Fuji X-T1, XF55-200 @ 55mm, f/11, 1.2 sec, ISO 800
Today is the last day of May. It was a beautiful late Spring morning. I could not help but to get up early and walk along Lake Galena in near by Peace Valley Park. My eyes were not picking up interesting subjects. I used a technique recommended to me by Tony Sweet to just start panning and shooting to get going. I have learned to consistently fall back on this technique to get my “juices” flowing. It was a nice morning.
Canon 5D MKIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125 sec, ISO 400
My friend and mentor, John Barclay, has been posting a couple of images that he post processed by converting to Black and White, inverting, then adding a texture overlay. This is my first attempt at the process. What fun!
This image was taken on an overcast day at Peace Valley Park, Bucks County, PA. The trees were just silhouettes against the grey sky. It was a very boring image.
Canon 5D MKIII, EF24-70 f/2.8L @ 68mm, f/8.0,1/400 sec, ISO 400
Well, we tried for a White Christmas. The 60-70 degree temperatures we’ve had during the last several days melted all the snow. The temperatures are dropping again and we will have a clear and brisk Christmas Day. No snow, but is still should be a beautiful day. We are thankful for each and every day. Each one is beautiful in its own way.
Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!
Trees and woodland areas always capture my interest. The horizontal fallen trees in the foreground and the vertical living trees in the background caught my eye. When was re-looking at this image taken 11 months ago, the same lines caught my eye. However, the color tonality was very subdued and boring. I felt in a “painterly” mood, so Topaz Simplify came to the rescue. I used Topaz to give it that “artistic” look as well as bring out a little color and enhance the edges of the trees and leaves.
Here is the straight out of the camera image. Today I prefer the “painterly” view.
Canon 5D MKIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/11, 1/125 sec, ISO 400
Looking up I saw the white bark of this old Sycamore standing out above the other trees against the bright blue mid-day sky. Great opportunity for a B&W conversion! On this day there was an image waiting at every turn. Next time I will take my telephoto lens to isolate some of the interesting details.
Canon 5d MKIII, EF25-70mm f/2.8L @ 57mm, f/8.0, 1/1600 sec, ISO 800
This was the first image I took on my Peace Valley winter walk. I turned a corner and there it was … a new fence covered with fresh snow. It said, “take me”. So I did. I just like fences and the new snow really dressed this on up.
Canon 5D MKIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 68mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO 800
This image is of the abstract path posted yesterday. On its own, the path was an interesting image. The sun broke through a gap in the trees at the visual end of the path creating a tunnel effect. I used NIK Silver Efex Pro to convert to Black and White, I then added Color Efex Pro’s “Darken/Lighten Center” to further accentuate the light coming through the end of the path.
Canon 5D MKIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @70mm, f/22, 1/10 sec., ISO 200
Yesterday we had our second snowfall of the year. Today was a bright and crisp winter day. A friend and I went out to Peace Valley Park to take a casual “walk in the woods” with our cameras. There was an image just waiting to be taken from every point we stopped. We didn’t get very far on our walk because of numerous photo stops along the way. It was a beautiful way to spend a morning.
It was a dreamy setting, so I thought I would add to the feeling by creating an abstract of a “Path in the Woods” with a vertical pan. The pan blended the shadows and the highlights of the morning sun along the path creating a bright abstract.
Back at home I worked with the image to create an opposite illusion of a dark gloomy path leading to who knows where.
Today is a thought of Peace. The stillness and peacefulness of Peace Valley Park is always a wonderful place to escape to. We are so lucky to have a place like this so close by.