Day 76

The day started out the same as it has been for most of the week, an overcast, gray sky with little opportunity for exploring outside.  My office is in the basement without a window or view so I venture up to ground level to recharge with some natural light every few hours.  I was encouraged by the conditions thinking by the time work is over I would be able to get some pictures I could process as B&W and they might turn out halfway usable.  That all changed around 3pm.

The weather turned to rain/freezing rain and my chances for any sort of picture outside vanished.  My usual lookout location is in our HR office since we share an interest in Disney.  As we were discussing a particular requirement from NY State for wage information I noticed her Christmas Cacti were starting to bloom.  We always joke that the darn plants never understand the time of year but it did give me chance to get a non-winter picture on a washout day.

Fluorescent lighting is never fun but I think I managed to catch the blossom's good side.  Just some simple processing in Lightroom was all that was required for this picture.  I cropped in close on the bloom due to its small size and the ugly walls in the office.  A little increase in contrast and vibrance produced the picture I wanted to create.  I thought about masking out the plant and replacing the background with a solid black color but I'm thinking that might be too much contrast.

I'll have to keep an eye on its progress and get an updated picture once the plants are in full bloom...

Day 75

The weather the last few days has not been very conducive to my photographic efforts.  The sky has been one color...  grey.  I'm beginning to think the sun has changed its mind about visiting us again.  It was a good run and we enjoyed it while it lasted but now I have to find a way to stay motivated when the views out the window are blah!

I stopped along a corn field on my way how from work to see if I could make something out of the rows of corn stalks left after the harvest.  My plan was to use whatever picture I create for another entry in the Hobby Photographer's Photo Theme of lines in landscape pictures.  I'm not positive it works but will see what everyone thinks of it.

The original image did not have a lot of color which lead me down the B&W processing path.  I started by combining a three exposure bracket of pictures because I thought it would help maintain the definition in the dark tree line as opposed to the white snow covered field.  I also thought it would help me keep the features in the snow.  I then converted the combined picture to B&W and experimented a little with some diffusion in an effort emulate the overcast, hazy feel to the day.

Day 74

Yikes!  What was I thinking!

I ended up working from home today so I could ferry my daughter to school for her English regents at noon.  I assumed that would provide me with some extra time after work to explore with the camera.  My sad attempt was an epic fail due to a slight mist in the air.  I even spent 10 minutes trying to follow a little bird around the inside of our pine tree but he never stopped long enough for the camera to properly focus.

What to do for my project picture.  Do this, no, did it before.  How about this, no, seems too familiar.  How about a self portrait?  No way!  Just isn't me.  I barely post pictures with me in them as it is but to do it on purpose...  no, I don't think so.

Well, maybe if I try this pose where I'm staring down at the computer as if I'm struggling with a program.  OK, that happens every day so I know what it should look like.  How do I do it?  Point and shoot camera, small table top tripod and the simple timer...  OK, let's do this before I chicken out...

The glare on the glasses is intentional.  I was hoping it would capture a little more of the screen but it is what it is.  Baby steps!  The next one will be better... hopefully!

Day 73

It turned out to be a fairly warm day here in Upstate NY although overcast and very grey.  I ended up running a few errands after work but forgot to bring the camera along just in case.  This left me with no light to go exploring with my camera.  I did like the light from the city of Rome that was illuminating the clouds.  I ventured outside with the camera and tripod to try my hand at some longer exposure pictures.

Trying to capture the view from the end of the driveway was not as easy as I thought.  I'm sure it was a combination of the camera's abilities and my own (probably more my own).  With a little tweaking in Lightroom this picture didn't turn out too bad.  I'm posting it as my project picture for the day as a reminder of the learning I still need and the attempt of trying something different.

Day 72

I decided to get off my butt and outside early today.  Not the greatest decision considering how cold it was, but it did allow me to get a few nice pictures during the sunrise.  You never know what a Sunday is going to bring and what you will be doing so I thought it best to explore with the camera before the rest of the family crawled out of their beds.  I do know that one agenda for me today is to find a pair of gloves I can use with the camera.  Challenge accepted!

I walked down the road this morning in the direction of the rising sun.  I endured the cold wind in my face because I knew the walk back would definitely feel warmer.  There are snowmobile trails throughout our county and luckily for me there is one that crosses the road close by.  Being able to walk the fields on the hard packed trail was better than trudging through the snow that would have surely been over my boots.

There is always a moment as the sun rises where the sky is a multitude of colors.  The effect is helped here by the presence of some low cloud cover but it does make for vibrant pictures.  Very little processing for this picture.  I added some contrast, a little clarity and toned down the vibrance some in Lightroom.  I also needed to remove some of the noise I always seem to have when there is an abundance of sky in my pictures.  I'm sure it is due to my camera only saving JPEG files.  Looking forward to upgrading to a little better camera soon.

I was fortunate that a couple rebel snowmobilers decided to venture off the marked trail and cut across the field in the direction of my house.  It allowed for some additional exploring without having to retrace my steps along the road.  The higher the sun reached in the sky the colors dramatically changed which gave me this picture about 15 minutes after the one above.

By the time I finally reached the road on the other side of my house I noticed the this view across the valley. It is taken about 90 degrees from the sunrise pictures and again presents a totally different look to the morning.

Day 71

Sitting at the computer this morning I was not confident that I would have a good day with the camera.  It was overcast and snowing with the potential to keep inside all day.  Of course, if I had just checked the weather forecast I would have known it was going to clear up by this afternoon.  I wasn't that smart this morning.  I'll use the excuse that the coffee hadn't kicked in yet.

We had plans to drive out to the NY State Fair Grounds in Syracuse for the Salt City Antique show which I thought might provide some photography potential.  I brought the smaller Sony with me as it fits in the inside pocket of my coat on the off chance I would be able to use.  Antique dealers do not like people taking photographs.  Everywhere I looked there were signs up stating 'No Pictures!'.  All was not lost, there was still light when we left the show...

A friend at work suggested we try Quaker Steak & Lube for lunch if we do venture out to the show.  It is just up the road from the fair grounds and I can tell you now it was worth the trip.  The food was better than I anticipated and I enjoyed all the cool props throughout the building.  I did manage to sneak a few pictures and almost considered using one for my project picture.

We eventually made it home with about an hour to spare before sunset.  The temperature did not get above the mid teens but there was no wind which allowed me to wander around outside for a longer time before my finger tips begged for warmth.  The sun was not obscured by the few clouds in the sky and produced a brilliant orange hue on everything.  I particularly liked the look of the fence at the property line (a favorite subject when stuck at home).

I liked the color and texture of the post in the foreground.  I tried a few different angles but felt this one with the remaining fence posts blurred in the background made for the best composition.  I kept the processing simple on this picture.  It was fairly close to what I wanted straight out of the camera.  I added a little contrast, a little clarity and a small  temperature change after cropping to a 2x3 ratio.  I realized when I was all done and happy with this picture that I have used this before at the start of my project.  I like the picture above better than the earlier one.

Here are a few of the pictures from the interior of the Quaker Steak & Lube restaurant.  The first is a little busy looking and I had more than an amble amount of lights in the picture!

The second one is of the neon sign hanging on the wall in the top left corner of the first picture.  I let the camera automatically adjust for the brightness and then adjusted the exposure a little more to get the background to disappear.