2006 - Winter

New Year's resolution: I'm starting a photographic journal. Will I be able to take at least one picture every day? My life in pictures? Hmmmm

March 1 - Male house finch
20060301bird
March 2 - Sleeping dove - I caught him with his eyes closed. He was sleeping in the sun.
20060302 bird
March 3 - Red in black & white
animal dog
March 4 - Brown Towhee - I havn't seen this bird before. He's more orange all over than the other birds I have seen, and has very light eyes. There's a red spot on the top of his right eye.
20060304 bird
March 5 - A yucca in black & white. I pumped up the blue channel to throw the background completely to white in order to accent the pattern of the leaves. As you can see, I'm playing with black and white processing a bit.
nature plant yucca
March 9 - Paw print in the mud
nature mud abstract
March 10 - These are nactarine blossoms. They are looking a bit spent after the rain. But it will be interesting to see if they bear fruit after this weekend cold spell.
flower
March 11 - This is a yellow and red rose. I converted the image to black and white and liked the way the red petal tips came out shaded. It throws some odd shadows into the black and white image.
buy prints rose flower black white flowers
March 14 - This little sparrow has lost his left foot. He also has some feathers that stick up on his back. It looks like he has had some tough times but, he seems to be getting along just fine.
20060314 bird
March 15 - Here's another of my yellow and red roses. I captured this image in my garden. The sparkeling leaves in the background made numerous white spots that seemed distracting. So, I added a radial blur layer. Now the background seems to emphasize instead of detract. I love to take pictures of flowers, but it's always a challenge to make the images interesting. In this case a fairly centered composition seems right. I shot this vertical and it's full frame.
20060315 flower rose
March 16 - A grasshopper in my garden.
20060316 insect
March 17 - Peach blossoms with a water color effect.
20060317 flower
March 18 - Rained off an on all day. Stopped just in time for the sunset. Then the rain came back about two hours later.
20060318 sky sunset
March 18 redo - I tweaked the colors in LAB on this for Rutt. I hope you think this is an improvement. Please feel free to send me an email with any ideas. Thanks for the help.
20060318 sky sunset
March 19 - Another stormy day; some rain, some hail, some wind, and finally a beautiful sunset.
20060319 sky sunset
March 20 - Heading home from our walk
20060320 dog
March 21 - A yucca from my hike today
20060321landscape yucca
March 22 - A pretty sunset tonight with the lights just coming on in the valley
20060322 sky sunset
March 23 - The view from San Diego's East County to Tijuana
20060323 vista view
March 25, 6:15am - Sunrise and fog in the valley
20060325 vista view
March 26, 6:12pm When I thought the sunset was over, I looked up and saw these streaks across the sky. Nature gives us a new show every night. Sometimes I forget to appreciate it.
sky sunset
March 28 - Spring Polka dots and my first strawberry of the season.
20060328 still life strawberry
March 28 - Spring polka dots and my first strawberry of the season. I cleaned up a blue color cast on this. It is now truly black and white.
still life strawberry
March 29 - Jayne Appel, my niece, received the Most Valuable Player award in the McDonald's All American High School Basketball Game. She is among the top 5 players in the nation. It was an exciting event for our family. It was the first time that I attempted sports photos. I got a few good shots and lots of blurred ones too. I used AI Servo focus, ISO 800, and my 55-200 lens. Wish I had the 2.8L IS. But, I did ok. More pics in my family gallery.
20060329 mcdonalds all american jayne appel sports basketball
All American Girls with happy faces after their win. Jayne is in the center with the pony tail.
More photos in "People & Events"
20060329 mcdonalds all american jayne appel sports basketball
Ronald McDonald, Team Mascot
sports basketball mcdonalds all american jayne appel
March 30 - A very colorful sunset tonight
20060330 sunset sky
February 10, 2006 Lemons on the tree in the afternoon sun. I took this for the challenge titled, "Colour Deux". There are two prominent colors.
20060210 February fruit
February 12, 2006 - Wow, what a big lens you have! I'll duck behind these branches for cover. Dove
20060212 february dove bird
February 13, 2006 - Aaaah, nice view from up here. Finch
20060213 february finch bird
February 14, 2006 - I'm pretty young yet, but I can hang on here on a breezy day. Finch
20060214 february finch bird
February 15, 2006 - Oh boy, it's cold and windy today. But it feels good out here in the sun.
20060215 february finch bird
February 16, 2006 Mourning Dove warming up in the morning sun.
20060216 february dove bird
February 17, 2006 - Hey, I see you over there with that great big lens. What's up?
20060217 roxy pet dog
February 18, 2006 - Mourning Dove
20060218 february bird
February 19, 2006 - Scrub Jay
20060219 february bird
Fegruary 20 - The View - Aaaah, who needs the crowds around the feeder?
20060220 bird
February 24 - Spotted Towhee - This is the only image I shot today. I snapped quick and then he flew away. I had to go out and could not take my camera with me. So that was it for the day. This is a heavy crop because I didn't even take the time to zoom out my lens. It came out well because the ISO was at 400 and I used shutter priority at a shutter speed of 1/1600. The image was sharp and had no grain. Aaaah, at last.
20060224 bird
February 26 - Sponge - I enjoy textures.
20060226 macro abstract
February 28, 2006 - California Towhee on a rainy day. Poor little fellow is fluffing his feathers to try to dry off. But he has been heading to the feeder in spite of the rain.
20060228 bird
January 22, 2006 - One of the smaller lakes at Floyd Lamb State Park, Las Vegas, Nevada
floyd lamb state park las vegas lake park
January 21, 2006 - Visiting Spring Mountain Ranch State Park in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's late afternoon and the sun has gone behind the cliffs. I can picture the grass green in the Spring.
20060121 1167 corral fence january
January 16 - My dog, Red - I like the way this came out with the lens at 40mm and the aperture at f/5.0 for shallow depth of field. I cropped it to a square to show off that nose.
pet dog january
January 15, 2006 - Chinese Bellflower - I took so many shots of this flower on several days. This is my favorite. I worked on different settings for just the right depth of field.
flowers january flower
January 14, 2006 - Roxy - I was running out of time and needed a shot for today. A sleeping dog seemed like a good model.
pet dog january
January 12, 2006 - Lavender blooms in the warm January sun. We are lucky to have a few flowers in bloom here in Southern California.
20060112 january flower
January 11 - I can count on the "Nandina" or "Heavenly Bamboo" to provide a constant show. The new leaves are red, they have pretty blossoms, and bright red berries in winter.
20060111 flower
January 10 - These early blooming bulbs are a bright spot in the garden in January.
20060110 flower

Susan Appel Photography

2006 - Winter