Mohonk Mountain House

We went to the Mohonk Mountain House for lunch and a massage, but we did find some time for photography as well. The flowers were just fantastic. Here are a few of Tom's images from Mohonk. Tom used my Sigma 180mm Macro lens which he now hogs, but I do have to admit that he is getting some really awesome images with that lens. Tom even has some photographs that are even better than these, but he has earmarked some of them for competition so we will show them later :-)

How HOT is it??

So, how hot is it?
Dirt Bath time HOT!

Well, we have a turkey that has been spending its day on our street (see the mediocre photo of this turkey with our house behind it). The turkey doesn't care if people, cars. etc. are around.

Monday it was so hot that the turkey sat down and took a dirt bath to cool off, periodically taking a look at me, but basically just ignoring me trying to get cool.

The Scott Kelby No Bobble Head Seminar

We are always learning new and faster techniques, both in the camera and in Photoshop. Tuesday I went to an all day Photoshop seminar by Scott Kelby (http://www.scottkelby.com/). I LOVE his books, enjoy his blog, etc. but truthfully I was a little worried about staying awake for an entire day of sitting on my butt. As a professor I am used to lecturing, less so to sitting and listening all day. And since I am used to going and going and going like the energizer bunny sometimes when I finally have a chance to sit down in a dark room I become a "bobble-head" regardless of how much I am interested. I was very pleased to leave there without a sore neck from bobble-heading ;-)

However my fears were unfounded as Scott was entertaining, lively, and full of jokes as he combined this humor with LOTS of useful tips and ways to speed things up. The first part of the day I knew how to do almost everything he showed us -- but not necessarily as fast as he did it (and time is important so that we can (a) get the photos back to all of you as quickly as possible and (b) so that Tom & I can enjoy some times without a keyboard/wacom.

At the end of the seminar Scott showed us some neat gallery/presentation type effects. Immediately upon coming home I went through these and made actions for them. Here are 5 photos "beforeSK" and "afterSK". Thank you Scott! I would happily go to another of his seminars!!

Some people walked out stating that "their brains were full" or that there was too much information but I disagreed! He had something for everyone and ALL of the information was in a very thorough booklet that came with the seminar. Personally I think that he could have easily made money selling the booklet because it had almost as much information in it as some of his books. It was the best $79 I've spent.

Lisa's Bleeding Hearts -- "BeforeSK"

Lisa's Bleeding Hearts -- "AfterSK"

I just love this filtered edge technique -- and the possibilities are endless!

Watercolor of Daffodils -- "BeforeSK"

Watercolor of Daffodils -- "AfterSK"

Tom's Bleeding Heart -- "BeforeSK"

Tom's Bleeding Heart -- "AfterSK"

Sunflowers, orton effect -- "BeforeSK"

Sunflowers, orton effect -- "AfterSK"

I really liked his concept for the "movable picture frame". I can definitely see us using this for our weddings! Like many of his lessons I made an action for this one because I know that we will use it a lot.

Daffodils from a chipmunk's point of view -- "BeforeSK"

Daffodils from a chipmunk's point of view -- "AfterSK"

Peyton @ Two Years Old -- "BeforeSK"

Peyton @ Two Years Old "AfterSK" -- Hollywood effect

Socrates (our cat) "BeforeSK"

Socrates (our cat) "AfterSK" -- Hollywood effect

Tulips in the morning light "BeforeSK"

Tulips in the morning light "AfterSK"

-- Painting "in" your photos

This technique reminded me of when I was a kid where you would color using red, gree, blue, etc. crayons and then cover everything with the BLACK crayon and then take a paper clip and remove the black from certain areas to uncover waht was underneath and make a colorful picture as the end result. Except it is easier and quicker (I make an action that has one Black layer and one white layer so I can choose which to paint in from) with photoshop.

Tulips in the morning light "AfterSK"

-- Painting "in" your photos

White layer on top, flowers painted back in

Lisa's Daffodils

These are some of my daffodil photographs. I used two lenses, a Sigma 180mm macro lens and then my Canon 28-300mm IS lens for these images. I used my knee pads to enable me to get low and then diffusers or reflectors to adjust the light.



I swear that it looks like Tom and I photographed the same daffodil. Tens of thousands of flowers, we did not see each other all morning, but we came home and a half an hour apart Tom and I both captured this flower from behind. I was was isolated, but if you had challenged us to both come home with the same image I am sure that it would not have happened.



I just loved the soft light in this photograph.

I kept trying to get different perspectives, down low and including different backgrounds.

This photograph is the one that weatherman Geoff Fox held the reflector for. IO just loved the way that the leaf popped up thru the flower, but the right side was in the shadows, hence I was using the reflector to bounce light into that side.

Getting down on my belly brought a few strange looks from the other visitors, but I knew that it was worth it. I saw the blue sky that could become the background by lying on the ground and knew that it would work well.

Tom's Daffodils

Tom really got into the daffodils, getting down low, trying different compositions, etc. This first one and the last one in this series were amongst my favorites of his from the day.


I stood over Tom's shoulder to take this photo of him taking landscape photographs of the daffodils.

Laurel Ridge Daffodils 4-26-08

Tom and I went up to Laurel Ridge to photograph the Daffodils.

I was there the week before and there were lots of great flowers, but it was only 25% peak. The day that we went it was at peak! And the weather was great too.


I met weatherman Geoff Fox there. He actually came over and volunteered to hold my reflector for me. He was very friendly, easy to talk to and quite the photographer. He actually took photos of me taking photos (and sent them to me).

Both of these are photos that Geoff took.

I love all the shades of green that appear in the Spring. The sky, the green leaves and the colors of the daffodils all work to create this Spring image.

Then I walked to the right a little and photographed this same tree from 3:00 instead of 6:00 and have a compelely different look because of the different varieties of daffodils on that side.

Selective color is something that I often reserve for brides, but I like it here too.

I thought that this photograph was strong enough to use as a watercolor too.

I also love the fiddleheads at Laurel Ridge. Small and curled up like a newborn baby waiting for the sun to make them unfold.

I turned these photographs into black and white photographs after I was back home. I prefer B&W for people because it allows you to see their soul rather concentrate on their clothes, but sometimes B&W works for other subject too...

People watched as Tom set up this photograph and then had to run all the way to the well before the shutter tripped.