Weekly Photo Challenge – KC in AZ Cooks

WPC: Broken

Taken in Apache Junction at an old mining town.

Rose Against the Blur of a Brick Wall

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge Blur.

A portion of a rustic wall on the exterior of a historical site on the Island of Crete. I’ve included a sign from the site dedicated in 1947 is below. Unfortunately, I don’t read Greek so I’m at a loss to where or what the site was. I believe it was barracks or a military site during WWII but am not positive. Click HERE to see more entries from this weeks Challenge.

WPC-Reward

Arizona, Birds, Nature, Photography

Who is getting the reward in this picture? The newborn hummingbird getting a meal? The hummingbird mom who just was rewarded with two little hatchlings? Or, me for having them perched just above my barbecue? I wasn’t able to barbecue at all that season because of the little babies. That was three years ago and now they have a nest in another tree by the spa.

I’ve stepped out several times to take a photo of the mother nesting but she is still too timid and immediately flies away. This time the nest is hidden on a heavily leafed branch and it’s more difficult to get a sharp picture of the mom nesting without the leaves taking away the focus. I think we can use the spa except that it’s still too cold.

Stop in here to see other great ideas for Rewards on the Weekly Photo Challenge.

WPC: Rule of Thirds

Boats, Caribbean, Nether Antilles, Photography, St. Barts, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, St. Maartin, Transportation

Hmmm. It’s rule of thirds…. I think. Having fun too again with Lightroom. Straightened out the water line. I took this image while on a catamaran in the Caribbean and the original was completely irregular. These are my favorite pictures to take. Sailing adventures. I don’t sail well though on a mono-hull like pictured. I like the cats! The picture may also be a bit on the grainy side with more noise than I like because this was taken with my first digital camera; an old Minolta several years ago. This must be in the Nether Antilles near St. Martin or St. Barts.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Rule of Thirds. See What everyone else is up to.

WPC: Symmetry

Greece, Photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Symmetry

Photo taken on the Island of Crete, Greece in 2010. This is one fascinating island full of photography opportunities. I keep finding myself coming back to it for the Weekly Photo Challenges.

After Before Friday – Cabo Fisherman

Photography

Several weeks ago when I posted the after image of the Cabo Fisherman on a weekly challenge, I wanted to send it to Visual Venturing for ABFriday since it has become one of my favorite images. I missed the window of opportunity but wanted to send it this week anyway. I did several changes to the image but the most noticeable were to straighten the skyline after reading and change to a golden color tone. Stop by Stacy’s Visual Venturing and take a peak at other ABF creations.

Cabo Fisherman Before - Original — Cabo Fisherman Before – Original

Here is more on what was done.

Lightroom Beginning Step One in Basics: Adjusted temperature, tones, clarity and vibrance. — Lightroom 5 Beginning Step One in Basics: Adjusted temperature, tones, clarity and vibrance.

Step 2 Detail Tab: A little sharpening and noice reduction. — Step 2 in Detail: A little sharpening and noice reduction.

Step 3 in Lightroom adjusting Shadows a bit and adding a vignette

Back to Basics in Step 4: Adjustments to tones and Presence. Increased highlights, Shadows and Whites while decreasing blacks. Upped Clarity and Vibrance.

Last Touches in LR: Eliminated the last of the over exposed whites and final on cropping.

Finishing Touches in Photoshop CC2014: Further straighten of skyline and took skyline off-center. Used burn tool the line where the last of the wave met the beach. Somehow managed to take all of the vibrant color away but didn’t notice it had happened.

After seeing the various stages as screen prints myself I sometimes wonder why the image changes so much when taken into Photoshop. The colors were much more vibrant in Lightroom and the final image seems dulled out. Second guessing myself.