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Drove by myself up to Point Reyes. Wanted to climb Mount Wittenberg again. I was expecting a lot of wildlfowers but there were hardly any yet. Without a hiking companion, my resolve failed about 1/3 the way up the mountain.
I took my regular camera expecting to mainly use it. Instead, ended up only liking a few infrared shots. It was a gray overcast day and the light was very uninspiring along the trail for regular shots.
Went with Chip and the two dogs for a short walk to Sunol just before closing time. I had been out there solo a few days before and seen beds of Shooting Star wildflowers. Here is the one keeper shot from the outing.
I have been hearing about what a great wildflower season is beginning. I want to go out and explore this weekend and find more wildflowers.
Decided to go out for a shot adventure to Sunol. I did not get to out for the long holiday weekend so I was getting anxious to check out the wildflowers. I have heard that it is the best wildflowers in 50 years. Along the freeways, I have seen beds of lupine and California poppies. Sunol is not close to peak but there were a few beds of shooting stars. Turns out that I forgot my regular camera and just had the infrared body. So, here is a shot of Miner's Lettuce.
Purchased Corel Painter IX this weekend. Originally, I started photography as documentation for waterolor. Unfortunately, I proved to have no skill at watercolor after spending a long weekend in a watercolor course with Birgit O'Connor. I have read about the Corel Painter and its amazing abilities for digital watercolor. So, I bought it and spent the weekend a little frustrated. Funny, I cannot work with digital watercolor either.
The other nite, I was supposed to present selection techniques from Katrin Eismann's excellent book, Photoshop Masking and Compositing at the camera club. This technique demonstrates selecting using Color Range instead of the magic wand.
I developed this example to demonstrate the technique. In my rush to get there, I left the CD-ROM on my desk. Instead, I will post the technique in my blog.
I finally got around to posting my 'unaltered' shots from Pebble Beach. Four of us went down to Pebble Beach to shoot. This is different than Pebble Beach with the golf course. This beach is in San Mateo county about 20 miles south on Highway 1. From home, the day started off overcast and the weather became even more gloomy along the coast. There were also periods of spitting rain.
Went to Pebble Beach today with a group of friends. It was rainy and fairly cold out at the beach. So after a lunch in Half Moon Bay, some went home and Aphra and I went onto Fitzgerald Marine Preserve. Again at Fitzgerald, it was off-and-on rain.
This was a large patch of nasturtium leaves with the raindrops. After a lot of fiddlng, I am continuing my blue/purple phase and have this result. I have yet to post my "regular" photos.
Paired up a California Poppy shot with a solarized leaf shot. After a little adjustment to lighting, ended up with this image.
Went Sunday to Berkeley Botanical Gardens. I was thinking that the magnolia and rhododendrons would be in full bloom. However, it is still a little too early. Instead, I practiced some more infrared shots. This shot was manual focus and I realized that I cannot focus as well as my camera. Maybe, I will have to get my eyes checked.
For some reason, my mood has become very orange and abstract. This was originally an infrared shot taken at the Berkeley Botanical gardens today. After a lot of fiddling, I have this absracted image. This reminds me a little of Van Gogh's work with the heavy paint and brush strokes.
Have tried several new creative images but just could not get anything to gel. Instead, I decided I wanted another Koi Pattern but wider. I am toying with the idea of a triptych above my bed.
Decided to fix my previous creative endeavor but instead scrapped the whole idea. Started over with an infrared shot of lily pads from the Berkeley Botanical. Heavily manipulated a koi shot from Hakone Gardens. To my surprise ended up with a variation of koi patterns.
