Tag Archives: photography

Texture Tuesday: Purple Cactus Flowers

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I used the following to process the above image taken at The Desert Botanical Garden:

  • MCP’s Snap, Crackle & Pop actions
  • Yellow Sky’s Grape Charm action
  • Kim Klassen’s “be still” and “antiques” textures

Texture Tuesday: Partings

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I’m a little late posting this image, but better late than never.  This image has been processed using Kim Klassen’s texutre “Partings.”  My brother and I were having fun taking pictures of each other… me using my Nikon, and he, using his Canon.  I was having some trouble finding an image that I wanted to use that would work for me with this texture.  I wasn’t feeling very creative last night or this morning.  It wasn’t until I sat down to watch the 3rd season of “The Vampire Diaries” with my daughters that the inspiration came to me.

Chasing the Light, Part 3 of 3

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Once I finally made it to the desert, I found a place to pull over and capture a series of images to combine and create an HDR image in Photoshop.  I took five shots with varying exposure compensations.  The 1st was at zero, then one at -1 stop, another at -2 stops, another at +1 stop, then one at +2 stops.  Once I caught those, I knew that capturing the sunrise was pretty much done.  I hoped that when I came home, I’d be able to process them into a single image via HDR in Photoshop.  Tada!  It actually worked!  I’m beyond excited that the HDR worked.

I didn’t even use a tripod.  How insane is that?  I totally broke a rule, and still wound up with a great image!  It does help that the Nikon D300s has a setting that allows you to choose the number of images you want to capture in rapid fire succession.  I know there is HDR specific software out there, but I’m not going to pay for more software when I can use what I have and still create a beautiful image in Photoshop.  I am really impressed with the result.

I know I’m not an AZ Highways Magazine photographer, but I’ve learned that the only way to perfect this craft is to keep on practicing.  I’ve been learning, growing, studying, becoming friends with my camera, and when the moment came I was ready to chase the light.