Things I Find Cool – Page 12 – Daffodil Hill Photography

Inspired

I was going through the way-back files and found a picture I took last year with my point & shot Olympus SP-350. As I looked at it I was inspired to try a plugin by Topaz called Simplify 4 on it. Simplify 4 is a plugin that turns my pictures into art and I have tried it on two pictures and rather like it. The top one it the original unedited photo and the bottom one of a simple one click preset called Image Crispedge. There are adjustments you can use once the preset is applied but I like it well right out of the box.

Two Flavors Of The Same

I love old barns. Just do and always have. I really do not know why but I do know barns, though they may look the same, have a different mental feel to me that differentiates one from another. Now maybe you can track with the title of this post. So here are two barns or two flavors of the same.

A Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

This is a drive-by capture I took a few years back, in December of 2012, with my Canon Powershot SX10is of a cat 0n a hot tin roof.

Another One Using PerfectEffects 8

Sometime back I posted two photos I took and post-processed by using freeware by onOne Software called PerfectEffects 8. At that time I was having computers issues and needed something to post since the issues were cutting into my picture-taking time. Not so this time, it is a new routine The Bride and I have begun as we pursue stress reducing activities and one is regular exercise. Stress will always be with us so we are using exercise, more working together on meal planing and a push to downsize our stuff as a way combat stress. Not that we have any more stress than the next person but it is a constant force in this life and one must find a way to deal with it. Since she is now unemployed and is attending college, now seemed like a good time as any to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. So until I can get out in this weekend and get some new stuff I will post a few of photos I have taken and fiddled more than usual in the post-processing side and some from the way-back-files.

I did the effects on the top photo several weeks back and it is one of the first pictures I used layers on in post-processing. Do not ask me to explain layers: I was just clicking icons and seeing if what I did looked cool. I did convert this to B&W using PerfectEffects 8 and layered on some HDR effects to bring a little flavor to its coolness. The bottom photo is the unedited capture I took with my canon SX10is. I hope you enjoy both (Click on each to enlarge).

Two Photo Merges

Today I am going to act upon a suggestion from Nelson @ A few images, frozen in time and tell you about the software I use on my photos. I use Corel PaintShop Pro X6 because several years ago I got a copy of PaintShop X4 on closeout and two years later I was able to upgrade to X6 just as cheaply.

I use a simple one click photo fix that allows me to sharpen, brighten and adjust shadows and highlights from one place. I like this option since I do not like fiddling with my photos much. Why? I kind of like them as they are but sometimes you just need to give them a little love. Just saying. On the two below photos I used PaintShop’s HDR photo merge and took them with my Canon SX10is. As some of you know I am just getting into DSLR’s but used the Canon because it has an Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) mode where my more expensive DSLR’s do not…..lesson here is if you want to do HDR check the camera you are looking at for this function (AEB). You can do this manually but so far my results, read here stuff I like, is better served with the AEB mode. I use a simple approach at this time and choose one of the six defaults PaintShop presents. I hope that helps anyone looking at getting into HDR even if just as a way t0o express oneself artistically. I hope you enjoy these two photo merges.

Another Best Of The Worst

I took my Sony A300 out to test my new-to-me-zoom lens and as is with all thing there is a learning curve. I have to admit I am rushing things. There is just a few things going on in my life right now that can cause one to feel pushed upon but I need to carve out small blocks of time to breathe the wonderment around me. And you do too! As I was walking around our place a slight movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned towards the movement and saw something small but pretty cool. It was a tiny Damselfly skipping through the air! I followed it to where it landed and tried to get the A300 to focus on it but it was too small. The camera keep on focusing on the Spotted Jewelweed (for size comparison I might add a Spotted Jewelweed is about the size of an average persons top joint on their pinky finger) and missing the little bugger. So I manually focused this shot and missed the sweet spot a bit. I still like it though and I hope you like another best of the worst.

“Bumblebee To Flower Tower….

……permission to land and pollinate please.” ” Flower Tower to Bumblebee land at your discretion on any flight path you choose .Over.”

Reflections Instead Of Z’s

The Bride and I spent the evening with great friends and survived a major thunderstorm and flash floods to do so. With the storms still lurking about as we drove home I became wide awake and not even close to being ready for bed. What does one do who has bitten by the photography bug do? Dabbles in said pursuit if one can no matter the time of day….or night. I was looking around the lab, aka home office, when I spied some items a top my PC tower . Since one of my weaknesses if finding my place in the light I decided to test drive some new-found ways to get good captures in low light. Here is one I took using a new-to-me Sony Alpha prime lens and messing with the camera’s on-board AB settings.Here is to Reflections Instead Of Z’s. Enjoy.

Best Worse Picture So Far

As the storms approach I decided to take advantage of the cloud cover proceeding in to get a few shots in. I once again stubbornly grabbed my extension tubes and camera and went out to give it another try. Well I still am not getting it but in the process I may have taken my best-worse picture so far. This picture is of a Bumblebee face first in a Spotted Jewelweed. You can see it’s front legs holding onto the Jewelweed as one of it back legs seem to be searching for something to grip. Pretty cool stuff even if the shot was way under-exposed and grainy as all get out. I like it!

Oh My, What A Fly

I was trying out my new extension tubes on my Sony A300 with a Minolta lens this evening. The Minolta lenses are very difficult to focus using the extension tubes. I also have to “guess” on the shutter-speed as the light meter is not accurate with the tubes on. Here is one I got right of a fly I have never seen before so I looked it up. It is I believe a Tiger Bee Fly and oh my, what a fly!