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!

Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week

by Sherri on November 13, 2009

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Fall colors along the North Fork of the American River, with the Foresthill Bridge in the background, Auburn, CA. I used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 & CS3 to develop this image.

Are you ready for 10 more great Lightroom tips? I sure hope so. Because that is exactly what you are going to get.

Here are your Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week in random order. 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! [click to continue…]

No Hands Bridge in the Fog

by Sherri on November 11, 2009

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No Hands Bridge surrounded by fog, Auburn, California. This image was processed using a combination of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 & Adobe Photoshop CS3.

No Hands Bridge is one of Auburn’s famous icons. It is really fun to photograph it, especially if you are able to capture it when it is surrounded by fog! You can do a search on this blog to see more photos I have taken of it.

Enjoy!

Fall Hike Along the American River

by Sherri on November 6, 2009

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Sherri & Cocoa hiking along the North Fork of the American River, Auburn, California. This image was developed using both Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 & Adobe Photoshop CS3.

It’s been a couple of weeks since we took this hike. The color down in the canyon was looking pretty good then. This weekend, we are returning to a different location along the American River for more Fall photos. I’m really looking forward to getting out again. I’ve been tethered to my computer too long in one stretch.

I should have some new Fall nature images up next week for you all to see.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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.

Visit our Stock Photo Website for links to photo galleries.

Room with a View

by Sherri on October 7, 2009

Utica-Reservoir-12

View of Utica Reservoir in Alpine County, CA at sunrise, from inside our tent.

Fall has arrived. That said, I will be wrapping up my summer series on Utica Reservoir soon. Then, my focus will be on Fall images.

This photo was shot from inside our tent at 5:30 in the morning. I didn’t feel like messing with the tripod, so I shot this at ISO 3200. My camera (Nikon D300) does very well at the higher ISO’s. I can also reduce the digital noise using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Even so, I couldn’t reduce the noise enough for my liking.

So, what did I do?

I took this image into Photoshop CS3 and applied “Cutout,” one of my favorite artistic filters. It did exactly what I hoped it would. It covered up all the noise and rendered an image that was pleasing to the eye.

I hope you like it!

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.

Visit our Stock Photo Website for links to photo galleries.

Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week

by Sherri on September 18, 2009

D&M-Rafting-2

Donna & Maya Bussinger rafting on the Middle Fork of the American River, Auburn, California.

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Maya Bussinger rafting on the Middle Fork of the American River, Auburn, California.

I’m putting up a couple more photos from our recent rafting trip on the Middle Fork of the American River, with our friend Donna (former Professional Raft Guide) and her 4-year old daughter Maya. I hope they like them!

About the photos

These photos were developed using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. Writing this post each week is two fold. I can share a wealth of Lightroom tips with you and I can also share one or more of my images, that I have developed using Lightroom.

Would you like to know what I did in Lightroom to improve these original images? If so, feel free to ask in the comments section below.

OK all of you Lightroomers. Here are your Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week in random order. Happy Lightrooming! [click to continue…]

Questions? Jusk Ask!

by Sherri on September 14, 2009

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Jeff Hartnett and Kim Brown kayaking on Utica Reservoir, Alpine County, California.

This image was also captured during our camping trip to Alpine County last month.

If you would like to know how this shot was captured, how it was developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, or you would like more information on Utica Reservoir, simply leave a comment below.

You can also read all of my previous posts on Utica Reservoir here.

Thank you for visiting!

Labor Day Paddle

by Sherri on September 8, 2009

D&M-Rafting

Donna & Maya Bussinger rafting on the Middle Fork of the American River, Auburn, California.

Donna & Maya Bussinger rafting on the Middle Fork of the American River, Auburn, California.

Yesterday was awesome! Jeff & I had the great opportunity to raft the Middle Fork of the American River (between Driver’s Flat and Mammoth Bar), with our friend Donna and her 4-year old daughter Maya.

This section of the the American River doesn’t draw the hoards of tourists from the Bay Area and LA like the South Fork does. There are a few reasons why. For one thing, it is only 7-miles in length. It also consists of only Class I & II rapids. Lastly, not many know about this run, which is why we love it so much. Now, I know after writing this a few more people will know about it. But, hey, if I don’t write about it someone else will. It may as well be me! [click to continue…]

Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week

by Sherri on September 4, 2009

Utica-Reservoir-9

Sunrise and kayaks at Utica Reservoir, Alpine County, California.

You may have noticed that I didn’t post my Lightroom Tweets last week and maybe you didn’t.

My plan at this time is to post them every other week, until I get the Website project I’m working on closer to finished. It may work out that I continue to post them every other week. That will give everyone more time to try the tips out, including me! [click to continue…]

What’s Up at SMP?

by Sherri on September 2, 2009

Utica-Reservoir-8

Sierra Sunrise over Utica Reservoir, Alpine County, California.

Sierra Sunrise over Utica Reservoir, Alpine County, California. This was also taken during our recent camping trip.

We’ve been really busy working on a major Website project and I haven’t had a chance to post for a few days. Today, I decided I had to post something no matter what.

Here is an overview of what we are working on:

  1. We are adding a collection of new images to our on-line galleries.
  2. Some of our images are getting moved to our new archive, but they will still be available for purchasing as prints and for licensing.
  3. We are preparing to offer a few new services. I’ll keep those a secret for now.
  4. We will be rescanning some of our slides.
  5. And more…

We hope to have the things mentioned above completed in 3-4 more weeks. After that, we will be concentrating on adding hundreds of new images to our galleries and archive. In the meantime, I hope to get back to posting on this blog a bit more often than I have been!

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.”

Visit our Stock Photo Website for links to photo galleries.

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