwards with my photography. You guessed it. There is a slump hanging over me like a dark cloud. I’ll have to work through it. So in keeping with the mood, today’s iTunes selection is by the Cold War Kids. The title is “Hang Me Up to Dry” from the “Live from SoHo (iTunes Exclusive – EP) album.
Gerry Daniel > I was up early this morning for the same reason as yesterday morning, to shoot my pics before it got unbearably hot. I am having serious problems with my desktop computer. I worked on it for hours today with no success. I am working off a laptop and using Photoshop Elements instead of Photoshop CS3. I am not sure how long before the desktop is back up and running.
Gerry Daniel > It’s difficult for me to even begin to describe the broad array of lilies at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The beauty is always striking. Even as many times as I have been by the large area that is planted with lilies, I am still discovering new varieties that I have missed in previous visits. I should have made a note of the name for this one but I didn’t. As much as I’d like to be accurate and informational, I shot it because I liked the way it looked. Today’s iTunes is by the Be Good Tanyas and is a cover of a classic Neil Young song. The song is titled “For the Turnstiles” and is off the “Hello Love” album.
Gerry Daniel > There were other choices, but to be honest with you, some of the other choices were water lilies too. This one is a different color than the other ones that have already slipped into the June gallery. I don’t know, maybe I need to create a water lily gallery to house the growing evidence of my weakness for photographing them. They are both primitive and alien looking. I am thinking they spray the air with some kind of mind control spores that draws me over to their little pond. Sure, I’ve tried to resist them. It’s no use. Several of the other shots from today are over in the “2008 – 1st Six Months – Bonus Tracks and B-sides” gallery. Today’s iTunes song is by Iron & Wine. It is titled “Free Until They Cut Me Down” and is from the “Our Endless Numbered Days” album.
Gerry Daniel > Some days you go out and shoot and you feel it. You feel the energy, you feel the enthusiasm, and you go home with what you hope is a lot of good shots on the memory card. Some days, like today, you are shooting but there is no flow. You struggle to find something that excites you. Those are the hard days and you go home hoping that you can salvage something remotely worth sharing. None of that is news. We all go through the ebb and flow of the daily photo experience. My philosophy is to plug along, continue to shoot, and work through the tough days. Even on a bad day I will learn something. For me, today was one of the tough days. I was happy to be out shooting, that part has never been anything but enjoyable. There was just no spark. In a way, the daily photo experience comes in handy on such a day. Not in the sense of plucking a wonderful shot from the photographic abyss but in the sense of having a comfort with the camera and techniques that have worked in the past. On a given day, I dare say at least one of us will find ourselves with those circumstances. The beauty of looking at the galleries is not just to see what is produced on a great day with a plethora of subjects to shoot but rather to see what people manage to pull out of a day when we struggle. Many of you have been doing this a lot longer than I have. It’s an interesting journey but for me the gain has far outweighed any negatives that have tagged along. OK, I know, I am stalling again. I was trying to buy some time and wiggle room. Anyway, this is my shot for the day. As some of you may have noticed, I am behind on looking at some of the galleries and leaving comments. Hopefully I can catch up. Tonight’s iTunes selection is another one from the past. The song is “Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed.
Today offered another late afternoon thundershower and another opportunity to shoot after the rain. So it was a trip to the Aldridge Botanical Gardens in Hoover, AL. By now, it’s no secret that I like shooting plants that are wet from a good rain. There is nothing special about the image processing in this shot. About 80 percent of the color was drained away to give the colors a muted effect. The actual flower was bright red.

Today’s iTunes selection is another Peter Gabriel classic, “Solsbury Hill” from the “Shaking the Tree – Sixteen Golden Greats” album.
> Today offered another late afternoon thundershower and another opportunity to shoot after the rain. So it was a trip to the Aldridge Botanical Gardens in Hoover, AL. By now, it’s no secret that I like shooting plants that are wet from a good rain. There is nothing special about the image processing in this shot. About 80 percent of the color was drained away to give the colors a muted effect. The actual flower was bright red. Today’s iTunes selection is another Peter Gabriel classic, “Solsbury Hill” from the “Shaking the Tree – Sixteen Golden Greats” album.
Today offered another late afternoon thundershower and another opportunity to shoot after the rain. So it was a trip to the Aldridge Botanical Gardens in Hoover, AL. By now, it’s no secret that I like shooting plants that are wet from a good rain. There is nothing special about the image processing in this shot. About 80 percent of the color was drained away to give the colors a muted effect. The actual flower was bright red.

Today’s iTunes selection is another Peter Gabriel classic, “Solsbury Hill” from the “Shaking the Tree – Sixteen Golden Greats” album.
Gallery pages:  <<  <  13  14  15  16  17  18  >  >>
< 137 of 231 >

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