January 31, 2012

The world is spinning around me.  Obviously, it is not the "No Spin Zone."  I sat in a swivel chair with the camera shutter speed on one second, held the camera out in front, depressed the button half way to let the camera focus, started to chair spinning slowly, and took the picture.  Took a number of shot to try to keep the camera steady.  Disclaimer:  If you are suseptible to motion sickness, do not spin too many times.  See note below picture.

Guess who got sick?  Me.

January 31, 2012

This scene conjures up a cold, Winter evening with thoughts of the sun never shining or a scene from "Wuthering Heights."

Not so.  The picture was taken at the same time as the photo on January 16.  This photo was converted to black and white and what is referred to as a Lomo Effect was added, giving it a totally different presentation

January 30, 2012

I have taken these pictures previously of reflections from two different lights.  The first is from an halogen track light and the second is from a chandelier, which had a globe with distortions.  As I changed the color of the latter, it produced some very nice results, particularly when the color was as lime green.

January 29, 2012

This brook is in a meadow on McClure Road in Cherokee County, not too far from Toney and Dale Boling's home.  It does not seem like the end of January, as one enjoys the serenity of the quiet brook on a sunny day.

January 28, 2012

The lines on this picture caught my attention, particularly the lines of the net, which seem to head toward infinity but where stopped at the fence.

January 28, 2012

Silhouettes are intriguing to me.  This is of a fat Robin taken at dusk this evening and I like the profile.  Here is where I could have use a 400mm lens, of which I posted previously.

January 28, 2012

These show the difference that a lens can make.  Some lenses have a fixed length, such as a 35mm lens, which was the standard for the average film camera.  Zoom lenses added much to a photo.  The first picture is at a 35mm focal length.  I was focusing on the vent in the gable.

In order to get a closer shot, one would have to use their feet for a close up. 

The next picture is at a 200mm focal length, which is the maximum on this particular zoom lens.

Did not have to walk at all to get this close up.  Just twisted my lens.



 This last picture was taken with a different camera that has a lens that zooms to 400mm (actually 420mm).  The picture is nice and tight.

Having a lens that can zoom is a great asset.  The lens that I use primarily will zoom from 18mm to 200mm, which is handy for unexpected shots.

January 27,2012

I call this picture "Pain and Suffering."

Linda is well on her way recovering from knee replacement surgery and is able to shop.  Go figure!  Last Saturday, we were shopping and as it has turned out, when she sees something, she will say, "I should get that for all the 'pain and suffering' that I endured, which is not the first time I heard this.

I think that I may have to start a "Pain and Suffering" blog.

January 26, 2012

Yes, this photo was photoshopped.  The question is, "What is it?"

Here is how the photo started.

This is a Victorian style window sash that is in our Buckhead showroom.  I cropped the photo and tweaked the color.

January 25, 2012

Today, it was 62 degrees and for those Yankees that might see this, there were a number of golfers playing today.  This is the 18th green at the Alpharetta Athletic club, which used to be Crooked Creek.  I think that I felt a little envy.

January 25, 2012

This photo was taken at Amicalola Falls (Georgia) and there appears to be a person outlined in the falls.  It looks like Jesus.  I did not see it as I took the picture, but my sister-in-law, Kathy, saw it right away  when we were looking at the photo on the computer.  The verse that is on the photo is Revelation 19:6.

"Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, 'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, The Almighty, reigns.'"

I have been back to see if I could replicate the shot, but have not been able.  I think that the confluence of the water has to be just right.  Apart from the verse, the photo is original (I did not 'photoshop' this image onto the photo).

January 24, 2012

There is a photography website that I frequent (www.digital-photography-school.com) and one of the features is a weekly photo challenge.  Each week there is a different challenge such as, shapes, the color red, or, PATTERNS...  That is this week's challenge and I am going to use it for one of my daily pictures.

The pattern is a rug that is currently at the foot of the stairs in our home.  I say currently because there are certain items that need to be rotated besides placemats, front door hangings, and on and on...

January 23, 2012

This is Buzz.  He is the family friend of Tom Zakucia and his family.  We work together and Tom tells some great stories about Buzz.  Although he is suspicious of cameras, he let Tom's sons cover him with leaves.

January 23, 2012

These horses are on the way home from work and the fog gave the setting a special effect.  The horse will come to the fence when people are there, but they could not be bothered at feeding time.  Sound familiar?

January 22, 2012

Would you believe that I went West to get this picture?  Don't! 

I took this picture this afternoon at the park below the Lake Lanier Dam.  The next picture is of the of the outlet of the dam and the third picture is of a donkey or a burrow.  The animals are use to keep the vegetation down.  Tough terrain for a lawn mower.

January 22, 2012

In a chilly, Winter day, there is nothing like sitting in front of the fireplace.

January 21, 2012

One does not have to have sunshine to take pictures.  i started today trying to take a particular shot but was thwarted.  After a while, it started to rain and I noticed the top of the patio table as the rain hit it.  I grabbed an umbrella and camera to take a few pictures.

Ironically, a few weeks ago, I tried to photograph a drop of water as it hit the dish of water, which has an interesting affect.  This picture is not as close, but it is better than my try previously.

The second picture is of some leave on a shrub next to the deck. 

January 18, 2012

This is a picture from Wednesday, which gives some contrasts; color, alive and dead, and beauty and the beast...

I did place the berries in the tree.

January 19, 2012

This is an additional photo for Thursday, January 19. It is 'Emma' with her favorite guys.  Stephanie posted a similar photo on her blog the other day.

January 20, 2012

This is a floral arrangement in our home and I have to admit that I took a similar picture a few years ago.  I set the shutter speed on 1.3 seconds, focused and framed the shot, and gently twisted the zoom lens while the photo was taken.  The effect is popping toward the camera and if the zoom is twisted in the opposite direction, the effect would be away from the camera.

The white base looks as if it were glass, although it is a cloth placemat.  Zooming a photo can be very effective with a close up of a child or an animal.

January 19, 2012

This is Lucy.  Jack and Ben's very lovable dog.  I had other nice pictures of her, but I was struck by the expression of her face.  It would be suitable for one of those 'add a caption to a photo' contests.

What caption would you add?

January 18, 2012

I took this picture around 3:00 pm today and I used an infrared lens filter, which, if shot correctly, gives a pink picture that needs to be processed.  I used Photoshop Elements to do the processing.

January 17, 2012

This is a picture of the entrance door to the AVI/Marvin showroom in Buckhead.  The door was manufactured in Honduras and the carving of the rose was done by hand.  Talented workmanship only to be thwarted by the horrible political climate, which led to the closing of the facility.

January16, 2012

This picture exemplifies missing a great shot.  As I was driving to work, the sky was aglow with a Cherry Red hue under the clouds.  I could not pull over at the time and when I did, four to five minutes later, the color had muted.  I may have missed, what I considered, a great shot, but I was able to get a shot that I enjoy very much.  
 

January 15, 2012

Multiple housing is for the birds...  I do not know if this is a single dwelling condo, a townhouse, or a sub-division.  It appears that they do not have any homeowner covenants.

This is in front of a CVS pharmacy not too far from our home.

January 14, 2012

The sun this afternoon had a great glow.  These two shots were taken about a mile for our home.  I was not sure which picture to post so I decided on both.  The Old Swimming Hole with great reflections and The Shack, which has to have many memories.

January 14, 2012

Dreaming...  The high yesterday was 40 degrees when I took the picture of the tree..  I took this picture at Thanksgiving when we went to Key West.

January 13, 2012

I thought that I would lighten up the picture of the tree for comparison.

January 13, 2012

Here is the processed picture of tree.  I converted it to black & white, which gives it an interesting look.

January 13, 2012

This photo is right out of the camera which had a polarizing filter on the lens because it was quite bright at 2:00 pm.  Did I mention that the temperature was 40 degrees?. 

Not photoshopped, which by the way, most pictures are touched up a little by the use of Photoshop.  There are other post-processing software that is used frequently.  I came across one today that I am seriously considering.  Linda wanted it posted as such.

This tree is on Old Alpharetta Road in Cumming near First Redeemer Church.  I like the shape and that it is setting along.  My next post will be of the same tree only processed with Photomatix Pro.

January 12, 2012

Another night shot.  Apart from liking the lights against the dark background, the weather has not been cooperating lately.  This building is on my way to work in (Buckhead) Atlanta and is one on many that have interesting lights.

January 11, 2012

This is one of the gates at the fairgrounds in Cumming.  We were driving home tonight and it stood out as we drove by.  I turned around a went back to take the shot.

January 10, 2012

(EXTRA)  I love this picture!  I took the picture at "Goats on the Roof" just south of Clayton, GA.  He is the Alpha Goat.

There are so many captions that could be put on this picture. I did put the following on one for a friend of mine.  "My name is Ceraso.  Dave Ceraso..."  I thought about putting "My favorite old goat, and under that the name of someone, such as, (you fill in the blank).

January 10, 2012

I am not sure if this photo will be the only one for today.  I took the picture at 6:30 am on Piedmont Road in (Buckhead) Atlanta.

This is my first try at capturing taillights with a slower shutter speed and I have more work to do to get the look that I want.

There appears to have a reverberation in the taillight stream, which is the first time for me to see this and I do not know how this happened.  Normally, the tail light stream is a solid red line, much like the red line, which is from the directional signal.

Publish Post

I want to try this when the pavement is wet, which should give nice reflections of the lights as well.

January 9, 2012

This picture of my keyboard was taken with a fisheye lens adapter attached to a 50mm lens.  There are a number of quality fisheye lens that are available and can produce various degrees of distortion.  Notice how the photograph is in focus in the center but the further away from the center, the less the focus.  This draws one attention to the center of the picture. 

I wanted to take a picture of the keyboard (MacBook Pro) because I like the back lights that illuminate the keyboard in low light situations.

January 9, 2012

(EXTRA) This is Peter Diehl with whom I work and I could not resist wanting to do something with his expression.  I use two post-processing software packages and this is Photoshop Elements 9.  The other is Photomatix Pro, which I will show you at a later date.

As with the rabbit previously, I merged the photos together, although it took more manipulation on this.

January 8, 2012

I was running out of time today to take my daily picture and after discarding some, I snacked on some trail mix.  The light bulb came on and I had my picture.

I take most pictures without a tripod and I think that this shot would have been much better with one.  Tripods are cumbersome but they really are worth using.  I think that this could lead to my second goal of this year.

January 7, 2012

This is a 're-take' also.  This is the lamp at my desktop computer.  I was drawn to the lines and contrasts.

January 6, 2012

(EXTRA) Here is the second photo.