Memorial Day has come to mark the unofficial beginning of the Summer season, but beyond the dashes to the beach and the celebratory cookouts, there are those brave men [...]]]> As we walk the path of life we must never forget those who have been a part of us and have gone on before us.

Memorial Day has come to mark the unofficial beginning of the Summer season, but beyond the dashes to the beach and the celebratory cookouts, there are those brave men and women who have given their all for the love of freedom and country.

We must never forget!

Memorial Day 2013

God Bless America!

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Today we share a few iPhone images from a wonderful jazz and super club we visited on Hilton Head Island recently. It’s a quaint place called The Jazz Corner, featuring upscale culinary treats and outstanding entertainment. The name fits perfectly as the club sits back in a corner of a modern [...]]]> Happy Friday!

Today we share a few iPhone images from a wonderful jazz and super club we visited on Hilton Head Island recently. It’s a quaint place called The Jazz Corner, featuring upscale culinary treats and outstanding entertainment. The name fits perfectly as the club sits back in a corner of a modern commercial development.

Upon entry, you are welcomed by a host or hostess and your immediate impression will be how professional the staff is. After taking a few steps inside the place, you just know this is a high quality establishment and you will anticipate nothing but the best of everything. You will also not be disappointed.

We visited on a Wednesday evening (do make a reservation, the place fills quickly) and was seated at a front row table with the stage just a few feet away.

The Jazz Corner Stage

The shots in this post were all taken while seated at our table. One may wonder if sitting this close to the stage would be too close. Will the music be too loud and annoying?

Not a chance, this place has excellent acoustics and sound quality.

After ordering wine and dinner, which was a five-star affair, we were entertained by The Earl Williams Quartet. What a great show and experience. Earl Williams is a very funny and talented gentleman who interacted very nicely with the sold-out crowd. It was truly a night to remember.

Earl Williams

Mr. Williams plays several instruments and provides comedic relief, often reminding you of Fred Sanford (Red Foxx). Yes, he is truly an all-around entertainer and great song and dance man.

Clarence Williams

Clarence Williams, son of Earl, performs a solo on his bass guitar.

In the background is Jimmy Charles on drums, quite a talent and the man that keeps everything in time and on beat. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a better shot of Jimmy without rudely blocking someone’s view.

Lavon Stevens

Lavon Stevens, an excellent pianist, was quite impressive with his ability to sing as well as play piano.

Earl Williams sings the Blues

Lastly, we have Earl Williams, looking somewhat Hip-Hop, singing the blues. What an entertainer, he sings, dances, plays harmonica, saxophone, clarinet and provides comedy.

Bravo sir!

Overall, I rate The Jazz Corner as a 5-star experience and the owner and President, Bob, should be most proud of this wonderful establishment. If you are ever in Hilton Head, make this a place to visit for a memorable evening. Here is a list of the talent you can see there.

Thanks for visiting, and I wish you all a great weekend.

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The software developer will release it’s latest product, Topaz Clarity, today the 22nd of May 2013. I love the Topaz stable of products for their effectiveness and ease of use and Clarity, which I have been fortunate enough to beta test, is no exception.

Clarity is designed to [...]]]> Topaz Labs has done it again!

The software developer will release it’s latest product, Topaz Clarity, today the 22nd of May 2013. I love the Topaz stable of products for their effectiveness and ease of use and Clarity, which I have been fortunate enough to beta test, is no exception.

Clarity is designed to enhance both the contrast and clarity of your images without the resulting halos and artifacts we often see.

When I first saw the product title I immediately thought about the slider in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, wondering if there were any similarities. Users of these products will be happy to know that they function in similar ways but with one huge difference. Topaz’s Clarity provides far more control over your end result.

Here is a before and after example.

A nice result using a single click of one of the more than 100 presets, which are categorized by types of photography (Nature, Macro, Architecture, Wedding and more). I used the Landscape Pop III preset in this example.

Here is a quick look at some of the features:

Clarity Module- The Dynamics section of this module allows you to selectively adjust contrast in your image, without adding halos or artifacts, resulting in a very natural looking image, which is very important for my style of photography.  The contrast sliders range from micro to high, and refer to the original image contrast variations allowing you to increase or decrease the contrast in that specific variation.  The highlight of this module is the ability to adjust mid-tone contrast quickly and easily, something that would normally take many steps to achieve.

The Tone section gives you the ability to adjust the tone levels to retain a high range of tones in your image.  It includes black, white, and mid-tone sliders that can bring back details in the shadows and highlights that would normally be lost with high contrast adjustments.

HSL Module- Topaz Clarity is the first to use a quality enhancement method in the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance adjustment module, which can produce strong adjustments with much less artifacts and noise.  The HSL module allows you to selectively enhance specific colors in your image.  It works by breaking your image into 8 different colors, giving maximum control over the colors in your image.

Advanced Masking Technology- Topaz has incorporated several new features in the masking module to allow for more precise masking.  Clarity offers three different types of brushes; normal, edge aware, and the new color aware.  You now have the ability to feather the mask and control the color range.  You also have the option of choosing a gradient mask that includes linear, radial, and reflected types of gradients.  In addition, there is a separate mask for the Clarity module and the HSL module, which allows for much greater control of adjustment areas in your image.

New Intuitive User Interface- The new interface is really flexible and user-friendly. The modules themselves are streamlined for quicker and easier adjustments.  

Have a look!

The resulting image.

There are many uses for Topaz Clarity, including HDR image enhancement.  I can hardly wait to experiment further with this impressive new tool.

The list price for this will be $49.99 but you can get it now through May 31st for $29.99 by using the Promo Code claritynew.

 Click the box or HERE to purchase!

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I want to thank everyone for their visits, comments and RTs during the past weeks, as my [...]]]> After a week-long visit to Hilton Head South Carolina, it’s good to be back home. We thoroughly enjoyed the time away and although I was unable to do everything I had in mind, I feel refreshed and energized. 

I want to thank everyone for their visits, comments and RTs during the past weeks, as my online presence has been less than normal. It is now time to get back in the groove and continue to work on the many projects I established for myself at the beginning of the year.

Today’s image is titled Out To Lunch, and is a sculpture created by J. Seward Johnson, the American Artist known for his bronze works, many of them painted. If you have been to any of the major American cities you have likely seen Mr. Johnson’s life-sized works of art.

Out To Lunch has been seen in several places including California, Missouri and New Jersey. The image featured here was taken on Hilton Head Island (SC).

Out To Lunch

~ Click image to enlarge or purchase ~

Difficult to see from this vantage point, but this young man is grasping what appears to be a hamburger in his right hand while reading a book during his lunch break. There are many photographs of this particular piece, most of which are the tourist shots taken from a standing position and straight on from the front. I chose this angle to show a different view and to give more prominence to the book.

Processing

I used the beta version of the soon to be released Topaz Clarity,  a powerful plugin that allows you to cleanly enhance contrast and clarity in your images. I am impressed with this product so far. This is my first usage of it but I’ll have a Clarity specific post up soon. Here is a look at the interface, which will be familiar to current Topaz users.

Topaz Labs’ Clarity Interface

After running this through Topaz Clarity (Beta) and selecting the Clouds II preset, I added a slight background blur in Photoshop and called it a day.

Thanks so much for clicking by!

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Today’s post comes to you from Hilton Head Island where I have been hanging out the past several days. I thought I would share another blue hour image of a scene just outside of our Villa.  As the sun drops below the horizon the centerpiece fountain turns blue in this 30-second long exposure [...]]]> Welcome back!

Today’s post comes to you from Hilton Head Island where I have been hanging out the past several days. I thought I would share another blue hour image of a scene just outside of our Villa.  As the sun drops below the horizon the centerpiece fountain turns blue in this 30-second long exposure shot.

Fountain Blue

~ Click image to enlarge or purchase ~

The title of this image is Fountain Blue, not to be confused with the French city of Fontainebleau.

Hilton Head is a beautiful park-like place with lots of things to do. There is an extensive network of pathways for biking and walking, providing access to the entire island. The beachfront stretches along the Atlantic ocean for 10 to 12 miles and while busy, is not crowded with people like many other beach-town resorts.

Time seems to go by quickly, a sign of having fun.

I will only be here a few more days and hope to squeeze in a trip to nearby Savannah Georgia, a mere 20 miles to the south.

Needless to say, lots of photos have been taken and I look forward to sharing many of them with you.

Thanks for visiting!

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This long exposure image was taken during the blue hour on a cold morning several weeks ago. We headed out in strong winds and rough seas, [...]]]> Taylors Island on Maryland’s eastern shore is one of my favorite places to visit during the fishing season. Those pre-dawn departures for the Chesapeake Bay are always special moments.

This long exposure image was taken during the blue hour on a cold morning several weeks ago. We headed out in strong winds and rough seas, although one would never know it looking at the photograph below.

Blue Hour – Taylors Island

With the camera tripod mounted,  I took the long exposure first (44mm, f/18, 12s, ISO 200). Next I quickly switched to bracketing and took 3 shots. Somewhat surprisingly, there was not as much camera shake in the high winds as I thought there would be. Still, not as tack-sharp an image as I would have liked but manageable. Several other shots around the docks were less favorable.

In Photoshop I aligned the image layers and cropped away the resulting uneven edges. Using only the 12-second long exposure and the 0EV metered image (no HDR processing) I added a mask. The water from the LE image was brought in to blend with the 0EV, 4s, f/4 shot.

Finishing touches via Topaz Adjust.

We went on to have a banner day out on the Chesapeake, catching several trophy Rockfish. I landed a 34-pounder, which tends to brighten any day.

After a very busy 6-week period where I could never seem to find enough time in a single day, I’m off to Hilton Head Island to relax, recharge and reload.

Next post, from the sandy shores of the Atlantic.

Thanks for visiting!

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It may be the [...]]]> Driving around the countryside is a wonderful way to experience the lifestyles of others and explore places to create photographs. When I am in rural areas, which is quite often, I always keep an eye out for barns. Although many are similarly built, barns have a certain individuality that creates it’s own unique scene.

It may be the equipment and farm implements surrounding it or the manner in which it has been placed on the property but each seems to stand on it’s own merit. Even those that are yielding to earth’s gravitational pull and are falling apart, have a certain attractiveness to them.

In this post we have a look at an image created in February, long before the trees and shrubs began to bud and blossom. I came across this hillside barn and just had to capture the moment for some reason. It was in an area that I don’t pass regularly so I figure, why not?

Hillside Barn

This was a bitter-cold day as I took this photo from the comfort of my truck. I could not help but notice that there was not a single sign of life on the property. All people and animals were sheltered inside to escape the frigid air.

The crooked gate, the peeling paint on the out building and other characteristics led me to believe that this farm has been in operation for many years, so I felt a B&W conversion of the scene was in order.

Hillside Barn in B&W

I think I will return to this area sometime soon to see how it looks now that Spring has arrive in all of it’s beauty. There was also a small waterfall nearby that I would like to capture.

Thanks for visiting!

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Today we peek through the blossoms of a tree in this dream-like image titled “Daydreaming”. The image was created on a foggy morning as the sun burned through, producing a wonderful light.  I love to get out and shoot photos on foggy mornings for this very reason, you just never know what magical light [...]]]> Welcome back!

Today we peek through the blossoms of a tree in this dream-like image titled “Daydreaming”. The image was created on a foggy morning as the sun burned through, producing a wonderful light.  I love to get out and shoot photos on foggy mornings for this very reason, you just never know what magical light will develop.

Daydreaming occurs when we escape our immediate surroundings and allow our minds to take us elsewhere. When I opened this RAW image on the computer, that was the first thought that entered my mind.

Daydreaming

~ Click image to enlarge or purchase ~

Gear: Nikon D5000 with 18-55mm 3.5   | Exif: ISO 200, 26mm, 1/640s, f/4.2

Processing

Opened in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR), white and black balances was adjusted before opening in Photoshop CS6. Once there, I applied the Topaz Lab’s Adjust 5 filter, selecting the Classic Collection and Detail-Medium setting as a starting point. Afterward, a Vibrance adjustment layer was applied before a slight bit of sharpening as a final step.

Have a great day and thanks so much for visiting!

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