Weekly Photo Challenge: Relax

When I stumble across a scene like this, I get pretty excited:

ISO 800 50mm f/11 1/250

This is one of the scenes that await visitors of Fountains Abbey in York.  It’s a beautiful place.  There is something about a view like this that I find very relaxing.  I spent the day here, looking around. I took the walking tour to get a better feel for the history of the place. But really I was just there for the beauty.

The photo above started like this:

ISO 800 50mm f/11 1/250

I had my camera set to take a bracketed exposure because I was pretty sure I was going to want to make an HDR version in Photoshop.  HDR in this case because I knew it would give detail and a bit of pop to the ruins.  I then used my Analog Pro plug in as a starting point to make the photo look more like a photograph and less digital. I chose to keep the cool tones of the original since it was shot in December.  I’ve also cropped this photo a bit with the thought of keeping the focus on the ruins.

I’ve added this to my Picfair portfolio, because I was pleased with the outcome.  How do you like this edit, does it seem relaxing and peaceful to you?  Feel free to leave a comment below.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Tiny

One thing I love about rain is its ability to change the mood of a photo, adding interest almost immediately.

ISO 500 50mm f/5.6 1/80

I saw this scene and felt that the little bit of yellow would make an interesting contrast to the other earthier tones in the photograph. The yellow also lit up the raindrops a bit, helping to highlight them even though they were tiny.

To get this final result, I used exposure bracketing while shooting.  I then combined the three images, identical except for their exposure values, and combined them into an HDR version of the photo.  That might seem like a lot of effort for one photo but it really brought out the detail in the raindrops and the richness of tone that was available in the yellow.

Have you ever taken extra steps in processing what looks like an ordinary photo to uncover additional beauty?  I like the stillness and moody tone of this image, what do you think? To me, the mood is almost more important here than the subject matter. A version of it has also been added to my Picfair portfolio. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Cheers!

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Transmogrify

When I see the word transmogrify, I always think of Calvin and Hobbes, so despite the definition of the word being to change in a negative way, I can’t help but thinking of it in a more light-hearted, positive way.  The way that the meaning of a word can be influenced by the way that it is used is interesting to me.

People not only change language to suit them, they also change their homes to suit them as well. Imagine that this is what you see when you look out the window of this house:

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Turning around to face the interior you would not expect to see this:

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But this is the interior of a house that is now the Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer Ops Solder or Our Lord in the Attic, a hidden Catholic Church in Amsterdam.  The church dates from 1663 and was used to celebrate Mass in secret when doing so in public was prohibited. As I was taking this photo though, I was thinking about how it would look if I edited it to a black and white version:

ISO 1250 5.44mm f/3.2 1/20

As much as I like the warm tones of the original, there is something that I find more settled in the black and white version. Instead of talking about the specifics of how I created the black and white version, I would like to just focus on the first editing step.  I started with cropping.  I started there because there were two things that bothered me about this image, the jacket visible on the right side, and the fact that the altar is crooked.  Using the straighten option within the cropping tool in Photoshop fixed both of these problems.  I’ve included a link because about halfway through the article there is a photo showing exactly where to find the tool if you are not familiar with how to use it.  In my opinion this is the easiest way to straighten a photo and if this is something I know I am going to need to do I often start with that step.

So, what do you think of the transformation? I think the crop helped a lot.  Do you have a preference for the color or the black and white version?  Would you build a Church inside your house?  I’d never seen anything like it. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shine

After a downpour it’s hard to miss the shine of the sun. I got this photo after a fairly heavy rain.  The few raindrops left on the petals stand in contrast to the bright sun:

ISO 800 4.3mm f/8.0 1/1250

I left the editing of this photo to a minimum.  Here is the original:

ISO 800 4.3mm f/8.0 1/1250

The change here was done using split toning in Lightroom.  Split toning allowed me to give the autumn colors a bit of a warm glow by using the highlights to bring out a bit of an orange tone.  I added a bit of the deeper blue in the sky by darkening the blues in the shadows.  Split toning also has a balance slider that allows you to change the balance of the edit you are applying making it either more in the highlights or more in the shadows.  In this case it is adding more to the highlights.  I got the idea to give the balance slider a try after watching this short tutorial.

How do you like the edit?  I like the original, but I really like the orange tones in the edit.  I think they appeal to me right now because it is fall here and orange is a color that I have always associated with fall.  Feel free to leave a comment below.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Local

If you follow this blog you know that I moved over the summer. Again. I move a lot. So I wouldn’t say that I really have experienced being a local. What I like about moving though is the chance to act like a local in a lot of different places. And it’s this faking being a local that brought me to this kitchen:

ISO 800 4.3mm f/2.7 1/800

This nice little kitchen set-up was at Anglesey Abbey which is a National Trust property.  We joined National Trust when we arrived here in England with the thought that we would spend a lot of the next year visiting different sites then the next year we would join English Heritage and base our travels on their properties. A quick look at the two websites will tell you that I’m in trouble, and may have to stay in England a bit longer than anticipated to get through visiting all the places I would like to see.  I’m also thinking I may have to have a membership at both.

But that’s not what I was thinking when I took the original photo of this kitchen:

ISO 800 4.3mm f/2.7 1/800

I was thinking, you could visit England and easily not visit this particular place.  You’d be missing something, but honestly, there are so many more well knowns spots that you’d probably visit instead.  To me a place like this is what you visit when you are a local.

When I walked into the kitchen and saw this set up I immediately thought of the film filter I was going to use. I had an idea of what I wanted the final Picfair version to look like. I knew what color cast I wanted and the grain and vignette I was going to add.  Those things I did in Lightroom.  I also removed a few spots on the wall, counter, and teacup.  I used the spot healing brush in Photoshop to do that.  I know Lightroom has healing brushes, but I just prefer the result when I use the ones in Photoshop.

What do you think of the edit? it does change the feel of the photo quite a bit I think. Are there places in your local area that you feel like might be missed by tourists?  Feel free to comment below.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: H2O

I love having flowers in the house. These however, had seen better days:

ISO 1600 50mm f/11 1/30

No amount of new water in the vase was going to bring them back, but I still thought they would make a beautiful photo.  This version was created using the Nik collection, which is a set of plug-ins that are compatible with Adobe editing products. I was pretty excited to find out that the collection is now free. The collection is, in its simplest form, a bunch of presets to choose from, just click and add.  As much as I love presets, I do tend to look at them as a way to start and then I edit from there.  Because I have found a lot of good things come from asking a simple question, I’d like to share that I found out that the Nik collection is free because of a question I asked Jane Lurie about a photograph she had created. She was nice enough to share how she had edited and passed along the tip about the collection.  If you have a moment to stop by her blog, I would recommend it, she does lovely work.

Having created my black and white version a few days ago, I sat down to write this blog post and was again looking at the color version of the photo:

ISO 1600 50mm f/11 1/30

I’ll be honest, I’m now not sure which I like better.  I am thinking now of going back and working with the color version a bit more to see if I can come up with something that I really like.  For now, the black and white version is available in my Picfair portfolio.

Do you have a preference of the black and white or color version? Have you ever asked a simple question only to have a whole new world opened up to you?  Feel free to leave a comment below.

Cheers!

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgia

I’ll admit I’m suspicious of nostalgia. When people look back on the past, in my opinion it tends to be with a rosy optimism. I’m ok with that as long as you realize what you are doing. I’m just not really sure the “good old days” were anything more than fine, kind of like now, there is a lot going on that is bad and plenty that is good too.  This past weekend we went to Bletchley Park, which is a museum space dedicated to code breaking during World War II.  It was fascinating; if you are interested in history, science, math, or people, I would recommend going.  Plan to make a day of it, you’ll be both inside and outside, so dress accordingly.  This photo was taken in one of the work areas they had set up:

ISO 320 4.3mm f/2.7 1/30

The sun was shining brightly and so I knew that this would be a light saturated image, perfect for a feeling of nostalgia. Lightroom is kind enough to have a setting called “Aged Photo” so I started there. I took a look at the various sliders and the settings Lightroom had selected and then did some modifications from there.  I added some grain and made the vignette a little stronger.

Th museum itself is a fascinating look at what can be best about human beings, our ability to think and create. But it’s set against the backdrop of World War II.  The death toll from that war is just appalling, really reflecting the worst we are capable of as human beings. To me just that is enough to stop thinking of this time in any sort of nostalgic way.

How about you? Do you tend to look back in a more glass half full sort of way? How do you like the editing I’ve done to the photo? Have you also noticed the nostalgia-related filters in your editing software? I’ll admit, I tend to like the results, even if I do then edit them further.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Quest

Sometimes a blog post is a few weeks in the making. This is one of those posts.  It started a few weeks ago with a visit to the Cambridge American Cemetery, the final resting place for almost 4,000 American war dead from WWII.  On the grounds there is also a very well done visitors center.  I spent some time looking around the cemetery and took this photo:

ISO 800 50mm f/13 1/160

Actually, it is a very edited version of this photo:

ISO 800 50mm f/13 1/160

I cleaned the marker a bit and patched up the grass around it.  I did both of those things using the healing and cloning tools in Photoshop.  I also cropped the image and put an iris blur filter on it.  The filter was mostly to blur the trees in the background just a bit more than they were in the original photo.  I then switched to Lightroom and converted it to black and white, applied a graduated filter, added grain, and a split tone effect.

That’s more effects and editing than I typically do.  As I was working with this photograph I couldn’t help but think of this particular person and was just curious to know a bit about him.  My first thought actually was to wonder if his family in the US has a photo of his grave marker, and if not would they want one?  I went online to see if I could find any information on him. A search of Carlisle H. Reville returned a synopsis of his death. I then found copies of the 1930 and 1940 US Census records that list him.  The 1940 census gives his name as “Carl H. Reville”, but based on the other family members listed, I believe it to be him.  If this is correct, this is where I think the story gets odd. Carlisle would have been 48 if he died in 1943.  His record at the cemetery indicates he was a pilot and 1st Lieutenant.  Census records indicate he was a salesman.  To complicate matters, his son Caulislo H. Reville, is listed as 13 years old in the 1930 census.  I can’t find him in the 1940 census, but he would have been 26 in 1943, a much closer fit for a 1st Lieutenant in WWII.  It just has got me thinking, I’m wondering if it’s possible the names are wrong?  I can’t even tell you exactly why this bothers me, but now I’m on a bit of a quest.  My next stop will be back to the cemetery, to see if I can find out how old Carlisle was at the time of his death.  If he was indeed 48, I’ll think he was a bit of an outlier for his rank, but that does happen.  If the cemetery doesn’t have the information, I’ll be back online to try an find out more.  An interesting note, US Census records from 1950 will not be made public until April 1, 2022.

If you are still reading, what do you think? do you agree Carlisle’s age seems a bit off for the situation?  Have you ever taken a photograph and then found out you had a lot more on your hands than you realized? Do you like the edits?

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Edge

I was walking the grounds at Wimpole Estate this past weekend and took this photo of the gardens that are behind the house:

ISO 25 4.15mm f/2.2 1/1700

While I think it is pretty, the word that comes to mind for this scene is ostentatious.  I can’t help feeling that part of the reason for the estate was to show off wealth.  The edges in this garden though, were perfect.  You might notice that there was no one walking in the gardens.  That is actually a result of editing.  Here is the original:

ISO 25 4.15mm f/2.2 1/1700

There are two children running around there.  I removed them using a combination of the spot healing brush, the healing brush and the clone stamp.  Why did I bother you might ask? The answer would be because I could.  I don’t usually remove people from my photos and I thought this would be an excellent chance to practice.  I also made some slight adjustments to the overall photo, the original just felt a little too bright and had a little too much contrast. Those edits I made in Lightroom. I increased the tone is the shadows, desaturated the yellows, and bumped up the hue of the greens.  One edit that I tried and then discarded was putting a graduated filter on the photo.  I ended up not liking what that filter did to the tone of this particular photo.

How do you feel about removing items or people from photos?  Let me know what you think of my attempt. I have to admit it makes me a bit uneasy.  Feel free to leave your thoughts on this type of editing below.  If you have a favorite technique for removal and have blogged about it, or have written about why you do or do not do this type of editing, feel free to leave a link to your post.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror

When I sit down to edit photos, the actual editing is usually not the first step.  Chances are that I have been thinking about the photo for awhile. It is my habit to flip through my photos after I have downloaded them and then go and do something else before starting the process.  I find it helpful to be thinking about the photos before the actual editing starts:

ISO 400 50mm f/18 1/200

I find that the first thing I think about is if I want the photo to mirror what I saw or if it will be some other interpretation of the scene.  In this case because what drew me to take the photo in the first place was the way that this insect was similar to the flower, I decided to edit keeping the photo true to the original. I cropped the photo, sharpened it, and put a vignette on it to darken the edges.  For comparison here is the original version:

ISO 400 50mm f/18 1/200

In my mind, this type of editing is for clarity.  It is my hope to bring out the details of what I saw in the scene, a reflection of the reality of that moment.  The steps I described above are the steps I usually take when clarity is my intent.

Do you have a set way of editing for a certain effect?  Do you think the steps I took helped clarify the image? Do they make the image more appealing to you?  Feel free to comment below.

Cheers!