the mind's eye

I took a class yesterday on Lightroom. There was a lot of information to absorb and I'm not certain how spongy my brain is these days. The class was geared more towards portrait photography which is not where my interests lay. But, I did pick up some useful tips, my favorite being the before and after key. Here's a re-edit of an image from back in early June at Tahoe.

So after feeling a little cranky today about the lack of training specific to landscape photography, I'm actually starting to feel a bit jazzed about the possibilities available in post editing work with Lightroom. I don't want to create over the top, hey-look-at-that images but I find trying to capture what my mind remembers of the scene truly challenging and exciting.

ghosty moon

A happy accident...totally goofed up the exposure on this shot but it turned out pretty cool.

down by the river

Gave myself a photography assignment for today: moving water. I drove up highway 50 with the plan to hunker down by the river with my filters & tripod. To go slowly and "work" the shot. But, I didn't. Never used the filters or set up the tripod. Just walked about and took a couple hand held shots. Later, I stopped at Apple Hill to take some photos of apples and before I got out of the car, I put both filters (GND & polarizer) on the lens. And then to my surprise, I had an opportunity to take a close up of a praying mantis.

When I got home and looked at the photos, the close ups were bad. I had forgotten about the filters and they wrecked the shots. Here's the best of the apples:

Tomorrow I want to continue to make some moving water photos but I also want to go for a bike ride. I hope there's time to do both!

making the most of it

Fresh from the photography workshop, I felt inspired to get out and use the tripod and to play around with the white balance settings. It wasn't much of a sunset and we were naturally bumbling around finding a location to set up and missed the actual sunset of course. But, since it wasn't going to be anything special anyway, it was a good chance to just take my time and try some new things.

odd couple

Found on a rock wall near the creek that runs along Main Street. The colors are nice.

neighbor's tree

Another day when my photos were rushed. Was on my way home to watch the big game (Giants fan here) and passed my neighbor's tree. Took about nine quick shots but none stood out, although two had possibilities with cropping and minor touch ups for small flaws.

Today, I need to work on my photography workshop assignment: photos of trash. That's right -- garbage!

sunset on the fly

Through the windshield on Highway 50 sunset.