Nature’s Secrets

While out taking photos of my daffodils, I noticed some new buds on my rose bush.  I found this composition kind of interesting because of the spider web and the tiny bird feathers caught in it.  It seemed to lend itself to a b/w treatment.  Back lighting helped me out once again.  Processed in Photoshop Elements 6 with adjusted levels and burning and dodging.

Camera settings: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, F/9, 1/60 sec., ISO 100, focal length 250 mm.  No flash.

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B/W Oak Tree

My husband and I took a ride along Raymond Road in the Sierra foothills today.  I processed this photo of an oak tree in Photoshop Elements 6 by adjusting levels, cropping, burning and dodging, and a little cloning.   Font is LainieDay SH.   I love oak trees in winter.

Camera settings: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, F/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100, focal length 55 mm.  No flash.

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Graphic Cat

I took a photo of Cody and pushed it to get this graphic result.  In Photoshop Elements 6, I used a sketch filter and tweaked the settings to get the exposure that I liked.  I burned out distracting background lighting.  The eyes were done on several layers.  The blue was applied, then the layer multiplied, lowered opacity and a hint of erasure.  I made a whisker brush and added a couple of whiskers to the left side.   Hope you like it!

Camera settings: Canon Rebel EOS T1i, F/5.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 400, focal length 55 mm.  Flash fired.

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Beautiful Eyes

My best friend’s granddaughter.  She has the most beautiful eyes.   I edited this a fair amount.  A little Gaussian blur and some dodging and burning of small areas.  Processed in Photoshop Elements 6. This was taken with a little Olympus point and shoot.

Camera settings: Olympus Stylus, F/4.8, 1/160 sec., ISO 200, focal length 23.8 mm.  Flash fired.

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Old

This grapevine is quite old and is pretty gnarled.  The canes need to be trimmed and it is in general disarray!  Processed in Photoshop Elements 6 by changing to b/w, adjusting levels and dodging and burning.  (I should be out working in the yard! )

Camera settings: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, F/8, 1/100 sec., ISO 1250, focal length 100 mm.  No flash.

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Looking Up

Just a pair of birds in our leafless mulberry tree.  Skies were overcast and cloudy.   Processed in Photoshop Elements 6 with adjusted levels, change to b/w and framed.

Camera settings: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, F/13, 1/250 sec., ISO 200, focal length 250 mm.  No flash.

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Sara’s Hands

My daughter’s hands.  Processed in Photoshop Elements by changing to b/w, using high pass filter and burning.  I used the new macro lens.  With 100 mm you don’t have to get so close as with a regular 50 mm and it’s kind of nice to have that extra room to work in.  This was a hand held shot and I adjusted white balance for the living room overhead light.

Camera settings: Canon T1i, F/3.5, 1/20 sec., ISO 3200, focal length 100 mm.  No flash.

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Half Dome

Took this while wandering through one of the many meadows on the valley floor of Yosemite.  It’s pretty dry this time of year and the falls were pretty low .  Anyway, the poor lighting (around 12:30 pm) still allowed us to get some decent shots.  This one of Half Dome I decided to process in b/w.  Processed in Photoshop Elements by adjusting levels and extensive dodging and burning again.

Camera settings: Canon T1i, F/7.1, 1/160 sec., ISO 100, focal length 55 mm.  No flash.

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B/W

Here is another shot of a tree taken on the 17-mile drive yesterday in Carmel.  This one I felt worked in b/w better.  What do you think?  Processed in Photoshop Elements with adjusted levels, dodging and burning and changing to b/w.  This one I had to straighten quite a bit (about 3 degrees).  The fog bank in the background kind of added some depth.

Camera settings: Canon T1i, F/9, 1/400 sec., ISO 100, focal length 55 mm.  No flash.

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Ordinary Things

A desk stapler.  (ok, I was really bored)  Processed in Photoshop Elements with sketch/graphic pen after adjusting levels and changing to b/w.  Applied a lightly colored texture to the entire photo.

What’s next, a tape dispenser!!??

Camera settings: Canon T1i, F/4.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 400, focal length 36 mm.  Flash fired.

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