Slideshow
Example of Zenfolio’s new “Embeddable Slideshow” feature. This feature streams photos from a specified album on my Zenfolio account and displays it here in this blog. Pretty cool.
Ghost Trees
Experimentation with Fractalius, a Photoshop Plugin. This application can create some amazing surreal images.
This image is of a eucalyptus forest in the Blue Mountains, Australia. The trees, affectionately referred to as "gum trees" have a white bark and can provide a ghostly appearance anyways (in fact, there is a tree called Ghost Gum). Using this plugin, that effect is accentuated.
Hope you like it.
Ruins of Dunnottar Castle
And yet another photo from Dunnottar Castle, this time one from inside the walls.
This was one of my most favorite places to visit as a kid, I am sure it drove my parents nuts as I could not get enough of the place. The ruins, the magnificence of all sparked my imagination and I could almost “see” what it must have been like in its heyday.
Today, there is little left of the majestic buildings other than ruined and crumbling walls. The nicely kept greens make for a stark contrast - manicured lawns vs. broken brick walls.
As you can see, I have again applied some textures to the background, after initially blending three images as an HDR process. The dramatic sky, the evenly exposed buildings are all hallmarks of HDR processing. I also like how these images present themselves as Black & White, but I will save that for another post.
Dunnottar Castle (HDR)
Another HDR shot of Dunnottar Castle, which I visited a year and a half ago.
I remember scrambling over these ruins as a boy and always loved going there every time we visited my grandmother who used to live in Aberdeen.
Other than the “normal” HDR treatment here, I decided to blend in some textures, giving that that “mottled” look. I find it adds some extra drama to the picture.
This castle lies near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, north east Scotland.
Sand Harbor – Lake Tahoe
The beautiful Sand Harbor lies near Incline Village on the Eastern side of Lake Tahoe and was featured on "Bonanza" several times.
One memorable scene filmed at Sand Harbor was for "The Storm" ( 1962 ). Joe’s lady love has died and he’s standing at the shore grieving over her demise. He then rides out and goes back to the ranch.
Today, Sand Harbor is as beautiful as ever and a favorite vacation spot for folk who like soft sandy beaches. Lake Tahoe lies about 200 miles from the coast so this is a great place for a beach visit inland.
The rocks make for excellent photographic subjects, regardless of the season. This shot was taken at sunset.
Kiva
I have always been fascinated by ancient cultures and the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado is a great place to visit in order to satisfy that interest. In fact, it is one of my favorite parks, because it offers the historic aspect as well as the beauty of Mother Nature.
The park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including an amazing 600 cliff dwellings or Pueblos.
The park offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300.
This picture is of a Kiva, a round meeting room you enter from the ceiling. I did not have a tripod and used a ledge to support the camera. I love how the light shines down through the opening, illuminating the ladder and parts of the interior.
Mesa Verde is Spanish for green table.
Off to Sea
She had just passed under the Golden Gate Bridge was sailing towards the setting sun. Who is she? Where is she going? I will never know.
Those were the thoughts that went through my mind when I took this picture. She formed a perfect focal point. Personally, I love shots where the colors of sky and sea just run together. It was a beautiful November evening but quite chilly.
Orchard Peak, California
When driving from Sacramento to San Luis Obispo, one the fastest routes is to drive South on Interstate 5 and turn West on Hwy 46, towards Paso Robles. This stretch of road goes through some of the most desolate country I have even seen.
The view here is of the Orchard Peak mountains, located in Kern Country in California and you pass this on Hwy 46. There is nothing there and cell phone coverage is minimum or non existing. It is also HOT.
The desolate nature of the place makes for some fascinating photography however, especially the textures of the hills, the stretches of sun-burned grass and the odd man-made fence. Not sure what he fence is meant to keep out (or in), and one has to wonder why someone went to so much trouble, but it does makes for some interesting variety.
The Getty
Seen at "the Getty", short for the Getty Center Los Angeles.
It is a museum with European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts, and European and American photographs, while the center itself is fabulous architectural achievement and worth a visit just for that. Best of all, admission is free (but you do need to pay for parking).
Dreamy San Simeon Pier
Trying something completely different! This is the same pier shown in an earlier post, the pier at San Simeon. This treatment uses a special plugin for Photoshop that uses fractals. It can create these dreamy looking effects which I find quite beautiful.
