Hardly Harley

This week I had one photo already accounted for which gave me 7 days to concentrate on the other one. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating, and I had a general disinterest in shooting anything.

For the +Weekly Photo Project 2013 our theme was Other Photographers. Last year it required me to go into my archive to find a photo where I had inadvertently captured another photographer. This year I used a shot I took a couple week earlier specifically for this project. When I first saw these two it was just as a wave was going to hit and I thought for sure they were going over. But they didn't even react to it and kept at it. They were taking turns shooting and modeling. Talk about a dramatic portrait session.

The sun came out and I went running for some photos. In hindsight I probably should have waited for the trails to dry out a little before trekking on the coast. Oh well. I really liked the convergence of redwoods, cliffs, and the ocean here. A typical northern California beach.

This week was an all black & white affair; one of necessity and one to cover up bad lighting. Let's start with my black and white group's photo. Our theme was abstract, and this was a challenge for me. I don't like looking for or thinking in the abstract. So I interpreted it as a close up of moss on a tree. I was happy with the outcome and love what Silver Efex 2 can do to a photo. Not my favorite theme or photo, but I think it turned out ok.

I didn't want to post this shot. Not because I didn't like it, I do, but it's the third or fourth shot from the same outing. The darn clouds give it away! I liked this shot because the hillside foliage is nicely illuminated, in the background you can see the mists hugging the coast, and the sun trail on the ocean. This was a seven shot HDR shot... or composition. I'm not sure if "shot" is the right word for a photo like this that's made up of seven other photos.

In terms of processing I didn't do that much. It came out of Photomatix looking pretty good and instead of my usual Topaz Labs Adjust to Detail, to Aperture workflow I normally do, I only used Detail to sharpen things up a bit then played with curves back in Aperture.

This past week was pretty easy for me. The theme for the black & white group was rule of thirds, which wasn't one of my favorites because I try to shoot that most of the time. What was difficult was finding something I wanted to shoot. I looked at my other photos and saw I had a drinks sub-theme going on, so I thought I'd continue it for week 6. I think this will probably be my last drink theme photo though because I don't have any other glasses that help convey the drink. Well, except for the champagne flutes. Hmm... wonder how I can fit them in a shot. The setup for this shot is the same as the ice cube shot, just a hand held flashlight.

I have a hard time taking photos of waves. Actually, based on the many shots I have I don't have a problem taking the photo, I have a problem with liking them. I almost like this shot. You get a sense of its size and power with part of it crashing against that fairly large sized rock, but still see the rest of the wave. It's like a before and after sequence in one shot.

The northern California coastline was treated to a some bigger than normal waves in January. The waves are so big that there's a well known surf competition held every year because of the waves. This spot was a little too rocky for the surfers, but just a little south of this surfers were taking full advantage of the waves. Between the very cold Pacific Ocean and the large waves I can't decide which is crazier!

This week I'm happy to be happy with one of my photos, which is better than I thought I'd be. For the black & white group the theme was the very new agey sounding "color without color". So I took the iconic Coke can and shot that. Everyone should know the Coke can is red. For this shot, and continuing my sub-theme of non-compliance, I very lightly brought some red back into the first can. I found this to be harder to do than I imagined. It's more noticeable if you view the photo full screen.

For my own +Weekly Photo Project 2013 we had the theme of "eyes". Nothing went right for me shooting wise for this. I wanted to take a shot of an animal's eye, but not owning one that would allow for me to get up close and personal with it made that hard. So, after much frustration, and annoyance, I got this, the eye to my MacBook Pro. I settled on this shot mainly for one reason, I needed to be done with the theme so I could sit back and enjoy the Superbow…