Day 33, Stump by Lake Gregory

Day 33, Stump by Lake Gregory, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

I found this on the beach of Lake Gregory, and I forgot to take it off the camera. I shot this for the blog, but miffed it big time. So here it is. I have bought some Cokin filters and have been playing with them and black and white since I read an article by John Sexton in Shutterbug - Expert Photo Techniques 2007. It was a special extra from the magazine Shutterbug. Be sure to check out the link to his site in the links section. John is one the premier black and white photographers out there now.

Johns article talked about his love of using a yellow #12 on snow and white sand to bring out the texture. Or a #11 yellow green for highlighting the yellows from other deep colors. I have been doing similar in iPhoto or Photo shop. This is the result of that in iPhoto to bring out the tones and contrast.

When your camera light meter reads the light off of the objects or areas where you point it, it is really reading the reflected light. But it does not know the difference between strong black or white. It is programed to read everything in grey, 9% grey is the standard setting for all of these. So then the trouble comes up when you have strong white or black, they reflect at 36% just based on their properties. This was not white sand and the trunk did not have black shade. But the idea is to get the proper exposure and then to get the right tones. We do this with filters.

I did not like the way the filter did it, so I used another shot and converted the shot to black and white. Then I used the sliders on temp and color and went very warm and very green. The cool temp tends to go blue and lighten the image. I wanted darker tones, it is a stump and not a flower, and then green to keep the tone popping but dark. I like how it came out. I am going to try some other filters and see where it ends up.

So even though this may not be the most interesting picture that I will ever take, I learned a lot playing with it and doing the research to understand the principles behind the image.

As always, thanks for looking.

Day 6, Gull, Lake Gregory

IMG_4478.JPG, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

On my way home from the corporate planning meetings in Lake Arrowhead, I had the chance to stop and see a place where my wife and I lived for a year, Crestline. Tucked in the San Bernardino Mountains, Crestline was for us a cozy little community. We had our first daughter here. Our congregation at church was wonderful. We still miss the quiet slower pace of mountain life. You saw your neighbors at the post office (rural delivery means everyone picks up their mail at the post office) and local market. The local fishing derby was to raise funds for the 4th of July Fireworks show that was the pride of the mountain communities.

While I was feeling the nostalgia of the visit, I noticed this gull, floating above the lake and looking down on the life there. I felt a little like him. I was just passing through and looking in on life here. I didn't look anyone up, I just floated by. He let me get this shot and then flew off. I figured I needed to do the same and get home to see a much missed family. I told my wife about the visit, the chance to just float by and see that it was all still there.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	1/4000 sec
Aperture:	f/5
Focal Length:	170 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV