In the end, as is so often the case, I preferred the result in black and white.
Linking up with Skywatch Friday.
Thursday 30 June 2016
The World is Round
I love to show a world that is different from reality and one of my favourite ways of distorting it is using a fish-eye lens. When shooting at the sky however, lighting issues come into play and I've been playing around with this photo for a couple of days trying to get a natural looking version. Somehow I can't seem to get it quite right.
Linking up with Skywatch Friday.
Linking up with Skywatch Friday.
Wednesday 29 June 2016
The Swimming Pool
This photo was taken with a fish-eye converter on the front of my lens. No distortion was added in Photoshop.
It was a hot summer day but the sky was grey, typical of summer afternoons in Johannesburg. The weather can change from bright sunshine to heavy cloud and thunderstorms really quickly. Somehow the colour version of this photo didn't really convey the weather on that day so I went for a moody black and white conversion.
Linking to Wednesday Water.
Tuesday 28 June 2016
Waiting in the Shadows
I loved the play of shadows on the wall here, but without the man the scene was not complete.
Linking up to Our World Tuesday, Wordless Wednesdays and Shadow Shot Sundays.
Monday 27 June 2016
No Left Turn
I've always had a fascination with quirky signs and have a few old photos of them stored somewhere on my computer. The one in this photo, taken a few days ago wasn't quirky in its own right, but that sign does seem rather out of place.
Linking up to Signs, Signs.
Linking up to Signs, Signs.
Sunday 26 June 2016
Chilli Flower
I'm still hard at work moving my bonsai blog to it's new domain and, while working with the photos I need for it, I came across this shot of a chilli flower which I used in a post I first published in early January this year.
I was very excited by this little flower, which was the first one on a seedling that I'd acquired a few months before. It was really tiny - about the size of my thumbnail, and I found it quite difficult to get a decent photo.
When I'd done editing it for my bonsai blog, I spent a little time playing with it in Photoshop and created a couple of semi-abstract flower shots.
This first one isn't too different from the reality, but the second one is much more abstract, though still recognisable as a flower.
By contrast to these, a lot of the images I create from my photos bear no resemblance to the photos I started out with.
Linking up with Saturday Show Off and Macro Monday 2.
I was very excited by this little flower, which was the first one on a seedling that I'd acquired a few months before. It was really tiny - about the size of my thumbnail, and I found it quite difficult to get a decent photo.
When I'd done editing it for my bonsai blog, I spent a little time playing with it in Photoshop and created a couple of semi-abstract flower shots.
This first one isn't too different from the reality, but the second one is much more abstract, though still recognisable as a flower.
By contrast to these, a lot of the images I create from my photos bear no resemblance to the photos I started out with.
Linking up with Saturday Show Off and Macro Monday 2.
Saturday 25 June 2016
Growing in the strangest places
Plants seem to spring up in the strangest places. I discovered this little weed growing in a hollow in the trunk of a palm tree and couldn't resist stopping to take a photo.
Perhaps it's my love of bonsai that has made me look out for this kind of thing.
Friday 24 June 2016
Birds on the Roof
For some unknown reason these birds seem to love congregating on the roof of my neighbour's house but they never visit us. Instead we're often visited by a couple of larger birds.
Both photos were taken at about the same time, but different editing techniques lead to very different moods.
Linking to The Weeekend in Black and White and The Bird D'Pot, Camera Critters, Nature Notes and Saturday's Critters.
Thursday 23 June 2016
The Back Alley
This is a narrow alley in which I parked my car while I went shopping at a local supermarket today. The photo looks a lot better than the reality.
Wednesday 22 June 2016
Through the Window
Nothing much to say about this one really. I loved the shadows on the shiny floor.
This is another of those photos taken in really tricky lighting, necessitating some heavy editing to bring out enough detail both inside the building and outdoors.
Linking to Shadow Shot Sunday.
Tuesday 21 June 2016
Night
Yesterday's photo showed a street scene with a building site in the background. At the end of the post I remarked on the fact that the photo made me realise just how fast my city was changing.
Driving past that corner this evening I suddenly remembered that I'd taken a shot there earlier this month, so I thought I'd show you what is standing there now.
I've become so accustomed to seeing that building that I'd forgotten that it wasn't there in 2014.
Linking up to Our World Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday.
Driving past that corner this evening I suddenly remembered that I'd taken a shot there earlier this month, so I thought I'd show you what is standing there now.
I've become so accustomed to seeing that building that I'd forgotten that it wasn't there in 2014.
Linking up to Our World Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday.
Monday 20 June 2016
Why I like to shoot in colour
As I said in a previous post, I often shoot using a high contrast black and white setting, but I always make sure to use RAW + jpg so that I have a colour version available as well. Although it gives me a rough idea of what the scene will look like, sometimes that high contrast setting just doesn't give the best result and then I go back to Photoshop to improve on the result.
This photo was one such case.
The high contrast version lost a lot of detail from the sky, so I tried several different edits in both black and white and colour and this was one of my favourites.
Before I started using a digital camera I occasionally experimented with black and white, but not often because film was expensive and it wasn't possible to switch back to using colour until the film was finished. However one thing I learnt back then was that putting a colour filter in front of the lens could dramatically change the resulting photo. Sadly there was no screen to show the result, so if I got it wrong, that was then end of it.
In the days of digital, shooting colour allows one to add that colour filter during the editing process, so here are a couple of different edits, showing just how much difference they can make.
First the infra-red filter, which darkened the blue sky and made the green in the trees look lighter and brighter.
And then the one that I'm not really too keen on, but had to show for comparison. The blue filter turned the sky really pale, with the clouds and crane becoming far less conspicuous, while the trees are now much too dark.
Finally a word on the photo itself. Looking at this photo which was taken a little over two years ago makes me realise just how fast my city is changing. There is now a big building standing on that spot. But there is still a lot of construction going on all over Johannesburg.
Linking up with Through My Lens and Black and White View.
This photo was one such case.
The high contrast version lost a lot of detail from the sky, so I tried several different edits in both black and white and colour and this was one of my favourites.
Before I started using a digital camera I occasionally experimented with black and white, but not often because film was expensive and it wasn't possible to switch back to using colour until the film was finished. However one thing I learnt back then was that putting a colour filter in front of the lens could dramatically change the resulting photo. Sadly there was no screen to show the result, so if I got it wrong, that was then end of it.
In the days of digital, shooting colour allows one to add that colour filter during the editing process, so here are a couple of different edits, showing just how much difference they can make.
First the infra-red filter, which darkened the blue sky and made the green in the trees look lighter and brighter.
And then the one that I'm not really too keen on, but had to show for comparison. The blue filter turned the sky really pale, with the clouds and crane becoming far less conspicuous, while the trees are now much too dark.
Finally a word on the photo itself. Looking at this photo which was taken a little over two years ago makes me realise just how fast my city is changing. There is now a big building standing on that spot. But there is still a lot of construction going on all over Johannesburg.
Linking up with Through My Lens and Black and White View.
Sunday 19 June 2016
Rhythm of Light
This isn't really the photo I'd hoped to use for a Sunday post, but after spending four hours without power this afternoon I just knew that I had to use a photo of light.
In purely selfish terms I was feeling really frustrated when it got close to 5:00 pm and we still didn't have power. It wouldn't be so serious in summer, but at this time of year it's almost dark by 5:30 and I really hate to be left in the dark.
But when things like this happen I try to remind myself that there are still poor people who never have access to power. Instead of thinking about my own minor problem, I should be thinking about all the homeless people who will be sleeping on the streets on this cold winter night.
In purely selfish terms I was feeling really frustrated when it got close to 5:00 pm and we still didn't have power. It wouldn't be so serious in summer, but at this time of year it's almost dark by 5:30 and I really hate to be left in the dark.
But when things like this happen I try to remind myself that there are still poor people who never have access to power. Instead of thinking about my own minor problem, I should be thinking about all the homeless people who will be sleeping on the streets on this cold winter night.
Saturday 18 June 2016
Shadow Bonsai
After my last couple of posts you'd be forgiven for thinking this was another photo which involved heavy editing, but this one is actually pretty close to what my camera saw.
I enjoy shooting using a high contrast black and white setting, though my camera is always set to shoot RAW + jpg, which means that I always have a colour version to go back to when the contrast is too extreme. In this case I liked the way it turned out, so all that was required was a little sharpening.
This is a shadow of one of my bonsai trees on a rather worn cement floor.
Linking up with Shadow Shot Sunday.
I enjoy shooting using a high contrast black and white setting, though my camera is always set to shoot RAW + jpg, which means that I always have a colour version to go back to when the contrast is too extreme. In this case I liked the way it turned out, so all that was required was a little sharpening.
This is a shadow of one of my bonsai trees on a rather worn cement floor.
Linking up with Shadow Shot Sunday.
Friday 17 June 2016
One Photo- Four Moods
Once again I've been playing with Photoshop.
The photo I selected was a very ordinary photo of some trees, taken on a late summer's day a couple of years ago.
First the dreamy version:
Next something resembling autumn:
A high-key black and white conversion transforms summer into winter:
And a much darker conversion makes the woods look like the kind of place you'd want to stay far away from:
Linking up to Friday Greens, Photo Friday, Scenic Weekends, The Weekend in Black and White and NF Trees n Bushes .
The photo I selected was a very ordinary photo of some trees, taken on a late summer's day a couple of years ago.
First the dreamy version:
Next something resembling autumn:
A high-key black and white conversion transforms summer into winter:
And a much darker conversion makes the woods look like the kind of place you'd want to stay far away from:
Linking up to Friday Greens, Photo Friday, Scenic Weekends, The Weekend in Black and White and NF Trees n Bushes .
Thursday 16 June 2016
Bringing Out the Sunbeams
I don't often show unedited photos, but this post is about editing, so I'm forced to make an exception to my rule.
A couple of years ago I took a photo of a beautiful sky full of clouds with a few sunbeams bursting through. I was really disappointed with the result. My camera tried its best to expose the scene correctly but there was simply too much contrast for it to see what I had seen.
Back then I tried to edit the scene to enhance those sunbeams, but in the process the landscape turned to a silhouette.
I like a good silhouette, but I wasn't particularly happy with this one.
I gave up after that because I didn't know how to fix it.
Last night I decided to have another go at editing that photo.
With the help of some recently acquired Photoshop plug-ins, I was amazed at the detail I was able to recover.
I still wasn't totally happy though. I'd now created something that was much brighter than what I'd seen that day. So this morning it was back to Photoshop to try again.
I think that's about as close as I'm going to get to reality.
Finally I decided to see what it looked like in black and white.
Linking up to Skywatch Friday.
A couple of years ago I took a photo of a beautiful sky full of clouds with a few sunbeams bursting through. I was really disappointed with the result. My camera tried its best to expose the scene correctly but there was simply too much contrast for it to see what I had seen.
 |
| The unedited original |
Back then I tried to edit the scene to enhance those sunbeams, but in the process the landscape turned to a silhouette.
I like a good silhouette, but I wasn't particularly happy with this one.
I gave up after that because I didn't know how to fix it.
Last night I decided to have another go at editing that photo.
With the help of some recently acquired Photoshop plug-ins, I was amazed at the detail I was able to recover.
I still wasn't totally happy though. I'd now created something that was much brighter than what I'd seen that day. So this morning it was back to Photoshop to try again.
I think that's about as close as I'm going to get to reality.
Finally I decided to see what it looked like in black and white.
Linking up to Skywatch Friday.
Wednesday 15 June 2016
Fantasy Cactus
It's been another busy day during which I haven't had much time for my photos. However while sorting through photos I need to prepare for my bonsai blog I came across this wacky edit of a photo I'm planning to use in one of my posts.
The actual photo shows a spiky succulent I was hoping to use as bonsai. Unfortunately something went horribly wrong and it died shortly after the photo was taken. It's sad, but I'll always have the photos.
Linking up with Outdoor Wednesdays.
The actual photo shows a spiky succulent I was hoping to use as bonsai. Unfortunately something went horribly wrong and it died shortly after the photo was taken. It's sad, but I'll always have the photos.
 |
| What it really looked like |
Linking up with Outdoor Wednesdays.
Tuesday 14 June 2016
Bonsai
I love photography, but growing bonsai trees is my passion.
Although I've taken the art of bonsai seriously for nearly nine years now, I don't regard myself as an expert. Despite that, in December 2015 I decided to share my bonsai experiences in a blog. Unfortunately things aren't looking too promising at my chosen host, so I decided to move that blog to a Blogspot domain. I've just spent several hours setting up that blog and republishing a few of my early posts.
It's proving to be quite a time-consuming process and I haven't had time to look at any photos that aren't related to bonsai today, so I thought I'd share this image of one of my trees as my photo of the day.
This is a little tree that I started as a cutting about nine years ago, shortly before I joined my club. It's far from being my best tree, but I love it because it's one of the trees that started me on the journey to where I am today. It doesn't look like this right now because I've left it to grow wild in the hope of improving its structure in the future.
Linking up with Our World Tuesday, NF Tree n Bushes and Tuesday's Treasures.
Although I've taken the art of bonsai seriously for nearly nine years now, I don't regard myself as an expert. Despite that, in December 2015 I decided to share my bonsai experiences in a blog. Unfortunately things aren't looking too promising at my chosen host, so I decided to move that blog to a Blogspot domain. I've just spent several hours setting up that blog and republishing a few of my early posts.
It's proving to be quite a time-consuming process and I haven't had time to look at any photos that aren't related to bonsai today, so I thought I'd share this image of one of my trees as my photo of the day.
This is a little tree that I started as a cutting about nine years ago, shortly before I joined my club. It's far from being my best tree, but I love it because it's one of the trees that started me on the journey to where I am today. It doesn't look like this right now because I've left it to grow wild in the hope of improving its structure in the future.
Linking up with Our World Tuesday, NF Tree n Bushes and Tuesday's Treasures.
Monday 13 June 2016
Table and Chairs
Once again I've picked a photo where everything isn't quite as it seems. In reality there were a lot less chairs than there are in this edited version.
Once I got started in Photoshop, I couldn't resist playing with the photo a bit more and eventually came up with an abstract which bears little resemblance to the original.
Linking up with Monday Mellow Yellows and Ruby Tuesday Too.
Once I got started in Photoshop, I couldn't resist playing with the photo a bit more and eventually came up with an abstract which bears little resemblance to the original.
Linking up with Monday Mellow Yellows and Ruby Tuesday Too.
Sunday 12 June 2016
Fun with Photoshop
Sometimes reality can look quite boring and when it does I often see what I can create in Photoshop. This was one of those cases.
When I saw that tall tree with all the low branches broken off I just knew I had to get a shot. If only it had been in a more interesting spot, or perhaps even if I'd had more time to look for the perfect shot, I might have settled for the real scene. Instead I created something slightly surreal.
I went a bit overboard on my first edit, getting carried away with trying to emphasise the dramatic clouds. Eventually good sense prevailed and I toned it down somewhat.
Even so, I'm not sure I don't like the simplicity of this black and white version better.
Linking to Scenic Weekends.
When I saw that tall tree with all the low branches broken off I just knew I had to get a shot. If only it had been in a more interesting spot, or perhaps even if I'd had more time to look for the perfect shot, I might have settled for the real scene. Instead I created something slightly surreal.
I went a bit overboard on my first edit, getting carried away with trying to emphasise the dramatic clouds. Eventually good sense prevailed and I toned it down somewhat.
Linking to Scenic Weekends.
Saturday 11 June 2016
Falling
I first heard of the term Dutch Angle a few weeks ago, and was quite excited by the idea of creating tension in photos by deliberately tilting the horizon.
This was just a quick snapshot, but the right Photoshop setting managed to create the drama I was looking for.
I want to pursue this concept further.
Linking up with The Weekend in Black and White.
This was just a quick snapshot, but the right Photoshop setting managed to create the drama I was looking for.
I want to pursue this concept further.
Linking up with The Weekend in Black and White.
Friday 10 June 2016
Palm at Sunset
In the course of trying to get the video I used in my post "The Palm Before the Storm" I made several attempts at time lapse videos, focusing on two different palm trees which are visible from my bedroom window.
On one occasion, when I came to check up on the video I was greeted by this beautiful orange sky and just had time to shoot a couple of photos before the colours faded. Unfortunately the video I shot on that day was not a success.
This is not the tree which appears in the other post.
Linking up to Orange You Glad It’s Friday and Photo Friday.
On one occasion, when I came to check up on the video I was greeted by this beautiful orange sky and just had time to shoot a couple of photos before the colours faded. Unfortunately the video I shot on that day was not a success.
This is not the tree which appears in the other post.
Linking up to Orange You Glad It’s Friday and Photo Friday.
Thursday 9 June 2016
Windows
I love to take photos of reflections, but don't seem to take anywhere near as many of them as I'd like to. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. After all this photo was taken at a place I've visited frequently for several years, but I only noticed these patterns for the first time a few months ago.
Linking up with Blue Monday and Weekend Reflections.
Linking up with Blue Monday and Weekend Reflections.
Wednesday 8 June 2016
Caterpillars
Every now and then I'll come across a caterpillar on one of my bonsai trees. That's not good news because if I let them stay there, they can strip all the leaves off one of my little trees quite quickly.
However, as a photographer, I love to come across a pretty caterpillar and can't resist getting a quick photo of it before I relocate it to one of the bigger plants in the garden where it can't do too much damage.
These are two that I came across a couple of years ago.
Both photos are part of my Stockvault portfolio, so feel free to download higher resolution copies free of charge for non-commercial use.
Linking up with Macro Monday, I Heart Macro, Camera Critters and Friday Greens.
However, as a photographer, I love to come across a pretty caterpillar and can't resist getting a quick photo of it before I relocate it to one of the bigger plants in the garden where it can't do too much damage.
These are two that I came across a couple of years ago.
Both photos are part of my Stockvault portfolio, so feel free to download higher resolution copies free of charge for non-commercial use.
Linking up with Macro Monday, I Heart Macro, Camera Critters and Friday Greens.
Tuesday 7 June 2016
Cappuccino
Just a quick shot while I was waiting for a meal recently.
Linking up to Our World Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday.
Linking up to Our World Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday.
Monday 6 June 2016
Digital Flowers
Sometimes I think that digital art is more my forte than photography.
When I came across the artificial flowers featured here, the sign in front of them immediately grabbed my attention, so out came my camera. Perhaps it was the poor nature of the lighting, but after my initial attempts at editing, I wasn't too happy with the result.
So I decided to see what else I could do with the picture. After a little experimentation I liked this one a lot better than the original photo.
Suddenly, while writing this post, I realised what I was doing wrong with the original, so it was back to Photoshop, where I finally got a result that I like.
Linking up with Randomosity.
When I came across the artificial flowers featured here, the sign in front of them immediately grabbed my attention, so out came my camera. Perhaps it was the poor nature of the lighting, but after my initial attempts at editing, I wasn't too happy with the result.
Suddenly, while writing this post, I realised what I was doing wrong with the original, so it was back to Photoshop, where I finally got a result that I like.
Linking up with Randomosity.
Sunday 5 June 2016
The One That Caused All the Trouble
Today I returned to the scene of yesterday's post. I hadn't been there for a few months and was surprised by the changes. All the animals have disappeared and the fence surrounding their home has been taken down. Apparently the owner is planning to build more shops and additional parking there.
For now this is all that remains in that area.
I'm not sure who lives there, but I imagine it's staff quarters. Their home is right beside the overflow parking area, not far from where I parked my car. In fact I was leaning against my car when I took this shot.
And the reason for the title? I took three shots, but when I looked at them, one was virtually black. I checked my camera's exposure settings and they were identical for that photo and one that was perfectly exposed, so there's trouble somewhere. I'm hoping the problem is with my memory card, which I dropped recently, and not with my camera. I'd hate to think that I may be facing the prospect of an expensive camera repair!
Linking up with The Weekend in Black and White, Black and White View, Through My Lens and Outdoor Wednesday and Skywatch Friday.
For now this is all that remains in that area.
I'm not sure who lives there, but I imagine it's staff quarters. Their home is right beside the overflow parking area, not far from where I parked my car. In fact I was leaning against my car when I took this shot.
And the reason for the title? I took three shots, but when I looked at them, one was virtually black. I checked my camera's exposure settings and they were identical for that photo and one that was perfectly exposed, so there's trouble somewhere. I'm hoping the problem is with my memory card, which I dropped recently, and not with my camera. I'd hate to think that I may be facing the prospect of an expensive camera repair!
Linking up with The Weekend in Black and White, Black and White View, Through My Lens and Outdoor Wednesday and Skywatch Friday.
Saturday 4 June 2016
Get me out of here!
About a half hour from where I live there's a quaint little shopping centre in an area that isn't quite city but isn't quite country either. In front of the centre there's a busy road, while behind it there is empty land.
Round back there's a section with a few animals. While most of them are in fenced off areas, the chickens have always been allowed to roam around freely. In the past I used to spend a lot of time there and I always found it a nerve-racking experience to watch mother hen walking through the parking lot with her tiny chicks following behind her. I'm still amazed that I never saw any of them get killed by a car.
When they were out of harm's way I loved to watch them and often took photos. Here's one of the mothers with her little ones.
On one occasion I was lucky enough to see something a bit different - one of the hens had climbed up a tree. In this photo she seems to be saying "Get me out of here!"
Don't be misled though, she seems perfectly comfortable in this shot taken only moments later:
Linking up with The Bird D'Pot, Saturday's Critters, Camera Critters and Saturday Show Off.
Round back there's a section with a few animals. While most of them are in fenced off areas, the chickens have always been allowed to roam around freely. In the past I used to spend a lot of time there and I always found it a nerve-racking experience to watch mother hen walking through the parking lot with her tiny chicks following behind her. I'm still amazed that I never saw any of them get killed by a car.
When they were out of harm's way I loved to watch them and often took photos. Here's one of the mothers with her little ones.
On one occasion I was lucky enough to see something a bit different - one of the hens had climbed up a tree. In this photo she seems to be saying "Get me out of here!"
Don't be misled though, she seems perfectly comfortable in this shot taken only moments later:
Linking up with The Bird D'Pot, Saturday's Critters, Camera Critters and Saturday Show Off.
Friday 3 June 2016
Orchids
I'm not a big fan of artificial flowers and am rarely tempted to take photos when I see them. In this case, however, the interplay of shadows and reflections made them hard to resist.
Linking up to Floral Friday Fotos, Photo Friday, Today's Flowers, Weekend Reflections and Shadow Shot Sunday.
Linking up to Floral Friday Fotos, Photo Friday, Today's Flowers, Weekend Reflections and Shadow Shot Sunday.
Thursday 2 June 2016
Cactus Distortions
Sometimes photos don't work out quite how I hoped they would. This one was such a case.
After a lot of messing around in Photoshop, I managed to turn it into this:
Linking up with Little Things Thursday and Friday Greens.
After a lot of messing around in Photoshop, I managed to turn it into this:
Linking up with Little Things Thursday and Friday Greens.
Wednesday 1 June 2016
Building a Sign
Rather than dig into my archives, today I specifically went out looking for a photo for the weekly meme "Signs, signs". I confess I didn't expect to find anything interesting as I didn't leave myself much time, but I was determined to keep my eyes open just in case something suitable presented itself. As it turns out, today was my lucky day.
We were already sitting down at a restaurant waiting for our dinner when I spotted some activity around a nearby sign. On closer inspection I noticed that these two workers were actually placing the missing letters on the sign in question.
I'm convinced that had I not been looking for a photo of a sign, I wouldn't even have noticed what they were doing.
Linking up with Signs, signs.
We were already sitting down at a restaurant waiting for our dinner when I spotted some activity around a nearby sign. On closer inspection I noticed that these two workers were actually placing the missing letters on the sign in question.
I'm convinced that had I not been looking for a photo of a sign, I wouldn't even have noticed what they were doing.
Linking up with Signs, signs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)