The Rising

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Ok, I know what you're thinking...a sunrise/sunset picture, how dull? Driving in this morning to work, I just couldn't resist the opportunity of shooting this mornings' sunrise. It looked perfect for a photo. The sun reared its head before I had a chance/opportunity to pull off the side of the road safely and open up the lens, so I went with the silloutte effect. Oh, and for all the purest photographers out there, this photo is taken right out of the camera with no Photoshop corrections. manual mode: F2.8 1/1000s Camera: Nikon 5700 Coolpix. Please drop a comment.

Burning for you

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In my other blog, Carrotophotography, I use the site strictly to post "Photo Friday" entries (www.photofriday.com), and I used the original of this shot, since it turned out well.(the theme was "Burn". But for this post/this blog, I used the same image, but altered it a little in PhotoShop using the curves adjustment layer for more drama. The colours /prism on a CD surface still amaze me after all these years, LP records were so boring in comparison. Please feel free to leave a comment, on this or other images. I always welcome critique. Bye for now!

Tree light

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This photo was taken in colour and then adapted to sepia tones using Photoshop. I haven't had much luck shooting directly into the sun, but I am happy with this exposure. This was taken at a cemetary near Brampton, Ontario.

Mind the stairs.

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This photo was taken an old stone house that some lucky person has the coin for, or inherited from relatives, because it is a large100 year old stone home about 2 acres of a beautiful park like setting. It does have one drawback, it is adjacent to a public park for people like me to take photos within! Anyhow, I think I will be making a trip back there in the fall to get some fall leaves in their grandeur. The leaves should be at the perfect colour in a 2 or 3 weeks, so keep an eye on this blog! Have a good one.

This is what I SAW

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Back on Labour Day, I went to the Maynooth Logger's Games, and took some shots of the very small town gathering. The contest was how fast and accurate logger teams of four, could in sequence...a) cut down tree towards a marker b)skid (or drag tree to desired location) c)cut tree into 8' lengths d) load into transport truck. A bit hokey but it was a fun time. This is where I shot the photos of the Owl and Turkey Vulture in a birds of prey demonstration. Oh yeah, the photographer from a local newspaper; "Bancroft Times" was there shooting with her Nikon D70 (my dream camera) ! I was salivating over it the whole time. For now, the Nikon 5700 Coolpix will have to do. Cheers and have a good weekend.

Objects (or civil servants) may be smaller than they appear!

Here is photo #2 from August when I got pulled over from a fine member of the police. It's quite an experience, like no other to get pulled over. In most cases, the driver did something against the Highway act, but to avoid the fine and insurance rate increases, drivers will make up any excuse to get them off. Usually doesn't work because an excuse is just that, an excuse. We learn the act of excuses in high school when our teachers ask where our homework is...."We'll, my dog ate it of course" ;-)
This photo is right out of the camera with no adjustments.

Kentucky &%$#% Chicken

Another satisfied customer. The smell of this chicken is absolutely amazing. The colonel's secret recipe is the best, however, I am proud to say I haven't eaten it in 3 or 4 years. Luckily my stomach is sore after eating it which keeps me away, because it is always tempting. All that grease is a just triple bypass waiting to happen. Maybe someday if the doctor tells me I have 2 weeks to live, I'll get a bucket?! About the photo: taken in colour and adapted in PS using masks and saturation control. Oh yeah, I had another photo of this back in August mentioning that this store never converted to the "KFC" signage, and I'm not sure why. The bucket sign doesn't rotate though, makes me sad. I like the ghetto/retro look anyways...I feel that the colonel would have preferred this look too.

The mighty 401

Please click to enlarge. Well, this is a photo of the 401 taken last week around 6:30pm. This is around the Trafalgar and 401 exit. Post processed in PS using "colour balance" and "curves" . I went after a perspective look in this photo. If you do not live in Southern Ontario, this is the busiest highway in Southern Ontario spanning from Windsor (Detroit) to the province of Quebec. In the Toronto area, this highway moves at a snails pace during rush hour, and at 3am there is still many cars travelling on it. About 35% of the traffic is trucks hauling our gross national product here, there and everywhere. Most Toronto area people frequent this highway every day. The average trip to work in Toronto is about 35 minutes long. My drive to work would be fast if I took the highway, but only if I was going 100km/h. At rush hour, it is stop and go at about 10-30km/hr, so I opt for a very straight side road for 32 kms with about 30 stop lights. Believe it or not, it is still faster than taking the 401.

A ghost story

Please enlarge this photo (if you dare!!)
I had some great fun with Photoshop here. I shot this in colour during the day, but this old stone house inspired me to adapt the setting to more of a ghost story feel.
The beam of light from the lightpost and the ghost image are rendered, using paintbrush with limited opacity and many layers for the effect. This house was among the other excellent photogenic areas, century bridge, train tracks, and I have a few more coming, so stay tuned! Please don't by shy and leave your comment..good or bad.

Seagull in the clouds

Please click to enlarge. This photo of a seagull (aka: "Sh#%hawk) was taken the same day as the pipe photos I had posted a few weeks back. Camera: Nikon Coolpix 5700 in manual mode. Post processed in PS using curves and colour balance, and Saturation. Not many people like these birds, because of their noise and of course the lovely white and brown presents they leave on your car while your strolling the beach. I have never been "shat" on by one, but I can imagine the humility. Have a great weekend all, and hope you come back to visit for my Monday post. Please leave a comment on this or other pictures.

lone bench

Please click to enlarge. Shot in in colour, then enhanced in PhotoShop to the sepia like tone. Even though I enjoyed my photo session at the cemetary, and the weather had co-operated nicely, I feel somewhat uneasy about walking amoungst the deceased, and would feel very awkward if relatives showed up to visit while I was snapping photos, but no one showed up anyways! For some reason when I was walking through the cemetary, I was thinking about the theme song from Six Feet Under" and the sound clip...
Child: "Why do people have to die".....
Adult : "To make life feel important"
this comment has a lot of meaning to me, and I have tried not to take things so seriously lately..
Yes I know this is a morbid discussion, but death is a part of life.
errr.. and I promise to have a more positive photo/paragraph tomorrow!

Lightpost army

Please click to enlarge this photo. Along with the thousands of homes being built in my city, commercial land is also designated for businesses, and this photo comes from an empty road with no buildings, but in a few years time, I bet this will be a busy road. I like the sillouette the lightposts were creating in this barren landscape. This was taken around 6:30pm (near sunset since the daylight hours are getting shorter) Photoshop (curves, and colour balance) was used to adjust the photo to this desired look.

Pull on this!

This is one of the first photos I took with this camera, it was more of a test, so I chose something close up and with different textures to test the camera's limitations with using the built in flash. The digital camera was set up in black and white exposure, so this didn't require "correction" in Photoshop.

I think the photo turned out kinda cool with the reflection.

Caterpillar- but no, not the insect

Please click to enlarge....Again my interest in construction has brought another machinery photo. It needed some ooomff, so I opted for the spot colour trick that seems to be very common these days, but after all it's Monday. This bulldozer has seen many tough days on the job site. If he had a name, it would be Brutus.

Ugly but impressive

Please click these photos to enlarge. This is a very unattractive bird, but still kind of cool. It is a Turkey Vulture. (the name I believe comes from the way they walk..just like a turkey waddle) It has impressive wingspan up to 6 feet(close to that of a Bald Eagle)!!! This was shot in Maynooth, a small town 3 hours north of Toronto. In Southern Ontario and beyond, you have probably already seen one of these. They soar really high like a glider and look for rodent movement along the ground in fields. Mmmmmm yummy! Mouse leg anyone?
Have a good weekend all, and hope to see you Monday.

crane and hook

Another shot from yesterday's theme. The sky was really mixed that day, some blue sky, some white clouds, some dark clouds, but I think these clouds add to the image as they did in yesterday's post. As a child, I was always impressed with construction, and the big cranes and earth moving machines. I wish I'd kept my all metal yellow Tonka truck, it was my favorite toy. Oddly enough, I got into Marketing for a career rather than construction/machinery operator. Go figure?

More homes in suburbia?

Toronto and the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) has seen some explosive population growth. You cannot drive through suburban Toronto without seeing a new subdivision being built. The rock bottom interest rates have allowed many people to buy their first home within a 30-45 min drive to Toronto. These shots were taken just West of Steeles and Chinguacousy Road in Brampton. The prices start at about $275,000 for a 1,400 sq. ft. detached house. Pretty inflated pricing if you ask me, but that may change if we get a full blown recession. These pipes looked so interesting for photos, so I had to pull off the road and check it out. I cleaned these photos up a bit in Photoshop. Please leave your comments.

Katrina website.

Please click the Katrina Im Ok logo to your right to help families reach their loved ones, and to support victims of this terrible disaster.

Photoshop tricks

I hope everyone had a great long weekend! I took 80 photos over the weekend, so I will have a half dozen decent ones to show this week and the next.
This photo is taken facing the other way of my "Century Bridge" photo last week.
In this post, I thought I would offer one photo shown in 4 different feels/colours with adaptations made in Photoshop. With a great tutorial from Sam at wvs.topleftpixel.com
I learned how to change the conditions of my photos.
This is what it looked like out of the camera. Kind of flat, I admit.

After this, I used "Adjustment Layers"; Curves, Color Balance, and Channel Mixer to achieve different looks for each of the following photos, a neat effect to change photos!
The yellow leaves is my favorite. How about you, please leave a comment!

mouse trap

I am one of those uncommon redheads in the world, so obviously I get lots of attention. My workplace is owned by an Italian family, so I have inherited the name carrotta which means...you guessed it carrot in Italian. It symbolizes my carrot top; a name that was hard to shake through high school, but as I have become an adult, I can now laugh it off. I had some fun with photoshop here in this shot to give my mouse a personal touch.
Stay tuned for a new photo here on Tuesday, and please leave a comment on my photos! Have a good long weekend everyone!

Century old bridge

I had a feeling this photo would turn out well considering the setting. If you look carefully, the midpoint there is a glow where the sun was peeking through the trees, like a ghost.
Also this is kinda neat, the parks dept of the city I live in had made this bridge by covering an abandoned railroad track as part of a walking trail. I have more photos of this area of the city, but I'll save it for another day.