Snow day

Cameras - digital cameras, especially - like to underexpose snow (more on this in a later post) so this originally came out dark. Cameras also have a hard time photographing true white - even when your settings are properly set - so this came out pretty blue too. I tweaked this picture so it was lighter and truer to its actual light settings. Then fiddled with the tone so it was less blue. I actually was able to get it really close to true-white, but the values for the trees, branches and so on were a little off. After some reflection, I decided I liked it somewhere in middle - a bit blue, but not smurf blue. It feels very wintry and stark, but somehow at the same time, it makes me feel like a kid. I want to jump into that scene and make snow angels.

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Practice pictures

One of my goals is to practice taking picture with my new camera, a spiffy pentax dslr. And eventually, to sell my pictures. Yesterday, I went into DC to the usual sightseeing spots, the capitol, monuments, etc, and walked around shooting the sights. It was so bright out that most of my pictures were overexposed (note to self -- read up on how to avoid that). However, I did get a few shots that were pretty stunning, if I might say so, despite the overexposure.

And I got some pleasure out of telling my friends I was "out shooting" and eliciting responses like, "Huh? Are you serious?" It probably didn't help that I kept stringing them along with comments like, "The cops don't seem to care that I'm shooting at the crowds."

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