Monday is Chip’s birthday. Appropriately enough, he was born on Labor Day 34 years ago. To celebrate, several of us met at the Overlook Grill for a Sunday lunch. However, the day really belonged to little Olivia.  Chip and Anna wanted a good photo for Oliva’s upcoming first birthday.  Houston and I were happy to oblige, and began a photoshoot camera war in Falls Park.

The day was absolutely spectacular, and lots of people were taking advantage of the nice weather.  We found a couple of good locations and started taking pictures.

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It was the “golden hour”, that time in late afternoon when the sunlight filters warmly at an angle covering everything with long, interesting shadows. I hadn’t been out shooting in awhile, so I grabbed my camera and headed downtown.

I parked in the Richardson Street lot behind Mast General Store.  Normally on a Thursday night they have Downtown Alive and the place is hopping, but this evening it seemed to be dead.  It could be that the series has just ended for the summer, but it could also be that construction in the area has disrupted civic activities.

I started out with my camera and the 18-200 zoom lens, and picked up my little SlikStick tripod to take with me.  I had walked about two blocks and had taken only a few shots when I spotted that my battery was just about dead.  Not good.  I headed back to the car to pick up my spare.

Back at the car I made a quick decision.  I swapped out my zoom lens, opting instead for my 50mm f/1.8 prime lens.  With the faster lens I could leave my tripod behind and not have to lug it down the street.  I also wanted to spend some time with this lens.  I’m always shooting with the big zoom, so I thought it would be fun to try something different. (more…)

SHREK: For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think.

DONKEY: Example?

SHREK: Example? Okay. Uh… ogres are like onions.

DONKEY: They stink?

SHREK: Yes. No!

DONKEY: Oh, they make you cry?

SHREK: No!

DONKEY: Oh, you leave them out in the sun, they get all brown and start sprouting little white hairs.

SHREK: No! Layers! Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.

DONKEY: Oh… you both have layers… You know, not everybody like onions. Cakes! Everybody likes cakes. Cakes have layers.

SHREK: I don’t care what everyone likes. Ogres are not like cakes… You dunce, irritating, miniature beast of burden. Ogres are like onions. End of story. Bye bye. See ya later…

OK, you may be wondering what Shrek has to do with photography.  Actually, it’s more about layers – specifically, layers in Photoshop.

I had been working with layers ever since my friend Duck Hunter showed me the technique.  The process can add interest, texture, and even change the mood of a photograph.  The process is simple enough…

1.  Open a photograph in Photoshop or your image editor of choice.

2. Find an interesting texture, such as the ever-popular “Pollution” texture from Jerry Jones, , AKA Ghostbones, AKA SkeletalMess

3.  Resize the texture to match the base photograph, then copy it into a layer on top of the base.  Change the blend mode of the texture layer from “normal” to “overlay”…

…and the result is an image that combines aspects of both layers.  You can change the opacity of the upper texture layer to increase or decrease the effect. (more…)

It was a second Saturday, which can only mean one thing – another outing with the guys from Lowcountry Unfiltered. This time our target was once again the Edisto River. This was to be our “beer commercial” float, full of rope swings, mayhem, and general goofing off. And, that pretty much sums up the day.

For this trip we were doing a familiar stretch. The plan was to put in at Mars Old Field Landing, but this time we would paddle past Givhens Ferry State Park and take out at Messervy Landing, adding another three miles to our trek.

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I had Monday off as part of the 4th of July weekend.  My brother, Houston, and my sister, Glynda, also had the day available, so we decided to go on another photo exploration.  This time our target was our old stomping grounds around Laurens, South Carolina.

Houston had some specific locations he wanted to see if we could find.  Most of these were in the old Long Branch area, but we knew we would get sidetracked in route.  I picked up Glynda and Houston at the family home in Gray Court.  Armed with GPS, maps, and more cameras than we had passengers, we set out.

We actually didn’t get very far.  At the south end of Gray Court is the historic farm area that the Gray Court-Owings Historical Society has put together.  Glynda and Houston weren’t aware of this place, so we spent a good bit of time looking at the old cabins and farm implements and taking pictures of these.

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