More of Historic Griggstown, NJ

I pass this spot everyday on my way home so I decided to take some photos for 20 mins on my way home.

I featured this area of Historic Griggstown, NJ back at the beginning of March in this blog entry and this time I decided to bracketed shots for HDR processing.

Below are my favorites of the day:


I love this one!!


I'm on the fence about these two. A LOT OF GREEN HERE!





While I was photographing one of the windows I snapped my reflection just to be silly:


To be even more strange I snapped a photo of my new hot pink shoes with the camera looking down my tripod. I love the shoes so I figured why not snap a shot? *LOL*

This is especially for *Bri* since I promised to show her them!



There are a number of others but this is all that I actually liked the results of. Sometimes HDR is hit or miss depending upon the lighting conditions.

Lakeside

EDIT 4/25: When I got to work today on a different monitor I see that none of photos below look how they did last night when I spent hours working on them.

Ever since I darkened the brightness on my monitor I have had trouble with how my photos on every other monitor but my own. I guess I will have to brighten my monitor back to where it was and re-doing every one of the photos below because of the terrible halos on every photo that involves the sky (which is 98% of them).

I have so much to edit and it is really upsetting that I wasted a whole night on processing all of these photos and now I have to re-do them all.

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Original post:

I took some time to go to the part after work again. Today I gave the flowers and the macro lens a break. I brought my tripod with me because I was interested in doing HDR waterscapes near the lake.

I can't even express how wonderful the weather was today. I was so glad to be outdoors even if it was only for a little under an hour.

In order to get these you have to go on a little path through a wooded area and there are little great spots in between where I was able to stick my tripod and get different views of the lake.

These are all HDR shots with 3 exposures each:

(click all photos to view larger)

Next time I'll try from the other side of the lake. I only had so much time before I had to leave and there were a lot of people out and about at the lake so I was limited on what angles I chose.




Oh the reflections, the reflections!!






I made my way over across the street to another section of the park with a lake and got some more great angles!




This place is gorgeous and the afternoon light was perfect for these photos!



These are some of my favs of the day. I love bendy tree trunks!







Oh and while I was there 2 of the geese at the park had the nerve to hiss at me! LOL! So I hissed right back at them!



I always visit this place so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of it from different perspectives soon enough!

Feel free to check out my entire HDR Gallery: http://jenweaverphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/3868580_st8qe/1/284706791_saeNW

Forsythia in Bloom in Princeton NJ

After my day of running around doing errands I was determined to find a photo opportunity. I brought my camera and tripod with me because I was hoping to find SOMETHING...Nothing crazy...I didn't want to be out for hours....I just wanted something to photograph today...I guess I just had the "itch" to take something. Do you know that feeling?

When I was driving I spotted something YELLOW our of the corner of my eye that grabbed my attention. I memorized where I saw that pop of color along the highway and then on my way back from shopping I pulled down the main street that takes you into Princeton, NJ and I found what caught my attention.

It was a long line of forsythia in bloom running along the side of a farm that I actually photographed a while back.





Next to the line of forsythia was the line of beautiful trees that leads you all the way into Princeton that I always enjoy seeing as I ride along this road. It got so cold by this point and I was wearing a light jacket. I stood there praying that cars would stop coming down the VERY busy road on the left so I could snap my photos and get back in my warm car!



You can check out my entire HDR Gallery by clicking HERE.

Country Road in Black & White

It was suggested I try this in Black & White and I've glad it was suggested!

I love how it came out after burning & dodging!

Coutry Road Take Me Home

After my sister and I visited the beach on February 3rd I headed home from her house on the "scenic" route hoping to catch the sunset over the farms.

I pulled over on the side of the road, set up the tripod by my car and took these two:

(3 exposures bracketed, merged to HDR in Photomatrix)



(3 exposures bracketed, merged to HDR in Photomatrix)



Then I set up the tripod in the actual cornfield across the street and took the next one:

(3 exposures bracketed, merged to HDR in Photomatrix)

Lots-o-Links for Photography Lovers

27 Photoshop Tutorial Sites:

http://photo-projectz.blogspot.com/2008/01/30-photoshop-tutorial-sites.html

80 Photoshop Resources

http://mashable.com/2007/08/30/photoshop-toolbox/

Introduction to Metering Modes:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/introduction-to-metering-modes/

How to: Create Higher Dynamic Range With Bracketed Exposures:

http://www.cameraporn.net/2008/01/31/howto-create-higher-dynamic-range-with-bracketed-exposures/

Replacing Skies Tutorial:

http://niels-henriksen.blogspot.com/2008/02/replacing-skies-or-what-mood-
today.html

Reading Histograms

http://blog.sduffyphotography.com/2008/02/05/reading-histograms/


7 Reasons To Love Prime Lenses

http://blog.epicedits.com/2008/02/13/7-reasons-to-love-prime-lenses/


Stumble It!

Hidden Treasures

Tonight I edited some of the New York City photos I took last Saturday.

When it came to the architectural shots I tonemapped the single RAW image to get some great simulated HDR shots.

I got to this photo and and I stopped in my tracks when I saw the shot after tonemapping!!! Take a look at the skyscraper on the left! The sunlight shining on the building created a.....HEART! I couldn't believe it!! This was not maipulated!!! I completely LOVE it!

I'm calling it:

I HEART NY



Some other favorites from NYC from this editing session:















Some people shots I really liked:

THE BREAKER



PORTRAIT



NYPD

I couldn't decide between the following 2 effects on this photo:

Hallowed Halls of Princeton University

This series is from the hour I spent last Saturday on the Princeton University campus. I don't see a lot of architecture that is as beautiful as the craftsmanship of these buildings too often!









In Black & White:



To view all of my HDR Photos click HERE.

The GREENHOUSE effect

Ok, this post is not about global warming (as the title might suggest) but it is about a Greenhouse!

I stumbled upon this lovely broken down greenhouse the same time I found the old barn that I posted yesterday. They were both on the same abandoned street.... I'm tellin' ya...it was creepy!

It was completely fenced in all the way around with no way to enter (darn it) but I stood in the field that was next to it because it was a bit of higher ground and I was able to get above the fence in a lot of the shots. Other ones included the fence in the photo but I didn't mind it at all (kind added to the strange abandoned place).

"Not so long ago, an evil doctor genetically engineered some plants in the greenhouse. Shortly thereafter, the evil doctor, his plants, and the entire neighborhood vanished...." (written by a fellow forum member for these pics LOL!!!)



That's a huge turkey buzzard on top of the chimney...