Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 88mm, f/11, 1/160 sec, ISO 400
Ice crystals covered a little runoff stream in Peace Valley Park, I saw this one leaf fall on the ice. It looked out of place, hoping for a breeze to blow it off into a warmer bed of fellow leaves.
I started out processing this image in B&W. I could not make the leaf pop out like I wanted, so I added subdued selective color.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/8.0, 1/280 sec, ISO 800
Photography has taught me to open my eyes, look around, and enjoy what each moment brings. Walking around our back yard with Karen, I saw this fungus growth on one of our cherry trees. It caught my eye and made me think of the symbiotic nature of life. I stopped long enough to compose this image and enjoy the moment. I then continued a wonderful walk with Karen. It was a good day!
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 53 mm, f/10, 1/75 sec, ISO 800
I had just walked this path covered with ice, almost falling several times. I turned around, the sun broke through the clouds and I caught a glimpse of the warm bright grasses and leaves encasing the ice covered path. I thought, “What a beautiful painting”. The sun went back behind the clouds before I could capture the feeling. I tried several times with the sun behind the clouds, but could not get the warm feeling. I was in no hurry, so I just waited until the sun broke through again for a few seconds. I was ready!
When I processed the image, I took my advice from yesterdays post. I had thought of the image as a painting when I saw it. I therefore processed it as a painting using Topaz Impression. This is what my mind saw.
Fuji X-T1, XF 18-135mm @ 123mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, ISO 800
From time to time I find myself getting into a processing rut. I tend to process every photo in basically the same way with just a few modifications image to image. For my black and white images, I normally use NIK Silver Efex Pro and add a high contrast, high structure look to the images. I amplify the whites and blacks and add structure. The images look hard and have an abstract feeling as seen in the top image.
This morning I woke up and started on my post. I looked at the hard image that I had processed the day before. Something did not feel right. I tried again doing just the opposite by decreasing contrast and structure. The resultant second image was much more pleasing to me and better represents what my mind recalls seeing.
Lesson Learned: Do not process images in a “production mode” method. Take my time, and process each one to bring out what my eyes and heart see. Like my friend John Barclay, says, “Wait for the image to come to you”, processing should be considered in the same way.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/11, 1/55 sec, ISO 800
Today I got out for a little walk in Peace Valley Park (Bucks Co., PA). The morning was beautiful, bright, and crisp. Besides just getting out for a nice walk in the woods, my objective was to capture interesting ice formations. This image of ice bulbs on branches hanging over a fast moving stream caught my eye. I got a little fancy and used Topaz Impression’s “Cracked Fresco” preset to enhance the image. For me, it seemed to highlight the ice and add motion to the moving water beneath. Below is the SOC version for comparison.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 110mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec, ISO 1600
Today’s post includes a few examples of Holiday wreaths that adorn the homes and buildings in Colonial Williamsburg. I just captured a few as my party was walking down the Duke of Glouster Street to our next stop.
A couple of lessons learned here. I shot these images at a high ISO 1600. I was going in and out of shade. Some of the images could have been shot at a much lower ISO for less noise, some couldn’t. Lesson learned: Take my time on each image to get the best shooting parameters … Get out of the mode of shooting a “snap shot”! I did take a little time in processing to POP out the wreath details and colors. It made a difference.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 25mm, f/5.0, 1/220 sec, ISO 1600
On the brighter side of things, Colonial Williamsburg is decorated with elaborate wreaths during the Christmas Holidays. There were many much more elaborate than this simple wreath. The repetition of the wreath on the railing and the door caught my eye in this image.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/22, 14 sec, ISO 200
I keep going back to our Red Twig Dogwoods to get a little winter color. This is a vertical swipe taken at 1/4 second. Back at my computer, I started playing around with Topaz’s new Impression plug-in. This is the Impasto II preset. There is a painter somewhere inside this engineer’s mind.
This post is a milestone. I have entered a post every day for this month, first time ever. Now to get ready for the New Year!
Fuji X-T1, EF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/5.6, 1/350 sec, ISO 800
I took a little walk in our backyard to capture a little remaining color and try out my new Fuji 18-135mm lens. The Heucheras in our flower beds are still holding on to their last color. So, I looked around to find something interesting to put in front of them. I found this wilted Japanese Maple branch as a candidate. There was quite a little breeze so I needed to use a high ISO to freeze the motion of the branch. I find there is always something interesting if I am patient and let the image appear.
I think I am going to like the 18-135 as my primary “walk around – go light” lens.
Longwood Gardens East Conservatory
Fuji X-T1, XF18-55mm @ 18mm, f/22, 1/5 sec, ISO 400
This is the first scene I saw as I entered the Longwood Conservatory from the East end. I caught this before a zillion people showed up. I saved my first image for the last Longwood Christmas post for this year. Next year will have many additional interesting opportunities. Goodbye Longwood, at least for the time being.