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.