Entrar

Entrar

Another composite from Santana Row. It is actually four shots combined. The main decal was not on a doorway but on a rollup door to a loading area for the store.

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Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.

Blooming

Blooming

This is a straight shot taken at Santana Row.  The colors resulted when I applied the Nik Infrared Color filter in Photoshop.  I then added grain just because it seems to work with the colors.

I just bought a book on Maggie Taylor’s work and found it fascinating.

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Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.

Fly Away

Fly Away

This is from the window of one of my favorite store, Maido Stationary store.  Today, Aphra and I went out for a daylong shoot in Santana Row.

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Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams

This is a grab shot from lunch today combined with a woods shot from Canada.

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Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.

Stairs and Falling Water

Falling Water and Stairs

I am undecided on this one but decided to post it anyway.

Fennel Inverted

This is actually not manipulated.   This is a shallow depth of field shot of fennel.  Fennel is a weed around here with spiky leaves and yellow flowers.  I just inverted the pic.  Here is what it looks like for real.

Meadow Returning

This one does not exactly fit in my "Urban Woodlands" series, but I like it well enough to post.

Ohhh No!

Ohhh No!

Another from my Crockett visit.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

For Chip's father.

Hidden Passage

Hidden Passage

This one in my new 'Urban Woodlands' series was a struggle. I must have had at least 30 layers to get the blending the way that I wanted.

Henry Coe

Henry Coe

This last week has been miserable with an searing heat wave. We do not have air conditioning and the house was over 90 degrees at midnight. Usually I am always cold even though I am from Wisconsin. This last week, I have been way too hot. I did attend Photo SF this weekend but could not enjoy it because of the blistering heat. I will write up something once I recover. This is from the archives down at Henry Coe state park.

Just Up the Stairs and to the Right

Just Up the Stairs and to the Right

Another composite from my visit this week to Santana Row. The overlaid image is the shot looking down Papermill Creek from last Christmas.

Forest - 2nd Floor

Forest - 2nd Floor

Today, I went for a short visit to Santana Row. By the time I arrived, it was already very hot there. I did not stay long. This is one of the images from today composited with a woodland scene from Canada.

Alternate Entrance

Alternate Entrance

More on my 'Urban Woodscapes' series. This one is an oldie of the arched entrance combined with a panning shot of the Canada woods. I have not posted the panned woodland shot.

Sail San Francisco

Sail San Francisco

This one is from way back in the archives. This was taken last year around this time when the tall ships visit San Francisco. We went out on one of the ships for a cruise under the Bay Bridge, past Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. This one was never posted. It is the Lynx sailing past Alcratraz.

Up, Up and Away

Up, Up and Away

For some reason, this reminds me of hot air balloons taking off.

If you want a giggle, check out "Must Have Lost Their Heads".

Alameda Creek #2

Alameda Creek

Another infrared from my midday visit to Sunol.

Just for your amusement... I started a new job where I can work at home a lot but have to go into the office every Tuesday. Our office is in downtown San Francisco and literally right on top of the train station (called BART). Well, every Tuesday morning there is some problem where my 35 minute ride turns into an hour to hour and a half. My unlucky streak has been uncanny. Today, I had no problem getting to work. However going home was a different story. I went down to the train platform as normal and all looked well.

I noted my train was arriving in 7 minutes and zone out. After more than 10 minutes, I noticed that my train was now supposed to be arriving in 10 minutes and that the platform was getting crowded. There was a train breakdown which wreaks havoc throughout the BART system. After about 30 minutes, there were numerous announcements and platform switches. Anyone who has had problems with the airline flights can imagine the announcements, swtiching platforms, increasing crowds, heat, etc. Well finally my train arrives, I get in and sit down. After more than 5 minutes just waiting to leave the station, we finally start moving. Almost immediately, we come to a jerky stop. The train conductor, who sounded very nice, gets on the PA to explain the problem. She says 'Thank you for your patience. I needed to stop because I saw a train coming toward us in the tunnel. I am working with central control to resolve the situation.' Yikes, that does not make me feel better.

Fractured

Fractured

Another from the archives from my recent visit to Crockett.

Alameda Creek

 

Alameda Creek

After a long break, I went out to do infrared shooting out in Sunol. I have gotten rusty and just had to try to remember how to see with 'red-eyes'.

Squiggles #2

Squiggles #2

Another from Crockett. Tomorrow I am going to Sunol, lets see how it goes.

Criss-Cross

 

Criss-Cross

I am scraping the bottom of the barrel from my recent visit to Crockett.

Here’s Looking at You

 

Here's Looking at You

I do not know what it was about Sunday but most of my supposed abstracts look like faces.  Hmm....

Tea Garden

Tea Garden

I am undecided on this one. It definitely wants to be bigger. We shall see after I sleep on it.

Irritated

Irritated

Another from my visit to Crockett. All I can see is an irritated face with eyes looking upward. Perhaps, that is just me.

Squiggles

Squiggles

Another from my recent visit to Crockett under the Carquinez bridge. This is a rusted and heavily graffitied railroad car.

If you want to see really good abstracts, visit Photo Walls.

Santana Row

Santana Row

Another composite with the base shot from Santana Row and combined with a woodland shot.

Railroad Ties

Railroad Ties

Tonite, a group of us went out to Crockett. The plan was to try for abstracts under the Carquinez Bridge. It has been about a month since I have went out to do any serious shooting. I feel rusty.

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

A montage with the Anthropologie storefront down in Santana Row.

Berkeley Rose Garden #2

Berkeley Rose Garden #2

Another from the rose garden. I will hopefully go out shooting this weekend and have some new material.

Alternate Path #2

Alternate Path #2

Another montage from my recent visit to Santana Row.

Alternate Path

Alternate Path

We did not go to the fireworks today. Instead, Chip and I watched the Law & Order marathon. This is yesterday's image with a woodland path.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone has a very happy 4th of July. I think that Chip and I are going to see the San Francisco fireworks. Maybe tomorrow, I will have a few fireworks photos. However, I am not sure if I remember all the rules for getting a good fireworks shot at the moment.

Today, Chip and I visited Santana Row. We were going to lunch and the movies. I lagged behind and shot a few quick grab shots before Chip noticed. Then, I tried to hurry and catch up. Of course, Chip knows and is fairly patient with my dawdling.

Watercolored Walk in the Woods

 

Watercolored Walk in the Woods

Another montage with only two images this time.  Spent a lot of time blending the water ripples into the tree canopy.

Haunted House #4

Haunted House #4

Another from my Freeman-Gallant workshop. This was an assignment at the Haunted House. We were supposed to expose for the window. Well knowing that I was shooting raw, I could let some of the highlights blink on the back of my camera. Turns out that the blinking highlights is based on luminosity of Adobe RGB. That is very conservative and highlight details about 1-stop (or more) are stilled captured in the raw file. For this case, I did not mind some solid white in the window but wanted detail in the tree. So when processing raw files in Rawshooter, I could do a small amount of negative exposure compensation, add a bunch of fill light, and reduce the highlight contrast. Voila, I have an exposure in a very trickly lighting situation without using anything except natural light.

If you want to retrieve more highlight details, you would need to process the raw file twice. Once for the highlights and once for the shadows. Then, you can combine them using Photomatix Pro HDR tool or just masking in Photoshop.

Scribbled Reflections

Scribbled Reflections

Since my archives are depleted and there are not a lot of new images coming in, I made a montage for (4) images.

Berkeley Rose Garden

Berkeley Rose Garden

Today, I went out shooting for the first time in a few weeks. Went with Aphra to the Berkeley Rose Garden. Did not feel very inspired but did take a few rose macro shots.