Another Photograph From Fort Payne, Alabama ::

Road Tripping ::

I did a road trip up to Fort Payne, Alabama searching for scenes to photograph and came across several that were of interest.



This is another HDR photo utilizing 7 different exposures. The photograph was processed in Photomatix which is my program of choice for tone mapping HDR images. I've used the Photoshop HDR processor, but I've never been satisfied with the results.

Toilet Paper In The Tree ::

Although this is not a HDR image I have been shooting more of them lately as well as using my tripods and monopod more. At times I will shoot 3 to 5 HDR shots hand held outside on a sunny day, but I've decided that this is not the optimum way to approach the situation and I've really come to appreciate the monopod.

So, what I wanted to say about this image is that I drove by the scene the day before I took this photograph and decided it was worthy of a HDR try, but, unfortunately, the day was pretty windy as well as sunny and when I processed the photographs there was far too much ghosting in the toilet paper on the tree. I should also add that there was much more toilet paper on the tree when I tried the HDR photograph! I was in the same area the next day which was overcast I decided to just make a normal exposure. I think it turned out ok. At least the quarter horse farm sign is not in heavy shadow!

A New Holga Photograph

Posted near a local convenience store although I can't imagine why anyone would trespass at this location!

The Hebron Volunteer Fire Department ::

HDR photographs taken on 09/11/11. I've begun to experiment more with HDR photography and I've decided that the use of a tripod, which I extremely dislike, will be mandatory although these photographs were taken with the use of a monopod. These were a bracket of 3 images, each 1 stop apart. I've since decided to try 5 shots at .7 stop apart. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to try this spread out this weekend.

I've had pretty good success with a 3 shot spread, hand-held, but the tripod should yield more consistent results.

Snatching Victory From Defeat ::

I shot this several years ago when I had my Nikon D50. I ran across this scene and shot it with the 18-55mm lens with a polarizing filter as well as a lens hood so I got some pretty significant vignetting. For some reason I saved the image to the computer without really giving it much thought although I did look at it once in a while. This morning I was looking for something different to post and decided to play around with this in OnOne Software's PhotoTools. Here is the final result:



And here is the untouched original:



Quite a bit of difference!

Dot's Dairy Den ::

New Hope, Alabama.

Another Holga Photograph ::

Earlier this evening I added another 4 gigs of ram to my computer so I've been doing a bit of speed testing so I worked a bit on this Holga image. The original negative was scanned to a 16 bit digital file of around 220 megs and then converted to black and white in Photoshop. I'm pretty happy with the speed gain from the extra ram.

A Holga Image ::

From a few weeks ago:



I don't know where the rest of the house is gone to, but it was cleaned up pretty well.

Still Working Through Some Computer Issues ::

But I'm getting close to being through with them. In the meantime here is something from a couple of weeks ago:

Not Lost ::

I'm still around--I've just been incredibly busy as well as adding a new hard drive to the computer which necessitated reloading the os as well as all of my programs. I'm still working on bringing it back up to speed. I also haven't been doing much in the way of photography this summer.

A Holga Photograph ::

This one is from earlier in the year. I really haven't had much time to do any shooting lately. The older I get the more the heat seems to zap my energy!

Ready To Fly? ::

I've had my eye on this old barn with the Huntsville Airport sign on the side for quite some time, but only today did I have a chance to take the photograph. Actually, I've had several chances before, but there always seemed to be something that was not quite right. Normally I try my best not to wait over a period of days, or months, to take a photograph, but this scene is near where I live and I wasn't really worried about it disappearing.



There are also two interesting little cemeteries on this country side road.

A HDR Result ::

Taken a couple of months ago in a cemetery off the beaten path between Pulaski and Fayetteville, Tennessee.



A former co-worker who passed away back in January had his ashes spread in the beautiful cemetery!

Memorial Day, 2011

Planting time ::

The farmers have been busy in the past couple of weeks trying to get their seeds in the ground, as have I. I have corn and okra peeking up out of the soil along with my tomatoes, squash, zucchini and peppers. Now I just have to keep the deer away!

A Clear Day In January ::

I really thought that I had taken this shot back during the summer, but a check of the metadata definitely places this at January of this year.

A New Holga Photograph ::

Taken just a few days ago.



The flowers are there as a small memorial to a lady who drove off the road late one night, clipped the side of the tree, and her car went into the lake. No one saw the accident happen, but the next day someone driving by happened to see the antenna sticking up out of the water, but it obviously was too late.

A Flag ::

I don't think I've posted a flag photograph in a while, so here's one from last month:

From Yesterday Morning ::

Here is my latest HDR attempt. I think that my expectations were too great on my first HDR tries and I made several mistakes, the first being that I expected to reproduce a far too great contrast range, and I produced too many bracketed shots. I had been shooting as many as 9 stops, but lately I have consciously limited myself to 3 and that seems to work much better.



Now, if I can just discipline myself to use a tripod! I've been experimenting hand-held lately and I can definitely see limitations with that approach.

Yard Sale ::

I've been some more experimentation with HDR and this is one result from a couple of weeks ago:



Until a couple of years ago this building housed a pawn shop until it was robbed one afternoon and the lady who owned and ran the shop decided that the risk of further robberies just wasn't worth the reward so she immediately shut down. I can't say that I blame her!

Effective Advertising!

I was out and about up in southern Tennessee yesterday afternoon and took several images which I have processed as HDR photographs. I'm pretty satisfied with them and I'll share some as we progress. This photograph was taken in Hazel Green, Alabama on my way back home.

Patriots ::

This is on a little side road near where I live. There is little of interest other than this pasture with the flag wedged in the tree. The first time I photographed it was about 3 years ago on a foggy morning and there were cows in the background and one of them was looking straight at me. I haven't seen the cows near the flag since.

No Dictionary Found ::

Found ::

in Morgan City, Alabama:

A New Photograph ::

Here's one of several photographs that I took this afternoon:



I also shot a couple of scenes in HDR so I'm off to process them right now. I'm not really much of a fan of HDR, but I'm still a novice so we'll see what happens.

The Tip Top Cafe ::

Many fun times here in my misspent middle age!

A Holga Photograph ;;

The weather has been pretty lousy the past few days with a lot of rain and now some chilly temperatures and I'll be working all day Saturday, but I'm hoping for some nice spring weather soon.

A Red Cross ::

I found this scene this morning in a rural community near where I live. Actually, crosses are big in this little area and, off the top of my head, I can think of at least 4 more that I have photographed within just a couple of miles. I'm hoping to take many more photographs around here in the summer when the fields are planted.

A Closed Title Pawn Shop ::

It's unusual to see one closed around here these days. Kinda like all of the thrift shops popping up everywhere--a sign of the times!

In The Clouds Cove Community ::

The Clouds Cove community is a short drive away from where I live and it's down this back road that I would probably never have ventured down if not for a sign beside the main road that led me to check it out several months ago. This is one of those areas where I seem to always find something new to photograph every time I visit.



I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time in the area during the summer. As a bonus, the Flint River also runs beside the road for a ways and I'm going to try fishing there some also.

A Rural Church

I started a project to photograph churches several years ago but I quickly found that most were very unnoteworthy, but every once in a while I come across one that's interesting, such as this one in Owens Crossroads, Alabama.

All Things Change ::

This was formerly a used appliance store that had all sorts of character until it was sold, torn down, and is now a used car lot!

More Experimentation ::

I've been working more and more with OnOne Software's Phototools 2.6 and here is one of my latest products. It's a bit more manipulation than I would normally do, but I like it. The software is very nice for working with portraits and wedding photographs and next I'll post some before and after shots with some skin tones in a few days.

Albertville, Alabama ::

I've been trying out OnOne Software's Plug-In Suite 5 and the more I use it the more I like it. The suite includes Focal Point, Mask Pro, PhotoTune, Genuine Fractals (now called Perfect Resize) PhotoTools, and PhotoFrame. I've found FotoTools to be indispensable for enhancing images and I've long used Genuine Fractals for upsizing my photographs. I believe that they do offer a trial download at their website and they also have some really great videos which run round around 1 hour each to help you get used to the products and how they can enhance your workflow.

A Chair ::

This is a photograph from 2008, but I have recently realized that I have, perhaps unconsciously at first, been photographing corrugated metal buildings and loading docks that I run across.

Cash Only ::

I finally got Windows 7 up and running and all of my programs and plug-ins loaded up so we should be good to go for a while. All I need now is more ram. I'm currently running 4 gigs, but my motherboard accepts 16 so I'll probably add 8 gigs soon.

Still Here! ::

I haven't gone anywhere--I've been updating the desktop to Windows 7 and there have been some glitches, but I'm working through them right now and should be fully back with some photographs sometime this weekend.

It's a pain to change operation systems, but I hope this will be a good move in the long run!

No Thieves ::

This sign in on the side of a building which formerly housed a local charitable organization. People would leave donations outside during weekends and off hours and, unfortunately, theft was a huge problem even though one of the local police departments was only a couple of blocks away.

Never To Run Again ::

This is an old tractor at a sod farm just down the road from where I live. Actually, there are several pieces of old equipment and I'll probably be taking some more photographs of them in the next couple of months.

A Sign On The Side Of A Building ::

Unfortunately this building was torn down shortly after this photograph was taken. It's now nothing more than an empty lot.

A Sign ::

A Holga photograph of a hand made sign beside the road advertising a rural barber shop.



Signs have been interesting me for a long time and I often photograph them with the little plastic fisheye lomo. Here's an example:



The owner of the acreage next to me is a beekeeper who also has begun something of an orchard in the back portion of his land. Several years will be required before the fruit trees produce, bu when I need local honey for medicinal purposes it's impossible to get more local that what I get from Hal!

Piney Woods Community Church ::

This was photographed back in January just after a significant snowfall here in north Alabama. This church began life as a wedding chapel which apparently couldn't attract enough weddings to survive!



Over the past several years I've been photographing churches,especially rural churches, generally with disappointing results, photographically speaking, but I still think that the project has merit!

Open Gate ::

ajar in front of the doors of a weathered church in Mooresville, Alabama.

Hard To Miss This Building!

A Roadside Memorial ::

Found beside a creek in Camden, South Carolina:

Leon Lipscomb Grocery ::

Found in Lacey's Spring, Alabama:



I found another old country store this past weekend, but I didn't have the opportunity to photograph it. I'm hoping for some nice clear blue skies, hopefully with some white fluffy clouds, soon. The old store has been there for decades so I doubt if it'll be going away soon.