I had the pleasure of being able to photograph Lake Ontario at different times of the day on a recent visit to South Eastern Ontario. These images are just a few of the moments that I enjoyed! Have a look!
“Lake Ontario Morning Reflections”
This photograph was made on a very cold and windy morning on the shores of Lake Ontario near Hamilton, Ontario. The sunrise was spectacular though, with golden reflections all along the water near the shore!“Waves Keep on Rolling” The waves were rolling in fast and furious on Lake Ontario this cold but sunny morning near Burlington Ontario!“Then the Wind Came” Another wonderfully windy but gorgeous view of Lake Ontario from the grassy area above the beach!
“Cotton Candy Over Ontario” Last light of the day and the sky turned into cotton candy for just a few short minutes!
Well, I’ve been having some fun recently with my processing. I don’t know if I’ve been just feeling winter blahs or is it that I just feel the need to do something new, but whatever it is, I found some new inspiration by trying something different in my processing.
My first go to, in my workflow is always Lightroom, and quite often after that, OnOne Software as well. In the past week or so, I’ve been having a whole lot of enjoyment experimenting with many of the Topaz Plugins, like Topaz Impression, and Topaz ReStyle. In this post I used Topaz Impression.
I have created special galleries for my “Photographic Art” and “digital Painting” here in these links. I have just a few images at the moment, but am adding to them pretty quickly. You can check out these here too for more Photographic art . It’s not that I plan to be doing this form of processing all of the time, I don’t. It will never replace my normal processing of my photographs, but it did give me a change to have some fun, look at things from a new perspective and have a new creative outlet, especially during this winter.
In this first image you’ll see the lovely Charlevoix Michigan Marina, it’s a very peaceful image in my opinion. I love it as a simple photograph, it has a nice soothing blue color and quiet mood. If you’d like to see other images of Charlevoix as well as other Small Town images you can find them here in The Small Town .
I decided to take that same photograph and do something different with it. I brought into Topaz Impression, and chose one of the oil painting presets in order to give me a starting point. After that, I used sliders to make a lot of adjustments, including those to paint saturation, type of brush used, brush stroke sizes, paper or canvas texture, vignette, and many more.
My final product was this beautiful digital oil painting! I kept the blue tones, the shimmer of light on the water, and the feeling of motion on the water as well. I added lots of texture, brush strokes and a slightly fanciful feeling.
“Blue Hour Oil Painting” The same image above, but processed as a digital oil painting.
I had also been doing a lot of processing of spring buds, blossoms and flowers recently. These were images from last year when we had an abundance of blossoms!
In this first image a simple photograph of crab-apple blossoms of varying hues, and stages of blooming, with a lovely bokeh in the background, I first processed this ever so slightly, in Lightroom. It didn’t really need much work in my opinion, it was a beautiful floral in pink.
On the spur of the moment one evening, I decided to turn it into a digital oil painting. Again, I used Topaz Impression and one of the Oil Painting presets as a starting point. I did a lot of experimenting with the sliders until I came up with what I feel is a lovely image that has a lot of color, depth, and a feeling of movement.
I know many of you have tried this type of processing before, and there are also some of you would never try it, as it feels to be untrue to the original photograph.
I would enjoy hearing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with your processing forays and journeys.
In the end it is up to each of us to find new ways to keep inspired, to get our groove back, or maybe just try something purely for fun.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these images and might even be inspired to try something new yourself! 🙂
“Pink Bling” Lovely colorful pink crab-apple blossoms from last spring.
“Pink Floral Oil Painting” The same image as above, but processed as a digital oil painting.
I always enjoy a beautiful sunrise or sunset, especially over a body of water. The clouds and colorful hues are reflected on the surface making it absolutely glorious! Scroll down to see two sunset and one sunrise image from this summer on two of the Great Lakes.
I’ve also included several quotes on the topic of sunrise and sunset. Enjoy!
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore ~
“When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.”
~ George R.R. Martin ~
“Spectacular Sunset” An amazing sunset on glassy waters of Lake Michigan!
“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”
~ Jo Walton ~
“Sunrise paints the sky with pinks and the sunset with peaches. Cool to warm. So is the progression from childhood to old age.”
~ Vera Nazarian ~
“Dawn’s First Light” A Soothing and peaceful sunrise on Lake Huron!
“The blue of daylight
fades and chills as the sun sinks
beneath clouds of fire.”
~ Richelle E. Goodrich ~
“The sunset was a splendid display. I wondered if it was showing off for my benefit or if it was often that spectacular. Rarely had I seen such a gorgeous scene; the riotous colors flamed out over the sky in shades that I had no words to describe. Birds sang their last songs of the day before tucking in for the night, and still the darkness hung back. Now, I thought, I understand the word “twilight.” It was created for just this time – in this land.”
~ Janette Oke ~
“Magnificent Sunset” Another gorgeous sunset from Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula!
“But even the longest day wears to sunset.”
~ Marion Zimmer Bradley ~
Last month on a fall color trip I got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise and sunset on two of the Great Lakes.
What a soothing and peaceful sunrise I had this day on Lake Huron! The only sounds to be heard were of gulls, ducks, and geese as they appeared on the scene as daylight broke! This was the beginning.
“Peace at Sunrise”
After a day of hunting for scenic places with fall color I went out along Lake Michigan for a sunset. It was what I call a nearly endless sunset. It didn’t get going with much color at first, but when it did, it didn’t want to stop! I stayed photographing the color until I knew I really had to leave. Even after I left the scene I had a hard time keeping my eye off of the side and rear view mirror as the color kept changing!
Red Sky at Night.
You know what they say about Red Sky at Night? A sailors delight! I have to say that it was for sure, the night was clear and the waters smooth. The next day also brought beautiful clear weather. I guess the mariners of old knew their skies! 🙂
Recently on a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan I was taken by surprise at all of the ice still remaining on Lake Superior.
The weather on my second day there turned unseasonably warm, which happened to be the case the day I took this sunset.
On certain areas of Lake Superior you can only see ice in the far distance, in other places you are actually able to still stand on thick chunks that are floating around closer to the shore.
The day before I took this image the whole bay was a mass of floating icebergs, ranging in size from many feet wide to a few inches in width. The depth could also be 1-3 feet for those that I could see. I’m sure much larger for those in the middle of each of the Great Lakes.
I was really hoping to get some sunset images through the icebergs with loads of golden color. Well, that didn’t happen because on the next evening I arrived to find much of the ice that had been close to the shore previously, no longer there. The warm southern winds had blown it further out in the water. Only a few chunks remained close to where I was standing.
The temperatures that day had reached the upper 80’s with plenty of haze and humidity, as well as a ton of black flies and mosquitoes. Consequently the sunset was not quite what I had hoped for yet it was really colorful and quite long lasting.
This frame is one of the later ones from that night, towards the end of sunset. The colors were still strong at the time, and the ice fields visible in the distance. You can also notice a few smaller pieces of ice closer to the shore.
The funny thing to me was knowing that here in late May, there were still many remnants of this winters extremely cold weather all around me.
I’m sure that there will be ice somewhere on Lake Superior for another month or two!
Enjoy this extremely simple image, and view of color and ice in a time that you wouldn’t normally expect it!
As some of you may know, being in Michigan, surrounded by some of the Great Lakes, has its perks! Here in this state you are never far from a local lake, and not very far from three of the three Great Lakes either.
I had wanted to get out to Lake Michigan all winter, but with the roads as snowy and icy as they were most of the time, it was impossible.
Recently I had the chance to spend a few days out around Grand Haven, and Holland. I was really surprised at the amount of shoreline change, and drifting of sand that happened over the winter season.
As I mentioned in my last post, the weather most of the time was either raining or stormy.
These few frames here were taken in a brief time in between storms. The sun shone brightly against the sand drifts that nearly covered all of the snow fences.
Pools of water lay on the shore reflecting the wonderful blue sky and clouds in another location.
Lastly, you’ll see more cloud reflections in pools as well as patterns in the sand formed by the water!
Truly it was a beautiful period of time with all of that sky drama. The changes quickly led to another thunderstorm, but it was certainly worth the time there to enjoy these sights granted to me!
Ok…..Yep…..I’m still going back through images from late last summer. In fact I’m still processing images from last spring, but that’s another story altogether! Backlogged….procrastination…. 😉
This image today is from St. Ignace Michigan in the beautiful Upper Peninsula.
This lighthouse which is called the Wawatam Lighthouse in St. Ignace, sits on Moran Bay on Lake Huron in the Straits of Mackinac.
The original location for this lighthouse was near Monroe Michigan, but had to be moved because of construction. It now sits on old railroad and ferry docks.
To me it looks beautiful against the blue sky and water. A perfect new home for this lovely lighthouse!
Located near it is a quiet beach and park. You can hear the waves lapping against the shore, the gulls making noise overhead, and feel the breeze coming in off Lake Huron.
Quite a lovely and peaceful place to just sit and relax! 🙂
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind…..
The answer is carried on a strong wind as it blows through tall grasses along the shores of Lake Michigan. Streams of white and blue swirl through the sky as if to say we are going in our own direction.
Earlier this year, or should I say last year..oops. Yep, it’s 2014 now. I was at Niagara Falls for several days. On my last day there, and in the last few minutes of photographing the falls themselves, I noticed something on the very edge of one of the falls.
Upon closer inspection it was a goose, and not too far from it, a gull. He was just sitting casually, as if it were an every day occurrence to be on the edge of a huge waterfall! I was very concerned with the goose though, because in my mind, just one large push of water, and down it would go. Of course, geese do fly, and that is probably not what would have happened.
I didn’t have a long enough lens on to get a close-up, but that wasn’t really what I was there to photograph in the first place. I was able to get several images with the goose in the frame, however, I liked the composition of this one the best, even though he happens to be dipping his head into the water.
So after all is said and done, this image isn’t really about the goose at all, it’s really about Niagara Falls, the beauty, the flow of water, the wonderful colors, and the experience of being there. The goose was just an added bonus, and what a life he lives! On the edge, literally!
As I have done for the past two years, this being the third year. I am posting my favorite, best, or most popular images of the year. Jim Goldstein has been gracious enough to host this for several years now.
This past year has been one of great change for me personally. My father passed away in the spring, which was a great loss for me.
At the same time in many ways it’s been a great year. I had more opportunity for travel, and was able to spend quite a bit of photography time during my favorite season…..autumn!!!
These images are from all through the year. Some are my personal favorites, others have been best sellers, while others represent special memories for me.
So in no particular order, I present this years. Best of 2013!
“Maple Leaf Zen”
“Ghostly Gales”
“Skies of Grand Marais”
“Munising Falls”
“Rolling with the Mack”
“Spray at Whitefish Point”
“Fluttering Maple” 3
“Blue Ridge Bounty”
“Autumn Spectacle”
These are 10 images. I could go on and on, especially in the autumn department LOL, but I will leave you with these to look at and enjoy.
As always if anyone is interested in purchasing a print, just click on the link in the menu bar, or the one on the right side of this post.
Wishing everyone the best in this coming new year!! 🙂
