There are those days when…… You fill in the blank. It’s usually something you’ve forgotten to do like not buy everything you needed at the grocery, missed an appointment or forgot to change the ISO on your camera that was set for a prior outing. I did the last. Worse, I didn’t notice it until the shoot was just about over.
Fortunately it was at a nursery, flowers are forgiving and Lightroom helps to take out noise. But, I don’t think I’ll do that again. I’ll make other mistakes, but not that one!
We went to Green Acres Nursery in Folsom to practice macro work. You know you’ll find flowers and plants at a nursery. The plus was that we also found an abundance of water drops. They must have watered before we got there. I enjoyed the outing. Take a look, and let me know how I did during post processing. Was it really one of those days?
Allergy: Yesterday Laura and I went to visit the Jepsen Prairie Preserve (You’ll see it soon.) to see their vernal pools. As soon as I stepped onto the area around the pools. I started sneezing and couldn’t stop! Did I have tissues with me? No. It wouldn’t have mattered because I could not have brought enough. I had to use my shirt I use as a light jacket. Oh my.
Cold: When I got home, the sneezes kept coming. I finally realized it must be a cold. I’m not sure how this allergy/cold affected my shooting. I looked at my images briefly last night, but didn’t get them into Lightroom.
More: I’m preparing prints for juried competition for the first time at tomorrow night’s Sierra Camera Club meeting. I’m a little nervous. But, it’s all part of the learning and growth experience. I’ll let you know how I did.
Now, back to Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys and their beautiful grounds. This winery has a museum, tasting room, cafeteria, amphitheater and hosts events. When you’re there, it’s time to relax and rejuvenate. That is unless you have an allergy or a cold. Next time I go out, I’m bringing a whole tissue box with me!
What do the Milky Way, sunflowers and refrigerators have in common? Nothing really, except I experienced them all in one week.
Let’s start with the fridge. I bought a new fridge on June 9, it was delivered on June 11. By the time the installers were done, they had scratched one of the doors, and the ice maker didn’t turn off after 24 hours. Okay, they wanted to send out another fridge on Sunday. But I was supposed to spend the night up at Blue Canyon Airport with my husband Richard (our observatory is there) and a couple of my photo clubs were coming up to shoot the Milky Way. So I changed my plans and arranged to come home with another photographer.
While the Milky Way wasn’t spectacular, I did learn a great deal. This was the first time I was able to shoot it and not get a light tan background when processing in Lightroom. My fellow photographers were more than willing to help. And, they enjoyed mingling with the astronomers.
Back to the fridge which wasn’t delivered on Sunday because the order never made it to delivery. So the second fridge was to come on Monday, June 15. It did, but by the time the installers left, it had a dented door and again–the ice maker didn’t work. Richard discovered that the water had not been hooked up properly! The third fridge was scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday, June 17.
Meanwhile, Tuesday evening, Marlene and I went in search of sunflowers. By the time we found a field in Woodland, going to Davis first, the sun was low in the sky. Most of the sunflowers were in the process of turning around toward the sun and drooping. This was the first time I actually felt in total control. I decided to do close ups and take advantage of the back-lit flowers. I’m focusing on manual for about half my shooting time now. You’ll see the result. The old car was an added bonus. I shot HDR handheld.
Okay the fridge again, It was delivered on Wednesday and I warned the guys that they were to take care not to scratch or dent the doors. They were told to also install it properly and hook up the water. They thought I was a controlling nut case until I told them that this was the third unit.
No scratches or dents, but when my husband checked, the water was not hooked up! Richard hooked up the water while I thought I was living in a script of the Twilight Zone! This morning, my 72nd birthday, I went downstairs and saw about 10 ice cubes in the freezer bucket. I started singing the birthday song. This was a great present!
So was my week of the Milky Way, sunflowers and refrigerators!
These shots of the Milky Way may look the same, but the colors are different. This one is more green.
This image is more purple. We were experimenting with various white balances.
This image is closest to what I saw.
The bees love the sunflowers.
I wanted to capture the back-lighting on this flower.
Here I was going for the sunburst. With it came a sun flare.
Another back-lit image
A bunch of smaller flowers that hadn’t said goodnight yet.
This was the best “field” shot I could get.
Here a sunflower is emerging from the bud.
Another back-lit image.
I couldn’t resist something old and falling apart. Hey, I’m 72 now! This was a 5-bracketed handheld HDR.
Good news, this is the last post of Death Valley National Park. Bad news, this is the last post of Death Valley National Park! It was so pretty, unusual and amazing there, I wish I had more to show you. But then, you may have seen enough. We are so fortunate to have spectacular National Parks here in the U.S. And seven or more are right here in California.
Today I’m showing you scenes from the Artist Drive, another drive through canyon, and Natural Bridge Canyon, a short hike to an amazing natural rock bridge. I will admit that I almost didn’t walk it because of the cold and bad back I was suffering from, but I was glad I did.
If you have a chance, visit Death Valley. Just don’t go in the summer when temperatures are HOT!
Entering the Artist Drive. You can see some mineral deposits making green areas on the rocks.
I just needed to take time to feed my soul last week–feed it with photography. We have been so busy, and I missed getting out and shooting. Not that I wasn’t using my camera; I just wasn’t using it in an activity where I could relax. That’s why I spent the day in Benicia on my way to visit friends in San Jose.
While in San Jose, my photography goal was to visit Hakone Gardens. I used to go there to relax and meditate when I lived in San Jose. Then it was free, quiet and beautiful. It’s still quiet and beautiful, but it’s no longer free. But the fee is nominal and shouldn’t stop anyone from visiting.
Here’s a brief history of the place from Wikipedia:
In 1916, two San Francisco arts patrons, Oliver and Isabel Stine, intending to build a summer retreat, purchased the 18 acres (73,000 m2) site on which Hakone now stands. Inspired by her trips to Japan, Isabel Stine modeled the gardens upon (and named them after) Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. She hired Japanese landscape artists and architects to design the gardens and the Upper “Moon Viewing” House. In 1932, ownership passed to financier Major C. L. Tilden who added the main gate to the gardens. When he died, Hakone was inherited by his sister, Mrs. Walter Gregory. After her death in 1959, Hakone was left untended, and the property was put up for sale.
In 1961, Joseph and Clara Gresham, their son Eldon and wife Deon, and four Chinese American couples: George and Marie Hall, John and Helen Kan, Dan and June Lee, Col. John C. Young and Mary Lee Young purchased the estate. This partnership restored Hakone to its original splendor, keeping its traditional Japanese authenticity while using it as a private retreat. In 1966, the partners offered a beautifully maintained Hakone for sale to the City of Saratoga. Today Hakone is administered by The Hakone Foundation, a non-profit organization, which was established in 1984 to restore and enhance the gardens independently of public funding. The gardens are open to the public and the various community facilities are often used for cultural events.
I’ll write more about the gardens in my next post. Yes, this is another two-part post.
Walking on river bed rock can give you a workout. The Effie Yeaw Nature Center is a place you can continually go back to and see different things each time. This time my photo buddy Rita and I walked near the American River which is low due to the drought. I keyed in on trees and mostly used my 55 – 300 mm lens that was mounted on my D3100. They were so expressive. Meanwhile Rita kept her eyes on smaller objects like birds and crawling things.
You see, I was raised in the city and suburbs, and I’m not used to finding the small wonders of nature. I’m learning though. We do want to go back for sunrise so we can catch the sun’s beauty and the deer. Getting there at 7 a.m., Rita saw a lot of deer. However, I didn’t see one, getting there at 8 a.m. The last time we were there, we saw one deer family.
After a two-hour workout, we left. I’ll be going back on Sunday for their Nature Fest. They will have many activities I’m sure my young grandkids will enjoy. We won’t be walking along the river though!
Yes, I came up with a better solution for my computer memory problem and how I handle Lightroom file organization. I now have an external 250 Gig hard drive that will go wherever I go. That means whether I edit on my laptop or desktop, I can save the images to my external drive, keeping them in one place.
I’m also working on the problem of how to view the RAW files. I think the best answer came from Mary Gromer, coordinator of the Shoot or Go Home MeetUp group. She suggested shooting both RAW and JPEG so you can preview the pictures in Windows and eliminate the shots you don’t want to edit. Then import the remaining into Lightroom. Someone else from the group said there was software that would allow you to see RAW files in Windows. I’ll have to check that out.
All this is going to force me not to keep every shot–I shouldn’t anyway! See there was a reason I was procrastinating on shooting RAW! But, it is great to be moving onward.
Today I’m posting the rest of the Governor’s Mansion. Since we were on a tour, I was shooting snapshots. No time to stop. I tried to compose as best I could given the fact that many rooms were roped off or people were just in the way. What amazed me was the elegant detailing in the ceilings, door frames and even the brass door hinges. The Mansion is not being repaired as it falls in disrepair. Our docent said that eventually it would probably be torn down. Imagine tearing down history! I’m also experimenting with the white balance feature in Lightroom. So, if I got something totally wrong, please let me know.
After I post this blog, I’m going to check into that viewing software and create my filing system on my external drive. Glad for that solution!
I did spend some time with Lightroom today, but not enough to come out a clear winner! Every time I use it, I learn more. So, stick with me, and hopefully my editing will improve. I still can’t access the Lightroom presets. Maybe after I post this short blog, I’ll check through my tutorials or on YouTube.
I did find the rest of the church pictures–thank goodness for a great filing system–and I’m posting them.
I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for Lightroom this weekend because I’m sitting for my young grandkids starting tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have time and energy left in the evenings to get some time in.
Rain, Rain don’t go away! Yes, It’s finally raining in Northern California, and we need it. So, I couldn’t do Practice Tuesday and waited for an opportunity. Thursday morning was partly cloudy and I seized the opportunity on my morning walk with the dog.
Of course, taking the shots were the same; the change came when I went to process them. It was easy in Lightroom. I copied them off my SD card into my photo filing system on my desktop. From there, I imported them into Lightroom, worked on them and then exported them back to my files as JPEGs.
I still have to learn more about Lightroom and more of what I can do with it, but I have the basic stuff down now. So here are some of my first RAW images. There will not be a practice Tuesday next week either because I will be on my way down to Southern California. But, I’ll try to get in some practice during the week. I won’t be upset to miss using my camera if it rains. We need it.
I was totally embarrassed–but not really. I’ve come to accept that in the Shoot or Go Home photo Meetup group, I’m a novice. But I did think there would be a level playing field when I went to the Lightroom workshop yesterday evening. I was wrong. I was amazed at the level of these photographers. For me, it meant there’s more possibility for my growth.
So what was I embarrassed about? I was the only one in the room shooting JPEG! When I was asked why, I just replied, “I’m afraid to!” But, I did promise to shoot RAW from now on. What was I afraid of? I didn’t know how to process RAW! With Lightroom, it’s easy. I sat through the three hours just amazed at what this program could do in the develop module. It even corrected buildings that were leaning due to the wide-angle lens distortion. Of course I could have also done this in PE9, but never took the time to dig through the manual to learn how. It was easy with Lightroom.
In my last post, I said I was going to try to straighten out the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. I did and I’m posting it tonight along with some other Lightroom vs. PE9 edits. What a program–shooting RAW from now on!!
Slow Shutter Speed 