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Gerry Daniel > reflection in blue
Gerry Daniel > The moon was a great target tonight for image of the day. I had to play with a number of aperture settings and shutter speeds to get an image with the level of detail that I wanted. Yes, there is a fair amount of PP for effect but it was fun to try different things in Photoshop trying to figure out what I wanted to do here. Apologies to the Photoshop wizards out there, I am somewhat limited in artistic skills and Photoshop skills. For anyone thinking that I used a stock image or anything, this was my base image.
Gerry Daniel > rain pads
Gerry Daniel > As we get to the end of another month, I find myself shooting flowers again. Before this daily project started, I knew I enjoyed shooting flowers but landscapes made up a large portion of my overall shots. I had also taken a lot of sunset and sunrise photographs. I still love those shots and have plans to take more of those types of shots as time goes by but on a daily basis, at least in this part of the world, at this time of year, flowers are plentiful and offer so many options and opportunities. Black and white photography has interested me for a very long time but I am particular about which of my images translate well into that mode. I need to do more with duotone and will eventually play with that in the future. Anyway, today’s photo was taken in Hoover, AL at the Aldridge Botanical Gardens. From what I can tell, this flower is some type of Calla lily, but some of you may know a lot more about the specifics than me. I have been observing the star system a little lately. I fully understand that it is a subjective rating system that reflects the opinion of the individual viewing the image. I don’t hang my hat on the ratings and in terms of feedback, rely more on what people say or in some cases what they don’t say. Many of you are very supportive and understanding. I know I have mentioned this now in a number of captions so if it bothers you, don’t read the captions. As much as we might try, because we are putting something of ourselves in these images and posting for the world to see, the negative or less than positive comments tend to stick out above the rest. Personally I think everyone in this group is sensitive and creative. The level of expertise varies a good bit throughout the group but we all seem to share the same passion and love for photography. Remember there are people behind the images you see in the galleries so choose your comments carefully and with kindness. The vast majority of the members of the group do that anyway.
Gerry Daniel > Why fight it? That’s what I ask myself. This whole daily photo thing is primarily for my own enjoyment and to help me improve my photography skills. Why stress about another water lily photo. So, here we go, another water lily. I am going to the beach for a week at the end of this month and the beginning of next month. I will make beach type pictures then, so worst case scenario; you will get a break then. Butch Cassidy: Then you jump first. Sundance Kid: No, I said. Butch Cassidy: What's the matter with you? Sundance Kid: I can't swim. Butch Cassidy: Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.
Gerry Daniel > The rate of change in the leaf color is increasing by the day. Some trees almost look like they are in flames. It is an amazing show of autumn colors. The song for today is by Slow Runner, the title is "Trying to Put Your Heart Back Together" from the "Mermaids" album. Definitely worth a listen if you are looking for something new.
Gerry Daniel > 2008 Daily Photo Community photo
Gerry Daniel > This afternoon was a bit overcast which left me with an overall soft light. After my experimentation yesterday trying to learn something about using Lab Color, for now it isn’t something that seems to be an enhancement for my images. There may be situations in the future where it might have some benefit but I am filing it away for now. But going through a different workflow trying to learn about processing with Lab Color let me take a fresh look at my current processing without Lab Color. It gave me a few ideas on tweaking my own process. Tonight is the first time those ideas were incorporated into my process. There are so many possibilities out there but I am starting to get a feel for what direction I need to take my images to try and get the results I want. A quick note about the water lily in the daily photo for today is something I learned from one of the wonderful people that work at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. This particular type of water lily initially blooms completely white. On each day, more color will be introduced to the petals. I am going to try and follow the progression on the two white water lilies that are in bloom. Tonight’s song is by Steve Tannen. The title is “Sing Me to Sleep” from the “Big Senorita” album.
Gerry Daniel > It was a struggle, but since today is Saint Patrick’s Day, I caved and my daily photo is clover. Nope, not a four-leaf clover, I didn’t find one of those. From what I have been told, my ancestry is half Irish and half Scottish but that is probably fairly common in the United States. Pinching people if they aren’t wearing green on Saint Patrick’s Day was never on my list of good traditions. My guess is maybe people that had been enjoying too many adult beverages might have started it. Since he has “Saint” attached to his name there must be some Catholic influence back there somewhere. Yeah, I could have Googled it but I really didn’t want to know. When I was a kid, fields of clover seemed more common but open fields were more common. The clover I saw today seemed different than what I remember as a kid, but maybe it is the area or maybe it’s just a kid’s memory. Making clover look interesting is a challenge in itself. It wasn’t noticeable when I was shooting, but the clover is covered with little hairs and also had some kind of dust on it. I can’t explain the little hairs, but I decided the dust was from fairies. The post processing here is probably not as much as one might think. Besides the background layer, I have some minor adjustment layers for brightness, contrast, and hue. I made a copy of the background layer, reduced the opacity to 30% and changed it from Normal to Color Burn to make the tones a bit deeper and richer. There is a lighting effect rendered on the background layer to highlight the center of the clover in the middle and to give it some texture. After that, I added a Black and White layer, used the tint but changed it to green then reduced the opacity to 50%. Now that I have typed all that, maybe there was considerable post processing. It didn’t seem like much at the time.
2008 Daily Photo Community photo
See photo in original gallery.
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