Best of the 365 Blog – May 2018

The end of this month marks the second year in a row that I’ve successfully completed the 365 project.

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/100, f/9, ISO 100

The sight of a tree covered with white blossoms in the middle of a graveyard was too interesting to pass up, so I actually retrieved a camera from home to get the picture. Unfortunately, at the time I was also playing around with some filters in Lightroom. I noticed after the fact that switching this to black and white makes the white blossoms indistinguishable from everyday green leaves.

Nikon 810, 75mm? (28-105), 1/1000, f/4.5, ISO 400

Narrow depth of field makes for a good photo from the college’s flower garden.

Nikon 810, 300mm (75-300), 1/160, f/11, ISO 100, cropped

During this year’s annual visit from the carpenter bees, I finally got camera, lens, light and subject to line up perfectly.

iPhone 7

The clouds blew through without dropping any rain, but they certainly look ominous.

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/5.0, ISO 800

Part of the series of photos I took in the caboose we rented in Arkansas.

Nikon 810, 48mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 400

Another caboose shot, this time a rain-slick exterior.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/60, f/6.3, ISO 250

I stopped for awhile in a small park in Eureka Springs and took pictures of some yarn-bombed trees. It was a relaxing experience.

Nikon 810, 75mm? (28-105), 1/100, f/4.5, ISO 5000

Back at home, some used limes in the sink turned out to be more visually interesting than the average daily desperation photo.

Food truck edit

Combination of two photos

Here’s the challenge: I’m after a shot of the art on the side of a food truck. I want the whole side of the truck in the shot to give the art some context (“food truck” rather than “painting”). But when I step back far enough to get the whole truck in the frame, I end up with a sign blocking the shot.

Nikon D810, 28mm (28-105), 1/125, f/8, ISO 100

So I got another photo of the painting from closer in, with no sign blocking the view.

Nikon D810, 28mm (28-105), 1/125, f/14, ISO 100

Photoshop to the rescue! Back at home, I combined the two pictures. In the wide shot, the sign blocked only a small chunk of the art, so I needed only a little bit of the other photo. A mask, a free transform, a small perspective warp and a brightness adjustment made the replacement piece match quite well with the rest of the image. Then a crop cut out some unnecessary background elements.

Combat Air Museum

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/100, f/6.3, ISO 500

Yesterday Ken and I went to the Combat Air Museum in Topeka. The location supplied no end of great photo ops. Though the airplanes are packed in a little too tight to get good wide shots of most of them, the museum abounds in fascinating details.

Nikon 810, 8mm, 1/60, f/3.5, ISO 1600

Nikon 810, 48mm (28-105), 1/80, f/14, ISO 3200

Nikon 810, 8mm, 1/60, f/3.5, ISO 400

Nikon 810, 8mm, 1/80, f/13, ISO 2000

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/80, f/13, ISO 64

Nikon 810, 48mm (28-105), 1/80, f/10, ISO 64

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/320, f/4.5, ISO 1600

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/80, f/5.6, ISO 1600