gone Flickring

So I used to have a Flickr account. But then I deleted it, because I wasn't happy that people could only see 1024x768 max resolution. Okay, I relent. And now that I found out that the originals are still stored on the server when you have Flickr free and can be accessed if you upgrade to Flickr Pro. Okey dokey. And I reasoned that I like the photostream idea better. I don't have to group pictures into blog posts this way. So, yeah, consider this abandoned until I post again. You can check out my Flickr if you want.

This is a barn in Lostine. I don't know whose it is or anything else about it... it just turned out to be fairly photogenic.






























This second picture looks somewhat like something I'd see in a local gallery or something. Of course, you'd need to up the image quality to SLR range and maybe make the composition a bit more dynamic. Anyway, just my thoughts.

Oh, by the way, these are from around mid-June.

This is the local Presbyterian church. I have had my PowerShot set on Vivid colors for a while now, but I don't think it's working out. It's more likely to give me colors that are just... gaudy. I wanted to get some pop and make my photos look more real. But like I just said, it's not working out. So, I'm switching to using no color control or Neutral. The above photos were taken with Vivid on, I believe, but I used Picasa to desaturate them somewhat, giving them a sort of faded look, much more appealing to me. Also, maybe I was just trying to fool myself into the effect, but with more subtle coloring, it seems easier to focus on the crossing shapes in the second photo.

Attack of the Miscellaneous Images

This is pretty much a purge of my to blog album in Picasa. Which is a good thing, because I'm going to be posting the very best shots (IMHO) from our vacation (mostly in Utah). So, here is what was sitting around waiting to be posted.












This one is from family vacation in Idaho last year. It's right by the pool at Three Rivers Motel, if you can't tell.















This is one of our mugs sitting on our dining room table. It's a mug my dad won at an Inland Northwest Musicians concert, for the curious of you.















And this is another mug sitting on our dining room table. If I remember right, this is a cup of tea I had during a weekend home alone. I think I had the most tea that weekend I had had in a long time. I did the color isolation effect with the GIMP (our table isn't gray). What do you think?















Flowers (probably weeds) in our yard.

The White Tree

One of our apple trees out front is really quite white with blossoms at the moment. I thought this would look good in black and white, and it turned out well, so here it is.















Edited with Picasa.

first (somewhat) successful HDR

So it looks a little... unnatural, but I wanted to get a shot with a higher dynamic range because part of the photo was washed out from the sun. I took two shots, hand held, and then ran them through Qtpfsgui.

May 6 2009

Cool light that day. And those (top) trees - I've noticed them for a while, but this is probably my best capture of what they look like to me.
First two edited with the GIMP: sharpness, contrast, brightness, I believe.

tools on... a wall

This is from 2007 -- it's the side of a building that is part of our town antique shop (open only in summer).







































Note: 1600x1200 was the original size of the photo, so of course I didn't resize it, because, well, it was already there. So, enjoy with knowledge. And be sure to point out any problems.

a fading birthday bouquet

Dad bought these for Mom on her birthday (the ninth). They're still alive, it seems. These are from yesterday afternoon; I noticed the late afternoon light on them. Color balance, brightness, and contrast tweaked with the GIMP.

March Fourth Mushrooms

Happened to spot these on the neighbor's side of this tree.

posting again

I have been rather discouraged to post here for two reasons: (1) I haven't been all that happy about my photography, and (2) I like to upload full size to my blog so people can use them, but the upload speed of a dial-up internet connection is painfully slow.

However, I decided I'm not going to let that get in my way so much. I'm going to start uploading photos resized to 1600x1200 pixels (or widescreen variants). This will let me get it out more easily and often, so you can critique it. Yay! I'm going to put these photos under the tag 1600x1200 for reference.

And, if you so please, you may keep up through my blog feed, or email and the like.

Oh yeah, I sort of won a photo contest

I should have posted about it here earlier, but... seeing as I already made a post at a broken mold, I'll just link you to it.

surreal salad

I seriously would love to do a stint as a food photographer...
The parents made a getaway this weekend and Elliot went to stay with a friend (home alone, hooray!). They got back today, and so it was Chef Salad for lunch! They made some on their minivacation, so we had the ingredients and Dad whipped it up pretty quick.

See also, last time.

the Pacific in December

These are from a stop at the Oregon beach on Christmas vacation. I love that place!
Also, here's an awesome wallpaper on the Oregon coast, at or near Pacific City, I think. Highly recommended.