A little bit of this and a little bit of that

It's been a while since I updated my blog and I thought that maybe I would start keeping a record of some of the pictures that I have been developing.  With work being so quiet, I need something to keep my mind active, so I've decided to spend more time focusing on my photography.  It doesn't always come easy for me, so I've been spending a lot of time reading and practicing.  My weakness is composition.  As well, I have a lot to learn with respect to developing the actual photo's.  I shoot all of my picture in RAW which creates a somewhat flat looking photograph.  From there I go into Lightroom and clean up the exposure, noise, sharpness and colours.  I've added another "add-on" program called ON1 Effects which gives added enhancements that can be used.  I now need to learn moderation.  I tend to lean towards bold colours and strong images.  I guess that's my style.  I'll be working on trying to tone that down over the next little while.  There sure is much to learn and I look forward to it.

The following pictures are a few that I have taken over the last month.

This is a flower that is in one of my pots in my backyard.  I was inspired by the fluff (which I think was from a dandy lion).  I really like the way it just floated in the air by the small purple flower. I used my macro lens to help draw out the lines in the fluff.  

Another flower in the garden just as it was starting to open.  I believe this is a Dahlia.  This was taken later in the day and I took liberties by boosting the colour and background a little to make it more vibrant.

Some  mornings I'll drop Ralph off at golf and this barn is located on the property.  It was early morning with the sun coming up.  It cast a beautiful golden colour on the barn.  It actually was a clear day without a cloud in the sky.  I added a few clouds to create some drama.  Below is the original picture.

I really do love sunflowers.  I saw these at the Joshua Creek Heritage Centre and I couldn't resist stopping and taking a few pictures.  I think I may have been a little strong handed with the developing and will revisit this one again to see what I can do to soften it up a bit.  

This photo was taken near Killarney when we stopped near the Lighthouse.  It was taken on my older camera.  I love the sky in this one but struggle to figure out how to fix the noise that I see in it.  It could be partly due to a dirty lens.  I'll keep playing with it.

These two photo's were taken at Asher and Carolyn's house.  They have a backyard full of birds and it is so fun to watch them.  The suet on top of the squirrel guard makes it look like snow.  I really love how the bird is looking towards to the camera.

Every week I am hoping to work for at least a half day to improve my developing skills and also ensure that I keep practicing everything that I am learning with respect to taking the actual photo.  I'm looking forward to the challenge of improving and I hope that Ralph will join me in this endeavour as well.