The Lone Flip Flop

So This is another picture form Thousand Steps Beach. The flip flop in the bottom left corner washed up on shore. I thought that this was a great setting for the picture, but I've been having problems processing it. It never came out just right.

Canon 600D, ISO-1000, f/4.5, 18mm, 1/30 sec
http://jdabbeyiii.blogspot.com/

Under the Pier Downtown....

Under the Santa Monica Pier. I took this on my photowalk. I've processed this image time and time again. I finally got a semi decent image and now I am posting it. I just noticed that I have posted this picture already. Oh well, nobody has noticed yet so maybe I should keep my yap shut.

Canon 600D, ISO-320, f/5.6, 53mm, 1/15 sec

Trails in the sand

So we stopped by the Mesquite dunes and I walked out to take pictures while the guys sat next to the car not wanting to walk out to the dunes. I saw that the wind wasn't just kicking up sand, but it was also making really cool trails along the dunes.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 34mm, 1/640 sec

Into each life some rain must fall.

I went over to Dana Point this morning to go paddle boarding with my cousin. He didn't show so I just wandered around taking pictures. I saw this and I was surprised that someone actually does rainwater collection for their business around here. I like the design that they use, from what the proprietor of the building said, this has been the design since the building was built pre-WWII. I forget the exact year as I was shooting instead of listening. It was not actually raining this morning, it was just cloudy and foggy.


Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 55mm, 1/80 sec

Steps to nowhere

So we were walking up Mosaic Canyon in Death Valley and There were these pieces of rebar cemented into the rock face. From the positioning and the hand rail, it was obvious that they were steps, but the top three were missing and the rock face kind of ended at the top of them so we weren't sure what to make of them. But I got a picture just in case.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.0, 18mm, 1/200 sec

Old Number Three

Well, this one didn't have any rust or paint. No need to leave color on it, except for the 3 on the side and the ford emblem. Over 70 years and the ford emblem is bright and shiny. I think that the headlight needs a bit of adjustment. I also think that the tires are a little low on the tread.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.0, 20mm, 1/160 sec.

I'm Black, I'm White

A new take on the Hinkle Rose. I felt like messing around with the picture and I like it, I think that I will do the same thing with some other pictures. I was actually trying to get more definition of the original picture form the previous post, but the colors were too bright, so I tried taking the color saturation all the way down and I liked how it came out. Then I experimented with removing the background because it was taking attention away from the rose.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4, 21mm, 1/160 sec.

Every drop in the ocean counts.

This was a fun picture to take. It was one of the first ones I took at Thousand Steps a couple weeks ago when I went. I was still warm from the drive over there, the sun was still out and my feet had not been engulfed in a wave from not looking where I was standing. I'm not complaining, it just seemed like this picture came to me too easily. But if I count in the rest of the time I spent at that beach that evening, it was a lot of work to end up with this picture. I guess it matters which direction you come from it.

Canon 600D, ISO-640, f/5.6, 35mm, 1/50 sec

If you rest, you rust.

For a truck that has been sitting out in the desert for a minimum of 58 years, this is pretty impressing. It's only surface rust, give this thing a paint job, and an engine and I bet it still runs. This was one of the cars rusting out behind Scotty's Castle. It was an old Ford so I had to take a picture.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f8.0, 18mm, 1/160 sec.

Rosie, how can I persuade?

So I was a bit bummed out on Saturday. I went all the way to San Pedro and didn't get sunken city photos/ I went over to the Hinkle household on saturday evening so we could get started early Sunday morning on Easter festivities. Well, we all slept in, but the sun was out and the Hinkles have some great flowers at their house. This was actually much brighter than it is in this picture, I had to pull the color back. I hope that you enjoy it.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4, 21mm, 1/160 sec.

Backseat Driving

The view from the back of a car in the junkyard behind Scotty's Castle. As you saw in the truck pictures when I first started this post, there was a collection of old rusted cars behind Scotty's Castle. I really hope that they never remove those rusted out cars. They are fun for people to enjoy who go off the beaten track. Of course there were signs every 30 feet or so telling us to stay on the road which of course we had to disobey on principle alone.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.7, 40mm, 1/100 sec

Old and Grainy

So I had some fun with my shoot down on Thousand Steps Beach. I am not a fan of high ISO and this is one of the few that I actually like. There was an older couple jogging along the beach and I'm glad that they were standing together for my picture. And this was after I did some noise reduction. I like the grainy old style look to it. Let me know what you think.

Canon 600D, ISO-3200, 34mm, 1/50 sec

My First Lighthouse

I've always like the idea of lighthouses. Maybe I romanticize them, but they seem like such unique ways to live. I went over to Point Fermin to get pictures of Sunken city, but as I said in my last post, there was a cop posted right next to the only way I know to get through the fence. Instead of drawing attention to myself, I decided to walk around the park and take some pictures. This is the lighthouse there and it's my kind of Lighthouse. A home with just a light atop it. Let me know of any other great lighthouses in california, my goal is to take pictures of all of them.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 18mm, 1/125 sec.

Can you hold this while I grab a beer?

So I headed down to Sunken City on Saturday to get some pictures. I got there an hour before sunset, but there was a cop chillin in his car right next to the best place to get over the fence. I decided to walk around and there is a little local pub. Outside the pub, I met this guy who regaled me with stories of his misspent youth. Then as he saw the cop about to leave, he asked me to hold his joint while he went in and ordered a beer. A little blurry because there was no light, but I had to share it. For the record, I did not hold his joint while he ordered a pint. It's not my kind of substance.

Canon 600D, ISO 125, f3.5, 18mm, 1/40 sec.

That's one big rock!

So this picture is from a few years back. My father , Eva, and I were taking the boat down to Mexico to have the hull repainted. While we were leaving Morro Bay, I took this shot. I did a little post processing on it. Believe it or not, this giant rock was too colorful for me, so I made the rock monochrome. You can still see it's greenish yellow hue in the reflection in the water. This was back when I was editing with The Gimp. Easy software to use, but not as extensive with the filters as Photoshop.

Sony DSC-P100, ISO-100, f/5.6, 8mm, 1/250 sec.

Do I see his turn signal flashing?

OK, so this is far from my comfort zone. I haven't gotten the hang of sky photography, but I was out on my balcony trying to get the moon (which did not turn out) and there was a plane circling and I gave it my best to get a shot. I like how you can see the blinking red light on the backside during the long exposure. Almost looks like a Doppler shift. Would be better if the starboard side lights were blue. For those unfamiliar with the Doppler shift, that is the scientific principle that tells us that the universe is expanding. The light on the tree outside was very bright so I tried my best to pull it back, but the moon was very bright with a 30 sec exposure. Let me know what you think.


BTW: this is Saturday's post a little early. I'm hitting up Sunken City tomorrow for pics, then I'm off to Brandon's for Easter weekend. Pool party for Easter sounds very southern California. I will post the sunken city pics on Sunday evening.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 35mm, 30 sec.

Once more into the break, dear friends

So I've never really tried taking pictures of waves. First picture of some waves. The break is too close to the beach to surf here, but it allows me to get some detail without a zoom. I really like this picture and I may mess around with it, maybe blur it a bit to compensate for the noise caused by the high ISO. I took classes to teach me about the relation of ISO and noise and the relation of f stops and depth of field, but that was at least a decade ago if not more so I've forgotten it all and am learning from scratch.

Canon 600D, ISO-640, f/4.5, 30mm, 1/40 sec.

The point of exposure

So, yes it was cloudy when I went down to thousand steps beach, but I made the best of it. Some clouds are great for pictures, but not these clouds. I had to take some long exposures in order to get even a little definition from them. Luckily waves always look great with long exposures. I'm going to go down to Thousand Steps again when the sky is a little more clear to get you some more exciting pictures. I do like this one and I hope that you do also.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5, 41mm, 15 sec

Mists of Laguna

OK, so I kind of lied. It's a raw image not a bracketed shot. I had to up the exposure and color in Photoshop, so it's a bit altered but not a full HDR image. This was down at Thousand Steps. I was working on trying to get a picture with the terrible light that I was given and this was a pretty good picture IMHO. I decided that if it was going to be a long exposure that I would stop it down a few stops and make it a longer exposure.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/29, 29mm, 5 sec.

A view from a parking lot.

So we came out of Mosaic Canyon and were coming back to the car. This was taken from the parking lot at mosaic canyon. Even from a parking lot, the views in Death Valley are amazing. Actually I took this while the guys had a beer break, because finishing a hike means you get to celebrate with a beer. I can't see any issues with that logic.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 29mm, 1/800 sec.

Sunset at the Pier

OK, I know that I have said it before, but this time I mean it. This is my last image from the Photowalk. I couldn't turn down another sunset shot though. So Today is my last picture form the Photowalk. I'm afraid I posted my images too quickly and I'm starting to run out. I guess that I need to go take more. You might notice a crazy ISO below, that is me playing around with shutter priority instead of aperture priority. Only image that turned out with shutter over aperture priority. You will also notice my new signature.

Canon 600D, ISO-160, f/4.5, 28mm, 1/200 sec

Photographic Amnesia

So I was looking at this image and I remember working on the raw file for it and processing it, however I do not remember taking it. I have complete amnesia regarding this image. I have no idea where it was in Death Valley. From the time-stamp on it, I know roughly where we were, but I don't remember taking the picture. I assume that this will happen more often the more pictures I take, but there were so many beautiful nature shots in Death Valley that I can't remember one specific point. So here is yet another Death valley shot. I am taking more pictures so I will diversify.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 28mm, 1/800 sec.