Desert Drama

by Sherri on December 7, 2010

Joshua Trees in the Mojave Desert, California.

When we first spotted these Joshua Trees, they didn’t look all that great. The sun was still way too high in the sky. My goal was to locate the trees I wanted to shoot, then wait for the dramatic light. I knew there would be a great sunset, due to the amazing clouds in the sky.

We waited it out for about 30 minutes. Then, just like I had hoped for, the drama began. The sun came through the clouds and lit up my landscape beautifully.

I don’t know how long it will be before we can make a trip back to the desert (hopefully not too long), so I shot a dozen or so different compositions of these Joshua Trees. This is one of my favorites!

Questions or comments? I’m all ears!

See ya!

~Sherri

Joshua Trees

by Sherri on December 3, 2010

Joshua Trees in Jawbone Canyon, California.

Joshua Trees (Yucca Brevifolia, as they are scientifically known) are really fun to photograph, I discovered on our recent trip to Southern California. They are a American plant, found only in the Southwestern United States.

Jeff & I were exploring Jawbone Canyon and came upon this cluster of Joshua Trees backlit and nearly silhouetted, by the sun hitting the mountain behind them.

I wanted to show a little more detail in the trees, which I did easily in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, by adding a little fill light. In case you missed this, here is another photo of Joshua Trees I posted a few days ago. You might also like to see our brand new “Bakersfield & Beyond” Gallery.

Have a great weekend and be sure to come back to see more photos from our trip.

~Sherri

Off-Road Adventures in Jawbone Canyon

by Sherri on November 30, 2010

Quad riding in Jawbone Canyon, California.

Quad riding doesn’t get much better than this!

We spent one extra day during our recent visit to Bakersfield for Thanksgiving. We wanted to do some exploring and photographing outside of town.

Before leaving home, we researched the Internet and studied maps looking for mutually beneficial places to go. One of the places we checked out was “Jawbone Canyon.” This place is amazing. It’s beautiful for photography and it offers miles and miles and miles and miles and more miles of riding, for the off-road enthusiast!

I felt sorry for Jeff. He wanted to ride so bad, but we didn’t have his quad with us. NOTE: Please don’t tell him this, but I could ALMOST get into riding quads at this place!

As always, thank you for visiting and your comments and questions are welcomed and appreciated!

~Sherri

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Sherri on November 24, 2010

Joshua Tree, near Red Rock Canyon State Park, California.

Happy Thanksgiving from Bakersfield, California!

We are spending an extra day down here in Bakersfield this year. There are so many things to see and photograph beyond Bakersfield, but we never have enough time to see them!

Yesterday, we drove to Red Rock Canyon State Park. We didn’t have much time there, however, as we got sidetracked at Jawbone Canyon. Both places are really cool and we will definitely return to both of them in the future. The photo above is one of the images I captured during our scouting trip.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great Thanksgiving!

~Sherri

Bakersfield, California Images

by Sherri on November 22, 2010

Sunset at Panorama Park, Bakersfield, California.

Jeff and I are happy to announce that we have added a selection of Bakersfield images to our Website. To see them all, simply visit our new Bakersfield, California Gallery.

We will be traveling to and photographing Bakersfield and beyond again soon = more images will be added to this gallery in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Thank you for visiting!

~Sherri

Panorama Park, Bakersfield, CA

by Sherri on November 16, 2010

Family enjoying the panorama at Panorama Park, Bakersfield, California.

Here is another Bakersfield (BAKO as the locals call it) image I am working on. Look for it in our new Bakersfield, California gallery coming later this week. 🙂

This is not an actual gallery that you can visit in Bakersfield. It will be added to our collection of galleries on our Photography Website.

Thanks for visiting!

~Sherri

Kern River: Bakersfield, California

by Sherri on November 12, 2010

Photo: The Kern River near Hart Memorial Park, Bakersfield, California.

This is one of the images that will be included in our new Bakersfield Gallery coming very soon! I am on a mission to capture images of Beautiful Bakersfield to prove a point; that beauty and great subjects can be found anywhere!

So many people refer to Bakersfield as ugly, boring, hot, dry and stinky. If you hear anything positive, it is usually from someone who lives there. Stay tuned, as I share with you “Bakersfield Through My Eyes.”

Thanks for visiting and be sure to check back soon!

~Sherri

Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week

by Sherri on December 4, 2009

Bakersfield-2

Residents of Hart Memorial Park along the Kern River, Bakersfield, CA. This image was developed using a combination of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 & Adobe PS CS3.

These are some of the birds that the couple in the previous photo were feeding. There were so many of them, they were really hard to photograph. I did manage to get one photo of them (this one) that I like.

Normally, I would try to isolate one bird verses shooting a group of them, but that wasn’t an option here. So, I zoomed in on the bird in the front (left) and used a shallow depth-of-field to throw the background out of focus.

Okay. Let’s get on with the main reason for this post – the “Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week.” Here they are in random order. NOTE: Please feel free to link this post to your site. The more folks that receive these tips the better!

Happy Lightrooming and have a great weekend everyone!

  1. @terrylwhite Great deal on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 $129 OFF http://bit.ly/8wJv1p.
  2. @AdobeLR Tom Hogarty (@LR_Tom) answers your Lightroom 3 beta questions on EXIF and Beyond – http://bit.ly/4Jou1a.
  3. @LRSecrets New Article: Metadata Presets http://bit.ly/8hTiZs.
  4. @xequals Obsessive about watermarking your images? Master watermarking with Rob Sylvan – http://bit.ly/35wE7G.
  5. @TheLightroomLab Keyword Sets Make Repetitive Keywording Push Button Easy in Lightroom – http://bit.ly/6FlDh2.
  6. @xequals More Lightroom Painter fun in this workflow too – http://bit.ly/6wAeiu.
  7. @heninger Its that day of the week – Lightroom Tuesday – tips, tricks & tutorials 4 the Lightroom-minded http://heninger.org.
  8. @xequals New on X-Equals – Mad Stacks Yo! – Stacking images in Lightroom – http://bit.ly/5uuR0v.
  9. @bbeazely Fading a Lightroom Preset http://tinyurl.com/yk75yzo.
  10. @TheLightroomLab Some great comments & questions on using 2 External Hard Drives in LR http://bit.ly/4Wy8Wr.

Reminder – Don’t forget to join the NEW Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Group on Facebook. If you have any questions, comments, information etc. pertaining to Lightroom, this is a great place to post it. Visit the following link to join http://tinyurl.com/mzyqu4.

In case you missed my previous “Top 10 Tweets of the Week” posts, you can view them all by clicking on the Top 10 Tweets of the Week category on the sidebar of this Photo Blog.

You can retweet (RT) this post, by clicking on the lime green retweet button at the bottom of this post. It will take you directly to Twitter. If you don’t know about the importance of retweeting, please refer to this post by Jim Goldstein.

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

Beautiful Bakersfield, California

by Sherri on December 2, 2009

Bakersfield

Senior Couple feeding the ducks & geese at Hart Memorial Park, Bakersfield, California. This image was developed using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

Bakersfield gets picked on all the time. People say it’s ugly and there is nothing beautiful about it. Sure, it’s not Yosemite, or Yellowstone, but I believe you can find beauty anywhere if you seek it.

Jeff & I make the trek to Bakersfield each Thanksgiving to visit his Mom. I always bring my camera along too. Usually, I photograph out on the bluffs at Panorama Park, but this time I was determined to venture out to other areas.

We drove out to Hart Memorial Park to see what we could find. We timed it just right, so the lighting along the Kern River was at it’s best. Just love that late day light! We found this couple feeding the ducks and geese. They were enjoying themselves so much, I don’t know if they were even aware that I was photographing them!

Images of seniors (especially seniors engaged in an activity) are in high demand and there is a low supply of them. I don’t have very many in my stock files, so this was a perfect opportunity to add to my collection. I did not get a model release from this couple, but I would like to. If anyone knows this couple, please let me know.

NOTE: You can also see more photos of Bakersfield here. They are all available for licensing, or they can be ordered as a print. If you are interested in any of these images, please contact us.

More photos of beautiful Bakersfield to come, so “Y’all Come Back Now, Ya Hear?”

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

Update

One of the readers of this Blog has requested that I upload the original image. Now, you will be able to see the “before & after” shots of this image.

Bakersfield-3

Senior Couple feeding the ducks & geese at Hart Memorial Park, Bakersfield, California. This is the way the image looked straight out of the camera!

A Walk in the Park

by Sherri on February 11, 2009

Couple walking on the bluffs at Panorama Park, Bakersfield, California.

If you live in the Bakersfield area or you are planning to visit, be sure to check out Panorama Park. It’s one of Bakersfield’s newest and nicest parks and a great place to get some exercise. Dogs are welcome here too, which makes it even more appealing if you are like Jeff and I. We travel nearly everywhere with our dog.

I’ve put my shooting on hold for a bit. I need to edit some of my older images and get over this horrible cold or flu that’s had me down for 12 days now. So, until I can get out and create some new work, I am posting another image from our November trip to Bakersfield.

You can read more about Panorama Park in my earlier posts. Just look under the “Bakersfield” category on the sidebar of this Blog.

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

You can also sign up for a “free” subscription to this Blog. Just look in the upper right hand side of the Blog under “Subscribe to Sherri’s Blog.” Then, either click on the orange button, or enter your email address and click on “subscribe.”

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