It’s been nasty cold here in the Midwest for the past couple of days. I try to look at the good side of that (not that there really IS a good side) and remember that the cold temps bring with it a better variety of birds to photograph at the feeders and wonderful ice patterns that form on the outside windows. (Frankly, if it wasn’t for things like this, I’d go insane because it is bitter cold here and I hate being cramped up indoors!)
It seems that many of the photobloggers I read are putting out their “Top Ten” this morning so I thought I’d give it a shot. I bought my Canon Powershot S3 IS back in January, getting me as close to a DSLR as I could afford at the time and it has definitely done its job at helping me take my images to the next level. Then, in late summer, I bought a copy of Photoshop Elements 5, took an online course and bought the indespensible book, “Photoshop Elements: The Missing Manual” and that also helped me take another step forward by changing how I post-process my images. By the end of the year I was adding actions and presets into the mix and now I’m just beginning to see all the different ways I can creatively take an image I see in my head and make it come out looking uniquely my own.
This next year I am going to do everything I can to get my hands on the Canon 40D and a few prime lenses and continue to delve into learning Photoshop layers.
Here, then, are my pick of my top ten images of 2007. (To see my top 100 shots for 2007, head over to my Flickr page and view the slideshow!) *Click on images to see the full size photographs.*
My favorite macro shot of all my flower images, this one just filled the frame with upclose detail.
My favorite butterfly image from the 200+ I shot at the Butterfly festival in Powell Gardens on an August afternoon. I cannot wait to go again next year!
This has to be my best cloud photo of the year. It was used by Stanford University for their brochure announcing a new weather major at their school.
Gotta be my best sunrise image for 2007. The golden tones just blew me away that morning and it’s luminosity shined through in this photograph.
My favorite plant photo of the year. Love the bokeh on this one and the contrast between the soft leaf and the hard-as-nails thorns.
This has to be one of my best insect macros of the year. I love the bokeh on this one as well as the detail of the tiny hairs along his legs.
I hate snakes…but this one got me over my fear as he posed for my camera in the driveway of my home. This is the first snake photo I’ve ever taken where I didn’t cringe when I first saw it.
I’m a leaf girl…no doubt about it. It was a three-way tie for my favorite leaf image this year but this one won, hands down. The texture of the mud against the texture of the leaf sealed the deal as I found it lying in the parking lot of one of my nearby state parks.
This one is probably more sentimental than anything else. I have access to squirrels 24/7 what with the 16 trees in my immediate backyard and this image really did it for me this fall. I was so happy with his expression, the angle of the shot and the great bokeh in the background.
My favorite black and white of the year, this was my second favorite leaf image of the year. It was my first attempt at taking a color image and converting it to black and white using PSE and I was very happy how it turned out.
And there they are…the ten best of 2007.
My parents were in town for the holidays and my father showed up on Wednesday night without his cameras in tow. He was disappointed that the trees looked so beautiful with the snow all around them and there he was without his Nikons. I handed him my Canon S3, gave him a 5-minute lesson, and away he went.
So, here you go…original image by my dad and post-processing by me. Hey, maybe we’re on to something here?
It’s been snowing here in Kansas City since late last night. It’s been slow to accumulate but it is beginning to pile up now that we’re almost 24 hours into it.
I’ve spent the day surfing the web for Photoshop Elements Plug-ins, reading blogs, kissing on the dogs, and stopping on occasion to shoot some photos of birds as they devour every last scrap of bird food I set outside for them. The Cooper’s Hawk showed up again today but was unsuccessful at nabbing one of my birds - at least as far as the two attempts that landed her on my deck were concerned - so that’s good.
Here’s my favorite image of the day - taken when one of the female cardinals came up close to take part in the food fest. What can I say? I’m partial to redheads. :-)
I came down a back road heading towards downtown Kansas City this morning and was greeted by this scene. There it was, the skyline of KC, wrapped in fog and clouds as the sun danced across the front of the mirrored buildings. Because of the angle of the street, my first impression was that the buildings were hanging in the sky all by themselves and immediately I thought of “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done” as it appeared God had finally brought his Kingdom to earth! What an incredible view…
Last November I went to vote in our local elections on my way into work and when I came back outside the little bit of sunlight that has managed to come out was being drowned by a heavy dose of fog. Standing in the church’s parking lot where I had voted moments earlier, I snapped off a couple of shots of the trees that lay just past the parking lot’s edge.
