Filtered Cherries Sometimes I wish I could paint. Mostly when I have a really hard time getting what I want with a particular photograph. I mean it would be so much easier to just add light, shadow, and color with a brush, right? You even have complete control over focus. It sounds simple, but believe me when I tell you my artistic abilities stop at the end of my shutter finger. I guess that means I'll keep resorting to software and pixels, and a lot of trial and error. By the way, these did NOT come from the garden, I actually had to buy these at the store tonight. - James Hill Photography - Efland, NC

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James Hill > 20090922-0046

So I'm a little behind on my dailies (monthlies??)... at least I'm not uploading another deer shot for a daily photo. Instead, I put those in with my other deer gallery. : )

James Hill > Well I didn't plan on following up the fawn with another deer photo but since there were close to a dozen in the yard again tonight, what the heck. My pear tree is dropping a lot of fruit and has become a popular gathering point, so I took the liberty of throwing several of the pears around the yard, in hopes of getting the deer to disperse a little, and it worked. This guy came right up to the front porch and ate a couple pears while I snapped photos. He was interrupted briefly by a younger buck still in velvet, but quickly put him in his place with a quick spar. The tussle only lasted a few seconds but I was able to catch a (slightly OOF) shot of the deciding blow.

James Hill > 20090909-9813_Fawn_vertical_reflection

I've not picked up my camera for a month and although I was really starting to miss the dailies, almost everything outside has been pretty drab looking with all the insect damage and old brown growth of late summer. I've been itching to take some photos but just couldn't find anything inspiring to shoot. Then, almost like clockwork, this little guy came walking up while I was eating dinner tonight and paused long enough for me to get a few shots out the front door. So Kris (K Dunlap) this one is for you. It only took me 3 months more than expected, but I finally managed a few pictures of spots. : )

The original crop was a horizontal, and not all that interesting, so I added the faux reflection using software. I've fiddled with it too long now to make a honest judgment about how convincing it is, so feel free to let me know if it doesn't work.

(btw, thanks to all of you who've sent little pokes and emails. I'll get caught up with all of you eventually.)

James Hill > 20090810 - Touch of gold for Tuesday.

Day three of the household abstracts. This one is a cheat. I got sidetracked yesterday and didn't get to shoot what I had planned, so this is another view of the same item from Monday.

I've added a wider view to reveal the items seen in these last two shots, and I'll add some more a little later.

James Hill > 20090810 - Monday's Macro Mayhem

Second in a week-long series of abstracts from everyday household items. I had a lot of fun with this subject. I have no idea exactly what it's used for (probably very little considering the tag was still on it) but I thought it made for a pretty neat time tunnel or electromagnetic accelerator. Beware of the orbs!

I've posted a wide shot that should shed some light on the subject of Sunday's Stainless Steel Triptych. I'll post a few followup shots of this one with tomorrows post, including my first alternate.

James Hill > 20090809 - Sunday's Stainless Steel Triptych

First in a series of abstracts for the week. All images will be everyday household items, viewed from a slightly different perspective. I'll add a revealing shot with followup notes into a separate gallery on the following day.

James Hill > I ran across the receipt for my first SLR today, which I purchased just over 10 years ago, so I decided to pull out some 10 year old images to see what I was up to back then. This one is from the annual balloon festival, which used to take place right down the road from home, and which promptly ended it's annual run immediately after my first day in attendance. It's not a great shot by any measure but it's one of the only ones I have digitized and accessible from that event right now.

The image was shot on Kodak Elite Chrome 400, one of my first experiments with slide film, and one that didn't prove too successful. I ended up hating this film due to it's grain and my film scanners annoying ability to accentuate every single speck of it. I actually still have several rolls of this film from the original brick tucked away somewhere. I'm sure it's of no use so I don't really know why I still have it. I also don't understand why I didn't wait for a little separation between these two balloons, it would have made this image a lot stronger. I must have been shooting at the end of a roll because the next series shows all the balloons a good ways downwind. If I were shooting digital then, I would have kept on shooting and probably would have gotten THE shot a few seconds after this one.

James Hill > A bunch of multicolored grapes.

Same bunch as last week, shot at roughly the same angle and time of day, but with a totally different look. I don't know if this bunch will make it through another session. : )

I also updated yesterday's shot with an answer. Dirkster guessed correctly.

James Hill > Eggland's Best Eggs

Love 'em or hate 'em, there's no denying the EB guys have left their mark, quite literally. Personally, I like the EB eggs and usually have a carton on hand, but every single time I open a carton I am reminded of the following exchange from an episode of Futurama:

LEELA: Didn't you have ads in the twentieth century?
FRY: Well, sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio... and in magazines... and movies, and at ballgames, and on buses, and milk cartons, and T-shirts, and bananas, and written in the sky. But not in dreams, no sirree.

I had breakfast for dinner tonight - now I'm wondering what I might dream about...

James Hill > Filtered Cherries

Sometimes I wish I could paint. Mostly when I have a really hard time getting what I want with a particular photograph. I mean it would be so much easier to just add light, shadow, and color with a brush, right? You even have complete control over focus. It sounds simple, but believe me when I tell you my artistic abilities stop at the end of my shutter finger. I guess that means I'll keep resorting to software and pixels, and a lot of trial and error. By the way, these did NOT come from the garden, I actually had to buy these at the store tonight.

James Hill > My Daily Vegetables

More garden goodies for dinner tonight. I didn't really get any photos that I liked well enough on their own, so I played around with some filters and a "stylish" border until I came up with this. Not ideal, but I kind of liked it. This was shot using a rather awkward maneuver where I held the basket of vegetables in one hand and my camera in the other, all while hoisting both as close to the ceiling fan light as I could. Needless to say, that didn't produce stellar results. I don't know why I didn't think to use my P&S, as that is much lighter and has more DOF when shooting wide open. It probably would have given me more of what I was looking for.

It's not likely anyone cares, but I've added a shot of the gatherings from the garden tonight in My Neighbor's Garden gallery. It doesn't show any acrobatics, but it does give a sense of what I was working with.

Aslo, I'm in the middle of moving things around and revamping the look of my site, so some things may go missing for a while. Hopefully I won't break anything. : )

James Hill > Bunch of Green Grapes-2431

More from My Neighbor's Garden. This bunch was just hanging around and looking all photogenic the other evening while I was out watering the parched garden. Hopefully the deer will leave them alone long enough for my neighbors to get back from vacation. I'd hate for the few pictures I've taken to be the only chance they get to see their grapes all grown up this season.

James Hill > Blueberry Bokeh-2382

Another shallow DOF closeup, this time of the blueberries growing in the front yard. Blueberries are my favorite "super food" and, according to studies referenced on Blueberry.org, blueberries are among the fruits with the highest antioxidant activity, and eating lots of them may help slow age-related loss in mental capacity and increase exploratory behavior - two things I need all the help with I can find. ;-)

Thanks for all the comments on the squash blossom yesterday. Who knew there were so many people out there who have eaten them. I had never heard of such a thing until this week but, after trying them, I'm pretty sure I know why it's a well kept secret - they're pretty darn tasty and in very limited supply since they are so short lived and delicate. The one I photographed last night should have been cut after I shot it, as it was completely shriveled and looked rather unappetizing by this evening.

James Hill > My Neighbors Garden-2460

This guy will be a part of dinner Monday night - a few of his older brothers made the table tonight.. Anyone care to guess what it is?

Edit: Yes, it's a yellow squash blossom. I learned just recently that they are not only edible, but very delicious, also. This was shot with my 70-200 and a 36 mm extension tube. I put another example in My Neighbor's Garden gallery.

Filtered Cherries

Sometimes I wish I could paint. Mostly when I have a really hard time getting what I want with a particular photograph. I mean it would be so much easier to just add light, shadow, and color with a brush, right? You even have complete control over focus. It sounds simple, but believe me when I tell you my artistic abilities stop at the end of my shutter finger. I guess that means I'll keep resorting to software and pixels, and a lot of trial and error. By the way, these did NOT come from the garden, I actually had to buy these at the store tonight.