More Images from My Archives

The Image I am displaying today, is of the same area that I took of the beaver pond in my last blog. This image is an award winner that I won, when I was still a Pro Photographer. My old boos and I were going to Elk Island National Park to get some photos that we hoped that would be good enough for the Alberta Professional Photographer Association print show. We got to our location at about 6:30 a.m. and there was a fog happening, the sun was coming up quick so we had to hurry and get our equipment set up. I set my camera up with my longest lens, I have a 250 mm lens for my Mamiya RB 67. It was the perfect choice for my shoot. It was amazing how the lens brought in the scene. The sun just came over the trees to light up the fog on the water, it was magic. I read my light meter and took several images, I then changed where I was sitting and took several more photo’s. I changed position several times as to get different angles. No time to discuss or think about what I was going to do. It is important to realize that the sun moves very quickly and the light you want is gone. As I was getting my shot over the water, I looked to my right and saw the light on the trees around the Beaver lodge, it looked awesome and I quickly took a few photo’s. It took about 30 minutes and the light changed the magic to bland. My boos was not so lucky that day, she only had one lens for her camera. I think it was an 85 mm kens. Great for portraits but not for what we had in mind. Well, enough talk, so here is the image that I won my best in class image. Let me know what you think.

   

   I put the painterly effect on this Image but It has not done much to the image.

             

Another Scanned Neg from my Archives

Went through some of my archives and found one that I have displayed before on Windows Live Spaces. I thought I would try to do my painterly effect on it, so that’s what I did. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

 

     

                 This photo is of an early morning sunrise on a beaver pond, at  “Elk Island Park”. 

Window lighting

Is anyone interested in Still life? Have you done anything like a “STILL LIFE” ?

Would you be interested in working with window light? Well “Still Life” is done a lot with painters, you don’t see it much in photography. Here is a video that you may be interested in.

        

This is a way of taking “Still Life”, you could use a background like Velvet or just let the light fall off. You could even use a Persian Rug as a background. If you have any Questions please ask.

Old Photos from my Archives

I keep looking in my Negative and slide files to see if there is anything worth restoring and turning in to Art. I did find a few things that looked interesting so I started to work on them. The images really started to look like something I could use, these images are of a riding stable that we found when we were up at the ram river around 1989-1990. The rugged country side is really awesome if you like riding horses or hiking. The friends I was with loved riding but I was more interested in taking photographs. My friends were out all day riding in the rugged foothills. I wished I could of gone with them and gotten some photos on the ride, but the camera I had with me was my Mamiya RB 67, far to big to take with me around my neck riding (I still have this studio camera), so I stayed near the car just venturing closer to the corral and areas where I could walk without a problem. Here are a few photos of that day.

 

   

   

           

  

   Well, that’s it for today, I hope you like what I have shown you.

   Let me know what your thoughts are.

Repotting my baby Amaryllis

About a month ago someone asked how my Amaryllis babies were doing. I just repotted 10 plants from 2 pots. It was difficult to get them out of the pot as they were pressed so tight in them. These were not quite as big as the ones I did a few months ago, before I had my hip surgery. Two of the bulbs were bigger so I had to put them in a bigger pot. I took a few photos for you to see. I also took some cuttings of my Pink Geranium, 6 cuttings. It was time to get the cuttings as the temp outside is getting very cold, 2 nights ago we had a killer frost.  I got photos of them as well. Does anyone around Edmonton want an Amaryllis or 2?

 

     

                

                               Here are the Geranium cuttings.

            

                     It will take about a month or so for the roots to grow.  

More old Images from Negative

Here is an image from my archives, this image was in fairly bad shape as it was  not stored properly. Without thinking, it was stored in my garage before it was stored in my basement. Since the negatives are made from dyes and gelatin, they can get moldy and have things grow on them. Well I scanned the negs and cleaned up the images as much as I could.  Then I color corrected them, cropped them and took out all the things that were growing on them, I love photoshop. Then I applied some of my magic to make the images look real nice and dreamy. This image is of a young lady the used to work for my brother and me, around 1979. I hope she still looks this good now, well one never knows. I think she became a model.  She was a very nice lady. We lost touch with her, but that’s life. Anyway, here is the portrait that I repaired and made it look like a painting, well at least I hope I did.

 

        

                                   Let me know if I have succeeded.

OLD Photos

I went through some old photos that I have not seen in many years. This was from a trip to the foothills  on the trunk road near Rocky Mountain House. The actual place is close to the Ram River Falls. This is a rugged and beautiful place to visit in the summer. I would not want to be anywhere near this place in the winter. I have quit a few photos of this place but only have one to show you today. I have put a painterly affect on this photo. This photo is scanned from a negative, so the color was not that great in natural form. So here is the photo, I hope you like it.

 

     

My Thanksgiving weekend

My Thanksgiving weekend was actually a boring one. I was babysitting a Jack Russell female, yes a dog.  My nephew and his wife and son went to Calgary to have Thanksgiving with Lori’s family. They had no one to take care of the dog but they could not take the dog with them, so I volunteered to do the boring task of babysitting.  I could not go anyware because the dog has terrible separation anxiety. She is partially deaf from birth and is a little spoiled, but she is a sweet little dog, that loves to cuddle  and sleep with you in bed. I had to throw this dog out of my bed twice at night. I don’t like dogs sleeping in my bed. ;-)  no time to wonder around and take photos in the countryside. I was able to take a few photos of this old farm windmill ( I have photographed it before but not in autumn). So here is the windmill that I have put a painterly affect on. I hope you like it.

          

                                 I took a few different formats, so here it is vertical as well .

                                                     

                                       These were photographed through the kitchen window.

The month of Thanksgiving and Halloween

well I don’t have too much to say other than Happy Thanksgiving. I was playing around with photoshop CS3.  I really didn’t know what to post as not to much has changed in my life so far and I am a little bored so I put a few things together in photoshop , so here it is the photo I was working on.

 

     Some of you have seen the main photo already but I couldn’t resist playing with it.

I hope you enjoy the photo as much as I have.

My visit to Hawrelack Park

Went out to the park today to take in the beautiful weather we have been having. Last Sunday we hit a record for this time of year 32.5 Celsius.  It wasn’t that nice today but was very pleasant in the sun. I almost got a sunburn. I took a few photos so everyone could see how beautiful it was. I met an older couple that was also enjoying the beautiful weather, they were having lunch in the park, I had a wonderful chat with them, for about an hour, nice couple. I fed the geese but the Gulls were steeling the bread most of the time, there were so many juvenile Gulls and they were very aggressive. As well there were a lot of Crows gathered in the park, I assume that they are collecting to go on their trip south, I could be wrong. The colors of Autumn are showing everywhere now. Just beautiful. Here are some photos for you to  enjoy.

 

           

           Geese at my feet after feeding them a loaf of bread. They even took the bread from my hands. I enjoyed feeding them very much.

     They were in the shade before I started feeding them, they saw my bag and came a runnin.

     A view of Downtown Edmonton from the park. The city crews were maintaining the park and getting the park ready for winter. 

     This crow was chortling a low song kind of weird like , not sure what it was all about, seemed weird to me. He would just stand there,  there were a few more crows a few feet away watching.    

Last night I backed a French Country loaf of bread, first time with this recipe. Can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. Will let you know how it is. Next time I think I will set the timer on the darkest setting, sure smells good. Today was a great day. I hope everyone had a great day as well.

Today was a great day

Well I went out into the garden today just to get out of the house. I was outside for at least 4 hours. I did a little weeding only my planters as I can’t bend more that 90 degrees, and I did some watering. I cleaned and filled all the bird feeders and pulled out the birdbath, cleaned it and filled it with water. Tomorrow morning I will have a look to see if the birds will use it to bathe and drink from it. One of my neighbors even came over to see how I was doing. We talked for at least half an hour. The plant the really makes me proud as all the others are slowly dying or getting ready for the winter, but my Geranium is blooming like crazy, I took a photo so I can show it to you. These 2 Geranium plants are from cuttings I took of last years plants, I think I will take about 4 or 5 cuttings this year and nurse them through the winter.  This is a photo straight out of the camera. So here it is, I hope you like it.

 

          

Not a great day to day

My last heavy duty pain med was on Sunday night. I have not been feeling so well since Monday morning, but today , so far has been the worst. I’m not sure if I am having  withdrawal from the pain meds or what. I have had to go to the bathroom 5 times today, and now I have no want for food. Almost like the Admiral from Admiral Hestorb’s blog. Sorry to here that our well loved little kitty is feeling so poorly. I have also been feeling depressed, which is not good for me right now. Lets hope that I am feeling much better tomorrow. I am also feeling all kinds of different  pains that I have not felt before. I am still on some pain meds but they are not that powerful. I am still on blood thinners untill the 26th of this month. Well I guess I should go now, I needed to talk to someone and I guess you all are as good as any to talk with. Bye for now.

Hello Blogger Friends

I am finally back home from surgery on my left hip. I got back home last Friday around 2:30 pm The time I spent in hospital seemed to go very fast. Basically I got up in the morning around seven a.m. washed up at the side of the bed. Around 8 a.m. we had to do our physio, about 30 minutes . Then it was time to rest about 30 minutes and then get ready for breakfast. After breakfast it was time to rest up for lunch, around 11:30 a.m. we went for lunch had a good visit with our other hip & knee patients.

After lunch we had a quick rest and it was time to have afternoon physio,  30 minutes later it was time for a nice long rest. Then it was time for supper, more time to visit with the friends we have made in hospital.  Around seven p.m. it was time to wash up for the evening and having a good night sleep. Everyday I noticed  that I was getting stronger, it is funny how quickly we weaken from the injuries, when we go in for surgery. I was glad that I did some weight lifting 2 months before surgery until I went in . Other wise I would have had way more problems, moving around in bed and from stretcher to bed.  In physio they tested me to see if I was able to do stairs, well with all the workout I did at home, I was able to do stairs with flying colors. Well I am so glad that I am home and getting stronger all the time. I thought that I would have more pain from my hip but thank God,  the only pain so far is from the large cut that was made to get at my hip bones. I am still on some heavy duty pain meds, duing the day I only use half of what I need at night. They will soon be gone and I will have to do with some light pain meds. I hope that soon I will not need and pain meds at all. Enough for now. I will talk with all of you later. Have a great week.

More Photos from Last Spring

Hello everyone, I haven’t been posting much stuff lately. I am getting ready for a hip replacement. I have been doing things like cleaning my house, well, with a heck of a lot of help. My good friend Yvonne, has cleaned my very dirty kitchen, and did a very fantastic job of it. Also my nephews wife, Lori has cleaned all of my upstairs, awesome job of cleaning. I have cleaned a little of my living room, still a little bit to go. Most of my time has gone to running around and doing different appointments and then getting things like my hip kit, and a thingy to raise my toilet seat, also a kind of railing around my toilet. Then I also had to get crutches. a walker, 4 inch high cushions to raise my chair height. I won’t be able to use chairs with wheels on them. I also had to raise my bed. Now all I have to do is pay my bills, and then I am ready to go. Well enough chatter,  here is a few photos for you to look at.
               
       

Some photos I took at a city Park last year.

Last year I was mobile enough to walk in the park so I decided I would show you some of these photos, These photos were taken in the early fall and it was a very beautiful day. I have used my painterly effect, so I hope you like them.

 

   

            

   

   

Playing Around With Photoshop Again

Well as the title says, I have been working in photoshop again. The poor girls images are sure getting used a lot. Well, today I have been doing a lot of brushwork together with the painting affect, it really is a lot of fun. So today I will show you the unedited version and then the almost completely altered image. I have been working with paintbrushes in photoshop to add to the painting and much more. You will see a dramatic difference between the to images. See if you can tell what I did, but don’t strain you mind, If I didn’t know what I did I couldn’t tell you either.

 

                               

                

Tammy has a request

Hello everyone, Tammy requested that I show the original, I guess she didn’t believe that I created the image. I will show you the original and then the one I created. Here they are.

 

                     

 

  

More Stuff with my Photoshop Paintings

Her is some more stuff I did in photoshop, these look more like watercolor. So here are the images.

     

     

                   These images look best large, let me know what you think.

My Late friend Casper

I was going through my photos and I found another photo of my late friend Casper. So I painted him (well in Photoshop). Here is my good buddy Casper.

   

    He was the best kitty ever.

Practice cutout in Photoshop

Hi Everyone, I was just practicing cutting out an image and then putting it on a different background. There are many different ways to do this on Adobe Photoshop CS3. All of these methods are set up as tutorials on the internet, all you have to do is search for your specific program tutorial.   Have fun I know I did. Here is the original photo and then you can see the finished Portrait with the different background.

I just used any background that I had on my computer, it is not the proper background that I could have used. Like I said, this is just a practice Run. So here are the photos. I did other things to the finished Image but I am talking about image isolation and transfer to another background.

                                                Before

 

                    

 

                                                  After

                  

                                   Not perfect, but not to bad.

 

I’ve always found that cutting out the hair is one of the hardest things I had to do. Making it look believable is the thing. What I did with this one was to paint the edges the same color as the hair, to make it fit in and so as not to make it look like it was cut out. Let me here your opinion.

Been Toying with Photoshop

I’ve been playing again, have been working with an image to make it look more like a painting then what I have done before. Let me know what you think.

           

                                      

More Lilacs

My Lilacs are almost done so I thought I would show you some more Images. Not to much commentary today, enjoy.

                   

 

                   

View outside my kitchen Window

Just thought I would show you the view outside of my kitchen window. I have a similar view outside of my living room window.

                

Some Spring Photos

Today I went out for a few minutes and photographed some Spring Lilacs, the smell was intoxicating. It was just fantastic, we have many Lilac bushes in my Condo complex. When the Lilacs are blooming it fills the air with the wonderful scent. I wish I could can that lovely aroma, it’s like heaven. So here are some images of the Lilacs and you can imagine that wonderful scent.

                        

                          

                                          

                           There you have it some images of Spring for 2011.

My Real Bike Image before the Fix

I had a request from Cindy Up North in Wisconsin. She asked if she could see the original photo of me on my bike. Well here it is, it’s a little boring but that’s ok.

                     

Me on My Bike

I was just going through some old photos of myself on my Big Green Machine, my Kawasaki. I don’t have it anymore. To old for it anyway. Thinking back, man was it a lot of fun on the Green Machine. I took this bike to the mountains along with a bunch of friends and had a fantastic BBQ up there. Jumped into a mountain stream to cool of and cleanup, whew was it cold. We were up there for about 3 or 4 days, it was great. We did one trip to the base of a small waterfall crossed 3 streams to get there and then back again. On the way back I almost went over a 30 foot high cliff, man that was a close one. All in all, it was a great trip. Here is a photo of me on my bike, I played with the image a little. Let me know if you like it.

                            

                                        This photo was taken by my brother.

Looking for Spring in my Archives

Hello again, I have been looking through my Archives and found this, it is a photo of my Spring Lilac flowers just starting to show color and it would be about a week before opening. Here is the Image I made a year or three ago.

                 

Then I thought maybe I will try to make it look a little different or even better, you be the judge.

            

It is so much fun to create with Adobe Photoshop CS3, I’m sure one can do just as well with Elements

This is for Beginner Photographers

There are a lot of photographers on my blog that are beginners and I thought I would show them a little lighting product that is not expensive to buy but is a real image saver on those really bright days that you see a flower or a what ever object you see and it is in full sunlight but you don’t have time to wait until the object is in the shade. The thing I am talking about is a hand held or you can get an arm to attach to a light stand. This thing is called a Light Diffuser it is not that expensive and can be taken with you on a shoot weather it be people or objects. You can get this diffuser in different sizes. I have had one of these for many years. They are fun to use weather you bounce light into a scene or diffuse the bright Sun.  I have gotten a few photos to show you from the net.

  

                          Most Pro Photography shops would sell these reflectors. I have included a link to give you an idea of what to look for    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/331722-REG/Interfit_INT270_Collapsible_5_in_1_Reflector_Kit.html

I do hope that this info will be helpful to anyone that is interested.