abstract photography – Slow Shutter Speed

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Anne Sandler · 46 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #228: Diagonals

This is a great morning here in the Sacramento California area. It’s raining and it’s a steady rain. And, I’m also excited about Patti’s challenge on diagonals this morning. She compared diagonals to leading lines that lead to the focal point of a photograph.

Here are some of my images showing leading lines.

I also enjoy photographing objects on a diagonal just for the fun of it, and was recently to the California Museum where I found great diagonals.

Sometimes shooting a picture on a diagonal adds interest. This clown’s face is more interesting on the diagonal rather than straight on.

And when we compose a picture, we may end up with a visual diagonal, leaving some negative space.

Here’s my last fun photograph on a diagonal.

Patti, I hope I didn’t take your great challenge too far from your original intent. This was fun and thank you for brightening up a wonderful rainy morning. Please remember to link your reply post to Patti’s and use the Lens Artists tag. It’s supposed to rain off and on through Monday. Yay!!

We enjoyed all your responses to last week’s challenge. I got to see many places I’ll never be able to get to. Next week is Ann-Christine’s turn to lead this challenge. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.

Posted on May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 by Anne Sandler · 10 Comments

Street Photography?: The Fountains

I love street photography, but I’m finding out that I lack patience and I’m too timid to take some candid shots. If you ask them if you can take their picture, then they pose. Marlene and I went to The Fountains, an outdoor shopping center in Roseville, recently to do street photography. One, the stores were just opening and there weren’t many people. Two, At its best, this center is a leisurely shopping center–not bustling.

Any way, I was able to get some window cleaners on the job.

**Watch out the elk is coming for you!**

This is the fountain in the middle of the shopping center. At a peak shopping time, people usually sit around with their children or cell phones! At prime time, It’s jets propel water synchronized to music. Of course we were too early for that.

I did have some fun with chairs. First are the chairs as the were and second are the chairs with a Photoshop twirl filter. Which do you like better?

I took some other fun photos.

I tried to photograph this guy through a fire enclosure, but he saw me and offered to have me take his picture. Marlene and I talked with him and found out that he has terminal cancer. Marlene offered to take his picture with his cell phone, and he allowed it.

So this was my try at street photography. Not that successful, but I had a good time. Next time we’ll have to go into Sacramento City, on a Sunday so we can park, later in the day, find a busy area and wait for people to walk by. Oh, yes, I’ll find some patience too.

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Anne Sandler · 6 Comments

A slow start to 2019: January

If I thought 2019 would start off with a BANG, I was wrong. I didn’t hold a camera in my hand for the first two weeks. After that there were five photo opportunities, but few great photos. A lot had to do with the rainy weather, which we’re still having, and also with my not feeling well.

So here we are in February and the rain is still coming down. I’m not complaining because California needs the rain. We have a great snow pack now that will hopefully see us through the dry summer. What does that mean for photography? If you can’t make it up to the snow, you’re shooting inside! I’m amazed at how many businesses welcome photographers. This year we’ve been to the Antique Trove in Roseville twice, most recently today. You’ll see those pictures in my next post.

So, here are some picks from January!

These were from an experiment with oil and water. It’s more difficult than the tutorial made it seem!

These are from an outing to Old Folsom Historic District. It’s a section of Folsom where you can walk, shop and eat. Best of all, the parking is free!

This next outing was to Old Sacramento. I’ve shown you images from there before. It’s always a challenge to find something new.

So, there you have some highlights from January!

Posted on March 21, 2018March 21, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

When it rains: Emigh’s Hardware

It’s great that stores allow photographers to come in out of the rain to shoot inside. On a recent rainy day, my Tuesday group invaded Emigh’s Hardware store–with permission! While our new house is being painted and floors are being put down, I have time to shoot. Even with the rain, it was good to get away from packing for a few hours.

And, we did shoot for a few hours. Emigh’s, located in Sacramento, is much more than a hardware store. They have a small nursery, an enormous selection of outdoor fun stuff, outdoor furniture and of course hardware. When you walk into the store, you are greeted and asked if you need help finding something. While walking through the store, I was asked several more times.

I totally enjoyed taking pictures in their outdoor decorations area. Really it was more of a separate room. I also ventured out to the nursery while the rain had slowed down to a mist.

It was a much needed fun morning. Moving is like riding a roller coaster. Our buyer fell out of contract, but our fabulous realtor resold the house in one day–for more money! But, that was a tough 24 hours for me.

I’m looking forward to Tuesday when no rain is predicted and I still can refrain from packing. We just have to figure out where we’ll go. That’s next on my list!

What is this fish trying to say?

This was the centerpiece of a windchime.

This was a sun wall decoration.

I also tried to create abstracts from windchimes.

All that glitters.

These were shells that I tried to do something artistic with. Not sure I made it.

A crystal in a decoration.

Here’s looking at you!

An indoor plant.

A butterfly wing on a windchime.

I forgot what this was, but it works well as an abstract.

Beautiful in pink.

This one welcomed the water.

Flower out in the nursery.

Posted on December 23, 2017December 23, 2017 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Merry Christmas: Sacramento Capitol Building

Somehow I’m procrastinating and haven’t gone out to shoot Christmas Lights. It’s been cold here and that’s why I haven’t propelled my body out of the house. But, we did got to the California State Capitol building to shoot the Christmas tree, and since it was during Chanukah, the Menorah on the Capitol steps by Chabad. I was a bit disappointed that the Menorah wasn’t lit that night.

We got there early enough to go inside the Capitol and take indoor photos. I’ll show you some. The rotunda is beautiful. Next we went outside to set up. Here’s where I learned another lesson! Don’t go on an outing with a preconceived idea of what you’re going to shoot, and just shoot that. Look around, there may be something behind you!

When I finally looked around, I was able to grab a shot of Capitol Ave leading to the Tower Bridge with light trails. Most of my group walked a ways down that street.

My friend Jean will be getting her new camera a couple of days after Christmas, and the houses will still be colorful. No more procrastinating! Merry Christmas everyone.

The Rotunda

Wall insets are decorated.

The entire inset.

Lights are decorated.

Looking down the hallway.

The sculpture in the middle of the great hall.

Sculpture side view.

Stairs.

View from upstairs.

Outside, reflections in the tree decorations.

More colorful reflections.

Reflecting the Capitol.

The Menorah.

The sun is beginning to set.

The tree is lit.

I couldn’t resist a zoom effect.

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Anne Sandler

Photoshop fun: IKEA

Nothing! That’s what I did for a week after we returned from our month long road trip to Montana, Glacier National Park and Weiser Idaho for the eclipse. It took us a few mornings to empty out the trailer so we can sell it. It seems we came home just in time for a heat wave, so we only had the mornings to work.

I did gather up energy to shoot with my Toastmaster photo club, All About Photography Toastmasters. We went to IKEA because of the heat. If you remember, I had been there with my Tuesday group so I chose to shoot with my macro lens for practice. I can’t say I was totally successful, but I did learn. This lens has such a short depth of field, and that made it difficult. It’s a 105 mm so I had to stand far enough back to get what I was shooting in the frame and in focus.

Since the shoot, I’ve been working on the images and found the Photoshop filter panel. What fun! With no effort on my part, the software took my images of patterns and turned them into great abstract designs. I’ll show you the before and afters:

Before: A kite.

After: I think this may have been the zig zag.

Before: the back of a wood lounge chair.

After: the ziz zag filter.

Before: Another chandelier that I tinted green in Lightroom.

After: A tighter swirl pattern.

Before: Fabric on a couch that I angled in post.

After: One of the blur filters.

Before: This was a lamp shade.

After: The swirl filter and a change to black and white.

I may have been able to do more, but I was stymied with my limited knowledge of layers. Now I have to delve into Photoshop now that my energy level is back. I had fun with these.

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

What’s your passion? IKEA, part 2

I have two passions: Photography and Toastmasters. Toastmasters changed my life and Photography enriches my retirement. So I decided to combine these two diverse activities and formed a Toastmaster’s Specialty Club: All About Photography (AAP).

At AAP we follow the Toastmaster format, but as our name suggests, we speak on photography and our table topics are on photography. We have photographers of all levels. Last week, I presented my images from IKEA for table topics. The participants were to give a 1 – 2 minute mini-speech on how they would edit these mostly abstract photos. I do crop well in the camera, so they had a difficult time imagining the total scene.

It was a fun exercise, and I picked up a few hints on what I could have done–next time. So what is your passion? What has changed your life? What enriches your life?

Here are my remaining images from IKEA in West Sacramento in black and white.

Zooming in on a chandelier.

These clocks were all lined up. I zoomed in.

This was a stainless bowl, but I think it looks better in copper. Okay, it’s not black and white.

Wine glasses.

This is actually a colorful barrel type chair!

A mixer.

Another chandelier.

The same chandelier with a twist.

A hanging light.

Posted on February 25, 2017February 25, 2017 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Color and Texture Challenge: IKEA

It’s either raining, cloudy, sunny–right now in California, we never know days in advance what the weather will bring. This makes planning a weekly photography outing difficult. We were running out of indoor venues and virtual meetings were also scheduled. We needed something different. We needed to shoot at IKEA! I called them and got the okay for my Camera Totin’ Tuesday group to shoot at their West Sacramento store.

What fun we had. If you’ve been to an IKEA store, you know they are large and set up like a maze. We met at 10 a.m. and decided to meet up again at noon in their cafe for lunch. Jim and I hung out together. I learned more about metering light from him. He’s great about sharing information.

At lunch everyone was talking about how much fun they had. For me, it was more enjoyable to see their posts. It’s amazing how imagination can be different from photographer to photographer. Even if they took the same shot, the processing was diverse, giving the image a unique look.

I know with Spring coming, we’ll be going to various outside shoots; but, maybe there will be an opportunity to go back to IKEA. After all, it does get sunny and hot here in the summer!

Here are some of the color shots. Black and white will be posted next.

A preset in a processing program helped added fire to this range hood shot.

A little bit of texture on a lamp shade.

Okay, they are hokey, but kissing zippy cups are cute.

Another lamp shade with color changes.

A stainless bowl with added color.

Lamp shade. I shot a lot of them.

Here’s another one.

More lamp shades. Go to IKEA for lamps.

A feather duster.

Lamp shade.

Tables.

Mirror images.

Guess what? Another lamp shade.

I really can’t remember what this was. I can see it’s a reflection and something else.

Posted on September 1, 2016September 1, 2016 by Anne Sandler · 9 Comments

Making a cloudy evening fun: Another Milky Way Shoot

Yes, we tried it again, and, yes, the clouds rolled in and hid most of the Milky Way. The forecast called for clear skies, but Mother Nature had other plans. But, with the help of Karen, we had fun light painting, catching color off the clouds and enjoying each others company. For a few, it was a first for night photography.

We shot up at my husband’s observatory. He didn’t get clouded out until just about the time we decided to leave. He does deep space imaging, so his criteria is different.

I’m glad I was with photographers who make the best out of a somewhat bad situation. Will we try again? I’m sure we will. Anyway,here are some of the images I captured that evening.