Alders in winter

We took a little drive this morning. Not much to shoot, but I did like how the alders this time of year are all bare and white on the hillsides. The scene was too messy for a "straight" photograph, so instead I set my shutter speed to 0.4 seconds and moved the camera up (or down) during the exposure to create a blurred impression of the scene. ©Carol Leigh

Photo surprises

I like to be surprised, and while riding as a passenger in a car, shooting through the window, I've got nothing BUT surprises! We had an appointment inland this morning and en route I photographed (1) the pink and blue colors of sunrise at Ona Beach, (2) the soft pastel pink, purple, and green colors of trees in the distance, and then (3) bright sunlight coming through a line of trees.

This is easy photography (well, sorta). I use a 70-200mm L lens most of the time, setting my camera on shutter priority, using a shutter speed of maybe 1/5 second, and an ISO of 100. For these photos I also had a polarizing filter on the lens. I'm shooting primarily through the windshield, although sometimes through a side window. It was a good morning today. ©Carol Leigh

Faux France

I am getting more involved in shapes, forms, darks, lights, and these two images from my downtown Los Angeles walk are a good example. It was Patti G. who pointed out the possibilities here, for which I'm grateful. Blinding reflections from a building on my left reflected onto the building directly in front of me, causing the bold forms of these trees to stand out beautifully.

I metered for the brightly lighted background building so that the trees would be underexposed and therefore blacker and bolder. I added some sepia toning and softening to give the image the look I wanted. It's oh, so France in winter, don't you think? Yeah. Right. I wish. ©Carol Leigh

Home again

My flight home from San Diego didn't arrive until late afternoon on Thursday and it was pouring rain, so we elected to stay in a motel and drive home today instead. (It's a 3.5-hour drive from the airport to our house and it encompasses one of the most dangerous roads in Oregon. In the dark, in the rain, and when we're tired isn't the best time to be traveling.) So this morning we set out before sunrise and, en route, decided to take a few detours to see something different. The lighting was exquisite. Beautiful clouds, no rain, little patches of fog here and there, and then the coast was crystal clear, with the ocean looking a rather tropical blue and green with big waves coming in from the south.

In the first photo, I liked the strong shape of the tree and how the road leads my right up to it. The second photo is especially appealing to me because of how the tops of the trees seem to echo the tops of the hills in the distance.

The third photo shows how sometimes loggers will leave one sentinel tree remaining on a hillside, and this one really stood out way up there. And then I took a drive-by shot of trees lining a golf course. The grass of the course was in blue shadow, so it appears quite aqueous in the picture. And then finally the Oregon coast, from a vantage point just up the road from our house.

I'll be prepping and posting some of the photos from my San Diego trip once I get them off my laptop and into my "real" computer. ©Carol Leigh

Extreme Colors

My online class students right now are working on "extreme colors." With that in mind, I found an old slide, a photograph of a palm tree I shot probably in Huntington Beach, California, during an incredibly vibrant sunset. I scanned it and punched up the color just a bit more. If these ain't "extreme colors," I don't know what are! And over in the montage blog, I just posted something that also has rather vibrant colors, in a slightly different way. I've been up since 4:30 a.m. yesterday. Time now to get some sleep! ©Carol Leigh

Happy Holidays!

©Carol Leigh

Home again

The final leg of our little trip found us in a fair amount of rain as we headed over the mountain passes. We took a new route (for us) from I-5 to the coast, stopping to shoot this barn with its open hay mow. And it's all lush and green with touches of orange, red, gold, and yellow. Home again, where yeah, it's raining, with wind gusts up to 47mph. Welcome (back) to Oregon.

P.S. Guess what? Once back on the coast, a two-lane road, we're heading north. Heading south, coming right at us in our lane, is a car passing traffic. We had to slow down and pull way over to avoid getting hit head-on. And the car was from (you guessed it) Washington! ©Carol Leigh

En route . . .

Greetings from lovely downtown Anderson, California (just south of Redding). This morning, while stopped for road construction in Oregon, I loved how the fog was slanting down through the trees, so photographed this scene through the car window.

It's interesting observing the driving styles. In Oregon, we think Washingtonians drive like idiots. Guess what? Washingtonians drive like idiots in California, too! ©Carol Leigh

Scoping out the aspens

I'm scouting out my usual locations prior to the workshop, making sure everything is still where I remember it. The aspens are just thinking about turning color. This lone leaf is covered with raindrops from last night's rain while white tree trunks gleam against a dark background. Both shot with an 18-55mm lens. My only Photoshop program in my laptop is Elements 5, so I'm not spending much time tweaking these in the field. When I get back home, however, watch out! ©Carol Leigh

A walk around the block . . .

Uh-oh. My "skinny" jeans don't fit and so as of yesterday have begun eating less and exercising more. (Novel concept.) On this morning's walk, I stopped by the woods where the lighting was rather challenging. In one instance the sun was peeking through the trees and at another location it was very shady.

I experimented with stopping my lens down to a small aperture so I could turn the sun into a little starburst. (1/10 second at f/14, 55mm lens). The photo seemed too stark, so I warmed it up with a slight sepia look and then softened it with a bit of blur.

In the shady part of the woods I experimented with moving my camera up/down during a 0.6-second exposure at f/13, again with a 55mm lens. I did a couple of other things that I'm waiting until next year to show you in my weekly Photomotivation tutorials/assignments. Are you on the list to receive the info when it comes out?

In addition, after my walk I brought a leaf indoors and created this little photograph of it: http://carolleigh.blogspot.com/2009/09/turning-over-old-leaf.html I think it's beautiful.

2010 is going to be a very good year for photography. Especially when I can fit back into those jeans. ©Carol Leigh

More blurry trees . . .

It was foggy this morning so I went for a walk around the block really early to take advantage of the light and worked on the trees again. Beautifully quiet time of day -- just me and the garbage truck! Here are the latest incarnations. ©Carol Leigh

Trees on the move

Seeing some recent photos posted by Marianne Skov Jensen on her blog, I was inspired to revisit moving my camera while exposing the scene. I often do this in horizontal fashion when at the beach, sweeping my camera from left to right (or vice-versa) for a landscape shot, but haven't done much with vertical subjects. On my walk around the block today, I was taken by how dark the foreground trees were and how light was the background. I set my camera on aperture priority, selecting f/25 for my lens opening. At ISO 100, this required a 1-second exposure. I warmed up by simply moving my camera up and down and then, when I felt loose and easy, clicked the shutter. Although I kind of like this shot, I know I can do better. My shutter speed was probably longer than it needed to be, so I'll give this another go next time I take a walk. ©Carol Leigh

A walk around the block . . .

It was a foggy morning but Tracy's Fuji cherry tree looked pretty good in full bloom. ©Carol Leigh

A walk around the block . . .

On our walk this morning, Chris found a twig that had two pine cones attached. "You've trained me well!" he said. "This would be good to photograph." One of the many reasons I love this guy. ©Carol Leigh

Snowy drive-by shot . . .

Well, it sort of looks like snow . . . This began as an intentionally blurred photo, taken from the car as we drove home yesterday afternoon. And then I began playing around with it today in Photoshop and accidentally flattened the layers and saved it, so I have no record of everything I did! I like the look of this shot. Today. I may hate it in a week, wondering what the heck was I thinking, but today it's good. Too bad I don't remember how I did it! Carol Leigh

Spring

A lone tree stands out well against various shades of green. I'm still processing my drive-by photos that I took on Thursday and am particularly pleased with this one. An exposure of 1/8 second combined with shooting from a moving car means nothing is in focus! Yet I still have a recognizable impression of the scene, which I just love. ©Carol Leigh

Motion in motion . . .

In my current online photo class my students were working on creating a feeling of motion or movement in their photographs. I was thinking of them today as I photographed through the car window. We traveled inland from the coast through Yamhill County, which is beautifully rural and beautifully green. Orchards of nut trees caught my eye with their repeating patterns, strong lines in the tree trunks, and contrast. This is too much fun! ©Carol Leigh

Trees at Ona Beach

Heading north on the coast highway, there's a little group of trees I've wanted to try shooting as we drive past. This is the best I've ever done with them. You can see the trees, the sand, the ocean, and the sky. All is light and bright, which is exactly how the day felt to me. ©Carol Leigh

Tree at the Port of Alsea

A rain- and wind-free day at last! I went over to the Port of Alsea to see what I could find, and liked the look of the bare branches of this tree. I also altered it a bit in the computer later to create this photomontage: http://carolleigh.blogspot.com, which I think looks a bit more dramatic. ©Carol Leigh