Digitally Painted Flowers

Day 65: Digitally Painted Flowers, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

I took a photo walk in the backyard today looking for things to photograph. These flowers were hanging over our fence from the neighbor's yard and I took a couple of shots and this was the one I liked best.

In addition, to some tweaks in exposure and contrast, I also applied some digital painting effects (underpainting and watercolor) and added a canvas texture to the photo. I then added a Gallery Frame using Marcia's Frame Action which I've had installed in Photoshop for awhile so I'm not sure where I got it originally.

Date Taken: March 6, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4
Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

A Valentines' Rose

Day 47: A Valentines' Rose, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

My husband gave me a dozen roses for Valentines' Day and when I read the Daily Shoot assignment for the day, Make a high key photograph today dominated by bright tones. I decided to use one of the roses for this.

I took a piece of white foam core board outside and set the rose in front of it so it was far enough away to not cast a shadow and took some photos.

Date Taken: February 16, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure: 1/250
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 51 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

A Final Curtain Call

Day 23: A Final Curtain Call, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Sunday I had the privilege of celebrating the life of Bill Erwin with those who knew and loved him. If you don't know who Bill was, check out the previous link or this tribute to Bill on an I Love Lucy fan site.

I will always remember the stories Bill would tell when the Cow-sillys, as he had dubbed us, went over to visit his daughter, Kelly. We all thoroughly enjoyed the time that we spent with him. Bill turned 96 this year and I can only hope that I am lucky enough to make it that far. R.I.P., Bill.

The stage is now dark and the final curtain has been closed but Bill Erwin will live on for those that knew and loved him both as friends and family and as fans.

Date Taken: January 23, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 65 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Spring? Nope, Still Winter

Day 21: Spring? Nope, Still Winter, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

I have been on a stand under things and take pictures kick lately and this is one such photo. As I wandered around campus, I noticed that the trees in the courtyard all looked like spring rather than winter so I took a few shots.

Date Taken: January 21, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure: 1/200
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired

A Lingering Flower

A Lingering Flower, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

A sign of spring? Well, no - according to the calendar we're not even a month in to winter yet. I think this flower is just confused by the fact that it was 75°F for a high today and still about 66°F at about the time the picture was taken at around 4pm.

Date Taken: January 19, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure: 1/1600
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed : 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Soft Petals

Soft Petals, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Again today, I looked to The Daily Shoot for an idea. The assignment was "Make a photograph with a soft look today."

I took some shots of the inside of my knock-off Ugg like boots and I see that Erin Berg had the same idea. I took some pictures of Nemo, our cat, and see that Vicki Lynn Clark and others had the same idea. I took some shots of my daughter's Pillow Pet.

I just wasn't really sure that any of them really conveyed soft. That's when I headed out to our rose bushes. There are a few "on their way to dying" roses left so I took some shots using a very shallow depth of field. I then processed these with very little contrast so that the whole photo would feel soft.

Date Taken: January 17, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure: 1/320
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

I shot with ISO 400 so I could get a fast shutter speed because there was a little breeze today and I didn't want to have motion blur.

Week 28: Grasshopper on Mini Rose

Grasshopper on Mini Rose, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Once again my photo of the week wasn't taken on Friday but at least I did take one. This was taken in the front of our house on Saturday afternoon. I was trying to get a picture of one of the roses and moved it a bit and this guy surprised me and flew on to this flower. I just had to take a few photos of him at that point.

Photo taken: July 11, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/800
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual

Week 24: 2009 Graduation Breakfast

2009 Graduation Breakfast, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Well, it's official I missed a week and this week's photo wasn't even taken on Friday. After taking hundreds of pictures on Tuesday and Wednesday for year end events at school, I just wasn't in the mood to take a photo on Friday.

Anyway, this photo is from the Graduation Breakfast. Each year we hold a breakfast for the 8th Grade graduates and their guests and the centerpieces this year were a 2-tiered display with the top holding rosebuds and the bottom holding strawberries. These were the roses on my table at the breakfast.

Date Taken: June 10, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

Week 21: Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

This week's photo was not taken on Friday but it still had to be my photo of the week. This is a photo of one of the flowers I received from my husband in celebration of our 17th wedding anniversary. We both try to get something for the other that follows the recommended gifts for the year but this year that recommendation was furniture. We decided against furniture even though we really do need a new couch. He got me roses and I got him the new Sports Active game for the Wii.

Date Taken: May 24, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
No Flash

Week 19: Roses & Strawberries

Roses & Strawberries, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

This week was Teacher Appreciation Week and we have great parents at our school. Our Parent Faculty Association provided breakfast on Monday, a free lunch at our annual Fiesta Lunch and lunch on Friday. Other parents baked us goodies, gave us cards, flowers and other things and 1st Grade decorated pots and gave us plants.

This week's picture is a rose from one of the families at school for Teacher Appreciation Week along with some strawberries left over from the lunch provided on Friday.

I added some subtle painting effects to this one in Photoshop. You'll probably have to look at the larger sizes to really see them.

Date Taken: May 8, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/125
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 47 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On & Bounced