I've been continuing with my photography so don't think my absence means I've decided it's not for me. I just haven't been here. :) So I thought I'd pop in and show some of my work. Critiques are welcome as always. Lord knows I need all the help I can get. I'm teaching myself so it's all trial and error.. plus a little natural instinct.
One of the bridges here in town that cross the Mississippi River is a favorite subject for area photographers and I'm no different. I've got a bunch of them so picture #1 is one of those.
I was in Tulsa last month and took some great shots of the golf course in Mohawk Park. Great color everywhere so picture #2 is all about the autumn colors.
Picture #3 was shot on an overcast, misty day. The sky is so white and I don't quite know what to do about that other than cut and paste another sky. I probably couldn't pull it off anyway with all the tiny tree branches. Anyway.. this "house" is on the National Register of Historic Places because it was the home of John Wood who was the 12th Governor of Illinois. The home was completed in 1838 after 3 years of construction. It was originally across the street and Wood had it moved across the street because of a new mansion he had built. They had to cut this house in half for the move.

Tom, no real filters on the camera for that one. At the moment the only filter I have is an ultraviolet one that I keep on the end of my lens mainly to protect the lens from scratches. For that pic the planets seemed to align just right for me. It was a case of being lucky instead of good. The original pic is very washed out and I passed it by a couple of times while going threw the shots for that day. I just happened to be board one night and decided to see if there was anything to be done with it. With Picnik, I sharpened it up a little and added some blue to the pic. I then sat and played around with the exposeure by darkening the entire pic up and then played with the highlights and shadows.