I made a conscious effort to get outside early and explore with the camera.  It wasn’t the best conditions but there had to be some pictures out there, right?  There was!  I knew there would be.  I just used it as an excuse before today, but not any more.  I guess it is going to be part of the new year’s resolutions…  get out with the camera even when it doesn’t look perfect.

I took the damp morning as an opportunity to get pictures involving water and/or water drops.  My first few attempts did not end well.  Due to the overcast conditions I had to slow the shutter speed down and once I looked at the pictures on the computer I realized I just couldn’t hold the camera steady enough.  Normally that would have been the end of it, but not this year.  I grabbed the tripod, headed back outside and was able to capture quite a few good pictures.

This is a portion of a chain holding the extinguishing cap on a lawn torch.  I really liked the wet black look against the brown branches of a lilac bush.  Once I started examining the chain closely I found the reflections in the water were even more intriguing.

I chose the square format to help balance the picture and to remove some excess white space.  With the lighting conditions I also shot 3 bracketed images at -1/0/+1 with the thought of combining them in Elements.  Once the image had the detail I wanted via the exposure photo merge I passed the it through Topaz Labs Adjust filter to add a slight HDR look.

I have a few more water macro shots from today that I will probably be posting tomorrow for the Macro Monday theme on G+.  I needed to keep a few in my back pocket to use at a later date.

I want to say there was not a lot of opportunity to get outside with the camera yesterday but sitting here typing the words I know that is just an excuse.  When it is overcast, rainy and foggy or if the weather is not pristine I have a hard time motivating myself to use the camera.  I’ll have to work on that…

Around lunch time I went out to grab a picture of the fog that just wasn’t going to go away.  I had a vision in my head that a moody picture would sum of the feeling for the day and thought a fog filled picture of the woods would do just that.  There was not much sunlight making its way through the clouds so I knew the colors in the picture would be subdued.  Even as I took the picture I knew I would be processing it as a B&W or monochrome image.

The only adjustment in Lightroom was to crop the picture to a 16×9 aspect ratio and then I used Topaz Labs B&W Effects.  I generally start with one of the presets in B&W Effects and then tweak them to get the image I see in my head.  For this picture I used the Traditional – Warm Tone II Smooth preset.  I didn’t want to enhance the detail in the picture because I thought that would ruin the mood.  I didn’t make any further adjustments beyond the preset, it captured the look I wanted.

Overall, I’m happy with the result.  The finished image was what I was looking to achieve.  I’m still experimenting with the camera and different styles.  I will say I am becoming a bigger fan of monochrome images.  I have a feeling the B&W Effects plugin will be getting more use than I originally thought.

The weather wasn’t cooperating today and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get outside with the camera.  In the early afternoon I decided to setup a picture inside as a backup plan even though I was still going to try for something outside.  Luckily around 3pm the sun started to fight off the clouds which allowed me to go for a short walk in the field across the road.  I was amazed at the green I was able to find among the snow.  This is the one I liked the best.

With the snow in the background and the sun not very strong I was a little worried I would blow out the highlights.  I got lucky with the exposure and didn’t have to do any recovery in my processing.  I bumped up the black, added some contrast and increased the saturation slightly.

I was able to get quite a few nice pictures on that short walk before the disappearing sun and numbing fingers sent me back home.  There was a general recurring theme of using snow as the backdrop but they all work for me.

I also found some interesting moss growing on the side of a tree.  It was about 5 feet off the ground facing the prevailing winds but that didn’t stop it from being the most vibrant object outside today.  There was some fungus on the same tree which looked interesting but I was unable to get the right focus with the zoom I was using.  That will be a project for another day.

Now for the picture I actually had to think about and setup as my backup picture.  Maybe it is because I’m such a Disney nut and maybe it is because we have way too much Disney stuff in the house but lately those are the items I turn to in a pinch.  The plaque is a much used quote from Walt Disney but still one of my favorites and the figures are Jim Shore.  The second one of these pictures is without the quote and processed as a multiple exposure HDR image with PS Elements (didn’t turn out too bad).

This morning I noticed that the clouds were gathering before sunrise and might help the sun put on an early show.  Even though it was 16 deg F outside I walked down to the end of my road to get a better view.  I wasn’t disappointed.  I was able to capture a few great pictures before my fingers started to feel numb.

When I got closer to home I ventured down into the yard next to the fence to see what I could find.  The blowing snow from the day before had coated one side of the fence posts and the soft, early morning light provided just enough contrast for some more pictures.

I was pretty happy with this picture right out of the camera.  I did crop the picture because I think the framing couldn’t be improved.  I did play with a few settings to bring out some of the details in the snow and the wood.  The last modification was to process the image through a sepia filter which really added to the quality.  everything was basically brown or white so it was an easy switch.  The sepia processing preserved the detail in the edges of the snow better than if I had went with a straight B&W processing.

I’m including the original picture as a comparison.  I think it is interesting to see where I started and where the picture ended up when I was done.

Today winter decided to make its presence know in Upstate NY.  I didn’t think I would get the opportunity to get outside with the camera which meant I needed to get creative inside.  I watched a video this morning by Ben Russell where he talked about colors, framing, etc.  After yesterday’s picture involving color I decided to try something a little different.  Complimentary colors are suppose to provide great contrast and bring out highlights so I borrowed a green scarf from my wife and photographed it against a red chair cushion.

I processed the picture through Topaz Labs Adjust 5 program to correct the white balance and make the colors a little more intense.  Not a bad first effort but I do think I need to practice some more.

I suppose I could blame it on the holiday season or the fact that work was crazy hectic but the truth is I was lazy.  I always said to myself that I would post to the blog tomorrow, which as everyone knows never comes.  Now I am sitting at my computer looking toward the task of catching up for two weeks of missed posts.  I believe the best solution is to place the pictures here for anyone to review and start fresh with today.

Without much further ado, I present the missing pictures…

Day 35 – Ornament in my office

Day 36 – Old friends

Day 37 – Cold morning

Day 38 – Sunrise water tower

Day 39 – Tinkerbell

Day 40 – Disney books (inspiration from Mel Peifer)

Day 41 – Going with the theme of late

Day 42 – Abandoned building

Day 43 – Strength

Day 44 – Sunset colors

Day 45 – Shadows and light

Day 46 – Hazy and lazy

Going forward I will put more effort into keeping this blog up to date and will attempt to expand on what I include for each picture.  It will be a challenge but I do accept it… lol!

Living in the north does create a challenge for doing a 365 project once daylight savings time returns to normal and the days naturally get shorter.  There just isn’t enough light during the day to get out and photograph in if you are also trying to work a regular job.  Day 33 was even more of a challenge with my lunch time and hour after work already spoken for.  I did think it would give me an opportunity to try some night photography and I had one particular image in my head I wanted to get.  A local bakery has an unique billboard sign out front to attract drivers into their store.

Trying to get this picture from the parking lot of the bakery just wasn’t going to work.  You would be too close and there would be even more light flare.  Luckily there is a post office across the street with the perfect angle to take this picture.  It also had the advantage of being elevated compared to the bakery which helped me too.

Day 34 was shaping up to be a complete wash out.  It had been raining since I woke up and didn’t appear like it would stop.  Five minutes before I was ready to leave work everything changed.  The rain stopped, the clouds opened up and the sun put on a final show for the day.

I didn’t take the chance that this scene would last until I got home.  I threw everything into the car, grabbed the camera and stood in the front lawn at work snapping pictures. It turned out be the right decision!  The sky show was over before I made it home.

I had about an hour between the end of work and my dentist appointment yesterday which I thought would provide enough time to walk around town a little with my camera.  Walking I did, picture taking, not so much.  After the sun sets I learned it isn’t easy taking pictures without a tripod.  I just couldn’t hold the camera steady enough to get clear pictures.  The only one I was fairly happy with was of the holiday lights on the side of a parking garage.  Coming into Rome from the south this view is visible to all.

I ended up taking a shorter walk than anticipated and vowed I would do it again but with a tripod in tow.  I did mange one other picture but I had to play with it a little to make the out of focus condition not as noticeable.  I zoomed in extremely close and I like how it turned out but I’m wondering if more of the building would add to the picture.

I should have some more time after work today.  Now I just have to decide where to go for the best opportunities.