April 10, 2010

King Leo's Soft Peppermint Stick Candy.  The tin says that it's the "Purest for you, and the children, too."  

April 9, 2010

On Friday, the family went to the Franklin Park Conservatory for Blooms and Butterflies - from 1p to 3p, they release butterflies into their large tropical room.  Everyone was in the area chasing and photographing butterflies.  I have to look at the shots the children took - I love their perspective and spontaneity.

I took this one with the window set in the background, with the light  completely blown out. The effect looked like I framed it in a studio.

I'd say that if you haven't been, you should go - it's really worth it!

April 8, 2010

We spent the day in Cincinnati, playing at the Duke Energy Museum, had some lunch, then went to Jungle Jim's International Food Market.  A very nice day with the family!  Got a nice shot of the skyline from the museum.

April 7, 2010

I played around too much, and didn't get a picture that I really liked.  This was a bit of fun with seamless backgrounds - I guess I still need to put together a light box . . . .

April 6, 2010

My camera has a photo enhancement feature where it will apply the 'miniature model' effect to a given photograph.  Looks like the effect will work best if there's a lot of detail in the main area - I think that the trees save it for me.  I took this picture in the employee lot across the street from the visitor lot - It would be a good position for a panorama shot.

April 5, 2010

There was a big rainstorm, and the family gathered in the family room to watch the light show.  Perfect opportunity for me, since I (again) waited until the last minute to take my picture.
I laid on the floor, looking out the window and waiting for a good shot.  I ended up with lots of pictures of back-lit tree branches -  of course, this one came out by accident.  The shot was handheld using a 50mm lens wide open (f/1.7).

April 4, 2010

It's amazing what a black and white shot can do to a picture.  I took this  sitting in the chair watching the children attacking their Easter baskets.  I converted this shot to black and white, tweaking the blue and red channels a bit for the background.  The magenta channel seemed to effect the skin tones.  The overall effect gave the shot more of a 50's element.

I'm noticing that a lot of the time, Picasa takes the detail down a bit when it publishes the photo.  I'm not surprised by that - just disappointed a little.  I may need to work out some alternate settings here. . . .