Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Photo Bin - March 2011

March 18th:  Dan River brown on a rubber-legged stone

This month’s set of unusual images could easily be titled The Photo Bin - Lemonade Edition. Sometimes what comes out of the camera after an outing is disappointing. Sometimes it's pure crap. Don't despair. Like people, every photo probably has some redeeming quality. You just have to look a little harder and work with it. After all, you took the shot, didn't you? You saw something that inspired you to trip the shutter. It might still be in there, somewhere. So, occasionally, and as a last resort, take those digital lemons and give them a creative squeeze.

March 1st:  Haw River grasses under Carolina blue skies

March 18th:  Luminous spring bloodroot rising through the winter litter

These three images were bit bucket bound, but each had that something. With a little imagination, and a little fiddling, each was saved and now beautifully reflects how I perceived that particular moment - just not how the lens did. The grasses really did pop in the afternoon sunlight and the bloodroot blossoms glowed that warm spring day. The camera simply didn't have the imagination to see it.

Now, if I could only figure out how to make fish look bigger.

7 comments:

Jay said...

Nice salvaged images.
It's pretty easy to make the fish look bigger. You just hold them at arm's length from your body, and take the picture with the fish real close to the camera. You can stretch a 14" bass into at least a 3 pounder for sure. I think most of us fisherman are pros at this technique.

Mickie said...

Very cool Mike! I'm not much on fishing, but love your perspective & photos. Thank goodness for digital photo editing software huh! I got Photoshop Elements for my birthday and have salvaged some of my attempts at pretending to be a real photographer.

cofisher said...

Great shots as usual Mike.

Ken G said...

I have to brighten up all the colors in my shots. I know what I saw, or imagined I saw. The camera just didn't cooperate.

Mike Sepelak said...

That's definitely the right approach, Jay. Now, I just need to get that 14 incher!

Great to hear from you Mickie!!! Hope all is well and, yes, Photshop - in my case Lightroom - is truly wonderful.

Thanks Howard. But what would Auntie think?

And that's our little secret Ken. The photos never live up to real life.

Anonymous said...

Those Bloodroot plants are amazing. Are they bulbous?

Mike Sepelak said...

Rohan, the bloodroot are not bulbous. Mostly a wildflower with a rhizome root system. Beautiful to find in the woods. Called bloodroot, I understand, because the roots were used to create red dyes back in the day. They certainly brighten an early spring day.

P.S. Definitely get the L.L.Bean flannel jacket. :-) You'll love it.