Natural Fall Beauty

The lensbaby spark is a fun and arty addition to my lens lineup.  Tho my professional photographer friends might not agree, I am thoroughly enjoying the spark's ability to capture the beauty of imperfection.

Outdoor Love

The world is so full of beauty!

top photo was taken with the Lensbaby Spark, a recent purchase, and the bottom with Canon 17-55. The endless variations in nature's art keep me happily ever enthralled.

Fall in the Garden

Delicious autumn in the backyard!
My favorite season, esp in northern California. We've had some life-giving rain, the night temps are mild and afternoons sunny and warm. So here are a few photos to illustrate.

#wwpw2014 Redding, Ca

A little behind in posting! Geez, I have been very busy with work but gettin a just right slowdown now. I went with the Shasta Photo Club to participate in this year's world wide photo walk instigated by Scott Kelby. About 9 or 10 of us went to the McConnell Arboretum @ 7 a m on Oct 11.

And here is a photo of some native grasses (or weeds) highlighted by the morning sun.

Gravensteins

I like all the roundness here, and the colors and patterns. I actually made the ceramic bowl many years ago. The apples are Gravensteins; when I was a girl we had some apple trees of this type. So this simple photo of a bowl of apples has some meaning to me; some connection to my past. And I feel quite satisfied creating this photograph. Canon 70d, 40mm stm lens.

Online Photography Class

I have taken an online class in nature photography over the last month with Kathleen Clemons at ppsop.net. I learned a new processing technique and have been using my Canon 40mm 2.8 stm lens in the reverse macro position quite a lot, as this allows me to focus very close to a small subject. Changing my point of view this way helps me see differently and create images not just snap photos. There is a lot of trial and error involved, but I do enjoy the process!

Oak Bark Down

Bark texture from a fallen oak in an empty lot in Lake California. I enjoy using my dslr to capture in and out of focus areas so it's not an ordinary eye view. Canon 70D with Canon 40mm f2.8 stm lens, my fav walk around combo of late.

Bobcat with Shasta View

Bobcat with Shasta View,

from my morning walk.
I like this little bobcat as an addition to a landscape photo. Used my (Canon) 70D with the 40mm 2.8 stm lens. The "shorty forty" is small and light  and a great morning walk partner with my camera.

Canon 70d and 40mm 2.8 stm Lens Shooting Grapes

So yay, I got the fancy new camera, and what the heck a tiny lens for video. I am so far very pleased with both the 70d and the Canon 40mm 2.8 stm lens. And because I spent a week with the 7d the 70d has not been all that hard to learn. Also updated my Fine Art America gallery a bit.

For some reason, we have a bumper crop of grapes this season. Perhaps the early hot weather?
Til next time,
Sarah

Sad,Then Glad, Then Resigned, Now Hopeful

A couple weeks ago after photographing the tiny waterfall in Lake California, I dropped my Canon t3i in the miniscule creek that flows from it. Ugh! Aaak! Doom!
Well, I dried it out for a week and it won't autofocus but other than that it will take photos. Unfortunately, my vision isn't that great to determine when the picture is in focus; I heavily rely on the autofocus ability of my camera! Meanwhile I decided to upgrade to a weather sealed model and found a used one @ bandh for a good price.
I chose 3 day shipping, and while I waited I downloaded the manual and a kindle book by Doug Klosterman to get some idea how to use the new guy. Arrival day I actually was home at noon when it came, so charged the battery while I went out for the afternoon job. In the evening, then, I started shooting with the 7d. More buttons, more menu choices, same megapixel count, but focus was really fast and precise at times as I figured out how to use the 19 point system. Then it suddenly stopped working. I checked everything, changed the battery, switched cf cards, reset to factory settings, changed the lens-everything I could think of. Soon it started working again. hmmm. Figured it was user error somehow, what with the more complicated nature of the 7d versus the t3i. So over the next few days I happily shoot some hundreds more photos, trying all my lenses and got some really pretty shots of weeds in an empty lot and sunrise in the backyard.  Wednesday morning my schedule was open, so drove a little ways to get some peeling manzanita bark photos, and the ding dang camera freezes up again. Grrrr! this time it ain't me for sure. Fiddled around as b4. Nothing helped. Then suddenly fine again. Drove home, got tech support, they tried to help, but concluded as I had, that the camera is defective. Ok, bye. Sadly, it was only a brief affair.
 What next? While researching at the 7d I studied the 70d, too. It is a new release and has a completely new processor, wi-fi, touchscreen and cost an additional $200. It also has the articulated lcd which was missing (and missed!) on the 7d. So decided to spend the extra $ and ordered one. It will be here mon. I will have to make do with my broken t3i until then.

Osprey Parent Looking at Me!

Went out this evening for a while in Lake California and got a few decent photos of one of the osprey parents guarding the nest. This nest is on a new pole put up by PG&E this year to move the annual osprey nesting activity off the actual power pole.

Yeehaw! Mother's Day 2014

I went to the Cottonwood Rodeo on Mother's day, with a group of shutterbuggers.
Shasta Canon Photo Club is a friendly fun group that I am glad to have joined!  I used my longest lens, the Tamron 70-300 f8 @ 1/250 to1/400th of a second  but it wasn't really fast enough to capture the action. Should've asked, duh! Learned something and had fun, awesome day! And there were handsome cowboys and lovely cowgirls and beautiful horses as well. This was the first Mom's day I didn't spend with my son, who is  about to graduate from UCDavis.

 

 

A New Orchid

I bought a new orchid @ Trader Joe's. It was difficult to choose ONE, the store in Redding had so many lovely orchids to pick from. I now have two orchids, so it's the beginning of a small collection.  ;)

A Duotone for Thurs

An unusual bit of fog this a.m. due to some actual precipitation here in N California.

And always fun to play around in Lightroom.

Red Amarylis Photo

Big change in this bud in just one day.

Emerging Amarylis Photo 2014

I received an Amarylis bulb from my sis for my birthday in December and when I took the bulb out of the box it was already growing! Yesterday I noticed the red starting to show so decided to document the emerging bloom for this blog. It is so lovely and sculptural; I love nature's artwork! In the foreground is my 22 yr old grape ivy.

Available breakfast light Canon T3i w/ Canon 100 mm macro L 2.8 IS, edited in Lightroom 4.

Look at the Sky

Branches lace with sunset imminent behind, Lr edits.

Oh One, Oh Two!

The sky is fun to shoot, always different. And with winter's bare trees you get an additional dimension.

I used the 17-55 lens and spent some time on cropping this one; there were some distracting roof protrusions.  What I liked was the contrails framing the tree so I removed what wasn't that story. Hey, I found words for it!

Day One, Oh One

Yay! I took a photo and edited in Lightroom.

Just the top of that tree was in sunlight. I saw it as a nice warm and light contrast to the dark tangle below.

Tomato King

Sometimes when using Photoshop I forget the simple approach, like adding a layer and painting 40% black over some distracting elements.

I like the speckles and green-ness of  this "Tomato King".

Fun with Filters

A sweet filter effect from Filter Forge, a plug-in for Phtoshop.

Realistic Unnatural Color

I added the yellow to the grass at the bottom of this photo in Adobe Camera Raw just to add some interest to the photo. Another empty lot shot from earlier this year.

Natural Lens Flare

The empty lots scattered around Lake California are great spots to practice photography or painting. This is a shot from last spring that caught the wildflowers and a nice lens flare.

Sunflower Variation

My dslr, Photoshop cc and Lightroom 4 are providing me with endless photo variation entertainment. I created 4-5 versions of this sunflower crop in as many minutes!

Lake California Landscape

Looking west from the clubhouse parking lot where there's a bit of a rose garden.

A recent photoshop effort. There are so many choices of paths and tools and styles and brushes and textures and filters that The digital artist can almost endlessly restyle every project. I bought some wonderful brushes from creative market today, by artist Kyle's Pro Design Tools. They are actually presets that make inking, drawing, painting, and coloring easy in photoshop. Totally worth the few bux he's asking!

Have been compositing in Photoshop CC, yes, decided it is worth it for $20 a month.

Also taking a class online here which has been sooo helpful. Plenty of tuts on youtube as well. Hours of fun for the digital artist.

Dragonfly on a (Barbed) Wire

On the way to Davis to pick up my (college student) son, I stopped at a rest stop I had never stopped at b4. There were a lot of dragonflies and it was breezy; a bunch were hanging onto the barbed wire fence. Only had the 17-55 so I couldn't get very close; this is cropped in. It looks so fragile as it delicately holds onto the barb.

The Moon in June

A color photo of the weekend moon. Looks like it's gonna roll down that hill! I love raw files and non-destructive editing.

Big Moon in Black and White

I went out last eve to shoot the supermoon, as tonight's forecast is cloudy. Editing in Lightroom 4, the pros make it look easy, but it's a complex program. In this version I removed color and some foreground trees; it looks a bit otherworldly to me now. I used the Tamron 70-300 vc to bring the moon in close.

Fuschia Hollyhocks

Some pretty fuschia hollyhocks from the backyard. Photo taken a month or two ago; it's too hot for hollyhocks now.

Close up Granite Column, UCDavis

Another example of the 50mm reverse macro (granite); there is a lovely refraction near the center of this shot. I hadn't realized b4 that granite has a crystalline structure.

Reverse Macro 50mm lens

 

Using my Canon 50mm 1.8 lens reversed to get an interesting and up close look at a cracked granite slab @UCDavis. I went to Davis yesterday to see the last DAS plays for the year. My son wrote one and directed one; everyone raved about the one he wrote! It was awesome! Contemporary and funny and imaginative. The actors and director were  awesome, too.

Macro with 50mm lens

I have learned so much from videos on youtube; it is truly an internet treasure! For example, today I learned that it is possible to use the 50mm lens in reverse to take macro shots.

Viola! I like it when art is FUN, and bends the rules.

No Detail in the Blacks

I removed the detail in the blacks for a strong and simple graphic image.

Morning Sunshine

A vibrant squash blossom in early morning backlight. Canon 100mm f2.8 L IS macro lens in my own backyard. My sis is a wonderful gardener, all I have to do is enjoy!

Macro Raindrops Photo

I am thrilled with this photo of raindrops on an iris leaf!  There are teeny tiny drops all over the leaf if you look close; that is not image noise. The Canon 100mm f2.8L IS macro is the hero lens on this shoot. In Lightroom when you check the lens correction section, there are no corrections needed for this lens; it is that good.

Oh Orchid of Mine

A year or so ago I bought myself a beautiful orchid; and tho I have taken photos of these flowers, this is the first one I love. I used Lightroom 4's light vignette, which is really appropriate for this. Also I put the plant in my bathtub so it had a nice neutral surround.

Send Back the Clouds, Photo Landscape

Yay! The great clouds came back on Friday and I found some shooting time. This one is looking east over the Sacramento River from Riverview Drive in Lake California.

Landscape Looking East

There were magnificent clouds this afternoon, but I was working and by the time I got out to shoot they were dissipating. Still I like this landscape shot looking east in Lake California; the haze contributes nicely to the aerial perspective. I used the Canon 100mm L 2.8 IS lens, which is a macro but shoots everything beautifully.

Skinny Depth of Field, Pincushion Flower

I love the delicious blur around the delicate focal flower in this photo, even if I took it myself! Used the Canon EF 50mm 1.8 lens and Lightroom 4.

Evening Shoot

A sweet shrub with solar lights, early evening. I went out in the front yard @ sunset and played with my gear. And further played in Lightroom to make a pink duotone. Fun! Canon 50mm 1.8 lens.

Fire Season Sunset 2013

Already fire season here in California. Shot with the Canon EF-s 17-55 f2.8 lens, near the office in Lake California.