wood fence (horizontal/vertical)

The fences are back! I was out with the boys working with DS on his science project. We were trying to geocache. What we didn't realize is that auto GPS units are not good for this. We got to the site, or at least as close as the road would take us, then we were on our own. Not finding any caches didn't seem to bother Ryan. And we found a cool trail in our development. I didn't even know it was there!



This photo is from the trail. I should mention that I didn't feel like dragging my dSLR so this is my Olympus Stylus 800. The fence is to keep us from going into the pond and onto private property. I think the threat of alligators & snakes would keep me from the water. I tried the velvinator to boost the color but it couldn't do anything with the dormant cypress in the background. They are just an ugly gray/brown in the winter. Toy camera to the rescue!



shutter speed 1/640~f/2.8~8 mm~iso 64



 

palm trees (horizontal/vertical)

More photos from University of Tamp (it was gray and miserable and I didn't leave the house :( )This park is right in front of the Hillsborough River. I don't usually think of palm trees and providing much shade, but they seem to do a good job of here. I guess if you plant enough of them. ;)



shutter speed 1/320~f/4~40 mm~iso 100



 

skewy (a different angle)

I am not one for angling my camera. Heck, I barely remember to rotate for portrait. The other days I say Andy standing by the palm. I thought it would make a good shot a grabbed my camera. The problem was, it was still on my tripod (ok, it's there 24/7) and I knew I would have time to take it off or reposition the camera. So I tilted the whole thing and this is what I got. I like it. It's not something that I will do a lot but something a different angle can be fun.



shutter speed 1/125~f/4~43 mm~iso 100



PP ~ crop, usm, vignette

bamboo (horizontal/vertical)

It doesn't get much for vertical than bamboo. Did you know that bamboo is actually a grass? And the largest variety can grow over a meter a day? This isn't the largest variety but it does grow quickly. Bamboo is becoming very important in the building industry. Bamboo floors are really cool. 



I felt a little uninspired with this pic. I thought it would look cool as a black & white. But that didn't leave me with a wow. I couldn't really think of what to do with it. None of the filters or actions I have did much to alter the look. Maybe I should have stuck with the fences?



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/60~f/4~exposure bias 0.0~48 mm~iso 100~manual



  



 

long white fence (horizontal/vertical)

Sorry, another fence photo. Tomorrow I am going to try to get downtown and find something other than fences. ;) BTW, yesterday's photos was not a fence, but the grille to my father's buick.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/50~f/16~exposure bias 0.0~68mm~iso 100~manual



sooc







velvinator XXX action







b&w conversion







toy camera action 



  

buick (horizontal/vertical)

My battery died before I could do too much today. But I did manage the one shot I wanted to get. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was not very sharp.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/80~f/4~exposure bias 0.0~53 mm~iso 100~manual



sharpened a bit



  



filter-neon glow & color 



  



filter-poster edges 



 

wonky fence (horizontal/vertical)

OK, so now I think the theme is more about finding strong horizontal and vertical lines. I had some ideas but nothing was happening around the house. I walked up the block for these pics of the fence around the development. It doesn't look so wonky when you are driving by at 40 mph. I took all kind of shots placing with aperture and exposure. In  the end I like this one the best. Since the vegetation was nothing spectacular, I opted to convert to B&W. 



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/8~f/22~exposure bias 0.0~128 mm~iso 100~manual

queen palms (horizontal/vertical)

Once again I am sort of confused by the weekly theme. So here is my take. The same shot of my queen palms, one vertical and one horizontal. Both are sooc, the sky was so blue today. I also used a polarizing filter.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/400~f/3.5~exposure bias 0.0~40 mm~iso 100~manual







 

enjoy (words)

Andy loves to ride his bike. He would do it all day long if I let him. 



 

climbing the needle

I started this collection of wire buildings. I only have 4 and my son thinks they are his toys. I found an imaginext guy hanging off of one of the towers the other day. I thought it might be fun to try some shots. It didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I'll try again another day. 



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/80~f/4~exposure bias 0.0~77 mm~iso 100~manual



  



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/80~f/4.1~exposure bias 0.0~40 mm~iso 92~manual



 

library (words)

So where would you find a bazillion words? The library. I headed over to our regional library. I like the design of the building so I took some photos of it. Then I blended one with name of the building.

fountain blend (words)

I took photos of the fountain to practice Week 2 of 12 Weeks to Better Photos (yep, a day late and dollar short). It was kind of cool to see what happens when you change the shutter. I went to the cleaners, simple uninspired sign. And the graffiti was on an electrical box near the fountain. I liked the fountain photos the best but since it wasn't part of the theme, I decided to blend the other 2 photos of words with it.



 

sunflare

I didn't go anywhere today & I didn't think about any words in the house. Maybe tomorrow.



Today's photo was actually shot yesterday and it took a few days to get it. Finally, I sent up continuous shoot rather than guess when the wind might move the palm fronds. I did crop but this is essentially sooc.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/80~f/11~exposure bias 0.0~40 mm~iso 100~manual

mcallister's (words)

This is a blend of 2 photos. I went to McAllister's Deli. My friend Bonnie raved about them and their sweet tea. The tea is good but I don't think it is the best I have ever had. I tend to go to McAllister's on Monday before I go to the chiropractor, otherwise it's a bit of a drive. 

mcallister's (words)

This is a blend of 2 photos. I went to McAllister's Deli. My friend Bonnie raved about them and their sweet tea. The tea is good but I don't think it is the best I have ever had. I tend to go to McAllister's on Monday before I go to the chiropractor, otherwise it's a bit of a drive. 

mcallister's (words)

This is a blend of 2 photos. I went to McAllister's Deli. My friend Bonnie raved about them and their sweet tea. The tea is good but I don't think it is the best I have ever had. I tend to go to McAllister's on Monday before I go to the chiropractor, otherwise it's a bit of a drive. 

stop (words)

OK, words has thrown me. I wasn't sure if we are supposed to make some words and photograph them, find random words or what. So I took my camera out today and took some shots of words. It's was bitter cold (for Florida) so I didn't get many.



BTW, the sign is that crooked.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/320~f/4.5~exposure bias 0.0~150 mm~iso 100~manual



All I did was straighten up the pic a bit, otherwise this is sooc.



 

nunnery (photoshop)

Oops. I'm always a couple of days off schedule, still working on last week's theme.



Here is another shot of the monastery. I like the sun shades on the front of the building. Did the architect mean them to represent the nuns' wimpel? It is something I would have if I had been the designer and makes me smile.The day was gray so I opted for a B&W conversion. OK, and the building is a kind of faded aqua which reminds me more of cheap beach motel than a convent.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/500~f/3.5~exposure bias 0.0~40 mm~iso 100~manual



First shown is the original, then the conversion.



  



 

camellia (photoshop)

I may be wrong but I think this is a camellia plant. This is similar to the one that we get tea leaves from. I have never seen one so big, it was 10-12 feet tall. They look a bit like roses but have no fragrance, or at least not much of one. I used to have one but it lost in the war of the weeds. I had to go up to St Leo and the Holy Name Monastery to find this one. I felt a bit uncomfortable walking around with my camera so I left the tripod in the car. I just couldn't get a very sharp pics of these.




Here is the first original.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/100~f/4.0~exposure bias 0.0~84 mm~iso 100~manual







Next are some edits in photoshop.



  



  



  



Here is another shot. First the original, then the edits.



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/200~f/4.1~exposure bias 0.0~96 mm~iso 100~manual



  



 

stubborn red maple (photoshop)

Here is a photo I took the other day. (Today was icky and rainy.) I liked that there were still a few leaves left on the tree from last year and the new buds are forming at the same time.



 



Olympus Evolt-410~Olympus Lens 40-150mm 3.5-5.6~shutter speed 1/320~f/4.5~exposure bias 0.0~150 mm~iso 100~manual



Then I played around in PS.