Concentrating

Strolling Through The Park



Two ladies walking a dog in Mapleton Park

 This past Wednesday, I took a little walk in one of our city's parks. The main goal was to capture the fall landscape along one of the park's trails. While there were plenty of leaves on the ground, and several trees in colourful dress, I was quite surprised that there was still a lot of green - and I'm not just talking about the evergreen trees.

We had some rain and a lot of wind the last couple of days (today is windy, but sunny), so I expect a lot more of the leaves have fallen off. I'm hoping to go tomorrow or Monday to take some more photos. Hopefully I'm not too late at getting some beautiful scenic photos.

Dog Days of Summer

On my little weekend excursion, we went to a little beach. It's quite rocky, so to me it's not the ideal type of beach. However, there were some people there, and it's definitely a good place to walk.  The sun was shining, and it was a gorgeous day (though a lot cooler than it was in the city, but still beautiful temperatures). 

When we first got to the beach, we saw this dog walking around, visiting with people, but being very good (not barking, biting, being a pest, etc.). We assumed he/she belonged to someone who was there.  I took several different shots of this dog, and hoped that whoever his/her owner was wouldn't mind. No one said anything, and as we began our walk along the sand and stone (the water was too cold), the dog began to follow us. He/she walked with us for the majority of our walk, and on our way back would bark for us to play. We would throw some of the sticks or rocks out to the water or further up the beach (no one was around us at that point, though some were quite a way up the beach), and the dog would run after them. Eventually, when we stopped to sit and enjoy the area, the dog trotted over to other people and adopted them for a little while.  He was still with them as we left. We figure he/she belonged to someone who lived across the road from the beach.

I hope he/she got home safely to his/her home!

Kitty 2

My cat, again, touched up on PSE 7.

Kitty Cat

My favourite furry feline. This is my cat, Tinker Belle, and she's 12 years old. I fixed the colouring, sharpness, and contrast up just a bit with PSE 7.

Tinker Belle

I took this shot yesterday of my cat, Tinker Belle.  I had been attempting to take some photos of tomoatoes, but I don't think they quite turned out.  I'll need to try when there is more light, since I took them when it was getting dark.

I know I should have adjusted it so her ears were in the shot, but I was trying to get her washing her paw.  I like how she has one eye opened and the other closed.

Experimenting

Only one shot for today.  This is the antelope picture I posted previously and finally figured out (with help from someone on the Digital Photography School forums) why I couldn't see this shot in with the original.  I had it saved under a PSD ending instead of a JPEG!  So, I went in and resaved it as a JPEG and lo and behold, there it was, right where I wanted it to be!

Again, for this image, I played around a little in PSE 7 last night as I was attempting to learn a little about the program.  Since I'm new to digital photography, and more recently to the whole editing process, I don't know how or where I should fix things.  For example, down in the lower left corner, it's a little dark (almost like a vignette to me)...I don't know what to do, or how I would fix that.  Also, when I attempt to slide the bars around to adjust things like sharpness, hue,saturation, etc., I don't know how to choose what looks better.  In most cases, no matter what I do, it looks fine (though in many cases it doesn't).

I realize the editing process is a learning process and it takes time and practice in order to become good at it.  This is what I want to do; therefore, I will continue to "play" around with PSE 7 and ask questions, try hints and tips, and follow technique examples in the photography magazines and books using my own shots.

If you have any suggestions, tips, etc. for ways I might try to improve  this picutre, I wouldn't mind hearing them.  I am in the learning process afterall.

Photoshop Elements 7

This afternoon I purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and installed in on my laptop (which indicates enough room to install and still have lots left over).  Twice now when playing with the program, my laptop froze on me and I couldn't do anything.  I don't know why this is happening but I'll definitely be looking into this.

I find it odd that there wasn't more of a manual included in the box, but there might be something online or on the CD.  Also, I know there are books and magazines, and I do have one magazine that is supposed to explain how to do things.  I'll have to dig it out and look into it.  I'm excited to have this program, and hope I can learn to use it well in order to enhance my photos.

I haven't forgotten to post some pictures today.  These two shots were also taken in Australia when I visited the Werribee Free Range Zoo.  None of the animals here are in cages; they all roam freely in wide enclosed areas. 

I realize in the first picture that it would have been better if I had captured all of the horns.  But, we were in a bus and it was difficult to do so without getting part of the bus or the people on the other side of me in the shots.  I'm sure there are lots about this picture that could be adjusted (I was actually attempting to fix it up in Photoshop when the computer froze on me).  I decided to post it as is for now, and at some point when I "fix" it up, I can post that version of the photo as well.

As for the second shot, I find the back too light/white.  That is something I would try to fix (it's supposed to be sky) in Photoshop.  Also, the lower left hand corner looks a little dark and blurry.  Not sure how I'd fix that, but I think it's something to try adjusting.

Well, thanks for visiting the blog.  Please feel free to leave comments.  I'm off to figure out Photoshop Elements now!

Melbourne Zoo

These pictures were taken when I visited the Melbourne Zoo in August.  It's a huge place, and it took us several hours to get through the entire thing.  Zoos are great places to take pictures of animals, particularly those which might not be from your own neck of the woods. 

Sadly, in my opinion, cages or bars often ruin a great picture.  For example, the picture of the lion was taken through wire, but it looks (to me) a little soft or blurry in places from said wire.  It's not as bad as having to take the picture where the wire is directly in front of the animal or bird and you can tell that it is in a cage.  Thankfully, the picute of the emu had the wire fence in back of the bird.  I would prefer the picture to not have had the fence in it, but the emu was standing directly in front of it so it was hard not to get the wires in the frame.

The last shot is of a red panda.  It was in the feeding box and poked its head out.  I like how you can see the "food dust" on the whiskers.  I had cropped this on the computer so that most of the food box wasn't showing, however, for some reason it couldn't save the change.

I like these photos, but I am aware they could probably be adjusted in some way or another, or even have tried different perspectives or whatnot.  This is all part of the learning process for me.

Again, I don't have the camera specs, other than to say I used my Pentax K200 camera with my Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens (which also has macro capabilities at 300mm).  I love using this lens, but I need to get a stable tripod so I can use it better, especially for macro shots!

I'd love to hear your comments, helpful advice, etc.  Remember, I'm not looking for criticism, unless it's constructive, and nice/helpful.  I want to learn, not be turned off the hobby by rudeness.

Also, what do you find, if anything, challenging about zoo photography?  What is the best zoo shot you've taken?