My Amateur Art & Photo Blog

It may be Spring in the Boston area now but try telling that to the trees that line out streets. While out for a walk earlier today I thought this frost bitten tree exemplified the cold spring air and would benefit from being a B&W shot. Black & White - Frost Bitten Tree Taken handheld with my the Pentax K200d and  a  Sigma 70mm F/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens  attached with no flash. Taken on 'Landscape' mode with on body stabilization turned on. Converted to B&W in post processing.

I chose this scene for my Holiday season blog post because as I stood there taking it it felt like I was in a Christmas card from the olden days. As serene as the scene was I couldn't wait to get back in side to the warmth of the fire. I can almost smell that burning wood now. The Holiday Season - River and Snow Scene in Maine Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite ,  handheld,  contrast increased in p ost processing.

As I write this it's the tail end of summer when I look back at this photo taken in February, I can hardly believe how cold it is when it's so hot and humid here now. I guess in a few short weeks we could all be out there again with our snow shovels. Snow - Boston Common Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite ,  handheld,  no p ost processing.

Winter Freeze Christmas in Maine is even colder than Massachusetts apparently! That probably won't come as much of a shock to most of you, and as evidenced by the frost on this tree it certainly was true this holiday season. Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  handheld, flash did not fire, tone adjusted in post processing.

November Surprise It seems like everyone in the Boston area was caught out by this unpleasant November surprise. I didn't welcome having to shovel the pavement and driveways before heading out to work in the freezing temps this morning. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite  snow color corrected in post processing.

First Snow Well we all knew it was inevitable but the first snow was going to arrive in the Boston area sooner or later and as evident by the coating on these cars in our neighborhood it has arrived. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite  no post processing.

Snow Returns I really thought we were going to make it th rough the rest of the winter here in New England without any more snow, today proved me wrong. This is the same tree from Day 56 only a few days ago, crazy to think of the contrasting weather in only a few days, but hey it is New England after all. Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS tone adjusted in post processing.

Why snow? This weekend's snow storm gave me a chance to experiment with the White Balance settings of my Pentax DSLR, instead of opting to go with the camera's Auto White Balance setting I adjusted to shade for this shot because it was very over cast and the afternoon sun in yard and long since gone behind the neighbors house. The same shot take with AWB was decidely darker, the snow had been exposed as grey rather than pure white. Taken with the Pentax K200d in Av mode, aperture set to f2.8 to highlight the tree in a shallow depth of field and the Sigma 70mm F/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens with Manual Focus, I still had to correct for tone in Photoshop to bring out the details in the tree trunk.

Snow on my car My wife said it best 'not every one's going to be a winner' ;) This photo of the snow on my car I was too lazy to clear off today (because I was rushing for the bus instead!). I wanted to see how well the camera would cope with the bright snow on the very black finish of the car. Taken with the Pentax K200d in Av mode, aperture set to f8 and the Sigma 70mm F/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens with MF setting. Cropped slightly and corrected for tone in Photoshop.