project 52

Project 52 (Week 6 — Eat Your Veggies)

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We stopped at our local farm’s market yesterday to buy some string beans before heading out to grab some pizza for dinner last night. As I walked up and down the aisles I noticed all the pretty colors and shapes of the fruits and veggies. The bright colors inspired me to take out my camera and start taking pictures, the following photos are the results of that impromptu and veggie-infused photo shoot. My favorite photo of the day is the one of the Brussels Sprouts.

*Bell peppers can be considered a fruit or a vegetable.*

Red Bell Peppers

Brussels Sprouts

Yellow Bell Peppers

Project 52 (Week 5 — The Evolution of Bokeh Snow in Black & White)

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Hey! Welcome to week five of Project 52. I didn’t take many photos this past week so I didn’t have too many to choose from for this week’s post. To tell the truth, I actually posted my favorite photo of the week yesterday. I figured posting the same photo two days in a row was redundant so I thought I’d tell you the story of this less-than-exciting snow photo.

It snowed again last night so I thought I’d try for some nighttime snow photos. We didn’t get much snow, just about a coating, which has sort of been the pattern around here this past week. It’ll snow just enough to make it slippery but not enough to really get any beautiful snow photos. Trust me, I’m not looking for a foot of snow by any means. But if we’re going to have snow can’t we at least get enough to make it look pretty around here?

I didn’t get anything really good last night. In fact most of the photos were downright crappy. The snow was really pretty and glistening but there wasn’t enough of it to really get a good shot. I used flash to capture the falling snow. In fact I was very lazy, I used the night portrait auto setting, which didn’t produce the best photos. I could have and should have stayed out working on taking photos in the shutter priority mode but it was 25 degrees and snowing and I just wasn’t feeling it so I cheated and used an auto mode.

This is the original image I captured, which is okay. I like the warmth of the yellows coming from the street lights, but for the most part it’s just a bland photo of a suburban street in Anytown, USA. I played with it in iPhoto for a while and while playing with the saturation I saw it in black and white and decided to go with it.

I don’t love the end result in black and white anymore than I love the original color image but I think the black and white version has more character and an added depth of field that the color photo lacks. I wish I had the iPhoto settings I used to change the color photo to the black and white version but I hit revert to original before writing them down.

Stay tuned for next week’s photo, which will hopefully be better than this week’s selection.

Project 52 (Week 3 — Two Favorites)

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It’s week three of Project 52 and this week I have two photos that I really like so I’m sharing them both.

show me the way

On Saturday we spent the late afternoon walking the Poplar Trail and visiting the duck pond at Washington Lake Park. This photo is from a little past the beginning of the trail. I’ve been trying for years to get a good photo of a trail or a path or a tunnel, a photo that conveyed depth and the road ahead. I’ve taken dozens of trail/path/tunnel photos over the years with little or no success. This is the first trail photo that’s really made me happy. I finally feel like I have one where the viewer really can feel like they are looking off into the woods on the trail ahead. I hope you agree. Constructive critiques by fellow photographers are always welcome.

take my hand

The week started with my first photo session. My soon-to-be sister-in-law asked me to take her and my brother-in-law’s engagement photos. I was so honored and so excited but so nervous. As you can see from a quick look around Soapboxville I normally don’t take photos of people. So I bought a book, I watched YouTube videos, took pictures of Mr. Soapy, anything to learn about and practice taking portraits. The day arrived and the weather didn’t cooperate, there was no sun, but I packed up my camera bag and gave it my all. The happy couple are fans of black and white photos and so the overcast day actually worked well for the black and white photos. This shot of their hands is probably one of my most favorite photos I’ve ever taken.