Quick Pics

A few quick pics from this week.

Sunflower with a busy bee - Leica D-Lux 4

Abstract Sculpture - Leica D-Lux 4 - Adobe CS5 and Topaz Labs-Detail-2

Scratching a Itch - Leica D-Lux4 - Nik Software Color Efex Pro

First shot with Pentax Optio W90 that I just purchased to use in the pool. No raw just jpg but a very robust, waterproof to 20 feet and shockproof to boot. Very useful when you have little ones around who want to take pictures too.

Pillar Point Harbor

A gorgeous summer day on the Northern California Coast - A visit to Pillar Point Harbor, Princeton by the Sea. A lovely lunch, good company and some pictures, a perfect day. All photographs were taken with the Leica M-9 and post processed using Adobe Lightroom 3.0.

Looking through the harbor docks towards the breakwater.

The breakwater provides a nice place for visiting boats to anchor.

Here is a video slide show highlighting some of the pictures taken on this day. They were prepared in Adobe Lightroom 3.0 slide show module. If you are using a computer with out flash support or a Apple I-Pad and would like to see the video click here.

Contrasting Light

More Leica D-Lux-4 pictures taken the week of August 8-14th. Starting with these roses taken through some trees as I peered into this hidden garden. The image was captured with a manual exposure setting of -1 and 2/3. I used this setting so that the light coming off the flowers would not be blown out and to enhance the darkness behind the flowers. Processed using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS5.

A old sink that had been discarded beside the road. The sink is highlighted by the filtered light coming through some trees and rust in contrast to the original color.

A peaceful creek setting taken mid day again I used a manual exposure setting of -1.0.

I located this lizard lounging on the bank of a pond and slowly got close enough to get this shot without disturbing him. I try not to disturb wildlife when taking pictures if at all possible.

Here are a few black and white photographs that were processed using Silver Efex Pro. The highlights in the boys hair where heightened using Color Efex Pro 3 and applying the Glamour Glow Filter.

A pond scene with the dark water contrasted by the sun drenched foliage, make for a interesting picture with reflections highlighting the water.

Dark to light gives depth to this picture as the strong light at the rear of this picture draws ones eyes from the front to the rear. I metered on the subjects face and shirt and it worked out well.

Using Light

Today's pictures were taken with the Leica D-Lux 4 and concentrates on light and how it impacts your pictures.

This flower picture was taken in program mode at minus 2 exposure. The result is that the flower itself that was strongly over exposed compared to the background is now properly exposed and the background is under exposed and the results are what I was visualizing when I took it.

I this picture the available light was bright sunlight that was filtered through the trees and nicely highlighted these leaves. The details in the leaves were brought out with Topaz Labs Detail 2.

This picture was taken in extreme lighting conditions and then processed with Nik Software Color Effects Pro. I used the glamor glow filter to accentuated the warm colors and darken the background for further contrast in the image. The way the light fell on this fern again called for under exposing the photo by -2 1/3 so that I didn't blowout the highlights.

This last picture of a boy and his dog works well in black and white as well as color. The strong contrast of light coming through the trees and reflecting off of the leaves help make this picture work. Photo was processed in Nik Software Silver Efex Pro.