Halloween lighting - Deep Green St. GSO, NC

I went to an area a friend recommended to see some halloween " creatures" hanging from trees and different lighting than you might see for Christmas because of the subject matter. It is in a residential area of GSO. I admit I am terrible with low light scenes with an iPhone.  I did not want to take a tripod and this dsplay was on private property.  Ideally, I should have tried to be there when there was still some ambient light.  This at least captured the Halloween spirit but that whole yard which was not yet completed was something to be seen through a child's eye. Taken with Native camera app.   Edited with sharpening and cloning out some light flare in PSE 11. Have to try to figure out how I can revisit this next year.   It competes with having to stay home and pass out treats at my house on Halloween.  The display put up one day, Halloween, then taken down the next.  This takes dedication.  Maybe I can talk to the owner further.

Fall Leaf Colors on an Unknown Shrub/Tree @Guilford Military Park

This post should have been for Fri., Oct. 23rd, 2015.   I stopped by Guilford Military Park on my way home from a meeting.  It was noon so harsh lighting was present.  I liked the colors of these leaves against the blue sky.  The left image is without any editing, but to show the colors like I thought I saw them I edited in PSE 11:cropped, increased highlights, mid-tones, sharpened.  I think I did zoom in since the branches were not at eye level and there seems to be digital noise in the sky which can happen when you use that feature on the iPhone.  I do not have a telephoto lens for the iPhone.
This image really reminds me of fall with all the colors on one tree/shrub. I do not know the name by the shape of leaf.  It soon will peak color in Guilford Co.

Bicycle Wheels Wall Hanging @ the Melt Restaurant

When my sister was here visiting this week, we went to The Melt, which is a restaurant in Golden Gate shopping center in Greensboro, NC.  Where we were seated at the bar, the lighting was not good to take pictures of my food.or beer glass.  They have some unique bramds of beer and ale which
I would call gourmet varieties. On the wall they had some bicycle wheel sculpture that caught my eye.  The personnel said it was OK to take a picture.  There are some shadows and a peach glow to the left from reflections of the sun coming from outside the front window. It was taken about 12:30 PM EDST.  I still think it is neat. It will be good to use if I ever get into the digital image textures and collages.  Camera+ app, minor edits in PSE 11.

#4 Rust Dumpster

Rust #4 - Dumpster   I love that the base color of this dumpster has a turquoise background but painterly effect. When I took the image I thought this looked like finger projections but after seeing on the monitor, feel this looks like some dancers with streaks of rust color being their costumes. By sharpening the rust areas, it also gave more digital noise (grain) to the background.  
iPhone 5C Camera+ Edited in PSE 11 Cropped, Exposure, Sharpened
I tried experimenting with color variations. The right image I decreased red. - more altered art.     

Rust #3 Dumpster - Quick Fix

Rust #3  image from dumpster in downtown Greensboro.  The left image was taken in portrait mode and you can see the original colors and design of the rust with muted tones on an overcast day.  Taken with Camera+ app.with iPhone 5C.  Not sure if HDR mode which I usually leave as default.  Then I decided just to do a simple enhancement in PSE 11 by using choices in Quick "Smart Fix" for exposure and sharpening.  The image on the right was the result of my choices which give more texture & color.  This was the same subject but used the square mode.
I definitely need to try to capture more images when sun shining on the dumpster, preferrably about 9 a.m.  

Rust #2 Dumpster

2nd image of rust on a dumpster in downtown GSO, NC.   This rust image reminded me of grass when I looked at in on the computer monitor. The orignal image was muted colors of the image on the left with less texture.   I edited in PSE 11 using sliders for light and dark, midtones to get the effect I wanted.  Then I sharpened to 100.  I further enhanced the colors by using Saturated Film effect x2.  The image on the right I wanted to try to work with Vintage effect in PSE 11. Using the edited image on the left,  I played with hue and saturation and wanted more orange/red tones than browns. It ended up as a monochrome.  I should have left more space at the top when I took the image. I will be revisiting this dumpster if the sun ever shines.  If I get desperate, I can always make my own rust by watching You Tube videos.   .

Pink Firetruck with Names of Survivors at Festival Park 10-1-2015

This image should have been posted on Thurs., Oct. lst.   I went to a Breast Cancer Awareness Event in downtown Greensboro. I knew there would be a pink firetruck there.  Could not get the entire image.  This image has the corner of a vendor selling shirts, etc.  There is a woman with pink pants and boots writing her name on the truck.  It was overcast.  Taken with Camera+, edited in HDR.  I did take some other images with a P 600 camera that has a  zoom.  Taking pictures of people is not my forte and you do not have to be up close like the iPhone. .

Rust Vintage Look - Garbage Dumpster

When I was downtown at the Folk Festival on Sunday, I saw some rust on a garbage dumpster.  Decided to take a shot and see what I maybe able to do with the textures in PSE 11.   Taken with native i6  Camera app, HDR.  Did not really like the lighting but not able to move around for the specific rust spot I wanted.  Post processing l used Old Fashioned filter.  Increased the texture (grain) & changed the color of brown to include more orange coloration.  Sharpened in a medium range. Would like to try a different image with more side lighting in a.m.                                   "golden hour" to see if that depicts the rust better try to do macro with Camera+ app. . 

Downtown GSO from MLK Drive

I took this image last Friday as I walked in around the Southside Historic District of Greensboro, NC.  This was a view of some of the builidings downtown--the Lincoln Financial Tower being a landmark. The original image had the railroad tracks with weeds & artifacts in the foreground which I chose to crop out.  As a result the green train cars in the rail yard form a bottom frame.  It was a pretty sunny day with white clouds in the sky.  Taken with Camera+ HDR mode. Only increased the highlights & midtones, sharpened slightly in PSE 11.

First Friday GSO, NC, July 3rd, 2015

This image I wanted to post on July 5th but delayed due to family visiting.  On Friday, July 3rd when my family was visiting, the "girls" went downtown to check out "First Friday" in Greensboro, NC.  There were some venues that were closed because of activities planned for 4th of July celebration the next day.  My daughters had never done this before.  I took this shot when there was still some ambient light,  Wanted to catch the street lights.  With the iPhone you don't get a choice of shutter speed. I took this with auto exposure  with Camera + app and forgot to turn off HDR.  It was on South Elm street. Too bad there were no people walking down the street to give more ambience, but it was starting to rain and shops starting to close.  Did not use a tripod ...and because low lighting situation, not as sharp due to camera movement. Left image was only sharpened.  The image on the right I choose line drawing and adjusted opacity to add some color and lines in PSE 11.
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Large Cherry Tree in Bloom - Greensboro, NC

The end of March usually shows evidence of Cherry Trees blooming in NC. I saw this really big tree off
Friendly Ave in GSO.  It was calling my name to take a photo. This is one of the more weeping cultivars.  The tree was very big. In addition to the blossoms, there were areas where there were none, and the bare limbs reminded me of some bonsi tree shapes.
When I first saw the tree it was late morning but I could not get back to photograph till about 3:30 PM and so the lighting was different.  One I took with light shining on it from the West and the other was from the East side with less direct lighting which I did change the shadows in PSE 11.  I converted the one image to B & W.  It was a windy day and with the iPhone you cannot get greater than an f8 aperture.  I did sharpen the images so the blossoms were more defined.but would have been better with a camera shooting @ f 32.  We had low 20 temps Sun a.m. 3/29 and worried about our Peach crop in NC.  Looking forward to crab apple trees to bloom soon.    

 

Colorful News Stands for Community Papers

I was in downtown GSO near the Carolina Theater and saw these newsstand boxes that were
all different colors, sizes, and shapes. An instructor once said "the best image may be behind you".  My original thought was that this image might be an opportunity to use filters or some new app.  It was shot in HDR. I used PSE 11 to edit.  I cropped, increased the saturation.  Considering the Internet as a source of information, it was amazing to see this many options of community publications.  There were actually 3 more but a lightpost was in the way.   I actually edited out the window and filled it in with the navy blue color using the fill bucket.  The original had a refection of a car which was OK but this makes the boxes stand out more.  

Sculpture Downtown Greensboro - Life & Culture (Courthouse Plaza)

Guess I am not getting out to take images of more spring flowers this a.m. So, am posting an image of a sculpture I took on a sunny day in downtown GSO. It is a copper swing gate that shows various aspects of life or famous people that have impacted our culture. Difficult to get everything showing due to shadows of the sun at about noon. I wanted to include the building in the background go give a sense of place. No editing of the image. HDR mode on iPhone 5S. This might be one to try a vertical panorama in the future.

Fountain at City Park, downtown GSO, NC

The fountain in downtown Greensboro. This was actually taken with Jack's iPhone which is a 5C. No editing. Not many people around City Park on a Sunday morning.  HDR mode.  This was actually taken in Sept. 2014.