Tree Photos

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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Queen of the missions in HDR VR

Ok, still taking a while to get these images together this way. But after taking all the time to build the VR interface I could hardly wait to use it again.

I got the opportunity today when the clouds started to get interesting. We dropped everything to try to get some nice images. Turned out to be a busy afternoon and an amazing sunset. This is the first of several nice images that will come out of the adventure around town today.

The clouds look a little ominous, but they were fast moving and quite beautiful.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Moonlit Tree

This evening I went out to take some test shots for my current project. The moon was doing some beautiful things with the clouds so it got me a little sidetracked. But that is always lots of fun too.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

My intent was to get some nice sunset shots of this beautiful church in Montecito. I was a little late, but it was still a nice night.

If you tilt your head to the left and use your imagination a little you can make out half of the constellation Orion rising from behind the church.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Mission Storm

Click on the main image for a bigger version

Another attempt to get to the Nativity Scene at the mission a couple of weeks ago, and still no animals. Probably a good thing for them, it was raining like crazy. But I do so hate to come home empty handed! And, I still have not had a chance to develop the film from this evening. This was from my digital camera, but four feet wide just might not be big enough. :-D

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Santa Barbara Hills

Happy New Year!

It's been a busy holiday season. This was from one of my many trips by the Mission to see if the animals were in the nativity scene yet. I had no luck there before things got too busy, but as long as I was out with my camera...

Monday, December 17, 2007

Mission Christmas Trees

Merry Christmas!

Some of the Christmas decorations at the Mission Santa Barbara. They don't usually do a lot in a flashy way, but I like the Christmas trees. They put them up really early too so you have lots of time to enjoy them!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

CCSB in the Setting Sun

As I mentioned yesterday I was out taking some test shots for a new project. The intention was to check the lighting and get an idea what equipment I would need. But as the sky got prettier I decided to take a shot at getting some images to combine into a high dynamic range image. Normally, not a difficult task. But in this case I only had a monopod so that made keeping the camera perfectly still between shots a bit of a challenge. I might not use it for a poster size image but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Sunset at 1525 State

When the evening sun does beautiful things like this I find myself wishing I could drop everything and take pictures. Today I had a busy afternoon of meetings and appointments, fortunately one of them was with a new client so I just happened to have my camera handy. I think the wispy pink clouds really add a lot! Not to mention the cool bus tail lights that came through at just the right time.

This is a combination of five images in what is called a High Dynamic Range Image, mostly used in this case to pick out the details in the bright spots. One of the interesting things about one of those bright spots is the color of the sign. That lovely green is the way film (or in this case a digital sensor) sees fluorescent lights. As they ummm... "encourage" us in California to use the CFLs my evening shots are going to get a lot greener, supposedly in more ways than one.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

East Beach Woodcut - No Lifeguard On Duty

I went out this evening to get some evening shots of the city. I was not sure exactly what I was looking for, but when I drove by East Beach I saw it. :-D

This scene reminds me of a woodcut technique where the black silhouette is printed over a gradient background. The sky was cloudless, the dark outline at the left on the horizon is Santa Cruz Island part of Channel Islands National Park.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Archway Palms

I still have not had a chance to get my film developed from my adventures last week. (Been a busy week with a sick hound dog.) But this was one of my test shots from my digital camera.

For the next couple of weeks the christmas decorations will be at their peak so I'm going to try to get as much time behind my camera as possible. So, with a little luck, I should have some nice new images under the tree for Christmas. That is if the hound has not managed to knock the tree over by then.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Santa Barbara Courthouse Palms

Another angle on the Santa Barbara Courthouse. The early morning light casts some beautiful shadows.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Courthouse Glow

Sometimes its nice to take a closer look at something beautiful. This is a gateway into the Santa Barbara Courthouse. The building as a whole is amazing, but as I am so fond of pointing out I really like the details. There is some incredible craftsmanship there that I don't think you would find very easily today. Perhaps the only thing that will make me stop sounding like my grandfather now (WHYYYY, IN MY DAY... !) is to point out that it was probably pretty rare to EVER find this kind of creativity!

(Unless of course, it was actually one of my perfectionist German grandfathers doing it! :-D At least I come by it honestly!)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Beak Cleaning

Hummers seem to like to clean their beaks after they eat. For that matter, my finch seems to like to do that too.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Bonsai Roots

I love the roots on this Bonsai tree. It is the same one from a few days ago.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Liquidamber Bonsai Tree

This is a close up of one of our latest plants. It is a small cascading bonsai tree. Unfortunately the wires were a little tight, so I had to loosen them but not before I got a few cool shots!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Fisheye Sunset at Savoy

I have been preparing more photos from an old shoot for one of my favorite clients. This is a beautiful restaurant on Figueroa Street in Santa Barbara. It is run by a really nice couple who grew up around here. With all of the huge corporations setting their sights on Santa Barbara in recent years it is really nice to see a good local business thrive!

They have really nice photos on the walls too! :-D

Monday, February 19, 2007

Winter Sunset

A couple of days ago The Hound decided it was time for me to take a break from my computer right around sunset. I think she can sniff out a good photo opportunity.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Evening Magnolia

One day recently we went to a nursery to look around for more interesting things for our back yard. Unfortunately, we got to the there close to closing time. (a fact which several employees pointed out repeatedly.)

We did have time to find this beauty getting ready to bloom. Unfortunately it was a little too big to fit in the trunk of the car. (it was a little too big for our little back yard too!) But I was happy, I had my camera and the sun was doing beautiful things.

blossom ₂₄ | bud ₃₀ | flower ₃₁₂ | Magnolia ₁ | tree ₄₁

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Christmas Tree

Here is another shot of our Christmas tree in the middle of our dining room table. Again, I love the shadows!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Quilling Snow Man

This is our Christmas tree this year. The holidays have been a little crazy this year so our decorating has been on a rather small scale. This is a little juniper bonsai tree that is on our dining room table. We had some small ornaments and the snowman from last year and it all seemed to go together. I particularly like the snowman's shadow.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Californian Forest

This is the image in the seagull's glasses from yesterday's photo of the day.

Now before you go sending me hate mail, this is supposed to be FUNNY! The back of the card has information about our beautiful redwood forests...

"Californian Forest - Of course, Californian forests also include some of the tallest trees in the world at Redwood National and State Parks. These trees can grow to over 300 feet tall and reach ages in excess of 2,000 years. Only about 4% of the Redwoods remain since logging became an industry in California in the mid 1800s. Fortunately, most of the remaining old growth Redwoods are protected in state parks or in public land reserves."

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Butterfly Beach Sunset

It was a nice sunset this evening. No clouds, but still a nice glow in the sky.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Chinese Toon Trees

This is a beautiful pink tree at Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, in Santa Barbara. There was no name on it like most of the plants in the gardens, and every time we go lately we see people trying to figure out what it is. Thanks to the Internet we were able to track it down.

Apparently the bright pink foliage is a springtime thing. If you look closely at the plants you can see them starting to fade to green at places.

This plant is actually used as a vegetable and in traditional Chinese medicine. 'Course that would not be the woody parts. They use them as young shoots, or even smaller, like bean sprouts.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Ready for Spring!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, doesn't feel like it right now (10:10 pm) but this was the scene just down the street this afternoon.

These trees are beautiful and in full bloom. They are some kind of Flowering Plum, not 100% sure which kind. There seem to be a lot of them!

Monday, December 26, 2005

Birthday Sunset

This one was posted a little late. But, it is a belated birthday present for my best friend who is now (January 16th) my wife. Yesterday, she asked me what picture she got for her day. And, due to some major wedding preparations at that time I was getting behind on the photo of the day so she got to choose her own.