Category: sunset

'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, connections, family, Florida, Florida landmarks, friends, making memories, perseverance, photography, road trip, sunset, travel

Catching up…

naturecoastimagesblog

Sometimes you get to catch up with a friend and also catch up on some sunset and sunrise photos all in the same visit. This visit was to John’s Pass, an overnight visit with no long drive home hanging over our heads and the hope of a nice sunrise before taking that long drive home the next day.

This was our view as we enjoyed the breeze and the food at Bubba Gump’s.
Do you see that dolphin fin? I got up to grab a shot in-between sips of beer.
Forrest had to dash away.
Sunset colors starting showing up and we decided that we’d better head out for a view.
Great blues in the surf was a new one on me.
There were just too many distractions, but the sunset color on the cement of this bridge abutment reminded us to keep moving.
Yay, we hadn’t totally missed it. But let’s stop and grab a shot.
I loved this composition, but I had to edit out some people to get it.
And then the sun was swallowed up, and this early bird was ready to call it a day.
'scene' along the way, Florida landmarks, friends, fun, moments, nature, perseverance, photography, sunset

Just in time…

naturecoastimagesblog

I thought we’d miss the sunset. Traffic was awful. We would barely make it to the restaurant to meet with friends on time, I thought. But our last stretch of road gave us this view.

Charming town, Dunedin. During daylight savings we came earlier and stopped at a waterside restaurant to enjoy the view and have a beer on the way to the meeting.
Two hardy souls watching the sunset on this chilly night.

Photoshop generative fill allowed me to remove the side mirror of the car from this last picture. It did such a good job that I decided to remove a trash can also. Nice evening.

'scene' along the way, a second look, attention to detail, attitude adjustments, birds, front yard visitors, live and learn, moments, nature, perseverance, photography, sunset

Expanding my view…

naturecoastimagesblog

I opened the front door around 5:15 last night and saw no color in the sky so I went back in. But then I stopped, and went back out front and walked out to the driveway, and that’s when I saw it. The sky to the left was gorgeous, so I grabbed my phone and headed down the street. To the park I thought, where I’d have a view of more sky. I’d hate to think I’ve been missing sunsets like this all this time, but usually if I look out the front door the color is concentrated to the right. I’m certainly glad that I looked to the left last night.

My sunrise pictures are taken from the far end of the little lake. When I got to the park I saw that I needed to keep walking until I saw this view.
But the sky was just as pretty behind the houses that I normally photograph at sunrise. And much to my surprise not only was there a wood stork on the bank, but there were two sand hill cranes on the little island out in the water. Obviously I’ll have to walk to the park at sunset more often.
This is the corner just a few houses from my house. I was trying to walk home but the sky just wouldn’t quit.
Where were the photographers? If I’d have been at the beach they’d have been out. Even the dog walkers weren’t paying particular attention to the sky.
The is my last photo, and trust me I took a zillion more photos then I’ve put here, but they were repetitive. Many more than I needed. But this is from my driveway when I had made it back home and decided to go in.

I hope I haven’t been missing the boat all this time. Missing spectacular sunsets in my own neighborhood. But I really don’t think so, I think I should just be glad that I thought to check the sunset last night…

attitude adjustments, backyard visitors, bees, blessings, home, life, perseverance, photography, sunset

A quiet day…

naturecoastimagesblog

The day ended softly, pretty colors in the sky that were gone a few minutes later. And it started quietly also, with hot air balloons having flown right over the house but I didn’t see them until they had passed by and would fade out of sight in a few minutes.

I’ve seen this balloon before.
But not this one.
same bee? Different bee? Same flower though.

I chased a butterfly for a few minutes, but he wasn’t as cooperative as this bee proved to be. Just another day to be grateful to be alive…

'scene' along the way, a second look, brainstorms, food, friends, fun, making memories, nature, perseverance, photography, sky, sunset

Just made it…

naturecoastimagesblog

I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to take that feature photo. To say that we made it to the sunset by the skin of our teeth is no exaggeration. We had left the house a bit early because with the time change the sunset was going to be 15 minutes before we would be meeting the photo club for our Tuesday night group chat. Since we recently learned that only a couple of blocks from the restaurant is a spot to view the sunset we knew the night could be a win-win. But it almost wasn’t, and I guess you can blame traffic for that. We were allowing 2 hours before the meeting, but next week we’ll give it a little more time. But we made it.

I never saw the boat when I took the pictures, a set of five to blend into an HDR shot.
It’s like I tried NOT to get the boat in the reflected light.
And then it started fading out, just in time for the meeting.

There are bridges in this area also, and somehow I hoped for a few different shots for this post. But there is always next week to try again.

a second look, adventure, attention to detail, attitude adjustments, black and white, fantasy images, live and learn, nature, old dogs new tricks, on closer examination, perseverance, photography, say goodnight, sunset, technology

50 shades of gray…

naturecoastimagesblog

When I saw this picture from Riverhills Park I thought it would make a very nice black and white image. But darn, I thought, it’s an iPhone photo and therefore a jpeg, and not able to be edited as I would prefer to do. But today I remembered that I have my iPhone set to take RAW images only, so I got busy looking at the pictures I took to see what else might look good in black and white. And I found a Lightroom lesson on editing black and white photos, so I was excited to try it. It’s a matter of bringing out all the shades of gray, with contrast and detail, but what you need to start with is a photo with lots of contrast to work with.

Lots of contrast in the scene.
This is the other picture that I thought would lend itself to black and white.
Then I looked at this one and said, why not?
Ibis and cypress knees seemed to be good candidates also.
As it got closer to sunset the birds started flying to the far side of the river to spend the night.
I didn’t edit this photo in color because I didn’t think the shadows of the birds would show up, but I liked the picture so I turned this one to black and white also.

Not every photo will look good in black and white, and taking black and white photos isn’t usually on my mind when I’m out there with the camera. But these photos seemed worth while to play with, because this is all play to me. I’m so glad I set the iPhone to take the images in RAW. It preserves all the detail and color so it’s waiting for you to make your adjustments. I’ve been so lucky to find the camera club I belong to, the FCCP, out of Clearwater. I’ve found fun, and friends, and someone to enjoy these golden years with. Every day is a blessing.