Photo 109 - 365 Vic

This was a very sad week for me and my co-workers and photography friends. We lost our good friend Vic who passed away suddenly on Tuesday, December 13, 2011. He was a good man who had a zest for life and was, as someone in our photography group put it, "a wicked good photographer". He would send us "photos of the day" almost everyday. Some were shot that day, others were from his files, but they were always great photos. He had a habit of photographing alligators. We called him our alligator hunter.

In honor of Vic I am posting a photo I took of him in September. I had just gotten my new camera and he was happy for me, knowing how much fun I was having with it.

It is sad knowing he won't be coming back to the office, knowing he won't be meeting with our photography group. Not hearing his chuckle.

Bye Vic. We will miss ya!  

Photos 107 & 108 Portrait of an Action Figure (or two)

I am working on a little project for my Nephew. He is 5 years old and is about to have his bedroom completely decorated in Star Wars stuff! How awesome is that? So, I took some portraits of Star Wars action figures that I will print out and frame for him. He will need something on his bedroom walls, right?

Photo 106 - 365 Purple Lantana

One of the things I love about Lantana bushes is that they bloom for so long. My purple Lantana bush is finally producing some pretty flower clusters. I still have 2 or 3 other bushes that have flowers though the cold nights are starting to get to them.  So, I have a little bit of color in my yard right now which is nice.

Photo settings are: f/5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 800.  This was taking just after sunset this evening. Enjoy!

Photo 105 - 365 Maple Leaf

Look what I found today! Just gorgeous! The only leaf on our little Maple tree that had completely turned. I love it!

Photo 104 - 365 Window View

This is the view out my window today, November 5, 2011. The leaves are turning and falling. They cover the ground in our back yard. It's still early yet, the only tree that's really turning color is the Tulip Poplar. It's the giant yellow tree in the photo. I am looking forward to the leaves on the little Maple tree turning. Hopefully it will be soon.

I plan to take this shot again as the other trees start to turn. Also, need some practice with my lighting. I haven't taken a whole lot of photos looking outside from the inside. The lighting isn't quite right.

Photo settings: f/5.6, 1/200 sec., ISO 800, wide angle lens

Photos 101 - 103 of 365 Grapes and Bottle

I was playing around with the Artistic settings on my camera and took several shots of a bottle and some glass grapes hanging in the foreground.

The first one is with the camera set on "pinhole". This one shows a true color of the items although they are a little light.

The second photo was on the "pop art" setting. This one boosts the color so that it is more vibrant.

And the third was with the camera set on "dynamic". The dynamic setting is interesting. It makes shaded areas more shady and light areas lighter but it also adjusts the color and seems to make blurry items more blurry and focused items a little more sharp.

I think they are all interesting photos. I really had a hard time choosing a favorite to post for a contest. I ended up posting the last one. I think it works best with the theme which is selective focus. 

I haven't been taking many photos lately. But I just love my new camera. Every time I take it out of the camera bag I just smile. :) It's silly, I know, but it's just a neat camera.

Photo 100 - 365 Mushroom

I have been chasing mushrooms since photo 1 of this blog. Boy, that sounds wrong doesn't it???
Anyway, Every time I saw a mushroom I was kicking myself for not having my camera. Last week we had some come up in our yard. It was weird, a lot of houses had them out by the road. I had never seen them to prominent before and then all of the sudden they were everywhere. Well, the mushrooms in my yard were just not in the right place for a good photo so I gave up on them. This weekend my family and I went out to a local battlefield location and just off the trail was this mushroom. Perfect! Nice background, no road or tall grass to ruin the photo. I sat my camera almost to the ground and took the shot. Loved it!

Photo settings are: f/6.3, 1/200 sec., ISO 800
I think my ISO was too high. I had just taken some photos in the shadows and didn't bring it back to 400 before taking this shot. I still think it is great. The lighting is good and the focus is good. Not easy when you are basically just pointing and clicking. I couldn't even see the screen on my camera, just could see the general location of the mushroom.