Took the Low Light Challenge…..

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artist life, being creative, black and white photography, dog portrait, low light photography, photography

This past week I have been watching Steven Simon on Lynda.com. Loved watching sessions of him photographing New York City at night. My last post was on photos taken in low light….but I wasn’t pushing my camera far enough to get the images I wanted to capture.

So did a simple experiment with my daughter and our dogs….inside with low light….and this is what we got.

Bruno yawning…..

Bruno loves a good yawn!

To capture this motion in low light the first thing I did was to move the camera’s focus off the shutter release button and onto the AF button on the back of my camera. (As always I googled it.) This allows my camera to fire continuous rapid shots. Hence a frame by frame recording of Bruno’s yawn was possible because my camera wasn’t trying to refocus with each shot.

The second thing I did was set the minimum shutter speed to 1/125 sec. This allowed the camera to freeze movement…..but to do that in low light I set the ISO to auto with the highest setting at ISO 6400. These photos were taken at  the 6400 ISO. I must admit….I thought the photos would be really grainy or noisy because of the high ISO…but they were pretty clear straight out of the camera. Although I did do a little enhancing in  post processing to remove a little grain in the images. The images even without this post processing step were passable.

Thirdly, I had the aperture around  f5….this helped the lens to allow a lot of light in…..but made the depth of field shallow…. hence the little dog is in sharp focus….but Bruno is slightly out of focus….but still thought the photos worked and told a great story about our favorite big dog.

Would love to join Steve Simon in New York on one of his workshops…..maybe someday I will get the chance.

Sabi……

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Athens at Twilight…..

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architecture photography, athens, Athens Georgia, blue, BullDawg, creative living, Georgia Theatre, motorcycle, night photography, night sky, photography, street photography

Athens, Georgia is wonderful little college town. It’s summer time so downtown is a little more laid back than usual. We walked around enjoyed coffee…..ice-cream…..and here are a few of the sights we saw on this beautiful night.

First sight we saw after parking the car….the sky was a real eye catcher that night….

same building as above….different angle and a little later in the evening….

Football is a big thing in Athens….all around Athens are BullDawg statues like this one…..each statue is decorated up with the sponsor’s theme or logo….

All these photos were taken in a single night……

Sabi

Living with Teens……

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abstract photography, being creative, black and white photography, black and white photos, living with teens, macro photography, photography, portrait photography, portraits, teens

Started a new series of photos called “Living with Teens”. As parents we all tend to think our kids are the best….and we are no exception. Our kids are hard working….do well in school…and most importantly they still like to hang out with us….the parents.

This first picture is of our son….he is a freshman in college and is studying mechanical engineering. His classes are crazy hard and he spends hours studying….and yes he is still living at home. We are fortunate enough to live near a major university and his goal is to get out debt free.

So here he is…. hours after his last exam for the semester…..he promises after sufficient time of chilling out he will clean his room….we shall see. By the way….the computer pictured here….he and his sister built it. Ok…I know that was a parent brag there….sorry….but my kids never cease to amaze me.

Next is our daughter…and yes she is stressing. Not only does she have regular exams to take but 4 AP test…..she is a real go getter and wants to study Physics in college….few more days sweetie so hang in there.

Not sure what pictures are ahead for this series….but ready and excited to see what happens.

Sabi……

Poppies…..

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flower image, image of red poppy, image of white poppy, image of yellow poppy, macro photography, nature photography, northeast georgia living, photography

Managed to photograph these poppies right after a rain….

First HDR photos……

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black and white nature photography, black and white photography, bnw images, HDR images, landscape photography, nature photography, photography, rural georgia landscapes

I have used Lightroom  for processing RAW photos for some time now….but really wanted to try taking photos using the HDR process. So finally got software that can layer the bracketed photos….and here is my first try at it.

These are not the greatest  HDR photos….but I was so excited to have finally been able to do HDR photos just had to share them any way…

Both of these photos were taken just a few miles from our house. I pass these fields everyday on my way to work.

The first photo is of a pecan tree with thunder clouds in the background….pecans are one of the last trees in our area to put on leaves in the spring…so the tree is looking a little sparse. ..but this allowed the sky to seep through the branches.

This second picture is of a stand of manicured pines taken in the early evening on my drive home….the rancher of this property keeps his fields and fences in top shape…..in the morning the sun rises up through pines….hopefully some morning I’ll have the time to stop and get a picture of the sunrise…

This picture turned out a little over the top….since I really raised the contrast and clarity sliders in Lightroom during the processing step… It may be a little much and overly punchy….but felt it made for a visually stimulating shot and left it that way.

or maybe that was just the way I was feeling…..

Sabi……

Orchids at the Georgia Botanical Garden…

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athens, Athens Georgia, flower image, flowers, Georgia Botanical Garden, nature photography, orchid image, orchids, photography, UGA Botancial Garden, white orchid image, yellow orchid image

It has been raining a lot here in Georgia…so last week for lunch I went to the University of Georgia’a State Botanical Garden. The conservatory always has an area for orchids, but that day orchids were everywhere. Hundreds of blooms….everywhere….

A kind elderly volunteer with a warm smile made comments on the flowers as he floated around meeting the guests…was a great hour spent!

Sequoia National Forest….

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adventure photography, California, nature photography, photography, Sequoia National Forest, Sequoia Tree image, Sequoia Trees, travel photography

At 12…. I was an avid National Geographic watcher and reader….well maybe picture reader. Can’t believe I didn’t major in photojournalism or biology.

The photo that got me hooked on the wonderment of these trees…was an image of a car driving through the bottom of a Sequoia. I remember making I promise to myself that day, to go out west and see a Sequoia for myself.

Finally got to go… and that day was my birthday…I turned 46.

Me and my son standing inside a giant Sequoia…

One of the giants had fallen down….my kids are pictured here….think you get the idea how small people are next to these trees.

Hats Off to Early Dismissal….

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animal photography, macro photography, pet portraits, photography

Georgia had another round of ice last week. Governor Deal called for a state of emergency and all of us got to leave work early. So what better way to spend a free afternoon than with our families four legged friends. Snapped a few photos of them while we just hung out.

This is Autumn…I’ve posted pictures of her before. She is our wild kitty. Her mother was a feral cat and Autumn is at times…. testy. When we pet her we have to be careful because we never know when her mood will change….but we still love her….and her mood always changes for the better when you call her “Pretty Kitty.”

Next, is Pantherina….we call her Panther for short. She has been a part of our family for 11 years and she is a sweetie. She never bites or scratches.

Next up is Pettie….forgive his bad teeth…he is getting old. Over 6 years ago he got dumped off at our house. He was skin-n- bones and scared of everything and everyone. Took him over year to stop snapping at the kids. But now we is a very mellow Jack-Russel Chihuahua mix. Got this picture of him while he was laying next to a heater warming himself….the smile on his face was from a belly rub.

Lastly up is Bruno. He just turned two….and he is huge. Bruno was a little thing when someone dumped him and his brother off at a neighbor’s house. When we brought Bruno home he hugged me all the way and peed on my jacket. He is our big baby.

Wire in Ice…..

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abstract photography, macro photography, photography, winter photography

Georgia saw a little ice this week…snapped these shots around the farm before heading off to work.

Campus Life + Black and White 4

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artist life, athens, Athens Georgia, black and white nature photography, black and white photography, black and white photos, northeast georgia living, photography, UGA, University of Georgia

On north side of The University of Georgia campus behind the Chapel is this old bell tower. A rope hangs down and is ready to be rung…..