by Sherri on November 3, 2009
The famous Foresthill Bridge, Auburn, California. It was processed using a combination of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop CS3.
What: The famous Foresthill Bridge.
Where: North Fork of the American River, Auburn, California.
When: A couple of weeks ago.
Who: Jeff, our dog Cocoa & I were taking a Fall hike.
How: The
Foresthill Bridge was reflecting in a mud puddle. I thought that was pretty cool. So I took a series of photos of the mud puddle. This was one of my favorites.
Then, in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, I rotated the photo so it was upside down and now you see the bridge right side up in the mud puddle.
Did anyone guess how this image was captured, before I revealed the answer?
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by Sherri on October 15, 2009
Fall in rural Auburn, California.
This image was captured yesterday, during our first Fall photo shoot of the year.
Jeff, our dog Cocoa and I went on a 3-mile walk in our rural Auburn neighborhood. It had just stopped raining and everything looked fresh and clean. There were photo opportunities everywhere!
First, I spotted the tree, because I was on the hunt for Fall colors. But, it alone wasn't enough to create a good photograph. Then, I noticed the horse in the background. I decided to create a unique composition, by focusing on the tree limb and using a large aperture to throw the horse out-of-focus.
Who says you have to drive long distances to find great Fall subjects? They are as close as your own backyard!
More Fall images from our neighborhood coming soon!
Y'
all Come Back Now Ya Hear?
by Sherri on October 12, 2009
Full moon over the Sierras, taken from our deck in Auburn, California.
This photo was taken from our deck, during a recent full moon. I wasn't going to bother photographing it, because I didn't want to set up the tripod. I also didn't want to use a high ISO.
I decided I had nothing to loose but a little time. So, I gave it a shot anyway. I captured this photo hand held set at ISO 1000. I'm really glad I made the effort. I love the results!
[click to continue…]
by Sherri on June 15, 2009
Photo #1 - Paragliding in the Sierra Foothills.
Photo #2 - Paragliding in the Sierra Foothills.
Sometimes I have a hard time tossing out a photo just because it's out of focus. This photo is one of those photos. What I like to do when this happens is to apply my favorite artistic filter in PhotoShop CS3 "Poster Edges."
Photo # 1 - In Lightroom 2, I set the White Balance to daylight and applied the Nikon D300 preset. Then, in PhotoShop CS3, I turned this out of focus photo into a digital art photo, by applying the "Poster Edges" filter.
Photo #2 - This is the way the NEF looked straight out of the camera.
Does this work for you? I'd love to hear your comments.
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by Sherri on June 8, 2009
Photo #1 - A foggy morning along the Deschutes River, Oregon.
Today, I'm starting "Makeover Monday." Each week, I'm going to select one image from our Lightroom catalog (NEF) and give it a makeover. NEF files straight out of the camera are dull and can always be improved with processing.
I will post both images; the image straight out of the camera and the image with the makeover. Then, I will explain what I did to achieve the results I wanted.
This image was selected for a makeover because, it is one of a series of images we are presently developing, to be uploaded soon to our Baby Boomer gallery.
Photo #2 - A foggy morning along the Deschutes River, Oregon.
Photo #1 - to get the results above, I changed the White Balance to Daylight to warm it up a bit. Then, I applied this
wonderful Nikon D300 Preset developed by Christian Løverås of Oslo, Norway. We just started using this preset yesterday and we love it! I then used the Adjustment Brush to tone down the over exposed glare on the water.
Photo #2 - this is the NEF the way it looked straight out of the camera
.
Which one do you like best?
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by Sherri on May 14, 2009
Digital Art photo of Old Town Truckee, California.
is perhaps one of the most charming and popular mountain towns in California. It is close to Lake Tahoe and offers year-round recreational opportunities.
We stayed in Truckee at the "dog friendly"
Inn at Truckee, during our recent road trip. I highly recommend this place if you are visiting the area with your pooch. It is very reasonable, has a spa and hot tub and even includes continental breakfast. It is also close to Old Town, which is one of the areas I was photographing during our stay in Truckee. Our dog, Cocoa, gives it 3 paws out of 4, based on the rating system in the California Dog Lover's Companion Guide Book.
About the photo:
I used my favorite creative filter in PhotoShop CS3 "Poster Edges" to achieve this look.
Helpful links if you are planning a trip to the Truckee/Lake Tahoe area:
http://www.truckee.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truckee,_California
http://www.innattruckee.com/home
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Jeff riding his Quad along the shore of Prosser Reservoir, Truckee, California.
This shot was taken during our recent road trip to the Truckee/Lake Tahoe area to capture
travel, adventure and lifestyle photos for our stock files.
The first stop during our road trip was at Prosser Reservoir for a little Quad fun and photos. This photo is one of my favorites from our photo shoot
.
Photo Details - In Camera
This
pan photo was shot on a Nikon D300 with a Nikon 70-200 zoom lens attached, using the following camera settings: ISO 100, shutter speed 1/10 sec., aperture f 20.
Post processing in Lightroom
I set the Clarity to +100 and the Vibrance to +45.
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by Sherri on April 29, 2009
Wild Sierra Iris, Cronan Ranch Regional Trails Park, near Coloma, California.
These beautiful Wild Sierra Iris were growing along the trail at the
Cronan Ranch Regional Trails Park, the day of our hike with friends. They are a common wildflower here in the Sierra Foothill's and can be found along many hiking trails. One of the other places I have found them is at
Hidden Falls Regional Park in Auburn.
The original image did nothing for me, but I didn't want to dump it. It was taken at 1:00 in the afternoon under harsh lighting. It also lacked vibrance. I decided to work with it a bit in Lightroom 2 and this is what I came up with. I set the Clarity to -100 to give it a softer look and set the Vibrance to +70, which made the colors pop.
This is what this photo looked like straight out of the camera.
I have 2 questions for my viewers.
1. Which one do you like best?
2. Can you identify this species of Wild Iris?
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by Sherri on April 22, 2009
Love Comes Softly movie set at the Cronan Ranch, Pilot Hill, California.
For all you Lightroom lovers out there, here are a few simple tips you can try to improve your photos, or to simply give them a new look.
Want to make your photos look like a painting? You can do this by simply adjusting the fill light. For this photo of the movie set, I adjusted the fill to 45.
Make your colors pop. Try using the Vibrance Slider instead of the Saturation Slider. It will brighten up only the areas that need to be brightened up, not everything in the photo. In this
photo of the Narcissus I adjusted the Vibrance to +100.
Add "punch" to your photos using Clarity. Clarity adds midtone contrast to your photos, which makes them appear to have had the midtones sharpened. For this
photo of the famous McArthur-Burney Falls in Northeastern California, I set the Clarity to +100.
Give your photos a soft, diffused look using Clarity. To achieve a soft look, try adjusting the Clarity in the negative direction. In my
photo of the Mystery Rider, I adjusted the clarity to -100. This also works really well when shooting portraits.
Turn your color photo into an antique looking photo. You can do this easily by using the Antique Grayscale (similar to Sepia) Preset. Check out this
photo of the Three Amigos.
There is really no right or wrong. Just experiment and have fun!
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by Sherri on April 15, 2009
Three men standing around a bonfire in silhouette, Auburn, California, taken with the Nikon D300.
This shot was taken at the annual April Fools party we attend nearly every year. I have always wanted to photograph the bonfire, but not bad enough to set up a tripod or use high speed film.
Now that I have a Nikon D300, I decided to give it a try. I am very impressed with the quality of images that can be produced with this camera at night. It's also a lot of fun. If you own one of these cameras, I encourage you to go out for a night shoot and give it a shot.
How I got the shot
Camera settings for ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture are as follows: ISO 3200, SS 1/400 sec., f 7.1.
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