Al's 2010 Virtual Photo Walk

Meditative

alwilliamsct — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:44:41 +0000

“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.”

Buddha quotes (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

Sorry to have been away for a bit over a week but it has been a difficult one. It started with a complete lack of ideas as to tackle this theme. My wife and I have had this meditating frog for many years and I knew that it was what I wanted to work with but I just wasn’t happy with what I was turning out. We then had a series of medical issues that all chained together and make the week seem longer than it was. Everyone is healthy now so I figured it was time to post something up. So I give you Karmat the Frog.

I made a selection of the background, applied a heavy Gaussian blur and then applied the poster edge effect and thought it looked groovy. (queue the sitar music) enjoy and let me know what you think.

Snowy Arc

alwilliamsct — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:58:15 +0000

In the wintertime, in the snow country, citrus fruit was so rare, and if you got one, it was better than ambrosia.

~James Earl Jones

I came across this quote tonight and thought it was fitting for the cold snap we are in. Living in the north east I am used to it. I feel for the people who live in the citrus growing states on the east coast. The damage both environmental and economical to the farmers will take a long time to recover.

The image I thought fit into the arc and cold category. I applied the dry brush filter and a frame. Now I need to get out and get some more shots to work on for the coming week.

“green-eye” removal from pet pictures

alwilliamsct — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:29:33 +0000

“help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.”
~Bob Barker

Emily before the "green-eye" removal

So I had this picture of my 6-year-old Cocker Spaniel, Emily, that I thought looked OK but needed to get rid of the “green-eye”. I watched the video Matt has up in the subscriber area at http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com and decided to give it a go. If you are not a subscriber, you may want to check it out. There is a wealth of information available from both the subscriber area and the magazine itself.

Emily gave us quite a scare about 2 weeks ago when she became suddenly ill. As anyone with a pet can tell you, you know when something is wrong. We took her to the vet and she had to stay for a couple of days but is home now and doing much better. She was diagnosed with Hemorrhagic GastroEnteritis (HGE) which can be fatal if not treated promptly. If you would like more information on the condition you can find it here (http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseasesh/a/HGEindogs.htm) or contact your vet.

As I stated above, she is much better now and more like her old self. Here is the finished product after removing the “green-eye”.

Emily after the "green-eye" removal

Cold 1

alwilliamsct — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:25:19 +0000

Forgot to post this up last night. Not much creativity flowing today so here you go with a cold shot.

Pattern

alwilliamsct — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:42:40 +0000

Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern.

Alfred North Whitehead

Patterns appear all around us. Even our daily routine is usually a pattern of sorts. If we pause and look at things closely we can sometimes see the patterns they form. I took this shot of a Japanese Koto and decided it would be a good example. Even the music that it can produce has the same potential. The photo was taken with these settings shutter speed 1/40 sec, f=3.6, and ISO 160. Post processing was a crop to straighten, convert to black and white, sepia filter at 60%, and a frame with drop shadow. Please let me know what you think.

Don’t look down

alwilliamsct — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:50:05 +0000

A fear of heights is illogical. A fear of falling, on the other hand, is prudent and evolutionary.

~Sheldon on the TV show The Big Bang Theory.

When I was a Paramedic years ago, we used to joke that it wasn’t the fall that killed you; it was the sudden stop at the end. I found myself at a vantage point to grab this shot for the looking down theme and thought it would work nicely. I wanted to get even more of a feeling of height so I used the correct camera distortion in PSE to distort the image more and gave it a tighter crop. I also punched up the vibrancy and saturation in RAW to try and make it pop a bit more. I apologize if I induce any vertigo, but if so I think I accomplished my goal.

Two themes in one, by accident

alwilliamsct — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:56:43 +0000

Well my family and I went to the Connecticut Science Center today to check it out. It is a neat place, especially for kids. While touring the facility in search of shots to fit the themes for this month. I found 3 bowling pins in the sports display that I thought I would do something with in Elements. Upon returning home and retrieving the pictures from the day I notice that the pin shot blocked part of the archery sign above it. So no post processing done I thought I would share it with you. A trio of pins in an arc with the word arc accidentally captured. I will have some more shots up later in the week after I work them a bit more.

Food, Glorious Food

alwilliamsct — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:09:12 +0000

So the other day my wife buys a book called “500 Things to eat before it’s too late” by Jane and Michael Stern. We like to find unique eateries and local flavors on our road trips. As we were perusing the pages and making mental notes of places to try on our next big trip, we see places in our local area to try. Much to my delight is number 12 on their list of national best hamburgers. I have been enjoying Shady Glen cheeseburgers as long as I can remember. There is just something about the way they crisp up the edges of the cheese. If you find yourself in the Manchester, CT area give them a try.

Just a few notes on the photos, the sign had the saturation bumped up a bit, a vignette added and the colorful center faded photo filter applied in PSE. The burger picture is untouched, the burger on the other hand was not so lucky.

Let the fun begin

alwilliamsct — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:04:14 +0000

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

Although I have not read any of Henry Miller’s works, I feel that the above quote sums up the objective of this blog for 2010. In the coming year I hope to entertain you with my views of this great big world of ours. There will be days when I only post a photo and others may contain an attempt at creative writing, nuggets of knowledge, and a quote I found some meaning in that particular day.

I feel a door was the best way to kick things off this year as we never know what’s on the other side till we open it. So I ask you, my friend, put on your virtual coat and hat and follow me through the door on my photo walk.

Getting ready for a fun year ahead

alwilliamsct — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:02:02 +0000

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Mrs. Clause was good to me this year and I am now the proud owner of a Panasonic FZ35. I wanted something light weight that I could carry around with me and not weigh me down like the DSLR set up does. Of course I will still use it for the times I need a large high quality print but for the most part the new one will suit my needs. This one will give me the manual control that I like to have and RAW for when I want it. So I have decided that this blog will only use shots from the new camera and of course editing in Elements. I am still learning the controls so it will be interesting to see how I progress with it throughout the year. I am looking forward to the other bloggers posts in this year’s virtual walk.