We are hooked on the series Burned Notice… which got us very curious about Mojitos. So, here is our first taste. I think it could quickly become a new habit!
Jul 052011
Near Hope Ranch in Santa Barbara, California.
Jul 052011
Jun 182011
Waterfront dining made for a good opportunity to catch a silhouette of this couple enjoying each other’s company so much that they didn’t notice me taking pictures, nor did they take time to look at their menus.
I applied the “Chesney” setting that I created last year in Aperture, moved the black point all the way to really bring out the silhouette and then ran it through Topaz Simplify Oil Painting.
Jun 182011
A cold lemonade at the end of a hot day!
Jun 182011
ISO80; F/8; 1/160; 29.2mm 4/17/11 5:42pm (Canon SX10)
I’m so far behind on this PhotoWalk project! I took this in April with this theme in mind and I’m finally getting around to posting it.
This was taken from the park on Lake Havasu in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. That’s California on the other side.5
May 212011
This coyote has been roaming through the park in the early hours… but last weekend he came through again “late in the day” – that is about 8:30AM! I was driving back in from an errand and only had my Canon SD950 with me, which isn’t zooming as quickly as it used to in its younger days.
The coyote stayed in the shadows and thus you can hardly see him in the original image. If it wasn’t for our cool photography software, I would have had to just delete this image. But, I ran it through the HDR Stretch in Topaz Adjust, which brought him out of the shadows. Then when I brought it back to Aperture, I adjusted the hues to get it back its natural colors.
When I cropped it, I decided to leave a lot of space between us and the coyote… to help give the feel of him sneaking past us. When I tried a crop to show his mangy self off, it lost some of that wild coyote feel.
You should see the bunnies scrambling whenever the coyote comes strutting through.
May 142011
Guess I’m on a roll today! More photos taken in March. This is the Cascalote Bush in blossom.
I ran this through Topaz deJpeg, then Topaz Adjust Detail. Back in Aperture, I adjusted the red hue. Then I tried out the new Topaz Lens Effect again… although the background was already a Bokeh, it wasn’t as smooth as I’d like it, so I used the “Bokeh – Selective” to mask the areas that I want to have the Bokeh affect. I’ll admit it took me a few tries to get it right, but I learned a lot about the tool in the process. Finally, I went off to PSE 9 to use layers to create the frame.
May 142011
This Baja Fairy Duster is a very busy plant… it has pods, leaves, petals and the fluffy red duster –some still in bloom and and others that have wilted or in the process of wilting. I guess if one wanted a sample for a plant catalog, this photo would show a little bit of everything that you can expect of it.
This was taken in March… Iam just now getting around to posting it. Processing consists of removing one Saguaro cactus that was sticking up in the background like a sore thumb (or middle finger). I used the detail paintbrush in Aperture to bring out the pods and the red fairy dusters — and used, then tweaked the Aperture default “quick fix” preset. And that’s about it. I tried a lot of different things in Topaz, but none of theme seemed to improve the picture. I photograph these Baja Fairy Dusters whenever I see them… and have experimented with lots of different light. But they never want to show themselves off the way that I see them. Maybe someday when I have a new camera I’ll be able to capture the feather light fluffiness exactly the way that I want to.
The frame was done in PSE 9 with layers.
May 142011
Neither “Pink” nor “Blossoms” are on the theme list… but what other theme could I have used for these pretty Oleander blossoms?
This was processed in PSE 9 a few weeks ago… I must have run out of time to finish it and then forgot about it. I’m fairly sure that I used Topaz Simplify – Painting Oil effect on this.. and then used a couple of layers to frame it.
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