Friday, December 27, 2013

Santa's Lap

I thought about calling this post "Holiday Torture" but then decided that's too extreme. Certainly not my intent to torture my granddaughter when we took her over to sit on Santa's lap a few days ago. I was, however, having a sense of deja vu as I recalled doing this with my own daughter 20 years ago when she was about a year old, and remembering how she screamed as we tried to sit her on Santa's lap. We were advised to "back her in", meaning have her face the parent, so as to avoid seeing the scary man she was being handed to. But just like 20 years ago, this technique didn't work and my granddaughter had a brief but very robust cry as my camera went click-click-click! I used Photoshop to merge these four photos together.
This got me thinking about digging through our old holiday photos to compare my daughter's and granddaughter's photos. Below on the right is a scan of my kids on Santa's lap in 1993. My daughter was about a year old, and on the left (20 years later practically to the day) is a shot of my granddaughter at about the same age. See the resemblance?!
Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season and new year!!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Backyard Swing

We had another of those wonderful S CA sunsets last night. I wasn't able to leave the house, so just grabbed my camera and wide angle lens and started taking some pics around the house. Here's one from up on the hill in my backyard overlooking the neighbor's pool.
My attention was drawn away from sky-shots when I noticed my daughter pushing my granddaughter in our backyard swing.
This photo makes me laugh every time I look at it! I hadn't adjusted the ISO setting for the low-light, so ended up with a long exposure (1/5 second). My heart sank when I heard how long the shutter was open, figuring the photo would be a blurry mess. But the blur works in my favor to show motion, and my granddaughter's face is relatively clear, so it turned out to be one of my favorites!
Under the jacaranda tree... my daughter pushing my granddaughter. Check out that patch of sky!!
Another shot that makes me smile!! Looks like little Lilly is going to launch herself into the stratosphere!! I was laying on the ground shooting straight up for this shot. Hang on tight!!
I used Topaz Simplify to make the background of this photo look like it does, and then used Photoshop to add detail back into my granddaughters face and body. Linking with Skywatch Friday. Click the link to check out great skies from around the world! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Fullerton Street Lamp

Out on a walk recently with my Granddaughter and my dog and the sky really picked up some beautiful colors as the sun set. I didn't have my "real" camera with me, and just thankful that cell phone cameras work so well! Would have totally missed this shot otherwise. I like the antique-looking street lamps the city has installed in a number of areas.
Linking with Skywatch Friday. Click on the link to check out great skies from around the world. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Summit House Sunset

Summit House Restaurant in Fullerton, CA, is at what I think is probably the highest elevation in the city. There's a hiking trail that starts out from the west end of the property (Panorama Trail) and it's a great place to go for a Skywatch shot!
The restaurant is decked out for the holidays!
My wife, dog, and grandchild are just blurs in this 20-second exposure!
A close-up shot of one of the fountains... you can just make out some city lights in the background.
The photo above is Panorama Trail, which takes you up to some excellent look-out points. I could tell it was going to be a great sunset!
Our reward for hiking to the top of the hill... a beautiful sunset with hikers stopping to admire it!
My wife and I with our granddaughter and chihuahua. A long exposure shot, so things are a little blurry, but I like the sky behind us!

Linking with Skywatch Friday. Click the link to check out great skies from around the world!