Barn Charm

Since joining a photo exchange group called

Barn Charm

I've been, well...charmed by barns!

With lots of pretty summer weather,

I spent several afternoons this week scouting

out the many centennial barns in my

area of Michigan.

As much as I enjoy photographing barns...

One Barn Charm photographer talked

about getting yelled at by a farmer

who didn't want the Barn Charmer to take pictures

of his barn.

I admit to a few scoldings for

taking photos on private property...

AND...for pulling over to the side

of the road and blocking other drivers.

Bad me!!

But, as a former news reporter...

we worked by the motto:

It's always easier to get forgiveness than permission.

So, I do take chances, but always cringe

when I infringe on others' property.

Last night, I left early for Photo Club,

so I could take barn photos in the rural

area of Frankenmuth, Michigan.

I saw this nice barn and was going to

photograph it from the road, but a woman

was right behind me.

I pulled into the driveway and

CRINGE!!!!!....

it was HER driveway.

So, I had to back out and let her in.

She looked friendly, so I rolled down

the window and asked if I could

photograph her barn.

"Sure," she said. "You can take it from

any angle you like!"

Her name is Suzie and she was SO friendly!

I walked around...FINALLY able to get

more varied shots closer up than the road.

I meandered around back and this kitty

scampered towards me.

I immediately crouched down...

And held the camera in front of her face...

CLICK!

Didn't even look through the viewfinder.

I was delighted when kitty was in focus.

This is my favorite photo!

Suzie's husband Jim came outside and

asked if I wanted to go up in his cherry picker

to get some aerial views.

"What???" I wondered.

Turns out Jim is an industrial painter and has

 a cherry picker that can lift him

up 30-feet in the air.

The next thing I knew...I was zooming up

then zooming in on neighboring barns!

Holy heck!

I was taller than Jim and Suzie's barn.

See their weathervane?

As I clicked away, I had to pinch myself.

This was one of those ENCHANTING moments

that happen in life.

Such a special treat from two very

kind and special people.

Once back on land level...I waved goodbye

to Suzie and Jim

and headed to Photo Club,

shooting a few more barns from the road....

Yet feeling that I had experienced a little

MAGIC...

I'm about to experience even more magic as Hubby

and I leave for a vacation in British Columbia

on Sunday.  I'll be gone for a week, but hope

to have lots of amazing photos from

picture-perfect Canada. 

Maybe I'll see a BARN.

Enjoy the week!

Barns at Sunset

Last fall, I indulged my fascination with

barns by rolling out of the hay

early in the morning to

photograph them at

SUNRISE.

Well....I found a wonderful website

devoted to all kinds of creative photography...

especially BARNS!

Barn Charm

I was inspired by blogger

Tricia Hays' beautiful photos

of Missouri barns,

and have been watching

for a pretty sunset to photograph

Michigan barns against a lovely sky.

Last night was the night!

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The tricky part about photographing

barns against a darkening sky is

EXPOSURE.

If I shoot to show the colorful sky,

the barn becomes a silhouette

like this:

Yet, if I change the exposure

to show the barn, the

beautiful sky is washed out

like this:

Last night, I wanted to experiment

and practice with Exposure Merge in

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.

I set my camera on my tripod and

shot the same scene in a variety of

exposures like these:

I included all five photos

from light to dark

and this is what it looked like

after MERGING them together:

WOWEEE!

It was like MAGIC!!!!

I was up past midnight

playing with this AMAZING

feature.

To do this in Photshop Elements 8,

load your series of photos,

then click on File.  Click on New and

see the button for

Photomerge Exposure.

The software does all the work...

You will LOVE experimenting with this

feature in many tricky light situations!

I drove by this barn, and the yellow sunlight

blazing through the open door caught my eye.

I screeched to a halt, backed my car up

and captured this photo.

I used the exposure photomerge to

bring it all together.

I can't wait to try this

technique in other situations.

YOU can work MAGIC, too!

Flower Girls

It was back to the wildflowers with my camera

last Sunday where I enlisted

BEST FRIENDS

Sarah and Susie to pose for me.

I wanted to try photographing

older gals in the beautiful flowers that

line our walking path.

Sarah and Susie LOVE taking LOTS of pictures,

so they

JUMPED at the chance to model...

Even though it was 92-degrees

and HUMID!

I usually shoot portraits on cloudy days

to avoid the harsh shadows.

 DARN...the sun kept popping out

but looked pretty on Sarah's

hair in this photo:

Susie's blue eyes were dreamy...

And you can't even tell...

The girls were sweating...

and swearing over the prickly plants.

I kept telling them, they could

suffer for beauty...hee hee!

They were certainly

BEAUTIFUL...

BEST FRIENDS...

frolicking through the flowers.

So happy to walk life's path

TOGETHER.

The pictures turned out so nice,

I was thrilled when my daughter Lindsay

came home this week from her college town.

I MADE her be my model.

"Wear this pretty off-the-shoulder purple top," I said.

"Mom, that has a big pesto stain on it," she protested.

It was bright sunshine....UGH!

So for the first time, I used a large reflector

which is essentially like bouncing

the molten sun off a mirror into your eyes.

"STOP burning my eyes with that dang thing!" she complained.

"Try that torture through a noon live shot on television," I said.

I remember wanting to stop my live report and yell at

the photographer,

"GET THAT DAMN REFLECTOR OUT OF MY EYES!!!!"

But it does create beautiful light:

I would have had more pretty pictures of

Lindsay, but in half of them the purple top

had a hangup over her right breastly

that her photographer mom did

not notice:

But it did hide the pesto stain.

After taking these lovely photos,

imagine my horror when I walked the

path and a man manning a monster mower

was CHOPPING DOWN ALL

the wildflowers!!!!!!!

Evidently, the township thought they were

WEEDS.

I'm SOOOOOOOOO sad!

But glad I captured my sweet daughter...

Just in time!