How do these things happen?

Snapped at Bean Hollow State Beach on the way down to Monterey, on Highway One:

G1, kit lens @ 24mm, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 320.

How do these wonders happen?

Precarious dining.

Phew! After all of FU Steve’s machinations on my HackPro yesterday, it feels great to be back doing some photography.

G1, 45-200mm @ 171mm, 1/1000, f/5.4, ISO 320.

The cormorants hanging out on the roof fly maybe an inch from the water, yet never quite touching it. Magnificent birds.

Dramatic effects.

This was snapped in Monterey through the chain link fence keeping trespassers away from the derelict property. The bland original was much enhanced for drama:

G1, kit lens @ 17mm, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 320.

Here are the Develop settings in Lightroom:

A final touch of post-crop vignetting and you are done.

Needs a bit of help.

The Ghost Tree is located on wonderful 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach, right at the entrance to the viewing area for the Lone Cypress, of which I wrote here.

It’s right on the edge of the Drive, surrounded with clutter. A fence here, the road there and that awful sign.

A few moments with Photoshop CS5, using Content Aware Fill and Lens Blur, plus a bit of messing with Curves to add punch to the poorly lit subject, and the result is transformed. A final touch-up with the clone stamp tool and the out of focus highlights are gone.

Here’s the after and before, in Lightroom 3:

And here’s the final thing:

Ghost Tree. Panasonic G1, kit lens @ 25mm, 1/160, f.8, ISO 320, processed in CS5.

Getting all high falutin’ about image manipulation? You like Adams‘s work? He did much more of this sort of thing in the darkroom.

Getting to the bottom of things.

G1, kit lens @ 35mm, 1/250, f/7.1, ISO 320.

Sometimes, you really have to carry a camera.

Spotted in Santa Cruz, CA.