Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego

Gosh, I haven't posted any photos for such a long time but I have been taking photos. I've been indecisive on what to do with this blog. My focus initially was to post photos I've taken and really not much else but I've decided that in order for me to want to post regularly on this blog, I have to add to it a bit more.

I'm still debating on what I'll be adding to this blog. The focus will still be of photos I've taken but maybe elaborate more on the story behind the photos. I'd like to talk about my life living in California. For those who don't know me, I'm originally from Hawaii and moved to California 5 years ago. There's so many things that I need to do and see here California. . .it's such a big state compared to Hawaii. I think if I have a purpose or mission, such as taking photos of my town and other surrounding areas, I'll be more motivated to post on this blog. We'll see how things will progress.

In the mean time, a weeks ago, my daughter and I decided to drive up the coast of San Diego and visit the Old Point Loma Lighthouse located at the Cabrillo National Monument. My purpose of going there was to take photos of the ocean, the park, lighthouse as well as the sunset. Unfortunately, I arrived there too early in the afternoon to be able to wait for the sun to set. We decided to sit at the edge of a small cliff overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful. I did take more photos than what is posted here but I'll post them on another day.

Dream

Happiness

Serenity

Peace

Beauty

Mystery

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Perspective Photo through cropping

Just playing with cropping my photos. I wanted to give the landscape below the illusion that it's a real bridge but I don't think I achieved that effect. The bridge is acutally a little bridge at the top of our backyard waterfall.

Do you see the bridge in the background? That's how little it is by comparison to the waterfall so in realty the bridge measures less than 5 feet in length and 2 feet high. With this photo. . .it actually gives the bridge a smaller appearance. In person it's actually looks larger than in the photo but at the angle I took the photo. . .the bridge looks farther away than it does in person.

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Random Shots at Disneyland 07-04-09

Just a few random shots I took of Disneyland. I've been to Disneyland so many times, I wasn't really motivated in taking too many photos. While waiting around in the long lines, I took photos of a few things around Disneyland. I don't like how my photos look on Blogger. It's much clearer when viewed on my computer via my photo editor. Blogger seem to distort the photos somewhat.

Just a flower I took somewhere in the park

I snuck in this shot of the Haunted House. You're not allowed to take flash photography so the photo didn't turn out too clear. This is the entrance before you enter the ride. It appears you are moving down but actually it's just the ceiling rises up.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Downtown Disney

Disney Adventure Park

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Low Light Night Shot

Can you tell I'm in love with these photos? LOL! There's no editing with these photos and I think they came out better than I expected. We went over to the winery last night to celebrate my husband's birthday. While there, I decided to take photos of the entrance to the restaurant.

I took several shots but the sequence of these photos is showing the same object from a distance and closer shots with each photo. Don't the photos look like paintings? I love them!

Photo Details:

Shutter Speed: 1/15 sec

Exposure Program: AP

Aperture Value: f/4.5

ISO Speed: 1600

Focal Length: 34 mm

Photo Details:

Shutter Speed: 1/13 sec

Exposure Program: AP

Aperture Value: f/4.5

ISO Speed: 1600

Focal Length: 34 mm

Photo Details:

Shutter Speed: 1/20 sec

Exporsure Program: AP

Aperture Value: f/4.0

ISO Speed: 1600

Focal Length: 27 mm

Photo Details:

Shutter speed: 1/10 sec

Aperture Value: f/5.00

ISO Speed: 1600

Focal Length: 39mm

Exposure program: AP

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Past Photos of Scenary Shots

This is a photo I had taken last May of my neighborhood. My husband had just bought me the camera for my Mother's Day Gift and just took a few random photos playing with my camera. I didn't upload the photo to my blog because I didn't think there was anything interesting about my photos. My husband recently told me to just upload photos and tell a little story about the photos that I've taken. It may not be significant to anyone else but it may be to me so I'll start posting photos here. . .just like I do with my cards on my card blog and sort of record my progression with my photography. Who knows. . .I may look back and see all the improvements I've made.



Considering I just got my camera and the photos were taken on auto focus. . .well the photos aren't bad. I think they are actually beautiful. This photo was taken at the winery in Temecula. It was in May so the vines were full of grapes.

Here's another shot of the winery last May. I love this photo and to think I took this photo was taken in full auto focus.

I took this shot last month in February. I was playing with my 70 - 300mm zoom lens that I received as a Christmas gift from my husband and I wanted to take a photo of the snow capped mountains. Temecula don't snow but the mountains in the distance are always covered with snow every winter. Just a great contrast between the green landscapes and the snow capped mountains in the background. This was taken at the winery near wear I live. See the difference between the previous photos. . .the grapes vines are bare but in a few months it'll be filled with grape vines and even grapes.

Just a close up of the grape vines. . .basically, there is none right now. Only the stakes that hold the vines are present. I'll take photos when the stakes are filled with grape vines and grape in a few months

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Just Photos I've Taken in the Last Week

This is a photo of my dog Dakota. He is a crazy nutty dog that will jump up and down for his treats. Because he's really greedy, he'll continue to jump this way just so his brother Phoenix can't get at the treat. I took this photo on auto - action mode. I took the following 2 other photos of Dakota in burst of shots so I could take photos of him jumping for his treat. He's really talented in that sense.

Fly Dakota fly!


This is a photo of Phoenix in auto - action mode. He was running back and forth and again, I took a burst of shots with him running. With this shot he was running - mid air. I love how it turned out!

Just a random shot of my husband and daughter sitting in the backyard playing game boy. LOL! Just their routine stuff they do every afternoon while the dogs play in the yard.

Not exactly the best scenery shot but I took this photo while I was at the top of a hill at a subdivision in my town. I live in Temecula. ..a city of a population of approximately 200,000 combined with a adjacent town called Murrieta. Temecula is primarily a suburban town mixed with ranches. Temecula is north of San Diego, just bordering the county line.

Here's another shot taken of Temecula, again taken at the top of Morgan Hill, a housing subdivision in town. I took the photo with a 70 - 300mm lens at full zoom

Just a photo of my daughter taken right after she got her hair done (hair cut and highlighted). Just a random shot.

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Lens Flare and Changing the Color of Parts of Your Photo Tutorial

Click Here for the Tutorial

I decided to look for a tutorial online and see if I can create something cool from something ordinary. I found a tutorial that provides steps on how to give clouds a vintage look and add a flare lens to the photo. Rather than recreating the tutorial, I decided to just link the tutorial because it's a great tutorial for a newbie like me.

Although my photo is not a picture of a cloud, I decided to see if I can use the tutorial on a photo with running water. The photo is of our waterfall in our backyard that I took a close up photo of. With this tutorial, you can change the color of select areas of your photo as well as add a lens flare (the circular bright light).

I love how it turned out. The modified version reminds me of some sci-fi sort of scene. . .like a different planet. LOL! What do you think? Anyway, try the tutorial out and see what you can come up with!!

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