Sunrise over the Valley

I got it in my head last week that I wanted to find a spot to take sunrise photos.

I love sunrises and sunsets.  I love seeing how the sky changes color.  And how vibrant it can get.  I love how the opposite horizon is affected as well.  And how it's different EVERY time.  No two sunsets or sunrises are the same.

This time of year is great for sunrises.  It's late enough in the morning that I don't have to get up at completely ungodly hours.  It's still warm enough that pants and a sweatshirt are sufficient.  The bay area gets some really iconic fog that makes for fantastic photos - especially with the sun reflecting off it or shining through it.

We live in a valley and really can't see much of a sunrise or sunset.  Gotta climb some hills to really get to a good spot to see one.  Or stand on a freeway overpass.

Friday morning came and I had totally forgot that I wanted to go.  Annie came in the room at 6 and I remembered.  The sun was starting to come up.  I grabbed flip flops and Annie and we ran out the door and went to find a location.  My first location was way up high on a hill.  Unfortunately it was so foggy Friday morning that I couldn't see anything.  I drove down the hill a tad and grabbed a couple shots, but was just barely on a shoulder of a 2-lane road and couldn't really stay there.

So we drove some more.  I saw a road go up a hill and decided to follow it.  It went around a bend and at the top of the hill is a school.  And a parking lot.  And a small field that overlooks the valley.  I parked and Annie and I both got of the out car and we watched the sunrise.  It was fun.  I got a couple decent shots - especially of a really thick patch of fog.  But I felt like I missed the best part of the sunrise.  So I decided to try again the next day.

Saturday morning came and I couldn't sleep.  I was afraid of missing it again.  I grabbed my phone, my camera, my tri-pod and a soda and left.  This time I took the time to get dressed.  I drove off to the same place as the day before.  I was up earlier and knew where to go, I was sure to get some better photos this time.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the fog that I had the day before.  So the photos weren't as mysterious and glowy.  But the sun was neat.

Watching the sunrise made me feel like the neighbor boy from The Incredibles.  Mr. Incredible says, "What are you waiting for?"  The boy replies, "I don't know!  Something AMAZING!"  Yeah ... that's how I felt.

Stood there waiting.  Snapping a photo here and there.  Then watching and waiting.  How was the light going to change?  How were the clouds going to reflect the light?  What color would it be?  Will I get "God-Rays?"

It was absolutely gorgeous.  I loved it.  Spectacular.

I only hope my photos did it justice.

The fog from Friday Morning's outing

Sunburst from Friday 

Sat AM Panoramic - built in Photoshop Elements, processed in LR

I love this one.  I love the way the mist and the light make it feel like the Serengeti or somewhere ominous.  Anywhere. Can't see the city.  Can't see the field. 

(I'm struggling with editing/processing sunrise and sunset photos in LR.  Trying to get the colors right and to get the right balance of light and dark.  I tried a bracketed set for HDR, but it didn't work right.  Also have a hard time remembering what the light looked like to properly process in LR.)

Lightroom, ETTR, etc, and more

I've now managed to get myself addicted to blogs and tweets about Lightroom and photo editing.  I can't stop reading them.  I really wish I didn't have to work full time and could just play with my camera and photos.

At any rate, I have been trying to Expose to the Right (ETTR), which is supposedly the proper way to take digital photos, to get the most digital data.  Then "fix" it in Lightroom (or wherever) to get the right look.  In some ways I struggle with this concept, but in others it really makes sense to me.

So I've been trying it.  I have been bracketing my photos so that I can one at the "correct" exposure, then get some overexposed.  I edit and play with both exposures.  I tend to get halos and weird things when I overexpose, so I'm not confident with it.

I'm learning lots about lightroom and really trying to find my voice.  I guess since I don't have much of a consistent subject matter aside from my children, finding my voice is difficult.  But if I can translate what my mind's eye sees into the computer screen I'm happy.

At any rate ... here are some that I've worked with recently.  I should start showing SOOC with my edited, but I don't have those uploaded, and don't really have time to mess with that right now.  Maybe in a future series.

This is one that was edited with intention.  Unfortunately it was right before I figured out how to put my camera in RAW format.  At any rate, as shot, they were very warm and just too much color.  I fixed that and made them realistic looking.  But looked further and liked the grey-ish/white background of the hazy sky and the framing the tree makes on the left.  So I played with the saturation and black/white effects and came up with this.  I like that it's not quite B&W, but not sepia or color either.  It is just kinda there.  

SOOC - very warm and orangey

Original edit, normal looking and nice.

Random Photo Walk Through Town

I've been reading through a book about editing photos with a purpose and was inspired to go take photos to later edit.  (Vision and Voice.....)

So I grabbed the camera and walked through downtown Pleasanton.  I was struggling being inspired.  A couple things caught my attention, but didn't see in real life what I saw in my head.  Nothing was really stellar.  I saw a little dirt path that followed a local creek.  I followed the path and saw some interesting things (let's just say it's not a place I'd visit after dark).  I took probably 30-40 photos.  Still don't think there was anything spectacular.  I've had better inspiration and taken better photos.  But I had something to work with at least.

There are a few that were pretty good.  I played with them a lot in Lightroom (I'm still learning how to use the program and how to edit and find my voice in my photos).  I took what was a dreary day with dirt and dormant plant (they're not dead ... just dormant) and made it look a little cheerier greener.

I liked the still water followed by the flowing water. 

I loved the reflection of the ivy here.  That's 100% real ... I just enhanced the green leaves.

The path to anywhere .... it disappears into the trees and you don't know where it goes until you follow it..