I’m trying my hand at sepia again. I’ve taken a poor photo with lack of color and contrast with inadequate light. I think the photo is drastically improved. I welcome your opinions.
Sepia Tint
Original
Photo taken at Harmony State Park, Indiana
Monthly Archives: May 2013
Tweaking old photos in black & white
Yesterday I tweaking an old photo in sepia with nice results, today I offer a similar photo taken in black and white. It almost looks new.
Black and White Tweaking
Original
Photo taken August 1990 at Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth Mass
Tweaking old photos in sepia
One of my favorite travel/photo bloggers Michael Lai of retireediary has offered some beautiful examples of sepia transforming a photograph into a piece of art including his work on a photo of Dolmabache Palace in Istanbul. His sepia looks like an 18th century etching. I’ve never been successful with sepia so I asked how he got such beautiful results and he was kind enough to tell me. So here is my first attempt.
Sepia tint
Original
Photo taken August 1990 at Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth Mass
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – The Season of Spring
Nothing makes me think of spring more than wildflowers.
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A Word A Week Challenge – Mountain
A dynamo volcano, Mount St. Helens, Washington
Mount Shasta, California
Mount Rainier, Washington
Mount Lassen, California
Mount Moran, Wyoming
Grand Teton, Wyoming
Mystery Mountain, Sierra Nevada Range, California
Mount Whitney, California
Mount Shastina, California
Cookie & Cream Mountain, Sierra Nevada Range, California (Don’t know the real name but that’s what my daughter and I named it)
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Spotlight on Florida: Harry P Leu Gardens, A Mother’s Day Tradition
Downtown Orlando may conjure up images of tall buildings, business, crazy traffic but you will also find one of the most beautiful parks in Florida. The 50-acre park is a mosaic of stunning landscapes and gardens. Among the most popular the Tropical Stream Garden, Idea Gardens, Vegetable and Herb Gardens, Butterfly Gardens and the Rose Garden with its gorgeous water fountains. The gardens and historical home were donated by Harry and Mary Jane Leu to the city of Orlando in 1961.
In addition to the serenity of the wooded trails and colorful blooms the Gardens offers classes in understanding plants, is a popular venue for weddings and parties and many enjoy “Date Night” during summer months. Bring your picnic basket, lawn chairs and enjoy an evening under the stars watching a movie on the lawns. And every year mother’s get free admission, definitely a bonus for me.
Tropical Stream Garden
There’s my little guy enjoying the view
Butterfly Garden
Rose Garden
The Gardens is located on beautiful Lake Rowena just a few minutes from downtown Orlando. The Gardens is open daily as well as the Leu House Museum.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Pattern
Travel Theme: Beaches
Ah, beaches, one our most beloved vacation spots and most popular places to live. But when we think of beaches, ok when I think of beaches I think of white sandy beaches, ocean breezes and flowing waves. So I’ve decided to explore some a-typical beaches. Not all have sandy beaches or beautiful waves and only one has ocean breezes.
This is one of my favorite spots along the Keeweenaw Penisula on Lake Superior, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Apostle Island National Lakeshore, Lake Superior, Wisconsin 
Cave Run Lake Beach, Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky
While this is a beach I wouldn’t want to swim here, although some people do. The smell is atrocious. Beach at the Great Salt Lake, Utah
When is a beach not a beach? There’s sand and surf but this beach is man-made. Aquatic’s wave pool, Orlando, Florida
Sodus Beach, Lake Ontario, New York
Holland Beach, Lake Michigan, Michigan
Point Huron Beach, Lake Huron, Michigan
Presque Isle Beach, Lake Erie, Pennsylania
Is this a beach? Is this a road? Is this a parking lot? YUP. Daytona beach, Florida, where anything goes (at least before Sandy)…The only entry located on the ocean.
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Spotlight on Florida: Blind Pass Park
As a follow up to my last Spotlight on Florida, Blind Pass Beach, I’m continuing with Blind Pass Park. The park is across the street from the beach located on Lemon Bay. The park has a nice playground, a shelter with picnic tables and barbeque grills. The park has launches for canoes and docks for fishing. And don’t forget the wildlife: birds, fish, dolphins, manatees, and turtles.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Signs
Signs on house to the left are from FEMA and the New Orleans Fire Department indicating the dangerous conditions of this house. This photo was taken in January 2010, more than 4 years after Hurricane Katrina. The house to the right has been repaired but as you can see not everything is 100% back to normal.
Where does that sign belong, which way am I to turn?? This photo was taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley (2004). Many sign as well as landmarks were gone or destroyed. I remember many people contacting the radio station trying to find their home because with no geographic references many people, especially those new to the Port Charlotte area, couldn’t find their homes. 
When I first saw this scene I had to laugh. The sign says “No boat trailer parking”. Doesn’t say you can’t park your boat there, right? But perhaps Hurricane Bob (1991) can’t read. What the photo doesn’t show are the hundreds of boats destroyed along the shore of Lewis Bay, Cape Cod.
On a lighter note…my girls at the Twins Festival, Twinsburg Ohio. Going to SeaWorld was the highlight of the trip. As life moves on, things may change, my girls are grown and we don’t attend the festival anymore but even sadder is that SeaWorld has closed.
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