I really digress....

I know we have topics. I know I am supposed to be taking my camera out of the bag and actually using it to take shots each week. However, like your black and white fixation (?) I seem to be stuck in post-processing mode. While my ultimate goal is to learn how to enhance my images without changing the integrity of the shot, I will admit that I got a bit carried away this week. Bored with fine tuning, I decided to go for extremes. Believe it or not, the before and after images below do show a bunch of different post-processing techniques which (when done in moderation) are pretty darn cool. Some of the changes are very obvious, others are more subtle but clearly I didn't work on moderation this week....instead I had fun messing around. Bear with me, hopefully I will move on to more interesting things next week....or perhaps return to our DPS topics?!

(Can you pick out all the changes - obvious and not so much?)

soulprint

I love how you're using the editing tool for post processing work!

I haven't been inspired this go-round either, though I began the year with such good intentions. The photo below is merely one of two photos I've taken in the last three weeks. I'm not quite patient enough to study a book on post-process techniques yet, but I'm having fun just poking around to see what tools do what. I don't have photoshop and the photo editor I have... has no instructions. That's probably not true, but I don't have the instructions. So. A bit of kindergarten bellow... is my late contribution for this week.

I'm looking forward to your trip out to see Winky. Not only do I hope you two enjoy it, I hope you bring back a good game to share!

Off Topic

Ok, I admit it. I was totally uninspired by the topic this week and didn't even take my camera out of the bag. However, I have been slowly making my way through a book detailing post-processing techniques for professional photographers. Even though I didn't actually shoot anything for our game this week, I am hoping that skipping the uninspiring words but focusing on photographic techniques might pass muster for a legit submission (this is photo-yoga after all). I am currently trying to work on processing which simply enhances the image rather than pure photo manipulation which changes the photograph (like my photo montage from a few weeks ago). You can be the judge whether I succeeded or not, though I'm coming to the understanding that this is a very subjective exercise! I think my lessons have a long way to go but I have been having fun playing and am happy to at least have started! I am trying to keep up with my mantra for 2012 - quit talking, start doing!

Below are two before/after series. In both cases the first picture is the before, the second the after. Both were taken this past summer while on the boat. In both sets there is more I wanted to accomplish but since I am in the beginning stages of this process I am simply posting what I know how to do at this point. The first set (storm) I actually would like to enhance differently (so you will probably see it in the future) but all I could manage this time is "more blue". For the portraits, I am also in the beginning stages. Can you tell what I did on that one?

nothing new

Took these photos back in 2009 & 2010. I didn't take any photos in the last two weeks. Not a one! Yikes!!!

I love playing around with the images, though! This may not count as a photography contribution. I think I'm biding time... making a weekly creative effort while I overcome the inertia with actually taking pictures.

Monochrome color & Patterns

Once again I have combined the two themes for the week into one image (or so I hope!). Kelly had her violin recital this past week which was held in a church with this fascinating organ pipe arrangment. I was particularly intrigued by the shot of red/color in the flowers placed before the pipes. Unfortunately I was unable to get the full vase because I was trying to shoot around/keep out the heads of the folks who were sitting in front of me. I thought I was being relatively subtle about my picture taking (other than the loud click of my camera) until Kelly announced that I was behaving like a total creeper by taking tons of pics of what looked like all the players in the recital. She figured out what I was actually focused on but felt that everyone else in the place probably thought I was simply being weird. I am guessing this is a step up from my fear of public photography, even if Kelly didn't appreciate it! ;o)

copy of time

I did copy you & Mattijn. I wasn't going to post at all because I didn't take one picture this week! But I was moved by your collage. Seamless! And I was moved by your doggies. I did take each one of the photos used (five in all) over time.

The little tattered morning cloak near the front below, arrive the day after Khafre passed. Though I won't go into the details about it, that morning cloak felt like Khafre's presence. It hung around our front door for three days. Martin even noticed it! After the third day - oh god I didn't realize how religious that sounded till I wrote it, but this is how is happened - the tattered morning cloak was gone, but a full winged morning cloak appeared. Daily, for two weeks, it graced our front yard. In all my years in Alaska, I'd seen a morning cloak only twice before and only fleetingly.

Time

My interpretation of the topic is so loose this week I think I need to provide a lengthy explanation! I had several ideas which sort of fit together and hopefully create a legit sense of "Time". Awhile ago I saw some photography work done by a man who combines his regular photography work with fantasy photo montage - kind of like mystery cards only with his own photographs. He shoots a variety of different photos for a given project then spends hours layering them in photoshop to come up with a single fantasy image. The catch is both he and his cat always appear in the image (http://www.mattijn.com/index.htm). The first picture below is my take on his idea, though not nearly as well done. Three individual photos layered to create one single image. THAT image represents TIME to me in two ways: the time it took working in photoshop to layer the images (and attempt to blend them) and the images themselves representing time we found to enjoy our first snowstorm of the season. The dogs got to frolic, Patrick got to play on his back hoe and I got to try my new x-country skis (Patrick got to ski too, but I have opted not to create his double for this image :o). Below the montage are two pics of Orzo - I have included them mainly because I loved them (couldn't decide between the two so you get both) but also because this was the first snowstorm of his young doggie life. He absolutely loved it! We spent a lot of TIME outdoors before all the snow melted 2 days later.... :o(

Blue

I will confess that I did not take this picture this week, however when I saw the topic I thought of this image and simply had to submit it. I went into my archives and pulled it out. I took this on a day hike in Cold Spring, New York in 2010. I was standing on top of Bull Hill trying to capture Manhattan as it was peeking out from the hills as you look south along the Hudson. The blue-ish tint was definitely an unintentional happy accident. I took a lot of pics that day, but this one with the rolling hills and silhouetted city was my favorite. Hard to believe I was 50 miles away from the city!

blue

I had hoped to be more creative that this with "blue," but this is what I got. Sunrise does bring out the theme in rather obvious fashion. 

due to snow

So... I didn't make it outside except to drive to & from work and put the garbage out. No outdoor shots to illustrate the weather up here in a direct way. Below is my indirect way of speaking about the conditions outside as this is what I sat beside in order to stave off the chill. In an effort to stretch within the same-o-same-o, I attempted to still the rising smoke through camera settings (and, like, a million attempts!) and stretch as well to force a break from b&w. Happy Yoga-ing!

Let's go!

While you are dealing with shoveling, subzero temps and wonderful frost, I have Spring-like streams. Where is Winter?