I am often amazed how sometimes you can plan and plan for a photo and other times it's just there.

Such was the case with the pelican. After a pretty much worthless dive photo wise because of visibility. I rinsed off my gear and took my camera out of the housing and when I turned around the bird landed on the mooring post just long enough for me to take a photo, then flew away.

Sometimes they are just there.

Dave

I am enjoying the blogs far more than I thought I would.

Not only is it an interesting place to see a lot of great photo's, but it seems to be a wealth of information from a lot of very good photographers.

So I am hoping you take requests.

Are all the photos people take tweeked somewhat in programs like photoshop?

Are half?

Or are many photos just right comming out of the camera?

Can every photo use a little something?

I look forward to hearing from you. That's how learn and hopefuly become better.

Dave

I just love taking photos of young people.

They are so full of happiness and joy that the fun just beams through the lens.

And of course it's like looking into a mirror because time passes so quickly that it seems like yesterday that I was in my youth.

Dave

The flag makes a nice picture with all the colors against a blue background, but I can't look at it without thinking how the symbol of the flag has changed meaning for me through the years.

When I was in highschool I was Mr. Patriotic, then I joined the service and went to war. I have seen it flying high above the ships I was with. I saw it draped over coffins as the bodies were sent home. It was handed to me in a pretty box at my fathers funeral.

Now my son has joined the service and is a pilot. It's on his sleeve of his arm and is very pretty.

I love my country and always will, but as I get older when I look at the flag I can't help but have a great deal of sadness along with the respect. A lot of men and women have lost there lives over that symbol. War sucks no ...

I am enjoying the blog and tips that are given here. I am sure it can only help in my search to be a better phtographer. From my heart.

I thank you.

Dave

Somewhere I've read that one thing that stays with us as a memory is our smell. I remember as a child my mother did a lot of canning each fall. She would harvest the cucumbers and dill and start the pickle brine. It wouldn't take long and you could smell the brine through the whole house.

And now I am lucky enough that my wife enjoys canning.

We pick all the cucumbers and she turns them into pickles.

The smell of that brine takes me back to my childhood and I see mom with her apron on canning those pickles.

Makes the mouth water.

Dave

One of my loved ones has survived a tour in war and is heading home. Please allow me to display the flag and thank him for his sacrifices. I will be doing this from time to time as they come and go.

Dave

I love the tropics, the ocean, the islands, and all that it includes.

It is odd to me that I live so far up in the woods that they pipe in sunshine and yet I'm in love with the ocean.

Many people would say I am very lucky to live right in wilderness and that's probably true. Perhaps it's because it's so common to me that I yearn for the sea. I also love to scuba dive and the ocean has much more to look at than a fresh water lake.

I look forward to every trip I can make to the sea and try to get there once a year.

What's your favorite place? Is it where your at now?

Dave

I am new to stock photography and am really enjoying all there is to learn. I started to compose some objects to make the scene rather than take a photo of what's there.

This of course opens up a whole world only limited by our imagination. Yes the whole point is to create something that has a chance of selling somewhere, but it still involves the imagination.

I also browse the sections to see what's out in dreamstime and that also sparks it.

the great thing about starting something new like stock photography for me is I can only improve as time goes on. Especially with tips and info from places like the blog.

There are times when I just like to get the colors to pop off the photo and jump in your lap.

I can't help but put moods into the photos. When I do a wedding I always have a tear in my eye by the time it's over. I can feel the love in the room. That makes it easy to take wedding pictures.

And just as we cycle , so do my photos. Sometimes I just want them to shout like the beads.

This is also what makes it so interesting to see others photos.

Both for the expertise they display and for the feelings they show us.

Ever look at a photo and immediately know what the photographer was feeling? That's what it's about.

During a recent airshow I attended I was able to do some playing with exposure on very fast moving objects ( the planes) against a pretty much bright blue sky.

At first my litte brain was telling me to over expose a bit so the plane wouldn't look like a shadow with no color or distinction.

I had my little pad and paper and as each plane went by I wrote what I did. I should share at this point that the sun was over my right shoulder so glare was not an issue.

To make a long story short , after I got home and looked at my notes compared to the photos I realized that if the color of the plane was bright enough and reflected back as much as the blue sky over compensating for exposure created wash out. I know a lot of you are saying of course ,, every body knows that....

Whenever fall rolls around I can't help but get renewed about my appreciation for nature. It's as if all the trees show all the beauty before they go to sleep for the winter.

The only thing I don't like about fall is that it is so short, and it's a warning that thirty below zero, many feet of snow and hours and hours of darkness is just around the corner.

But so far it's been great , and the colors seem better than ever.

It's been a very nice summer and spent a lot of time enjoying it.