This photo was taken during the last (?) freezing rain of the season. I pushed the white balance to give it a blue tint, in order to emphasize the coldness of the day.
I applied a little noise reduction to minimize the effect of the high ISO, caused by the lack of light that day. I also took the shot without a tripod.
Of course, I finished with one Curves layer.
Aperture Priority
ISO 800
Focal Length 55 mm
f/8
Shutter Speed 1/90 sec.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Icicles
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Yellow Road
This photo was obviously edited in Photoshop! First, there were two road signs in the foreground that were too distracting. Then, I used five different Curves, Levels, and Hue/Saturation layers to obtain enough contrast in the trees without making them too dark.
The yellow lines were the easiest. Since they were the only yellow element, I duplicated the photo and used Select/Color Range to select them, erase the rest of the color photo, boost the saturation a little, and superimpose them on the B&W version.
Please let me know what you think.
Pentax K100D Super
Aperture Priority mode
ISO 400
Focal Length 55mm
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I found it!
This is my entry to photofriday.com for this week. When I saw that the challenge is "Found objects", I immediately thought of this photo of my little girl Liliana, triumphantly brandishing her favorite French flashcard!
The processing was really minimal: only a Curves layer and a moderate application of the Neat Image noise reduction filter plug-in for Photoshop. I debated leaving the noise intact, but in the end decided against it. I am not sure it was the right decision. As I am starting to find out, photography and music have this in common: there are many different creative solutions possible. The artist always needs to choose, and this subjective decision means discarding valid and possibly superior artistic alternatives.
Shot at f/5.6, focal length 26mm, ISO equiv. 800, no flash.
I appreciate your comments.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Black and white tree: winter scene
I saw this tree while driving on a country road. I quickly turned around and stopped the car on the edge of a field to take the shot, when a truck pulled next to me and the driver asked"Are you OK?" This has happened to me several times since I have gotten "hooked" on photography!
f/22, ISO equiv. 200, focal length 38mm, Pentax K100D Super. Then, in Photoshop, B&W conversion in LAB mode, and a simple adjustment with a Levels layer.
I welcome your comments.
Friday, March 21, 2008
A boat dock on a foggy day
This was a very foggy day , with low light. I used a noise reduction filter pretty heavily, which not only decreased the noise level, but I feel added to the mood of the shot.
The original was taken at f/16, ISA equiv. 200, focal length 55 mm.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Backlit tree on a winter morning
f/16, ISO 200, focal length 50mm, RAW format
I have started shooting in RAW occasionally. The control it gives over the white balance makes it worth the extra work.
For this shot, I applied Curves and Levels to the sky only, which came out gray in the original. The rest was not processed very much, with the exception of a billboard on the right side that I had to erase.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Hello!
Welcome to LeStro's Photos! I am a new photographer, trying to learn and improve everyday. Because I have learned so much from other bloggers, I in turn want to help others (in a limited way) by posting photos and information about how the shot was taken and about whatever post-processing was done. I also hope to learn more from your comments.
Here is the first photo. It is of my dog Maestro, a westie (West Highland White Terrier). I thought it appropriate to start with him, as his nickname (LeStro) is the inspiration for the blog's name.
The photo was taken in Aperture Priority mode, f/19, ISO 800, focal length 35mm. Exposure time came at 1/10 sec.
Then, in Photoshop, I converted it into LAB mode to use the lightness channel as the basis for the B&W version. I then duplicated the layer, set the top layer on multiply blend (15%), along with a couple of adjustment layers (Levels and Curves).
Et voilĂ !