More Flowers

Last time I went sine tasting in Sonoma, I took some pics around my mother's yard. I like this one but the green from the leaves was disruptive so I eliminated it. Another color to add to my flower series. I like how the sunset to my left lightened the color on the flowers on the left side of the grouping.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 18mm, f/4.0, 1/25 sec.
http://jdabbeyiii.blogspot.com

Sunset in Sonoma

I took this while standing poolside at my mother's house. Another picture that sat on my hard drive for a while and I'm just now posting. I'm posting this for someone who recently told me that they like sepia toned pictures.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 55mm, f/8.0, 1/160 sec.

Insert witty comment here

I went down to Crystal Cove on Wednesday with Kimmicita. I've never been down there so this was a special treat for me. We had fun walking down the beach and taking pictures. I took this picture because this guy has tourist written all over his bright orange matching shirt and hat. I want to take another trip down to Crystal Cove when there are some light clouds and I bring my tripod.


I also changed my photo blog's URL to http://jdabbeyiii.blogspot.com

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/8, 55mm, 1/160 sec.

They call me the workin' man. I guess that's what I am.

I took this picture about a year ago and it got lost in my filing system. I remember it now and I hated the two idjits on the right that got into my view. That is Trey Ratcliff lining up his shot. Sorry for the tilted angle. Had I rotated and cropped it, I would have cut off his legs. This was before I bought a level for my camera. I really need to go back there and take more pictures. Who wants to go on a little photo walk to the beach with me?


Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/11, 27mm, 1/250 sec.

If a problem cannot be solved, enlarge it.

So I love the beach, I love the ocean, I love every aspect of both. I was laying on the couch watching a film and looking at photography websites online and I saw one of a microscopic picture of sand grains. I did some research and they used a technique called 'Focus Stacking'. Focus Stacking is also used in macro photography so I decided to give it a try. This also came with trying out the application that comes with my camera that lets me control my camera from my computer. The first picture here is the finished picture.

As you can see, short of a few minor spaces, the whole remote is in focus. This specific compilation required 11 contributing images. I used manual focus through the Canon EOS Utility to adjust the focus for each section of the remote. Even with the Aperture set to allow the deepest depth of field, macro photography doesn't work well with keeping the whole image in focus.

Here are two other images that show the limited depth of field in the original contributing photos.

I used 11 photos to attempt to keep each section in the sharpest focus possible. I could use a dozen more images to fix a few minor spots, however this is my first attempt at focus stacking and using the Canon EOS Utility application.

If my laptop didn't weigh 10 lbs, I would just carry it around and use this application with it. Tomorrow I play to try out the time lapse photography option in the software which means setting up my laptop for it anyway. Lets hope that the camera battery holds out for a full day of shooting time lapse. There is more to come.

Long Time, No See

OK, so it's been six months since I posted. Lazy me. Really I've had other things to focus on, work, car, Jip, etc.

So I have jump started my photography again by installing new firmware blah blah blah (Insert geeky mumbo jumbo here) So essentially what I did was do something to improve the quality of the HDR images. Well, I can't be sure of that just yet, but I've been assured that it will improve my HDR shots so why don't we give it a try.

Quick and dirty of it. New firmware lets me take 9 shot HDR instead of the standard 3 shot HDR that my old firmware allowed. I won't get into the details, but it's pretty nifty, although the GUI isn't as pretty.

So First we start with the 9 shot. Tone Mapped and here it is. Got some Chromatic Aberrations, and it's got some blurry spots.

Next we try the 3 shot standard which is how the camera came. 0, -2, +2 standard. Same processing settings as the 9 shot.

OK, so, as I see it, the 9 shot gives better detail, pulls more detail out of the shadows, however it tends to get blurry if there is even a slight wind or ANYTHING moves. Lot's of ghosting which means more time to process into a great shot. Next we will try something a little different to get this new firmware to make itself worth the hassle of installing. HDR 0, -3, +3 maybe? not sure, or maybe just 5 shot instead of 9.

Let me know what you think of the 9 shot? Kind of a mess I think.

Yet Another Death Valley Landscape

I'm starting to get bored posting my pictures from Death Valley. My car has not been working for the last month, so getting out to take pictures has been impossible. Here is another shot from Death Valley.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/9.0, 29mm, 1/200 sec
http://jdabbeyiii.blogspot.com/

Where have you gone mon ami?

Where have you gone mon ami? 

Is your old worn out Beat ghost

Haunting those back roads

And those desolate Cascade peaks. 

-Another Dead Poet

This was a rainy day in Death Valley. This was the road of welcome that we received. My old friend the open road can make even a rainy day a long enjoyed adventure for other friends to share. With each obstacle that was placed in our way, the adventure endures. Listen to me wax all poetic and such. Found this in my buffer directory forgotten and waiting to be rediscovered.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/9.0, 30mm, 1/200 sec

Sunset on a diamond.

I stopped by the beach at the end of Diamond street in Laguna Beach last night. It was sunny with blue skies at home so I drove down to Laguna Beach hoping to get a nice sunset and what do I find? Grey. Lots of Grey. I was just about to give up and all of the sudden I see the clouds starting to part and color starting to come in. So I stood there for a good 15 minutes waiting for enough color and sky to get a good picture.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4, 23mm, 1/200 sec.

I can see the light!

The neon lights of the rides over at the SM Pier. I was surprised that I actually caught it with all the lights bright and nothing else to pollute the light of the picture. There was a lot of light pollution and I have no idea how this one came out. I think that it has to do with ramping up the ISO and going with a faster shutter speed. We shall try it again one day when I find another well lit Ferris wheel at night. Had a little fun with the colors too, look below. It's not often I post two pictures in one post.

Canon 600D, ISO-3200, f/5.6, 55mm, 1/400 sec

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.