Couple of odd ones....

I had problems uploading to Blogger last night, so I had to combine the last two days shots into one post...

Wicked Skies.

Someone had a large bonfire last night and it really played with the sky views. You can see some of the smoke swirling in the lower part of the image. The smoke led to a very nice sunset as well.

Again, yo can see the wisps of smoke in the sky.... I love it when you get the atmospheric disturbances that give you great color!

Now tonight, we were out to Cuff Farms for a hayride and pumpkin picking trip....

I found this oft repainted oil tank out behind the barn. The rust breaking through reminds me of the scutes on a turtles shell.

More architecture..

I was in the same area that I found my barn yesterday and went by a house that I had passed numerous times. I always said that I would stop, but never had the time. Today I had the time. I hope to find the owner of the property so I can get some different angles on it.

Farmhouse.

Front Door Detail.

Rusted Windmill. I will be linking this to This or That Thursday. You should check it out!!

Another amazing sight for today was the stone foundation of a barn. It looks as if the barn had been torn down or destroyed some time ago, but the glass block window was still in place. I will need to come back to this site when I have better light. I did manage to get a mini sunset through the panes.

One of the problems I had with this shot is the light. I had to crank down the aperture to get a shot, but that gave me a shallow depth of field. It appears that I focused mainly on the uppermost block on the left side. 

Again, a depth of field issue as I ended up focusing on the red berries in the uppermost right of the picture. At least I know where this is so I can go back and try again. That is part of the fun of photography for me, always having the ability to try over and over until you finally "get it right".

Architectural Details...

Today was a bleak, dreary, and wet day. The kind of day to shoot B&W, which I did a lot of. First I have a barn door and a crop. 

Then I decided to get a closer shot to enhance the details.

My next stop on such a rainy day was naturally a cemetery.  This one is near my house and I drive by it on the way to work every day. About two weeks ago the family added a colorful wreath to a very dark looking vault. I decided to do a series of images to get all of the small details in the ironwork.

I was really happy to have a splash of color today.

I found these very near to the vault.

I then found myself wandering around downtown Appleton and taking some more detail pictures.

I would have to call it a pretty productive day after working eight hours, picking up the kids from school and taking them to YMCA classes. No wonder most of the photos I took today were a little off kilter. (go back and look, you will see)

Many different shots.

Today I took a long ride out to find the western end of Center Valley Road. I found out that when it crosses hwy 76 it turns into Thompson Road and dead ends at the Wolf River.

Along he way I ran into some more hens.

Almost as bad as mosquitoes here in Wisconsin! Then I saw some sandhill cranes.

Now I liked this shot, in a larger format the focus is fairly clear for 100 yds. freehand, But I decided to try a different angle. I went for a "leading line" shot with a "rule of thirds" thrown in for good measure.

I think it lends more interest. Let me know what you think! 

This is a random barn that did not make my 365 project today, but I like it anyway.

And after picking my son up from swimming at the YMCA, I tried my hand at a long exposure. This is the Friendship Trail Trestle. It runs across Little Lake Butte des Mortes.

Well, that is about all that I had time for today, I hope you can find something to enjoy!!

This image is being shared with Weekend Reflections.

Backlighting, refelction, and DOF.

I took some time today while I was @thebrownbarn to take a walk around the pond. I have seen some nicely backlighted shots recently and wanted to give it a go. I pulled out my 1.8 50mm and found a nice milkweed pod to start.

I love the effect I get at 1.8 and the blurry halos if light. 

Next, I tried a still water reflection. I was trying to recreate a shot I have done a number of times, but it is not the best image I have gotten.

I love that the sky is such a deep blue in the refection. But the water was not still enough for a great shot. I also like that you can play a little mind game with these images. Rotate 180° and you have this...

I will post a picture of my better version of this shot for an example.

Leaves in the sky!

Last shot.. Depth of Field.

Great day for yellows!! I took some more shots, but I am saving them for @thebrownbarn. 

Playing

I haven't posted to this blog for a while as I have been concentrating on the 365 and @thebrownbarn so I thought I would try some new effects in Photoshop Elements 7. I was bored waiting for a train and snapped a few pictures to play with.

The originals...

For the top picture, I cranked up the saturation and fiddled with the hue and temperature which got me this:

A little funky, but I liked it so I put a Neon Edges filter on it and tweaked to this:

I kind of like this one better. 

For the bottom picture, I tweaked the sharpness and added a small amount of saturation. Then I hit it with the liquefy tool. I think I will be using this more often, I love the warp.

I also de-saturated one, But it is not as good as shooting B&W in-camera. 

I also played quite a bit with the contrast, but still don't really like it. 

I should play like this more often!!

Busy!!

Well, it has been a busy week for us! We started moving some of our non essential equipment out to the new house. (Click the link below the post to see where we are moving!) I will be adding some new pictures to the site as soon as I can get onto my other computer. I have been very active with the barn 365, and I am finding that it is great to take a break in the middle of the day and get out. I have made it 18 days and I am not running out of steam yet. Check back later for some pictures from the last few days...