Typical June

June in my neighborhood is a mixture of sun, wind and cloudy cool to warm conditions. This makes for some interesting photographic opportunities. These pictures were all taken on Saturday morning and highlight how weather conditions may give you some interesting results.
Our friend Martin a lovely horse is in the shadows of the tree with strong back lighting caused by the sun being magnified through the foggy clouds. It makes for a interesting look with strong contrast between colors and strong light.


The next two pictures were converted using a solarizing filter and then converted to black and white. The picture was taken at the same time as that of Martin the horse and was your everyday shot of someone walking up the trail. Ho-hum I thought as I took the shot but it does have some interesting aspects when seen through a more artistic perspective.

The open field and hillside highlight the weather conditions and the ever changing colors exhibited at this time of year.

Flower with its paper like leaves is contrasted by the gravel background.

Macro mode was used to take this photo of a bright red of this bottle brush and then some glow was added in photoshop CS5. All photos in this post were taken with the Leica D-Lux 4.

Nik Software Response

Here is Nik Softwares response to my question about error code 151:

"Thank you for contacting Nik Software.  Error code -151 means that something has occurred in your system which disconnects our activation server.  Usually this is due to a system update.  This can be resolved by restarting your machine.  In some instances, you may need to restart twice after installing updates.  Restarting your machine will re-connect the activation server and resolve error code -151."
If you have any questions you can contact them here:

Nik Software, Inc.  |   Photography first®

7588 Metropolitan Drive  |   San Diego, CA 92108
Tel - 619.725.3150   |   Fax - 619.725.3151
supportus@niksoftware.com  |  www.niksoftware.com

Black and White Conversion

Sharing some black and white images converted in Silver Efex Pro 2. Photos take with either the Leica M-9 of Leica D-Lux 4. I have been very happy with the results using Silver Efex Pro 2. The only issue I have run into was after using the program for sometime now it suddenly said that the demo version time had ended and to enter in the product serial numbers to register. I did and the program said that it couldn't authenticate the serial numbers and gave a error code of 151. It was the weekend so no tech support was available form Nik Software. Sent a e-mail outlining the problem and then went on line and searched for error code 151.
It seems that there were a lot of others having similar issues with Nik Software. After reading a number of posts on on-line forums I decided to try to rectify the problem by uninstalling the software and re installing. This worked and hopefully it will take of the issue from here on out. I will keep you all posted on my experience with this software.

 Leica M-9 Stanford Shopping Center.

 Leica M-9 close up.

 Leica D-Lux 4 taken on a recent rainy day.

 Leica D-Lux 4 the rain moving in- interesting light

Porsche 912 processed to give a old film look accented with the use of negative space. Leica D-Lux 4.

Thought I would share a interesting Leica video I recently saw.


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M 9 and Errands

I was out running some errands on Friday and took some pictures with my Leica M-9 as I visited Stanford Mall and downtown Menlo Park. Some of today's pictures are in a 16x9 format, I'm experimenting with this format for use in video displays.

 A great bakery that serves sandwiches, goodies and custom coffee drinks. (16x9)

Local photographers checking out settings before capturing the display window.

 What a display of some very expensive purses.

The courtyard with all its spring plantings.(16x9)

Close up of some lovely roses.(16x9)

Early morning shoppers taking a break.(16x9)

No visit to the mall is complete without a stop at the Apple Store.

While downtown in Menlo Park I took a minute to grab a few shots of the Porsche 911T that has seen better days.

 Parked under a shady tree this old Porsche is still in daily use.

A rear engined car this black and white rendition makes for a interesting image. All of the photos for this posting were processed in Adobe Lightroom 3. Plugins used were Topaz Labs and Nik Software.

Mid Spring

It is now the middle of spring and the deep greens seen earlier in the season now are changing to gold. Lots of clouds, blue skies and gold to green grasses highlight this dead tree.
The photo below is in the same area the dirt trail leads the eye through the photograph.

Some black and white photos taken later in the afternoon.

 Looking down on to the valley.

The sign in this next picture tells it all.

Pictures of a lovely new Ferrari I saw in a local parking lot.

 First details lovely wheel calipers and prancing horse badge.

 The engine bay taken through its clear engine cover.

Lastly the lovely car itself.

Spring Colors and Textures

Springtime in the valley has arrived the flowers are starting to bloom showing off their magnificent colors. The grass and trees are all turning a rich shade of green as new growth emerges everywhere.
It is a good time to grab your camera and head out the door for a little walk to grab some shots. All of the following pictures were taken with the Leica D-Lux 4 and post processed using Adobe Lightroom 3. A number of the pictures were further enhanced using Adobe CS5 and plug-ins from Nik Software and Topaz Software.

Falling away not much time left for this fence.

Clouds, blue skies and open space highlight the little cottage.

Half way up the Windy Hill Trail looking back towards the south bay.

This garden is just overloaded with colors and textures.

Growing wild in Windy Hill.

Looking down the trail into a clearing what a idyllic setting complete with swing.

Oaks

This week I concentrated shooting Oak Trees as they start showing their new spring growth and color. All photos were taken with the Leica D-Lux 4 and was post processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0.

A cluster of oaks showing off all of their new green. 

 Windy Hill Preserve Oak.

 Climbing out of the shadows.

 Fresh look for a old tree.

Solarized view.

Lonely Oak.