Over the Lake

I was in hopes that the balloons would get closer, but no. When I left the park from where they launched there was another dozen making ready to depart. These were the last two though. Glad I left when I did to get these!

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Night Glow

A few balloons from the recent Albany Art & Air festival. More balloons in flight soon to follow. (I love this time of year!)

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Caterpillar on my Flower

I wanted to photograph this flower with a little grass in the background to had it sitting ready to go. We found a caterpillar outside and I decided I need his photo too! So, I combined them! He was very photogenic and patient with me before I set him free. I added one more photo: The set up. I like to see other people's setup and I thought I would throw mine in, mess and all. There is no magic: macro lens on DSLR, tripod, remote release & 2 flash units with triggers. I'm constantly amazed how images look when I know what it looked like behind the scenes, like this one. :-) The maroon background is from a jewelry box ready to go on craigslist and the black/gray background is the back of an etch-a-sketch.

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Waterfront

Boats at a Florence dock.

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5 types of William

We were at a playground recently and I was restless. While taking pictures of William playing I got the idea to make a montage. I had him move to different locations and do his best at waving. Only had to re-shoot 2 waves. It was great! I printed it out for him and he thought it was magic. He now wants me to put his friends in the picture with him. :-)

To see the 8 images it took to make this, just mouse over the image. Used the Photoshop Photomerge tool for this. It works on more than just panorama shots. (I have a mouse over tutorial at the right for more info.)



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Nope

I went to the small town of Brownsville, Oregon specifically to get a door picture. There was a motorcycle/concert event to support fallen troops in Iraq that took my interest instead. I did get this little shot door though. I really like the "Nope" sign in the door instead of the boring closed. :-) (I was really torn between the sepia version and the HDR color version. Let me know what you think. mouse over)



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Proud to fly the Flag

I bet you didn't expect to see this! :-) A great shot, if I do say so, of a vet on his bike out supporting the families of the fallen of the current skirmishes. Great job to all.

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Night Streets

This was a inspired evening and the last shot. I was going for the glow in the evening sky, stopped way down for the star effect of the lights and headlight/taillight streaks. I think it came together well.

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Moth

I don't know what this guy is but he is big and pretty! About 4 inches or so wingtip to wingtip.

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The Cone of Shame

If you don't know what the "cone of shame" is, you are not UP on your Disney/Pixar movie trivia!

Poor Roc a 11 days after his ear surgery to get out a bad infection. He is better and you can see the bandage glue on his head but the stitches that are supposed to fall out in 10 days are still there and his skin was WAY irritated by the bandages. He has lost a lot of hair where his skin was raw from the over tight bandages the vet put on. She is generally a good vet but I am displeased with her work this time. Any way, well on the way to recovery!

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Sunrise over the Siuslaw

I really loved taking photos of this river. Not 10 minutes earlier there was no sun. It was covered by fog! That is how it goes on the Oregon coast, ever changing. (Getting a little frame crazy here, I know.)

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Flowers on the Cliff

I thought these were pretty overlooking the valley. Mouse over to see the before & straight out of the camera version. (Mouse over tutorial link at right.)



Shot with my Pentax K-7 & 18-55. Edited in Photoshop: Levels & saturation set. Added a little blur dodged & burnt clouds and mountains in background, cropped, added drop shadow & border to top layer.

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Offset Door

My first Windows & Doors entry. Is it worthy? I always seem to miss the mark on doors.....

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River Valley

We were out exploring forest service roads last week in the Oregon Coast Range by Florence. I loved the burnt stump and the Fiddle Creek valley below and this is what I got. For those following along, this is where the hummingbird just popped up, just to my left. Is it over-processed? It looked cool when I did it, but now I am not sure.....

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Flavors

I thought this was interesting from a coffee shop the wife was visiting the other day.

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Mountain Wildflowers

Along side a forest service road is where these little beauties live. Awfully pretty flowers for being "just wild flowers".

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Hummingbird in the Wild

I was taking a photo of the valley below (I'll post that one later) and this little guy flies up right in front of me! I only wish I had a longer lens on and had the wits about me to adjust exposure for his fast action. But, this is what I got and I like it. (It is cropped.)

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Stump at Low Tide

I liked the look of this stump on the Umpqua River in Florence, OR at low tide. So, you get a couple views. B&W is straight out of the camera with its built in conversions. Not too bad I think......

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Sunlight Dancing on the Sand Dunes

We took a buggy ride yesterday through the dunes and had a ton of fun! The wind was blowing fairly hard and the clouds moving fast creating the light show on the sand. This photo cannot come close to showing how beautiful it really was.

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On the Dunes

This guy loves his buggy. Up & down this dune with the front wheels off the sand as much as possible. All I can do is sit back and look upon with envy.......

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Meet Payne

Or, perhaps, the title should read "And now, something completely different". This is Payne, a local Hip-Hop artist trying to make his mark on the world. He needed some photos for promotional purposes so we did a shoot for a couple hours last week. Went pretty well, got a variety of good shots. (Be nice to him please. I know you are looking for some sunset or a warm and fuzzy. I'll get back to that tomorrow, I'm sure.)

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Weeds

Don't know what these are, but pretty sure they are weeds.

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Lonely Station

This is the westbound MAX train station at Washington Park, Portland. It is the deepest under ground station in the USA and the second deepest in the world. This is my first visit and it is pretty cool.

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Train Ride

This is from William's first train ride to the zoo last weekend. He was very excited to actually get to go on a train. Not sure it met his expectations, like being able to see the engine or what ever, but he totally enjoyed the ride.

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Portland Cityscape

From our recent trip to Portland and a ride on the tram to the top of Pill Hill. Great view but I was disapointed that it was solid clouds. Nothing like a little photoshop though. :-) Mouse over the image to see the before or SOOC image. (Mouse over tutorial at right.)



Shot with K-7 at 21mm. Edited in Photoshop: HDR filter I created, levels, saturation up, dodged & burnt the clouds to give them defination.

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Looking for Northern Lights

And this is what I found. An awesome moon rise instead! I have many moon shots but when you have the camera out and ready, how could I resist? As far as the Northern Lights go, there was a potential of seeing them where I live. I gave up at 2am. Interestingly though, I did get a shot of Jupiter and the 4 big moons. Really surprised me!

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Heading to Surf

A shot I never used from last months beach trip. I love this shot of William and Roc. They had a great time running on the beach together.

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Under the Flower Basket

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Rose, Isolated

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