Pride of Madeira

March 14, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

I’ve been seeing patches of these blue flower spikes for years but never bothered to find out what they are. The solution? Take a photo! For several weeks, I’ve been eyeing this patch near where I run during my lunch breaks. The blooms burst this weekend, so today I stopped and grabbed a few quick shots with the G11. The large perennial is called “Pride of Madeira“. They are quite stunning, even under a bright, overcast sky in the early afternoon. I gave the image a bit of a faux HDR effect by converting a Photoshop layer to black and white with Nik Silver Efex Pro (version 1). During the conversion, I boosted the “Structure” 30%, “Contrast” 9%, and took the “Brightness” down to -5%. Happy with the black and white layer, I then duplicated the original layer, moved it above the Niks layer, switched it from “Normal” to “Color” in the layers menu at 100% and merged down.

Pride of Madeira in mid March

Canon G11 filling in the gaps.

Photos, The Homestead

Immediate surroundings

March 12, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

On weekends when I’m chilling at the homestead I rarely feel the urge to get in the car to go out on a photo expedition. But, more often than not, I do get the urge to use the camera. That means I have to focus on what’s immediate in my surroundings.

Iron and blur

Palm and crow

Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm IS USM. Both shots were taken at the same settings–300mm, 1/500 second at f/5.6, ISO 200.

Canon T2i seeing what’s close by.

Photos, The Homestead

Spring forward

March 11, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

Other than changing the clocks for daylight savings time, one sure sign that Spring is coming to Northern California is blooming sourgrass. This afternoon I grabbed the G11 and walked the perimeter of the house looking for some nice patches for close ups. While on my hands and knees snapping shots of the yellow blooms, I happened on this fresia (the first one to open in the yard) and got up close and personal.

And for the sourgrass:

Canon G11 getting close to Spring.

Commute, Photos

The future’s so bright

March 10, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

With gas approaching $4.00 a gallon here in Northern California, this is looking like a good compromise for urban transport. Photographically, it’s a bit of shadow play on a bright afternoon.

Puch moto an shadow

Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm. 1/125 second at f/16. ISO 200.

Canon T2i catching shadows.

Out and About, Photos

Series on the Avenues

March 9, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

We played a gig out on the Avenues in the Sunset District of San Francisco last night. Instead of commuting all the way home then driving back to the city, I stopped near the venue and walked around with my camera for a couple of hours. Most of the shots I took were of prettier stuff, but I ended up liking these funky images the best.

Asian couple sitting in front of store

Run down motel

Vacuum and trash bin

Canon T2i out on the Avenues.