Celebs and rust

Posted on October 15, 2010 by pearlsandprose

P101210PS-0465

(George Clooney and President Obama by The White House via Flickr)

Flickr allows you to “follow” other members, and shows thumbnails of recently uploaded photos for viewing and commenting. I decided to follow The White House and the British Monarchy for fun. So the other day, I opened the thumbnails and this picture jumped out at me. Yes, I’m a fan, but it just amazed me that the photo was taken just two hours before I saw it, and only a few miles from where I was sitting. What really astounds me is that these photos are available to anyone. What happened to all that “White House official photographer” mystique?

Oh, here’s a shot from the British Monarchy for you:

Graham Nash with his OBE

Whoah, Graham Nash knighted? Really?

(If you click on the photos you can see the entire photostream for each group.)

Another place we visited over the weekend was the town of Oxford, Md. Not a lot there, but it’s right on the Chesapeake Bay where we found this restaurant:

Masthead

Unfortunately, it was closed due to flooding, but we walked around outside.

Masthead tbls

It would have been so fun to have lunch on the bay. Next year.

attack crab

The owner has a sense of humor.

Even oxidation can be beautiful. Rust and George Clooney–where else can you get that? 🙂

Have a stellar weekend, everyone.

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Autumn shooting

Posted on October 14, 2010 by pearlsandprose

It’s finally beginning to look and feel like fall around here. While walking the dog yesterday morning, I noticed the way the sun hit these dogwood leaves and went back to get my camera. I know, I know, always take your camera with you! I’m really good at ignoring my own advice.

May I offer one more tip from an amateur? If you really, really like the way that old faded flag looks next to the garden gate and vegetables of the same color and you think it would make a great end-of-summer shot, don’t tell yourself it will be there tomorrow. I did, and it was all gone the day I brought my camera. After being there for weeks. Arrrrgggghhh. 

In fact, go home right then and there and get that equipment, even if you’re tired and dying in the heat and humidity. The light changes so quickly!

autumn rose

We still have roses in the neighborhood because it’s been so warm. I’ve seen roses blooming in Williamsburg in December, but that was many years ago.

Happy shooting, everyone!

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Meanwhile, back in Easton

Posted on October 13, 2010 by pearlsandprose

A window box in downtown Easton, Md.

pink door

Check out the ancient windows on this place.

blue trim

Love the color and architectural details on this one.

scrollwork

lion detail

hardware bldg

One very old hardware store.

smokehouse

At first we thought this might be a guest cottage on the property, but it’s a very old smokehouse.

Lastly, a great place to have a cup of coffee, don’t you think?

Have a great Wednesday, everyone.

Posted in photography, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

I heart signs

Posted on October 12, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Hey, everyone, hope you had a great weekend. One of the things we did was visit Easton, Maryland, on the Eastern shore. I’ve always heard about the place, but never been. I was surprised at how old the town is–it became the Talbot County seat 300 years ago. According to the Easton website, the “Third Haven Meeting House & Cemetery was built in 1682 and believed to be the oldest framed building dedicated to religious meetings still existing in America.”

Enough on that. I took some pictures of historic buildings, which I’ll post tomorrow, but today it’s signs. Love ’em!

Hill's

This neon sign stayed lit only a second or two, so I’m happy I caught it. Outside an old drugstore.

Mason's

Boutique sign

A sign of sorts that made us do a double take. Not sure how I feel about the message, but I like the reflection of the street and trees.

See you tomorrow!

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Thank you, SkeletalMess

Posted on October 11, 2010 by pearlsandprose

SkeletalMess refers to a very talented texture guru named Jerry Jones of Shadowhouse Creations who offers tons of free textures on flickr and here. I used one of his textures on this shot of a house on Cape Cod.

I am blown away by the generosity of people who give away their work and helpful tips. Kim Klassen, another texture expert, is doing a free e-course on beginning Photoshop which you can find here. I believe it starts around the 18th of this month.

Want to see the “before”? Here you go….

I’m aware that larger images take longer to load, so I’ll be careful about not using too many of them. I know how annoying it is to wait. The iPhone shots are smaller, so no problemo there.

Thanks for stopping by….

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

On a leaf kick

Posted on October 9, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Now that the leaves are starting to turn, I’m getting a little obsessed with photographing them. Every year, I’m amazed at how colorful and beautiful they are. I shot this with my iPhone, using Hipstamatic John S lens, Ina’s 1969 film; flash off.  It wasn’t until I uploaded the photo that I noticed the worn area on the bench around the leaf was heart-shaped. Kind of like l’heure bleue.

Also shot with the iPhone, no apps. I was walking the dog after a rainstorm and these leaves were in the middle of the paved path. Always, always have a camera with you.

recycled loner

iPhone again, no apps. This was on top of our recycling bin! Talk about neon blue.

Cheers….

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Butterfly

Posted on October 7, 2010 by pearlsandprose

This may be my only butterfly shot! I swear, the minute I pull out my camera they head for the hills. Every single time. This one mayhave been on tranquilizers, because he stayed put and didn’t move his wings constantly.

I thought this was a Monarch, but the folks at flickr told me it’s a Swallowtail. I had visions of butterflies eating their own tails until I found out the name comes from the bird named swallow. Did you know swallows have forked tails? Ravens have pointed tails and crows have rounded ones. Fascinating stuff, huh?

Alrighty then. I’ll be going out of town for a few days, so won’t be able to comment much until Tuesday. Hopefully I’ll remember how to post my blog on the iPhone. In the meantime, have a great weekend, everyone.

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Tweaking geraniums

Posted on October 6, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Geraniums in Nantucket. I used a Florabella action and one of her textures on this.

The original photo is OK, just kind of ordinary. I’m learning to take different approaches to the same thing and mix it up with actions and textures. Sometimes you can hide flaws with textures, but not much will fix a lousy composition.  Textures should be used to add interest or drama, but that’s my opinion.

My textures are very simple at this point. The most I’ll do is one or two, and I don’t do layer upon layer. I think you can overdo,  and then the photo turns into a jumbled mess. Again, my opinion. Plus I don’t want to spend hours on one shot. I have too much to learn and do. 

Here’s the before:

Cropping is the main adjustment I make to photos. I tend to shoot tightly, especially with the macro lens, so I’ve started shooting a little larger and cropping later. I may lose a few pixels, but I can live with that. This was also the only shot of the geraniums, because I was on vacation and not in photographer mode. A difficult balance sometimes, but I think I’m making it work. I also have a very patient husband.

When I traveled years ago, I felt like I had to get every single shot, because I might not be there again.  In many cases, that was true. But I don’t want to experience everything through a camera lens. I want to just be in the places I’m visiting, especially on vacation. Sometimes you just have to put the camera down.

Hope you’re all having a good Wednesday….

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Needles

Posted on October 5, 2010 by pearlsandprose

 

Pine needles. The dried ones look almost plaited, don’t they? Another example of something ordinary looking different through a macro lens. I love pine trees.

Ever been to the Black Hills of South Dakota? Yes, that’s where Mount Rushmore is, and Dances With Wolves was filmed there. When you drive through the Hills (they’re actually mountains, and they look more blue than black) on a warm day, the wind carries the delicious scent of Ponderosa pine. It is heavenly.

This was taken in the Black Hills at Sylvan Lake:

photo by Yasha Hartberg via flickr

The granite formations? They’re called the Needles. There’s even one called “Eye of the Needle” on Needles Highway and it looks like this:

Needle's Eye, Black Hills SD

(photo by Terry Roberts via flickr)

So visit the Black Hills if you can. The Badlands of South Dakota are pretty awesome too.

Posted in photography, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Macros and flickr

Posted on October 4, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Happy Monday, everyone. Great weekend, I hope? I shot this on Saturday at a local garden. Before joining flickr, I would have passed by these little purple flowers, looking for something much bigger and more dramatic. I’ve since learned to focus on little buds like this because they make for interesting macros. I used my 60mm 2.8 lens, which I love.

Actually, I might not even be doing this blog if it hadn’t been for flickr. I joined over a year ago, posting one little photo of a rose my husband gave me. It was my first macro, taken with a point-and-shoot. When I began looking at other photos on flickr, I got overwhelmed by all the talent and seriously thought of quitting. One guy even blocked me because I had only one photo! I later learned that if you don’t have a profile pic or many photos, some members will block you because they think you’re a stalker, or out to steal photos. Seriously.

Anyway, one day I opened my flickr account to find that one of my favorite photographers had left a nice comment on one of my pictures. That he took the time out of his busy schedule to do that was amazing to me. That he thought one of my shots was decent? Incredible. I decided then and there to give it a go, and I joined flickr groups and began uploading on a regular basis. I’ve learned tons since then. The feedback I get from other photographers is priceless.  I still have a lot to learn, but I’m having the best time.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t give up. If you really love what you’re doing and you’re willing to put yourself out there no matter how scary it is, just keep going. I’m glad I did.

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments