Davenport

Davenport
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

I'm going to have to go back to this spot. I didn't like any of the shots I took, so I thought a little PhotoShop magic would help. It did a little, but the crop payed off the most. I still wish I had a more dynamic sky here, but by the time the sky looked good, the sun had dropped behind a bluff and cast a dark shadow over this whole beach, rocks included. In fact, this is about 30 seconds before the sun was off the rocks. I think I'll have better luck in the autum.

Fall Creek

Fall Creek
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

This is a little-known gem in Santa Cruz County, the Fall Creek State Park. I went today for the first time, but I started feeling a little sick, so after only a few frames, I came home. I can't wait to spend some more time there and hopefully get some better pictures.

This is another HDR pic from 2 exposures. I exposed one frame correctly and one I shot underexposed so I could tone down the highlights.

Panting

Panting
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

I'm not sure if this photo works like this, but I wanted to try it out and post the results.

In Shadow

In Shadow
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

Shadow, my mother's dog, is deaf but a bundle of cuddles. I just couldn't resist shooting him coming out of the shadows

End of the Wharf

End of the Wharf
Originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

This is my first HDR (high dynamic range) test. I seem to love shooting this wharf, but the truth of it is that it's easy for practice. I know it will look good in just about any light.

HDR takes multiple exposures and combines them into one frame. This makes the highlights and shadows properly exposed.

I've got this new site designed now, so as soon as I figure some things out (like how to get this blog working using a better design), I'll go live. Stay tuned.

Highway of the Future?

Highway of the Future
Originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

In reality, these are the elevators in the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, but I thought they looked like futuristic pods traveling along some sort of road. Originally, there was a third elevator in the frame, but I cropped it out to draw the focus to the perspective.

Fan Attic

Fan Attic
Originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

Just an old dusty fan in my apartment. Gotta love that 50 f1.4

Sunset at Home

Sunset at Home
Originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

A sunset from my apartment balcony.

Paited Poppies

Paited Poppies
Originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

This had no PhotoShop work done on it. This is just what it looked like using my 50 mm f1.4

Upstream Swimmer

Upstream Swimmer
Originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

One of the "upstream swimmers" gets ready to give a nude runner a hug during the 95th annual Bay to Breakers on Sunday, May 21, 2006 in San Francisco. The "upstream swimmers" dress as salmon and start the race at the finish line, running the course backward.

Break on Through

Break on Through, originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

I reduced the midtones of this photo to bring out the sky. As shot, it looked very flat. The tone was created by adjusted the red and blue curves.

Bathroom Break

Bathroom Break, originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

Since the lines where so long, a couple of guys just found the nearest building. I can't believe they didn't see me taking their picture.

Bush on Tap

Bush on Tap, originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

I love this photo. This was taken during the 2006 Bay to Breakers run and was converted to black and white in PhotoShop. I also had to crop this a lot since I was only using a 50 mm.

Skyway

Skyway, originally uploaded by Crayola Boy.

I took this after seeing the 1906 Earthquake exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It was about 4:30, so the shadows coming down the wall were really good. I also digitally processed this to get that contrast by using a gradient map and channel mixer.

Evening Beats

Ritma sitting in my living room as the sun comes through the window. The entertainment center is used as the backdrop. The only PhotoShop work this photo has on it is some spotting and the crop. Other than that, this is exactly how it came out of my camera.

I took a spot reading of the highlight on the fur and then reduced the exposure by 1 stop.

Canon 20D
2006-05-17
1/160 sec
f5.6
100 ISO
31 mm 

Poppy's Day

 

Seagull at Dusk

Canon EOS 20D
2006-05-11
1/16oo sec
f5.6
100 ISO
300 mm

Boats on the Wharf

Canon EOS 20D
2006-05-11
1/640 sec
f5.o
100 ISO
38 mm

Ritma

I bought a new camera and this is the first image from it. I now have a Canon 20D digital SLR. It's an early 30th birthday present to me from me. I'll of course still take donations.

Ritma is my drum. A man I work with makes these West African style Ashiko drums that sound as good as they look. Charlie has made me two: this one and a "talking drum" that takes some getting used to. The name Ritma comes from the spanish word for rhythm, which is actually ritmo, but in keeping with tradition I gave the drum a feminine name. Unfortunately, Charlie isn't feeling too well right now. I hope he gets better because everyone who has ever met him misses him.

As for the photo, I just placed it in my living room in front of a black jacket and used the light from my floor lamp. I didn't even need to adjust the white balance of the camera. I also didn't need to do much to the photo in PhotoShop, just darkended it a bit. I hope there will be more to come ...

Canon EOS 20D
2006-05-10 8:36 p.m.
100 ISO
30 sec. f/13
34mm 

Placer County Courthouse

The real name of this building is the Placer County Courthouse. This is the same shot as the post titles "Auburn Courthouse" with some tweeks. I used PhotoShop's channel mixer to add some drama to this shot. I also straightened and cropped it. I think this turned out much better than the original.

I also found some history for this building:

This is a grandiose three-story Classic Revival structure topped by a bracketed cornice and simple Renaissance Revival inspired dome. Monumental stairs lead to a main second floor from both the north and south. This building is one of four surviving northern and central California courthouses which retain most of their architectural ornamentation and magnificent domes.

Before the formation of Placer County in 1851, this hilltop where the present courthouse now stands was the site of bull and bear fights and public hangings. The County's first courthouse, built of wood and cloth with an adjacent log jail, was erected on Court Street. A new two story wooden courthouse with a bell tower was built on the hill in 1853. The log jail burned in 1855, and in 1857, a new two story brick jail was built to the west of the courthouse on the hill. The two buildings were connected via an iron bridge running from the jail to a second story courtroom.

The Placer County Courthouse you see today was completed in 1898 with most of its building materials coming from Placer County: the granite from Rocklin, the bricks and terra-cotta trim from Lincoln, lime and lumber from various other areas in the county. The slate roof is from El Dorado County. The courthouse bell came around Cape Horn and was used regularly to summon officials to court. This building is listed on The National Register of Historic Places. 

Tallymark

This is what a horse looks like after a 30-mile ride. 

No Hands Bridge

This is a great bridge for a day hike. It's also part of the Western States 100 trail. That's a race in June where people run for 100 miles, taking between 20 and 36 straight hours. Crazyness. 

Auburn Courthouse 2.0

This is the whole courthouse in Auburn. I took this at about 7am and, again, this is much better on the slide. 

Indian Paintbrushes

I think these are Indian Paintbrushes, but I can't be certain. This was about as close as I could get using my 300mm lens and still keep them in focus. Again, the slide looks much better. 

Auburn Courthouse

I'm not happy with the way Bay Photo scanned in this roll of film. There was no contrast at all, even though the slides looked great. I'll try to save some of them in PhotoShop (cause I', an expert and all ...), but some may be lost until I can get them rescanned.

Also, I didn't keep notes on my exposures for this roll since it was such a pain in the a$$.

Above is the Auburn Courthouse in Auburn, just north of Sacramento. Julie was doing an endurance horse ride, so that gave me time to rome around with the camera in hand. I got some pictures of the courthouse, 'No Hands Bridge' and the horses at the race. Look for more to be posted soon.

As always, if you want prints of any of these pics, just let me know and I'll make it happen for you (but you will have to pay).

Photos are coming

I went to Auburn the other day and took some pictures around town, so they will be up in about a week. Look for pics of "No Hands Bridge" and the Auburn courthouse.