Clouds of Late-Spring
This week in mid-June I’ve been looking up – to the fantastic display in the sky. Here in Edmonton we’ve been going through some typical late-spring, early-summer unsettled weather. With that weather we get rapidly changing sky conditions with a variety of clouds and some dramatic lighting. Here is a bit of what I saw this week:
Clouds 617
Clouds 639
Clouds 616
Clouds 621
Aim for the Gap
Clouds 615
Walls
Abstract 110610-515
I was walking through an older part of downtown the other day when some interesting architectural details caught my eye. Combine those details, with different points of view for a photo and then different cropping twisting and processing after the shutter press, leads to some interesting images:
Abstract 110607-515(2)
This second image started from the same original photograph. This next one, is not the same photo but is from the same wall, at a different perspective:
Abstract 110610-514(2)
Across the street from this wall, I took this image:
Top of the Wall
This image was processed with the Color Efex infrared film filter through Capture NX2.
Down an alley, and 30 meters away, I found another intriguing exterior wall that I just had to capture:
Old Brick Wall
And finally, another take on this highly textured brick wall:
Bricks and Mortar
Color Efex – Infrared
Since getting my Nikon back from repair I’ve been shooting a lot of photos. At the same time I got the camera back I also purchased Color Efex Pro 3.0 software. This software is a photo processing add-on to the Capture NX2 that I regularly use to work with my Nikon RAW photos (it is also available for PhotoShop and a few other image processing apps). Color Efex provides over 50 (in the pro version) “filters” to apply to the images and I have been exploring what I can do. Here are a few results (just with the infrared film filter) that are interesting and that I am pleased with:
Stairway to ?
That photo uses one of my favorites options with the infrared film filter. There are 4 black and white and 5 color options with this filter (and then 3 slider controls for highlights, brightness and contrast). I like this combination that accentuates the greens and provides that orange sky/background. Here is another photo using that filter:
Street Cleaner 2
Another of the five color options turns the green grass to orange:
Down and to the Left
Or yet another of the options – the green tree becomes pink.
Parking Lot Tree
I like how these color options can be quickly explored and give me ideas for non-conventional color palettes for my paintings.
While Color Efex is primarily about color effects, there are some black and white options. Here is one of the infrared black and white effects:
Snow in June
This shot was taken in early June in Edmonton and while it was a very cool day there was no snow on the ground, as you might think from looking at this photo. This is what the original looked like:
Randall Talbot - Artist 