editing photos – Slow Shutter Speed

Posted on August 23, 2026August 23, 2026 by Anne Sandler · 36 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #154/410: One Photo Edited

I just love to take my camera out for a walk. Editing is not something I truly enjoy. That doesn’t mean that I don’t edit. It just means that I’m not that good at it and rely on programs like Lightroom, Topaz, Color Efex and Silver Efex. Photoshop is too technical for me. So, Ritva’s challenge is truly a challenge for me!

Through the next three examples, I will try to explain how I use these editing programs. I’m sure I can use them more expertly; but this is my hobby, and I want to keep enjoying it!

Example 1 (original is on the left/edited is on the right) Fun at a neighborhood fair.

I like to stop by local fairs when I can catch them. It’s one of the few times I use my tripod because I like to catch the rides in slow motion. This picture of a ride that brings seated riders into the air as the chairs spin around.

First I changed it into black and white in Lightroom. Then I cropped it on the left and removed other rides on the right. I brought up the highlights and contrast to accent the twirling chairs. I wanted to draw attention to the blurred chairs and riders. Lightroom was the only program I used.

Next we were in a small town and I liked this tree that formed a tunnel over the sidewalk. I’m so glad that no one trimmed it!

I took this photo into Silver Efex and chose one of their templates. I usually stop editing in Silver Efex at that point, sending it back into Lightroom. Once back in Lightroom, I worked on the highlights, darks and contrast. I like how it came out looking almost like a sketch.

On a visit to an Iris farm, we had so many beautiful flowers to photograph. I was in photo heaven!

Because I wanted to accent just one petal, I cropped in closely. Now you can definitely see the interior and striations of each petal. I also softened the background. This was edited in Topaz Sharpener just to make sure the image was sharp when cropped. It was then brought back into Lightroom. I masked out the background to smooth it out. I’m so glad Lightroom now has a masking feature. I also saturated the colors a bit.

I doubt I will totally enjoy editing as much as I enjoy taking the picture. For me the goal is to get a good composition to begin with. Please link your challenge response to this post, and to Ritva who showed, through her artistic ability, how editing can enhance our pictures.

And thanks to Steve Hyde, Steve Hyde Photography Blog, for challenging us, last week, to choose our best images. Wow, that was tough and it was fun to see what you all chose. Next week, Sofia will be leading the challenge. Until then stay safe and be resilient.

Posted on October 7, 2019October 7, 2019 by Anne Sandler · 6 Comments

Cars, cars and more: Concours d’Elegance at Ironstone Vineyards

I have been to car shows, but not one had this many vintage vehicles! I’ve been to Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys before to photograph flowers and the grounds. That alone took most of the day! But there were cars and trailers all over, including an amphibian car that I missed!

We stayed until about 1 p.m. (got there at 10 a.m.) but had to leave after lunch. I would have liked to have gone back to shoot the flowers, but I needed to get to my son and daughter-in-law’s house warming. The drive each way is 2 hours. However, I did get to photograph most of the cars. No, I’m not going to show you all of them! But, this will be a 2-part post.

While editing these photos, I came upon a dilemma. I come from a journalistic background, and as a non-fiction writer, we did not embellish our stories in any way. We basically wrote the facts in an interesting and readable way. Photographing this car show is basically telling a non-fiction story through photographs. So, do I do some image altering edits, or stick to the basics. Most are basic edits, but I did add some filters to some to make them look older. What do you think?

Let’s begin with hood ornaments which were straight edits. I do like to get up close and some were beautiful.

Now for some of the scenery and full or mostly full images of the vehicles. If I had my way there would be greater separation between cars and only me at the show! I can dream, but I truly don’t mind crowds. I just make the people part of the image.

I love catching another photographer. And there were many!

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

An unexpected surprise: Rosie the Riveter Museum, Richmond, California

Did you ever go somewhere expecting not much, but were totally surprised and delighted when you got there? Our visit to the Rosie the Riveter Museum had that effect on me. It was as if this museum was designed with photographers in mind. In the small museum and Visitor Center building, all photos were not behind glass, but on boards. It was easy to shoot them without glare.

Not only did we learn about the history of women during World War II, we learned how the war changed the city of Richmond. Richmond became the Kaiser shipyard home, where ships were built. These vessels would help defeat our World War II enemies.

Located in a National Historic Park, the museum is just the beginning. There were many things to take up our day, but we basically visited three out of the 10 suggested by the Ranger in the visitor center. We visited the museum, looked into the empty Ford Assembly Plant, had lunch in Point Richmond, toured the SS Red Oak Victory ship and found our way back to the Rosie the Riveter Memorial.

I’m sure you guessed that this will be a two-part post. I will be going back to see all we didn’t have time for. This definitely was an unexpected surprise.