Oh! My Goodness

I found this picture online, I do not know who took it, but I guess it belongs to freefoto.com. I really like the silhouette of the tree against the purple and red sky. I also think the purples and reds are very complimentary together. Although the watermark is very distracting.

It's a Sunshine Life For Me

I looked out my window the other day and saw this beautiful sky (of course after I presented for class). I cropped out the bottom and a tree on the side and I edited out a pole that was in the middle of the picture. I also enhanced saturation to better see what it actually looked like.

TERFYNOL

The end has come. The final for photography. Huzzah!

These photos were taken in various places around Billings, MT and were taken with (unless stated otherwise) a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3 camera.

ISO 80 16.1mm f/3.5 1/250sec

This picture was taken at the Rims on the walking path. I made the pic black and white so it would look different from another picture at the same location that looked similar. In Photoshop I removed some buildings that were distracting

ISO 80 12.8mm f/3.3 1/250sec

This was taken at Norm's Island, it is a structure I found whilst walking through the forrest. I lowered the exposure a little bit and raised the contrast a bit. I also darkened the shadows.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2.8 1/125sec

This photo was taken inside the above shelter at Norm's Island. I darkened the highlights and didn't do much else to it.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2.8 1/250sec

This was taken at the Rims just off of the walking path going down from the cliff. I made it black and white because I thought it looked nice (I always think stone looks nice in black and white) and I like how the spindles stand out. I don't like the grass growing between the steps and the wall and thought of ridding the picture of them but thought better of it because I thought it looked more nature-y.

ISO 80 14.5mm f/3.4 1/160sec

This was taken at Norm's Island. I heightened the contrast and darkened the whites. I also the made some of the yellow a bit greener and the orange a bit more red so it looked more like autumn.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2.8 1/100sec

I took this at Norm's Island, it is part of a Beavers' Dam. I darkened the highlights, lowered exposure, raised contrast and lowered vibrance and saturation. It's not my favorite picture, but I do like the grass coming in from the bottom right corner.

These next two pictures were taken at River Front Park. Carly and I were taking pictures of ducks and saw this odd fellow, he's not a duck and we aren't sure what kind of bird it is. We think it may be a quail.

ISO 80 36.6mm f/4.5 1/100sec

I darkened the highlights because there were some very bright colors that were rather off-putting.

ISO 80 36.6mm f/4.5 1/320sec

I didn't do much editing in the picture. In Photoshop I removed some junk from the water that were distracting and removed the ugly grass poking out of the snow. I also cropped off the sides to better focus on the funny bird.

ISO 80 14.5mm f/3.4 1/80sec

I took picture of petrified rope at Norm's Island. In Lightroom I lowered the exposure and darkened the highlights and shadows. I tried to get rid of the really long, large blade of yellow grass but I couldn't figure out a way to logically rid the picture of it.

ISO 100 17.2mm f/3.5 1/30sec

I took this photo at Norm's Island. In Lightroom I brightened the highlights and darkened the shadows. I also raised the clarity, vibrance and saturation.

ISO100 32.5mm f/4.4 1/60sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island. I changed it to black and white so accentuate the barn. I also cropped it to remove a white truck that was very distracting.

ISO 400 24mm f/4.0 30.0sec

This photo was taken with a Canon EOS 5D markIII camera with a EF24-105mm F/4L IS USM lens at the place to the west, way to the west. I cropped the picture to focus on the lights from billings. I also raised the vibrance and saturation. I am not sure what else I did because I edited this picture on a different computer.

ISO 80 36.6mm f/4.5 1/125sec

This photo was taken at the Rims. In Lightroom I raised the clarity to better exaggerate the road. I also raised the vibrance and saturation.

ISO 80 16.1mm f/3.5 1/60sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island. In Lightroom I lowered the exposure and darkened the highlights and whites. I also raised the vibrance and saturation. In Photoshop I removed a thing that was coming out of the logs from the lowers right corner and extended the length of the photo, it was very distracting.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2.8 1/160sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island. In Lightroom I brightened the highlights and made the yellow more yellow. I raised the exposure, clarity and vibrance.

ISO 80 12.8mm f/3.3 1/60sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island, it is part of a beavers' dam. I lowered the exposure and raised the contrast I also raised the vibrance and lowered the saturation. I like that the beavers used a tire in their dam, it was very innovative and resourceful on their part.

ISO 80 6.1 f/2.8 1/400sec

I took this photo at Norm's Island in the Yellowstone River. I altered the hues of the reds, oranges and yellows and raised saturation of the oranges and yellows and the luminance of the oranges and yellows so the leaves in the water would stand out more.

ISO 80 36.6mm f/4.5 1/160sec

This photo was taken at River Front Park. I lowered the highlights to help the duck stand out against the snow better. I was very proud of this photo because you can see the duck's eye. Although I was standing only three feet away from him.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2.8 1/320 sec

I took this photo at Norm's Island. In Photoshop I removed a dark log that was very distracting on the right hand side. In Lightroom I lowered the exposure and darkened the highlights.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2.8 1/100sec

I took this photo at Norm's Island, there were some Boy Scouts there and they were asked to make shelters, and this is always what people come up with when asked to make a shelter: a terrible, un-sturdy structure made out of twigs. I find it hilarious. I raised the vibrance and saturation, not for any logical reason, just because I thought It'd be fun and I thought the bright colors would demonstrate the innocence of the picture.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2.8 1/250sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island, another part of the beavers' dam. In Lightroom I raised the contrast and lowered the highlights. I also raised the vibrance and saturation. I like the contrast of the black log on top of the white log.

ISO 80 12.8mm f/3.3 1/250sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island. In Lightroom I lowered the contrast and brightened the highlights to better see the trees, I didn't see much else was in need of editing.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/2,8 1/40sec

This picture was taken at Norm's Island, inside one of the Boy Scout shelters. I darkened the highlights and shadows and I darkened the whites and lightened the blacks.

ISO 80 7mm f/2.9 1/400sec

I took this photo at Norm's Island. I made it black and white and raised the exposure and raised the contrast. I like how the fractured tree twists and warps from the break.

ISO 80 36.6mm f/4.5 1/160sec

This photo was taken at River Front Park. I cropped the picture to take out some unwanted space and to better focus on the duck. I lowered the exposure and lightened the highlights. I raised clarity and I raised the vibrance and little bit. I also gave the picture a bit of a vignette; I hadn't done that before, so that was fun. In Photoshop I removed a rock and a log that was in the water that I found very distracting and messy.

ISO 80 36.6mm f/4.8 1/500sec

I took this photo at Norm's Island. Originally it was three different pictures and, in Photoshop, I copied each bird to put them in one photo together because I thought one bird by itself was too empty of a photo.

ISO 80 14.5mm f/3.4 1/200sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island, I like it because it kind of looks like a dragon or sea serpent. In Lightroom I lowered the exposure and raised the clarity.

ISO 80 36.6mm f/4.5 1/125sec

This photo was taken at the Rims just off of the walking path. In Photoshop I made the stone black and white but kept the pigeons in color. In Lightroom I raised the vibrance and saturation for the birds to better stand out. Although, looking at it now I realize I raised them a bit too much.

ISO 80 6.1mm f/5.6 1/200sec

This photo was taken at the Rims on the walking path. In Photoshop I removed some distracting signs from the background. This picture is rather clique, a similar picture the logo of a movie production company, but I've always liked pictures like this; one lone tree and sky with attractive clouds and a road leading to nowhere.

ISO 80 11.4mm f/3.2 1/250sec

This photo was taken at Norm's Island. I saw the wood hammered to the trunk of the tree and thought it looked cool. I put it in black and white because I thought it looked artsy and Avante Garde. In Photoshop I removed some twigs from the upper left hand corner that were very distracting.

Nature Photography

Many people have been saying that maybe photographers shouldn't take pictures of wild animals or pictures out in the wild because it disturbs the wildlife. Going by those standards, BBC should then never film wildlife because it would be disturbing to the animals, but then what would high school students watch in Biology when they have a substitute?

Pictures in nature are not just "pretty pictures," but they are educational. I wouldn't know what a gnu looked like and why John Lithgow thought it was a bison if I wasn't able to see a picture of one that someone had taken out in the wild. I wouldn't be able to explain to my 3 year old niece what a puma is if I wasn't able to show her Planet Earth clip BBC had filmed out in the wild.

People can't just decide, suddenly, that taking pictures out in the wild is disturbing to the animals. As long as the photographers have common sense there should be no issues.

African Safari

I am not going on an actual African Safari, but on my imaginary safari there are a few things I will need.

• I will need, obviously, an imaginary camera: a super fancy expensive one would be nice but I feel a camera that works would also suffice. The best would probably be a Canon PowerShot SX30 IS which is about $369.
• According to James I will need an imaginary filter because a scratch on a filter is much cheaper to replace compared to when you scratch your lens. He made a big deal about filters. He even used an exclamation point.
• Taking an imaginary computer would be a good idea so I can download all of my imaginary pictures so I will have more space on my imaginary SD card. Also, if there is Internet, it would be nice to upload my imaginary pictures to Facebook so my friends and family can see how I am doing on my imaginary safari.
• According to Nathan Myhrvold I should bring imaginary adaptors for the imaginary power chords of my imaginary computer because depending on the camp site would depend on the type of plug-in they use and if I am putting my pictures on my computer each day I would need to charge it.
• I would probably need cleaning supplies to keep the imaginary lenses of my imaginary filters nice and clean. According to Fredo Durand Africa is very dusty which causes lots of smudges.

These are a few imaginary things I will need on my imaginary safari, there is also loads more of stuff one will need on a safari, imaginary or real. 

Art Show

I put this picture of ducks in the art show:

I had to kind of alter the cropping so I could print it at Target and it still had white letterboxes. Also, Target no longer does the chemical processing so picture didn't print in the best condition. Costco does it but I do not have, nor do I know anybody with, a Costco membership. I bought a white and blue matte from Hobby Lobby. The picture did not get picked for the art show but I am no too surprised. But, my grandmother is going to love her Christmas present this year.

Tree Swallow

This photo of a swallow was taken by Jerry Ting.

OK, I love swallows, I have one tattooed on my shoulder blade. I like how nicely the bird stands out against the blue sky and how he caught the bird in flight. The blue of the bird is really pleasing, though would stand out better if the background was darker.

Log Cabin

This cabin in Pennsylvania was taken by Estemerwalt Log Homes of Honesdale.

I like how it looks as though the creek travels to the cabin, like it's guiding you to the cabin, the main point of the picture. In this case I do not like how the water looks like it is flowing because it ends up looking frozen in time and it gives the picture a really odd sense of isolation.

Snow Scene

This photo was taken by Mary & Christina in January.

I think this is a rather good photo taken by an amateur. I love snow scenes, especially when the photo was taken while the snow was falling. The person in the foreground may have looks better if she was in red, maybe then you would be aware it was a person. Or if the photographer waited until the person and dogs were closer so you could see them better. Or waited till there was no one in the shot. The trees and the fence do a good job of framing the picture.

Sunset Tree

This is a photo of a tree taken at sunset in Northumberland.

It is licensed under Creative Commons.

I really like the silhouette of the tree against all the beautiful colors of the English sunset. It looks like the photographer edited the picture to bring out the purples and reds because they look rather fake.

Mid-Term

All of these pictures were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3 camera at various places in Billings, Montana.

This picture was taken at River Front Park  at 36.6mm ISO 200 f/4.5 and shutterspeed at 1/13 of a second. I edited this picture in Lightroom by cropping out some of the top and bottom of the picture and lowering the clarity to make the ducks stand out better. I also raised the vibrance and lowered the saturation.

This photo was taken at Norm's Island at 27.2mm ISO 160 f/3.5 and 1/30 second shutter speed. I edited the picture in Lightroom and lowered clarity to -7, raised vibrance to +7 and lowered saturation to -13.

I took this picture at 36.6mm ISO 100 f/4.5 and 1/40 second shutter speed at River Front Park. In Lightroom I cropped the picture to better focus on the birds and edited out the middle bird because that one was out of focus. That is all I felt needed to be done.

This photo was taken at 19.4mm ISO 80 f/3.7 and 1/80 second at Norm's Island. In Lightroom the clarity was increased to +13, vibrance increased to +64, the aqua heightened to +15 and the blue decreased to -13.

This photo was taken at 54mm ISO 293 f/5.6 and shutter speed at 1/30 of a second at Pioneer Park. I edited the picture in Lightroom by lowering clarity and raising vibrance and saturation.

This picture was taken at 14.5mm ISO 160 f/3.5 and shutter speed at 1/50 of a second at River Front Park. In Lightroom the picture's clarity was raised +27, vibrance raised +36 and saturation lowered at    -18. I really like the green clover poking out of the red, yellow and brown leaves, I tried to make the clover a four-leaf clover but was unsuccessful.

This picture was taken at 9.9mm ISO 80 f/3.1 and shutter speed at 1/20 of a second at River Front Park. I edited this picture in Lightroom by raising the vibrance and saturation and enhancing the color. I wanted the pink in the sunset to stand out.

This picture was taken at 9.9mm ISO 80 f/3.1 and the shutter speed at 1/3 of a second. I edited the picture in Lightroom to raise the clarity, vibrance and saturation and to enhance the color. I wanted the trees to look very "fall-y" I also tried to make the green trees greener and the sky look more lively but was unable and mostly just made the road look blue and grainy.

This picture was taken at 16.1mm ISO 125 f/3.5 and shutter speed at 1/30 of a second at River Front Park. Lightroom was used to edit the picture where I raised the clarity to +27, the vibrance to +29 and the saturation to +22. I am not a big fan of reflection pictures but I liked this one I took because the real life tree looks more barren than the reflected tree and I wanted to show that after editing.

This picture was taken at 7mm ISO 80 f/5.8 and 1/250 second shutter speed at River Front Park. In Lightroom I made the picture black and white and raised the clarity. I decided to make the picture black and white because I thought it looked nice.

This sunset was taken at River Front Park at 6.1mm ISO 100 f/2.8 and shutter speed at 1/60 of a second. In Lightroom I cropped a bit off of the top, raised the contrast, vibrance, clarity, saturation and enhanced the color. I wanted to show off all of the colors of the sunset and I wanted them to stand out against the dark landscape.

This picture was taken at 27.4mm ISO 200 f/4.6 and a shutter speed at 1/6 of a second at Pioneer Park. In Lightroom I raised the clarity and lowered the saturation and vibrance.

This picture was taken at 3.6mm ISO 400 f/4.5 and shutter speed at 1/30 of a second at River Front Park. In Lightroom I raised the vibrance to4 and the saturation to +13, I wanted the red to stand out strongly against the green.

This photo was taken at Norm's Island at 17.2mm ISO 160 f/3.5 and shutter speed at 1/30 of a second. In Lightroom I lowered clarity to -7, raised vibrance to +7 and lowered saturation to +22.

This sunrise was taken at River Front Park at 27.6mm ISO 160 f/4.1 and shutter speed at 1/30 of a second. Lightroom was used to raise vibrance to +20, lower saturation to -2, raise contrast to +49, and enhance the reds to -35, oranges to -25, purples to -35 and magentas to -52.  This was only the second sunrise I have seen in my life (I'm a night owl) and wanted my photograph to capture all of the beautiful colors well and for the colors to stand out against a dark landscape.