My latest photo walk was on the greenway that runs throughout Murfreesboro. The trail follows the Stones River, along roads, through parks…. All over town. We parked at the General Bragg Trailhead (1540 W. College St.) and only walked for a mile or so.
Here is what I got along the way…
Thanks for looking!
The half way point!
It’s hard to believe that I’m half way through this project. These weeks have been flying by but I know I’ve got the hardest weeks coming up. I think I’ll be fine into November but then – who knows! I’m not a fan of winter at all and I always have a hard time finding interesting things to shoot in the dead of winter.
This week was great, the weather has turned pretty mild (at least compared to the 100+ degree days).
The shot above was taken early Monday morning
Here are the rest in chronological order:
After getting the lead shot, I noticed this deer all the way across the lake. I applied some textures for a vintage feel.
More texture fun!
The “baby” deer are getting so big! I can’t help but think this is the same deer as seen in Week 19 and Week 15. They were all taken in the same area and I frequently see a doe and a fawn in that area.
A lakescape taken in the middle of the day, this is the same spot as Week 15‘s sunrise
Another from this spot, in black and white
I don’t know who was lucky enough to get to go out on a canoe on Wednesday morning. Typically, canoes are not allowed. One of the canoes had a park ranger in it.
There are 4 really good “lakescape” spots around Radnor Lake. I’ve posted shots from all the other views before but I think this is the first week from this spot. The lead shot is also from this vantage point, just very different days! Also, this shot marks one of the extremely rare instances where I processed the shot in both HDR and Non-HDR and preferred the Non-HDR version! This shot was inspired by this shot by flickr contact abennett23. I’ve been looking for a while now for the best location and timing to get something similar to his.
These little birds have made several appearances through out the weeks. Probably because they will come so close to you if you are quiet and still
Thanks for looking!
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Recently, the company I work for has started a competition for all the employees. We are all wearing pedometers and reporting how many steps we take each day. The competition is sponsored by our health insurance company.
So, in an effort to get more steps each day, I’ve been visiting more places around town and walking around with my camera. One of those places was the Oaklands Historic House. The house is closed in the evenings but we were able to walk around the grounds and get shots of the exterior.
None of these shots actually show the house so if you are interested, here is a shot of the house I got earlier this year
More info on the house can be found HERE
Thanks for looking!
This past weekend we visited Burgess Falls State Natural Area. Nothing original here, in fact I had to wait 10 minutes or so while other photographers got this same shot. I only took one shot (the one above) and then switched lenses. When the sun came out there was a rainbow across the falls, but of course once I switched lenses, the sun didn’t come back out. It really was an impressive waterfall, the trails are just too crowded for my liking. Plus, the only good shot you could get of these falls is the same one everyone else has. We took this shot then we went back to the park area to cook out for lunch. After lunch, the kids went to the playground and I went back down the trails. By then, there were tons of people swimming in the water so I never hiked to the bottom because I wouldn’t have wanted a waterfall shot with lots of people in it!
Here are a couple others I got along the way:
This was the stairway leading from the top of the falls to the bottom
And of course, a couple of the kids enjoying the playground:
If you are interested in going to Burgess Falls, check out the map
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=36.071857,-85.581779&spn=0.16428,0.494385&z=12&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
Fairly easy hikes (my kids made it!) and an impressive waterfall.
Thanks for looking!
Nothing too exciting this week. I visited Radnor Lake often, and got tons of deer shots this week. I also switched up my path there, making a loop that’s perfect for my lunch break. Starting in the east parking lot, head down Otter Creek Rd. Take the Lake Trail to the right. After a short distance, the lake trail meets the Ganier Ridge trail. Take that trail up the hill for a little while and then take the spur trail to the right, which heads back to the parking lot. It’s a perfect 30-40 minute hike.
I did this hike on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. There were lots of deer to see along the trail each day. Here is this weeks take:
I was hiding 🙂
a small woodpecker
A great blue heron by the lake shore
A whole lot of green, and a little bit of red
A bird (green heron?) flies across the lake early in the morning
A crazy looking wildflower
Saw this snake on Friday. I also found some snake skin only a few feet away from where he was sun bathing.
Thanks for looking!
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Another Tutorial! Don’t worry, I’ll get back to the photo posts soon!
I’ve had another request for a tutorial. This time someone would like to see how I convert to black and white. Believe it or not, there are TONS of ways to convert an image to black and white. However, there is one particular method that I use often. I believe I got it from a Scott Kelby photoshop book for CS2 purchased on Ebay. It’s a very easy process that makes for a great action.
Here we go…..
Here is what we are starting with:
Now, this is an HDR image and I am already finished with my normal processing. You can check out my other tutorials to see those steps. So now I decide I’d like to see it in black and white.
First step is to convert the image to LAB mode — Image, Mode, Lab Color:
Next, in the “Layers/Channels/Paths” box, click on the “Channels” tab. You’ll see all the channels are selected, select the “Lightness” channel (which turns the others off)
With the “Lightness” channel selected, we want to convert it to grayscale — Image, Mode, Grayscale
It will ask you if you want to discard the other channels, say yes:
Now, back on the “Layers” tab, do a CTRL+J. This duplicates the layer. Put that top layer in “Multiply” blend mode and adjust the opacity to taste:
And that’s it! Black and white complete. If you write this as an action, leave the opacity at 100%, that way you can adjust it differently for each image you convert.
An alternate to changing the opacity, you could add a layer mask:
and then grab a soft black brush:
And paint the areas that you think are too dark:
(this image shows where I have painted)
Here is the final result:
Now, to answer the question that was posed regarding my First Tutorial. If you’ve read that one, you’ve seen that I often layer a black and white image on top of a color HDR image to make it dark and achieve a dramatic look. When I do that, I do not copy the layer and put it in “Multiply” blend mode. After I convert to grayscale, I copy that layer and paste it on top of my color image.
Hope this provides some useful information.
Here are some helpful links for learning more about Photoshop:
Photoshop Support Group
Photoshop Tutorials by Allan Gengler
Actions by Allan Gengler
CoffeeShop Actions
Lot’s of photos this week! I visited Radnor Lake in Nashville Tennessee on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Wednesday morning was rainy, so I walked down Otter Creek Rd. I headed to one of the best spots at the park to get a lakescape. I’ve got shots from this spot on Week 13, and Week 16, and Week 19. This time it was different with the dark rain clouds:
Heading back to the car, I got this shot right before it really started raining hard:
I went Thursday mid-day. The temperature and humidity have dropped considerably from last week, as you can see from this photo with the nice blue sky and fluffy clouds:
Then I went Friday early morning. I started off heading to the spot that I got shots for Week 15 and Wee 22 and I got this:
While setting up for this shot, I heard a loud crash maybe 10 feet away. I look over and there is a young buck staring at me. Then another comes to the shore and then some does arrive. I snapped this shot and then backed up from the shore and switched lenses. I’ve been looking forward to the fall, hoping I could get some shots of bucks. These may not be very impressive bucks but they are certainly the best I’ve seen so far. I ended up following them along the trail for nearly a mile, grabbing many shots:
This is one of the does
Got the idea for this shot from a Matt Hansen photo. I’m not sure I pulled it off nearly as well as he but I still liked it.
Loved this one too!
Last one!
On the way back to the car I stopped at the dam where I usually see green herons. Sure enough there was one there, I only grabbed a couple shots before he was scared off by other walkers:
Thanks for looking!
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I struggled to pick a lead photo this week. I like the photos I got this week but nothing really seemed to pop.
I started the week of at the lake on a Tuesday lunch time visit. It was about 100 degrees though so I did not stay long. I saw an owl on the side of the road on the way in but was unable to get a shot of him. The only thing I got in Tuesday was this:
On Thursday I went before work. Usually I get a lot of photos when I visit in the morning, however, that morning I did not get much. I came across a doe and fawn but it was 6am and dark in the woods. Everything came out blurry. The only shot I liked from that day was this one:
On Friday, I dropped my son off at school. I wanted to be there to pick him up so I took the day off rather than go to work for only a few hours. So, with my son in school and my daughter in daycare, my wife and I headed to the lake. We hiked the lake trail and took the south lake trail back to make a loop. It was the first time I’d hiked the south lake trail.
We saw an owl…
The background in this is awesome!
The fawns are getting big and losing their spots…
In the middle of the woods, there is a bench with a plaque that says “Play Ball”…. I don’t get it. This was on the South Lake Trail
Another week down! I would like for it to cool down some but that gets me thinking about winter – I’m not sure how I’ll make it through winter….
Thanks for looking!
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I’ve seen some really great “Cookie Splash” shots on flickr and I’ve been wanting to try it.
Now, I don’t drink coffee (or even own a coffee cup) so I had to think of something else. Being so hot lately, I decided on using a nice refreshing glass of Lemonade.
I also don’t even own a flash, so I had to do it outside in the sun to get the fast shutter speed.
I really liked the splash on this one but I wish there wasn’t so much motion blur. After this shot I upped the iso to get an even faster shutter speed (from 1/2000 to 1/4000)
This was my last attempt, I actually threw the lemon into the glass (instead of dropping) to try to get a huge splash – The lemonade shot straight up
I really had fun with these – I’ll probably be doing more soon!
Setup:
The settings for these shots are virtually the same
Exposure: 1/4000s at f2.8
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 108mm (far enough away to not get splash on the lens!)
Put the camera on a tripod, set it to “Burst” mode (In this case I did a 6 shot burst)
Hold the drop item over the glass, when the burst starts drop or throw the item into the glass – easy as that!
I’ve got a good variety of shots this week – HDR, black and white, wildlife, flower, textured……. All kinds of good stuff!
Despite extremely hot temperatures (heat index at least at 110 2 days!) I was able able to get to the Radnor Lake 3 times this week.
I went Monday on my lunch break. It was very quiet that day, I didn’t get much other that this:
Still on the shallow depth of focus and the black and white kick!
On Tuesday I went before work and was able to catch this amazing sunrise from the shore of the lake
Yes, the lake really is very green – it’s the duckweed that is growing throughout the lake
After the sunrise died down, I headed out along the lake trail. Here is what I was able to capture:
I followed these two around for a while but could not get any better shots of the fawn. I got really close at one point but it was so dark that my shutter speed was around 1/20. I’m just not steady enough to get a clear shot at 1/20. I may need to invest in a good ball head tripod….
Finally by Friday it cooled down a lot – so I headed out on my lunch break. I didn’t see any wildlife, so I started taken some “random” shots:
Also found some wildflowers along Otter Creek Rd
On the way back to the car I got a shot of this butterfly and I wanted to try textures again (Last week’s lead shot was a textured butterfly photo also)
Also, while I was just about back at the car, this little woodpecker landed very close
Thanks for looking!
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Southern Appalachian Spruce Fir – Roan Highlands, Tennessee/North CarolinaJune 13, 2017 - 8:27 pm
Blue Ridge Parkway Mile Post 19 – 20 Minute CliffJune 3, 2017 - 9:32 am
General Jackson – Charlottesville, VirginiaMay 30, 2017 - 8:40 pm
Frisco Pier – Cape Hatteras, North CarolinaMay 30, 2017 - 8:35 pm
Bodie Island Lighthouse and Milky Way – Nags Head, North CarolinaMay 30, 2017 - 8:30 pm