Night lights

I'm kinda going through a faze at the moment of trying to catch the late afternoon (early evening) dark blue/purple sky. Unfortunately i didn't actually succeed with these pics, but you can kinda see what i was trying to do. I was a bit too late tonight so it was a bit too dark and black. The first pic is looking over the soccer field where my DD plays. You can just see the outline of the trees against the sky. These are Norfolk Pines and Warrnambool has rows of them down all the main streets. The second one is my car - notice how the bumper is now fixed after DS's little accident.


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Road to nowhere

Well actually it is a road to a place called Mailor's Flat, but trust me, there isn't much at Mailor's Flat. It certainly is flat though. Over the last few days we have had rain on and off and the clouds have been fabulous. I couldn't resist taking yet more pics of them.

iso 400, f 18, ss 1/200

Rain

Last night it finally rained. It was lovely. Unfortunately today the rain moved to the south and most of it fell over the sea.

This is an old pic of my agapanthus when they were in flower. Don't you see these much in the US? They are very, very common here. They come in either white or purple. Have a nice weekend.

Old flowers

This is the remains of my Agapanthus flowers. i usually chop them off, but I want to collect some seeds.

iso 100, f 5, ss 1/80

This is one from a few days ago. It was taken after sunset, with just the last remaining light in the sky. You should all give this a try, it was heaps of fun. I had no idea how it would turn out, but I'm thrilled with the result. The light on the island was from cars driving down the road behind where I was set up.

iso 200, f 5, ss 30 sec, tripod, noiseware

Yesterday was the first day i have missed since the POTD started - kinda a bit sad, but I had to get my BAS (tax) done. I'm sure it won't be the last day i miss. Thanks for the comments about the car pics. It was one cool car - and in such good condition - I wish my body looked that good.

MGB MKII

As luck would have it, this car parked next to me when I was in town today. I just googled and found out that these cars were first made in 1967 - OMG it's as old as I am. I only had my 70-200 lens, so i had to stand out on the road just to get this much in. The cloud reflections looked kinda cool IRL, but I'm not sure if they work in the photo.

Thanks for the comments about yesterdays pics. The tree with the roots is a Morton Bay Fig. They have the most incredible root system. I'll try and take a pic of the whole tree to show you.

Trees

This afternoon I went to the botanic gardens to take some pics. It's really more like an arboretum, than a botanic gardens, coz its mainly just lawn and lots of big old trees. Fabulous place to take the kids when you need to run some energy out of them.

The Old Woollen Mill

This is part of the old Woollen mill - it used to be quite a big industry here, but this one closed down years ago and it is now being pulled down and turned into housing. I wish I could get close to it to take some pics, but it has a thumping big fence around it. I had to use my 70-200 lens to get this shot.

iso 400, f 9, ss 1/400

Sicky girl

Well the camping went well last night. The girls loved it and I managed to last out until about 4am. Then i tag teamed with DH and he went out there for the rest of the night. Unfortunately Erica andd Chris both came down with a bug this afternoon. They were all feverish and sleepy. Joey had the same thing last week and it only lasted a day, so hopefully they will be better tomorrow. I couldn't resist taking this pic of Erica sleep cuddling her teddy bear. Kids always look so gorgeous when they are asleep. I just used the on-board flash so the pic is a bit washed out.

Camping

This afternoon i suggested to the kids that we go camping in the backyard. Chris wasn't keen, but the girls decided that they were old enough to sleep out by themselves. That plan lastest until about dark, and then it was, "mum we're scared, come sleep with us'. It's not that I mind, I just like to be prepared, with a very soft mattress. They are asleep now, so I have snuck away for a while. Maybe I can convince DH to go sleep with them.

If the tiara fit...

...wear it. Tonight Erica decided she was a princess, a fairy princess apparently, complete with wand and tiara. The pic isn't great - I really need to learn how to use my flash, but I thought she looked cute. Have a great weekend everyone.

Reflections

No emotions, but plenty of reflections.

If portable storage devices had emotions...

Do you think his one is happy. It's kinda hard to interpret his feelings, with the fixed stare and straight mouth and all. Okay i know, It's late and i think I'm going a little crazy. but you guys can see it too, can't you...

Shock and Indignation

This is Joey's reaction then I told her that we had none of her favourite biscuits left and that she would have to have a different type. Do you think she might be a bit of a drama queen?

iso 400, f 2, ss 1/640, 50mm lens

Frustration

This afternoon my kids were playing the restruant game. Erica was the waiter and she was collecting everyone's order. Apparently I wasn't playing the game properly because all I wanted to do was take a photo of her. In the end we both won. She got my order and I got the photo. the pic isn't real sharp and a bit grainy - but I kinda like it like that. I desaturated the second one using the technique posted on the message board afew months back. I must apologise to the poster, but i can't rember who it was. Thank you anyway.

iso 400, f 2, ss 1/800, 50mm lens

Runaway Cat

No sun here today, grey skies all day, so I thought I would try something completely different. This little cat belongs to our next-door-neighbours, but she spends alot of time at our house. The kids named her Runaway, because that's what she would do when they tried to catch her. She is getting much more friendly now and she even lets then carry her around. She is a gorgeous little thing. I wasn't sure how to crop the photos, the ears kinda get in the way of putting the eyes on a third line. Thanks for looking.

iso 800, f 1.8, ss 1/250, 50mm lens

Childers Cove

This afternoon I took a drive to the coast about 30 minutes east of here. The coastline around there is really spectacular. it is even better a bit further east of here. The first two are at a place called Childers Cove. I really like how the late afternoon sun makes the cliffs glow. I took the third one on the way there. It is dairy farming country around here and we are in the middle of a drought so the only green paddocks are the ones with irrigators. I used Krisztina's B&W conversion. The sky looks a bit blah due to the grey skies.

iso 200, f 16, ss 1/80

iso 800, f 16, ss 1/200

iso 200, f 13, ss 1/200

Thank you for all the comments on yesterdays shots. I am lucky to live in such a beautiful place, but I have to admit that its only since I started take landscape pics of it that i have appreciated how lovely it is. The area around my hometown is in a lot of ways much more scenic, all the beaches look like the Levy's, there are rolling green hills and mountains (only little ones though) and lush forests. But now I can see the beauty in the landscape here, even if it is flat and brown.

Post processing, okay I'll fess up and tell you what I do. I kinda feel like a bit of a fraud, coz i'm sure I do lots more PP than most people. Most pics get curves adjust, soft light layer, saturation adjustment and sharpening. But I often also do a multiple layer and or a screen layer, sometimes i adjust the colour balance and levels. Because alot of my shots have a large difference in exposure from the sky to the foreground (and I don't have a grad ND filter - yet), I usually have to adjust them separately, either using Roman's dynamic range or the magnetic lasso tool and feather the edges. So after all that when i'm happy with them i then spend about 10 minutes removing all the dust spots - my sensors are so dirty and when you use a small aperture, the spots just jump out. Basically I play around with them alot so I'm really pleased that you thought they don't look too overdone.

Levy's beach

Today was another beautiful sunny day and I didn't have to work this morning so i went to the beach (as you do). I have never actually been to this beach before, it is really close to where I live - you can see the dunes from my backyard, but it is quite isolated and definitely not safe for swimming. I was amazed how beautiful it was, no seaweed, golden sand - much nicer than the main beach in town. I've been trying to improve my foreground interest, not sure if I have succeeded or not. Also as a spin-off from the poll on the message board, do you think the PPing is too much? Sometimes I'm not sure if I go over the top. All CC welcome and appreciated.


The ss is a bit slow - I forgot that I had my polarising filter on - aarrgghh. One day I'm going to remember everything. Setting for #1, #2, #4 are iso 200, f 18, ss 1/60., #3 iso 200, f 22, ss 1/40.

Thank you for the comments about yesterday's photos. the setting for the sun spot one were iso 100, f 9, ss 1/320. I might try and re shoot this one with a longer ss (and a tripod) to get a larger sun burst.

Sun spot

I took this pic at the beach this afternoon. There is a small hole in the rock,
I lined it up so the sun was coming through the hole. not a great pic, but I
think it is a kinda cool effect.

I just added this one to show you what a beautiful day it was here today. Clear blue skies all day. Hope you guys see some sunshine soon.

Kite surfing

Some more sunset pics at the beach. Kite surfing is pretty popular here, probably coz it is so windy. There was a big difference in the exposure for the sky and the water, so I had to lighten the water to bring out the detail., you can see the white shadow from the feather line (especially in the middle one). I have decided my next equipment purchase is going to be a set of grad ND filters.

Windmill at sunset

iso 800, f 5.6, ss 1/500

ios 800, f 5.6, ss 1/800

Same windmill, taken from two slightly different angles and taken about 10 minutes apart. I am really missing the long twilights we have here in summer. The sun is setting so quickly now. On the first one I used the USM set at about 20/25/0, you can see the white flare above the horizon and around the windmill. The second one I didn't use USM at all. I used neat image to decrease the noise on both. Looking back I could have decreased my iso, I had plenty of ss to play with. The file size is pretty small, so I apologize if they pixelate when enlarged.

Soft water sunset

This is the look I was wanting to get last night, but without a tripod the long ss just wasn't going to happen. So tonight I remembered to take my tripod and headed of to this little rocky beach. To get to it you have to climb down some rather precarious steps and then climb across rocks. At high tide the sea comes almost up to the base of the stairs. Tonight the tide was coming in. So there I was perched on a fairly flat rock, jumping out of the way when ever a big wave came and waiting for it to get dark enough. I have my polarising lens on and the iso set really low to let me get the longer ss. I'm really happy with how they turned out. I haven't gone through them all yet, this was just a random one I decided to pp, so you may well see more of these shots. My inspiration for this was Marc Adamus http://wildphoto.smugmug.com/ This guy is my new idol, imagine being about to shot landscapes like that. I wish.

iso 100, f 20, ss 2 sec, tripod, polarising filter

more sunsets

Just to annoy my DH, here are some more sunset pics. He tells me that he likes them, but that they all look the same. I tell him that he obviously can't see the sublties in the changing light. :) Tonight at sunset the sea had a beautiful silver glow. I wanted to take some long ss, but I left my tripod at home, so this was what I came up with.

Thanks for the advice about yesterdays pic. I'll have more of a play.

Eyes and the dangers of the dodge tool

Today i thought i would have a go at PP'ing eyes. Well i had mixed results. This pic of Chris was pretty sharp and had good catchlights to start with. I used Barbie's tip of using a brush to lighten the eyes and darken the lashes. I think that worked well. in fact I should have stopped there, BUT no, I thought I would try and lighten the dark rings under his eyes (too many late nights). Now the dodge/burn tool has never really been my friend but I was feeling confident. Okay so it didn't work. I have done something really weird to his left eye and it looks like he had a skin condition. Back to the drawing board, but I am a little bit wiser. Funny thing is I didn't even notice it until i loaded the pic on here. I thing that is the best thing about POTD, it really makes you look at your photos.

One slimy and two furry

Today we went to a nature reserve and I finally found some slime. The reserve is in an old volcano crater http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=200 We went on a walk and saw 5 or 6 Koalas and a couple of Emus. It's only about 10 minutes from home but I've only been out there a few times. Usually about half of the crater floor is covered by water, but because of the drought at the moment that it is pretty much dry.

Graduation

Today my husband Shane graduated from University. He officially now has a Bachelor of Computing (Computer Science and Software Development) with Distinction. The second pic is with his Mum - she came over from New Zealand to see her boy graduate. I tried to take some shots in the ceremony itself, but they didn't turn out so good.

Thanks for the comments about yesterdays pic. I'll post some of the real sunset ones. The one area I really want to improve in my landscape shots is a stronger subject and/or more foreground interest. I kinda get caught up with pretty views and forget the rest. Pretty views are nice, but a bit chocolate box. I want to make my images more emotive. Arrghh, the angst of producing art...ha,ha,ha

soft and subtle

I went down to the beach this evening to take some sunset pics. The sunset was lovely - really bright oranges and reds with nice reflections on the wet sand, But thn I turned around and saw this scene. i'm really happy with the soft, pastel colours. I tried to set a long exposure to get that smoky water look, I would have liked it a bit longer still. the smaller aperture and grey skies really make the dust on my sensors stand out. Took me ages to clone out all the spots. I am really going to have to do something about them. So tell me what you think, does this pic work or should have I stuck with the more traditional sunset pics. Post processing -> soft light layer at about 70%, slight increase in saturation, adjusted the levels of the rocks a bit and ran it through neat image to reduce the noise.

iso 100, f 13, ss 1/2 sec, 50mm lens, tripod.

Seaweed

Today i found some seaweed and it was very slimy - yes I picked it up to artistically drape it over the rocks :)
Not sure if I'm overly happy with the pic - it's a bit soft. My DH took a better one, but I could hardly post that could I.

No slime here

I went to the beach looking for slimy seaweed, but amazingly enough I couldn't find any. I think I was just unlucky coz usually we have so much seaweed on the beach they have to cart it away in trucks. These clouds were really nice, but the pic lacks a strong subject, or pretty much any subject for that matter. Thanks for the comments about yesterdays pics. I love taking landscape/seascape pics and I am really spoilt by the scenery here.

late evening light

I love this time of evening just before the sunsets. I think the first one is a bit pink, the colour in the second on is more true to life. Thanks everyone for the comments and advice.