Some Examples

A few new examples taken with the Leica M-9

 A close-up of a old fire hydrant rendered in black and white using Silver Efex Pro.

A small cat peeking over the fence at my dogs, processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.2.
Now some pictures taken with the Leica D-Lux 4.

A close-up of that demonstrates the clarity you can obtain with this little camera.

A old abandoned shed that has seen better days, processed in Silver Efex Pro and then Color Efex Pro to add a custom vignetting.

I saw this maple tree which is changing color to red while losing its leaves. The contrast with the green in the rest of the garden is highlighted using Color Efex Pros brilliance and glamor glow filters.

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.

Happy Hollow

Thought I would share some pictures from our day trip to visit Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose, California. The park has just reopened after a major renovation and the results are very pleasing to adults and the children who visit. The weather was beautiful and our grandson had a wonderful time.
All the photographs were taken with my Leica M-9 with a 35mm Summarit 2.5 lens and later post processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0 and Topaz filter Adjust 4.  The challenge for me was in using just a 35mm lens and to see if it is possible to get some interesting shots without the use of a telephoto lens. For me the answer was yes there where times I would have like to have a longer lens but having to move and plan my shots more was a small price to pay for a lighter load.

All the children seemed to love the chance to intermingle with the animals.

A black and white close up that was converted using Nik Software Silver Efex Pro.

Roller coaster madness the small roller coaster provided plenty of thrill for all ages.

Checkout those facial expressions as usual click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

There are lots of interactive educational exhibits that allow for the capture of some candid pictures.

Interesting Week

It has been a interesting week with some interesting images. This week I'm highlighting the Leica M-9 and some of the more unusual or sometimes different and interesting images I acquired. They were taken during my daily walk, trip over the Golden Gate Bridge and a stop at the local repair garage.
The picture to your right needs no introduction, the Golden Gate Bridge is world famous and I took this shot from the vista point on the north side of the bay. It was one of those days where the skies were clear and cloudless with only a hint of lingering haze on the horizon.
Of course anytime you stop at any of the vista points there are lots of opportunities to get some photos of others enjoying the view. Here is another photographer setting up his camera in the middle of others trying to look at the view.

There is a bronze statue of a sailor in the middle of the vista point and people were lining up to get their pictures taken with it. These two men caught my eye as they were playing to their friends camera as I also took this shot.

On we went up the coast towards Jenner and Bodega Bay where we stopped for lunch, the fish was excellent. here is a decaying pier being used by the seagulls. I really like the simplicity of the picture and the way the pier gives depth to the photograph.

In the restaurant we meet a couple visiting from Germany with their 7 month old daughter I asked if I could take a picture. In these days and times when it comes to young children I would rather ask than to make people uncomfortable about having their children photographed.

After getting their permission I took this photo which I later converted to black and white using Nik Software plug-in Silver Efex pro.
These next pictures are from my daily walks and the first one highlights the thoughts of the owner of the property.

It seems they don't want anyone on their property and haven't wanted so for a very long time. In the next picture I saw this on the side of the trail and liked the texture and colors on the discarded planter.

This last picture I got at the local garage of a vintage Maserati it was parked in the middle of some modern prestige type vehicles but stood out like a sore thumb.

All photographs were post processed using the new Adobe Lightroom 3.

Lighting Effects

Pictures taken this week in different lighting conditions using the Leica D-Lux 4.

A field of wild flowers shot from under the tree line and looking toward the hills. Processed in Adobe Lightroom 2.7 and Topaz filter Adjust 4.

A darkened sky highlighted with Nik Software Color Effect Pro to give the look of night time with moonlight accentuating the highlights.

A tree lined and sunlit country road processed with Nik Software's glamor glow filter adding warmth to the picture.

A sunlit meadow with contrasting shadows was converted from color using Nik Software Silver Effect Pro to give this photo a nice antique look.
All of these pictures were taken with the purpose to highlight shadows and color contrasts to hopefully make them more interesting to the viewer. The use of filters in the processing of these pictures was used only accentuate those highlights.

Visualization

Visualization what we see and what we capture in a picture may be many different things. Today I saw a bunch of flowers laying on a log and they had obviously seen better days. In my my minds eye I thought that they told a story that I wanted to capture. Here are the steps I took to transform a image into what my minds eye saw.

This is the image as it came straight from the Leica D-Lux 4 camera and was downloaded into Adobe Lightroom 3.0 beta 2.

Here the image is after cropping and tonal adjustment in Adobe CS4 to brighten and to add contrast to the image.

This version of the image is the result of adding a glamor glow effect in Nik Software Color Efex Pro. Softening and adding highlights to the picture.

This version of the image is after adding another effect in Nik Software Color Efex Pro called Lighten - Darken Center. It allows you to adjust the light on your image where you want it. In this photo I have used it to darken the area around the flowers and stems.

For another different look I processed the photo to show it as a black and white image once again in Nik Software using Silver Efex Pro.
My minds eye had seen something not so readily apparent to the casual observer. That even thou these once vibrant flowers had out lived their use to someone and had been discarded as trash. They still have a natural beauty that is worth recognizing and collecting as a prized photograph.
If you like this type of post where I show how I arrived at a final image or images, please let me know by posting a comment. Thanks for taking a look at my blog.