This weekend, I found some inspiration at the 78th Street Studios Third Friday event, where the studios are open to the public to come through and take a look around (and BUY STUFF!)  I really enjoy looking at other people’s work, and I hope to someday have my own studio there… hell, even a Third Friday booth would be nice.  I have to make some serious adjustments to my confidence levels first, though…  This blog’s page on Instagram is helping… strangers appear to be liking my work, but I still crave that constructive criticism that I would get from an instructor or a teacher.

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The week 8 challenge called for panoramic.  I learned two new things about myself as a photographer.  I don’t like panoramics, one, and two, I don’t really like HDR toning.  The two are wildly unrelated, so after I shot some shots for the pano, I figured I would HDR tone them and see if two wrongs DO, in fact, make a right.

 

The top image I made to look similar to an old timey postcard… more on that later.  The second image I stitched together in Photoshop and added HDR toning, which I think looks… okay.  I toned down the toning quite a bit, though.  I think HDR has a time and a place, don’t get me wrong, I just haven’t really come across that time or place in my own work.  Either way, I figured I should add it to my tool box, even if I will probably never use it… or maybe I will, who knows.  Next week, I might love it.  I can be rather finicky that way.

 

We had some nice weather over the weekend, so Boyfriend and I went to Edgewater park.  The snow has pretty much melted (it will probably be back) and it is mixed in with the sand, making for a VERY texturized look to the beach, which I found really neat.

 

I ended up taking some pictures on his cell phone of a man with his dog, which was fun, and we came across a bunch of folks sitting in their cars, not really enjoying the beach at all, probably.  Then we came across a woman screaming “you shoulda drank some water at home!” at her dog who was drinking water out of a gross puddle.  Typical Cleveland stuff.

 

This isn’t a true panoramic, I just cropped a wide angle shot to look panoramic.  There is something about bounding the world into that 3:2 ratio box that I find appealing about still photography… perhaps that is why I’m not a huge fan of panoramic.  That does NOT explain, however, why I love fisheye so much…

 

I REALLY wish I had thought of this idea before we started shooting, I would have made certain to have the Browns Stadium in this shot.  I think this sums up Cleveland pretty well, actually.  I find myself pretty hilarious right now…

 

Going back to the 3:2 photos, I like a good high contrast landscape.  I like a well-placed lens flare.  I think you can tell that I LOVE monochrome.

 

I decided to give HDR Toning another old college try and I don’t think I hate the effect here, see?  A time and place for everything.

However, I think I prefer the non-HDR version.

The bird obsession continues… The high contrast landscape obsession continues… The monochrome obsession continues…

 

The chunks of ice on Lake Erie were beautiful.

And at the end of the weekend’s adventures, I found myself appreciating the beauty of those things large AND small…

Next week’s challenge is for shadows, which I am going to LOVE.  I love shadows.  The problem is going to be self-editing.  I am TERRIBLE at self-editing. HOWEVER, the ideas are a-flowin’ already, so I hope I can accomplish them all!

 

UNTIL NEXT WE MEET, FRIENDS OF THE ART BOX, MAKE LOVE AND IMAGES!

~Melicious~