Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all. I have been seeing great pictures of holiday lights this season, and finally decided to try and take one of my own. The photo above is an HDR Exposure Blend (using Photomatix) of 7 exposures I took one morning. I also took some photos just using the ambient light and not doing the HDR thing. After reviewing these shots on the computer, I decided the white lights just aren’t very interesting. Normally we decorate the two large fir trees in front of our house with colored strings, but we opted not to this year. Rest assured, we will next year. That will give it some “life” I think. So instead, I will go out in search of other homes in our neighborhood to take pics of. I had better hurry, only a week to go before most people take their lights down.

Oh, and I should point out that the inspiration for this, besides the photos I linked to above, was a Strobist article about holiday light pictures. As is the norm with Strobist help, this article was wonderful for a rookie like me.

blue_plants, originally uploaded by Dizzle @ 2*3 Photos.

Another captured image while waiting for the fashion show to start last Friday.

I can’t be sure if it was the colors or the texture that pulled me in. I think it was the textures. The pebble covered wall with the lights somehow reminded me of marbles. With the odd stick plant out front it just made me want to reach out and touch it. But I didn’t.

Texture can make an ordinary photo into something extraordinary. This particular image, without the texture would just be a really colorful image, but the texture gives it life and dimension.

Look for different textures and how they can work for you to change an ordinary photo into something spectacular.

Last week when I went to Beaver Creek, I took some time to drive up near Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks. The idea was to get a shot of the great fall colors. Turns out though, that my favorite picture from that sidetrip is this one. It is a reflection of Gray’s Peak in a mud puddle that was in the middle of the forest service road. I rotated it so the mountain was upright, and I think it is an incredibly clear reflection of the mountain. Couldn’t have planned a shot like this, it just happened. The big question to me is if you like it upright like this, or should I have left it upside down?

“The Art of Black and White Photography”, by Torsten Andreas Hoffman, is the latest Rockynook book that I have read. So far, only one Rockynook title has disappointed me. “The Art of Black and White Photography” was definitely not a disappointment.
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Last week I had the privilege of staying at the Park Hyatt Resort in Beaver Creek, Colorado for the 2008 Governor’s Colorado Tourism Conference. The event was a huge success, and the keynote’s and breakout’s alike were immensely valuable.

One thing that kept getting mentioned was how intense the fall colors were. A co-worker and I drove up Wednesday morning. Along the way we stopped near Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks to take in the color and snap some photos. I hate doing my PP work on my laptop (the photo above was done on the laptop and I think it is time to recalibrate the color on it), so I saved most of them until this week. I’ll work on the post processing and get the photos online in the next few days. I think I got some good shots, including some beetle kill ones that might make for good stock imagery, since that is such a hot topic these days.

Sadly, the beautiful color may not have lasted through the weekend. As we were leaving Beaver Creek on Friday afternoon, storms were blowing in with a fury. And I saw on the news last night that it was snowing pretty good in the mountains. That usually equates to the leaves being knocked off the trees. Hopefully you were able to experience it while it was there, I can’t remember the last time the colors were so vivid. By the way, the photo above is the view from my room at the conference.

New Monitor, originally uploaded by Ankou.

I picked up a new monitor for the command center recently, a 22″ Widescreen LCD to go along with my 19″ standard LCD. A whole lot of real estate that, will more than likely become dual 22″ widescreens in the next month or so.

But for the time being I need to get these things calibrated to each other…cause out the box boy oh boy are they a world apart!!

I have lost count the number of times I have suggested to folks that they think about calibrating their monitors, especially when running a dual monitor setup. When you start complaining about color issues in your photos, or other folks start commenting about color issues…it is an easy first place to check.

Since I am in the process of upgrading a lot of my computer equipment I plan on testing out a few calibration systems and doing some reviews of them to help folks find something that will work for this task and not break the bank (hopefully).

But for the time being, most monitors come with some sort of built-in calibration program that you can use to at least get you going. Give it a try, sometimes you can be shocked with how far “off” colors can be.

At first glance, you immediately wonder “How did they do that?”. This question is either immediately preceded or followed by “Wow, that is pretty cool.” I didn’t take the photo, but I think I have it figured out.
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