Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Walk and Click or should I say Drive?

I shot from the car today as I drove out into the country. It did not disappoint.
I love bare trees against the sky. And soon it will be spring so I'm capturing as many as I can.

The clouds were glorious and a string of geese were cooperative also.

 I'll share a great Lightroom tip at the end about the photo below.

I happened upon a gaggle of geese feeding very close to the road and they became quite nervous.

Fly away, fly away. At least they aren't eating the winter wheat.

 I also stirred up a large group of birds playing in these tall grasses.

I thought they'd all be sparrows, but when I zoomed in, there were red-winged black birds in the mix. I don't see how they keep from running into each other. They are so fun to watch as they swoop here and there.

I love these little sparrows in the weeds.

 There always seems to be some old machinery around.

 And an old truck by an awesome tree.

 And a totally cool tree all by itself. (Well I did clone out a pile of dirt in the left corner.)

All photos edited in Lightroom using split-toning. (I love to make my skies more turquoise.)
Here's what I discovered today:
On the photo I mentioned earlier, the horizon was not straight. But when I tried to straighten it, I felt it cropped too much off the right side of my tree. (my preference) Here is the before:

I opened the Lens Correction Panel and played with the horizontal slider until I got this. It did change the shape of my tree so you'll need to be careful about what subject matter you dare to distort. AND if you look closely part of the photo is now 'missing' in the lower right corner. So a little more crop off the bottom was in order.

I did try it on the 'lone' tree above but didn't like the result. When I straightened it normally, it made it look like he tree was leaning. So I'm pretending we actually have a few hills around here.
Linking up with Walk and Click Wednesdays at Lissa's blog. Get out and shoot and join us there.
Here's to seeing the beauty around you, even if it's a dreary winter day (like here). At least we got some badly needed rain last night.

14 comments:

  1. Love all the images you got - best drive-by ever!

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  2. all photos are great - especially the old truck!

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  3. This looks like a really nice drive - the images are all beautiful! I really love the lone tree and turquoisey sky.

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  4. A fabulous set of photos. I prefer trees with no leaves - I can be a little obsessive about them at this time of year!

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  6. So many photos to LOVE in this ride and click! The first one got me and then they just kept coming. The old truck and the tree awesome! I agree with you I love the turquoise sky. I will have to give it a try once we have some blue skies instead of gray :(

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  7. Great little trip. Like Helen I love the leafless trees of winter. I am always shocked when a few start to leaf, as I had not finished all the photos.

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  8. Magnificent photography ~ love your photo editing too ~

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  9. Looks like you have a great walk, messed up some birds along the way but that was fun to I see. Awesome shots

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  10. It's fabulous to see a bit of your part of the world ... yes, even during "dreary" winter. My favs are the old truck and wagon wheel. I love old things and always take the chance to stop and take it all in ... how times were different. I also enjoy the geese ... love your images of them with the curved cut corn rows. It's so good to see you join in Walk and Click Wednesdays! Thanks for coming.

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  11. Love the old truck we don't get that here, and the geese wonderful shot thanks for sharing....

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  12. Wonderful photos, it sounds like a great walk

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