Theme: work

Spotted this beauty today. Had to grab a photo, so we “borrowed” someone’s driveway, and I got a few photos before anyone spotted me (yes, they were home). Anyhow this is the US Coast Guard Cutter Fir, based in Astoria, Oregon. Her nickname is “The Bar Tender”, and her motto is: No Bar Too Tough, Too Rough, Too Far. If interested, you can read more about her here. USCGC Fir is down in Yaquina Bay doing some work with NOAA on buoy’s.

Four shots: I like the first because of the wake. I like the second because I got a slightly better placement.

Topaz Tuesday – a twofer

I followed the “recipe” from here, adjusting the numbers a bit to suit my pictures. Both pictures below were taken in Yaquina Bay, Newport, Oregon. The bridge view was from the north side of the bay looking westward. The NOAA R/V was taken from the south side of the bay, looking north.

Bridge over Yaquina Bay – original

NOAA R/V McArthur II – original

NOAA R/V McArthur II – topaz

 

I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.—Blaise Pascal

Super moon – SOOC

Finally had a chance to take some photos. It was cool and breezy, and would have been nice to have a nice camera … but still my little point and shoot did okay. I have added a tripod to my “gift list”. Both photos taken at Alsea Bay and Lint Slough, Waldport, Oregon.

Topaz Tuesday: Wild Irises

Wild Irises, shot along a walking path at Yaquina Head Lighthouse. First the original. The after, along with steps taken, is below.
Before:

Before

After:

Topaz Adjust / Spicify & Topaz Simplify / BuzSim

The idea came from a Topaz Flicker group and I modified the steps. Here’s what I did:
1. Duplicated the background layer.
2. Topaz Adjust / Spicify set to default settings. Click okay/
3. In PS, layer opacity set to 65 or there abouts
4. Duplicated background layer, moved to top. Topaz Simplify / BuzSim set to default settings, accept/click okay.
5. Oval marquee tool, set feather to 20. Selected area with irises, select inverse.
6. Copied selected area to new layer (command-J on Mac), layer mode to darken.
7. I copied (command-J) the selected area to a new layer and set mode to darken.
8. Deleted “BuzSim” layer and flattened all the layers.

18: Theme: colors

Colorful citrus

Difficult to photograph, and I know my camera and I didn’t do justice to this luscious citrus. I tried 4 different settings:

  • Automatic (washed out)
  •  Fluorescent: warm-white fluorescent, cool-white fluorescent, warm-white-type (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting (everything was super green)
  •  Fluorescent H: daylight fluorescent, daylight-type (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting (washed out)
  • Tungsten (Tungsten, bulb-type (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting (shown above)

The “Tungsten” setting is very close to the actual colors. Without a fancy camera, I’m guessing it’s a bit hard to photograph anything in a store; and if they switch to LED lighting during their remodel, it might be harder yet. Still, they didn’t object to my taking pics, so I give them extra points for that. The only thing I did to the photo was Topaz Simplify: crisp edge.