Dilettante Photography: Retrospective

I took over 75 shots of this old Tonka truck that my brother and I use to play with as kids. My grandparents bought it for us back in 1969 when the moved to Florida to retire. I narrowed the 75 photos down to this one to use it in my first Guru challenge "Anything Blue". It ended this morning and I was pretty happy with how it did for a camera phone shot and my first full challenge. Reached the top level (All Star) which needed 800 votes. I ended up with a rank of 969th with 1008 votes. I was surprised at the total number of photographer around the world that entered photos for this one. :) It was fun and a great learning experience that I think I will continue to use to better my skills. Originally shared by Fred Scott Jr. (Boomer) I spent half the day yesterday taking 75 photos of this Tonka Dump Truck that my brother and I use to play with at my grandparents house. It was one of the first toys they bought for us when the moved to Florida to retire. Nevertheless, there is a...

Took this the other day. Oak tree was a lot smaller when I was a kid. Putting in a flower garden near it to try and help with the flooding in that area.

Wasn't out for long today; yet, when I went out to clean up the pole barn my cousin called me over to look at this little flower that sprouted up in the middle of the back yard. Two little buds with one still closed and this one opened up as wide as it could get to grab a little mid-day sunshine. Not the clearest shot; yet, it was really tiny and close to the ground. I didn't think to check out if the camera on the phone could be set up for macro shots. It does have a connection for lenses.

Wanted to share this one with everyone. It's my first panoramic photograph using my camera on the phone. Found the feature yesterday and gave it a go on the front of our house.

Here is one of the rose bushes that I had the pleasure of planting this year. We were so close to loosing it that I wasn't sure if it would pull through. Nevertheless, it gave us this beautiful bloom a few days back. Another shot using my camera phone with the LRM application.

This is a test edit on the flower I posted yesterday. I will probably not use the "oil painting" effect on the final version. I used GIMP and G'MIC to edit this. My final will be with the original image and I will use Photoshop CS4 to do the editing. NOTE: if you use GIMP it does not retain your meta data. You can work around this by using Photoshop. If you wish to use an effect in GIMP then make a copy from Photoshop and apply the effect in GIMP then add the effect copy back into your Photoshop work space. I can't remember off hand; yet, when you merge the two together however your going to apply the effect to the main image, I think you need have the effect copy on top and merge down into the master or main work copy. This will maintain Metadata and allow you to apply effects that you like from GIMP. https://www.viewbug.com/photo/73116775

Since I have moved to Florida I have transferred around 40 plants from my Aunts house to my Mothers house. This is one of them that I did not have to dig a hole for. I'm not sure what kind of flower that it is; yet, it started blooming like crazy last week along with many of the others. Spent some time capturing them to practice a little with this camera phone.

This is a bloom from my grandmother's favorite tree. After the storm yesterday I went out to get some shots of the sky and walked around the yard to find a spot to take the portrait sky shot and saw this bloom on her tree. I'm trying to decided which crop style is best. I like both of them and thought maybe I could get some feedback from the group. Thanks!

This is the last one for the storm clouds from today. I tried a portrait style. We have so may trees in the area it is hard to find a good spot for this type of shot. Once I get settled in down here I am going to find an open area to take advantage of the constant cloud movement that we get. I'm about 70 miles north of the Gulf so it makes for some interesting cloud shots specially the sunrises and sunsets.

Another shot of the storm clouds from today here in the Pan-handle. From a different angle on the property.

Had rain storm move through today here in the Pan-handle area of Florida. Took some shots just after the rain stopped. Not a lot of color; yet, the cloud formation was beautiful.

I little different angle on the sky from the other night. Was going to go through these yesterday; but, got busy around the house. Edited this one with LRM

Out this evening and saw this colorful sunset taking shape and decided to take a few shots with my ZTE smart phone using the Adobe LRM app.

Title: The Art of Motherless Invention I posted the full size photo of this to my 500px account; yet, you can't really see the detail and thought I would share this scaled down copy with you all instead. This image is a wider shot on the rustic wheel that was in the "Motherless Invention" photograph. This one I used a "Dream Smoothing" filter by G'MIC for the GIMP editor.

This one was a tough one to edit.  Had a real flat grey tone took some photo filters and color grading to get the rings to stand out.  Not a great composition; yet, it provided a nice learning experience in editing. https://500px.com/photo/137096853/rings-of-time-by-fred-scott-jr?utm_medium=googleplus&utm_campaign=nativeshare&utm_content=web&utm_source=500px

New photograph of mine I got done editing.  The wheel sits behind my house on the retaining wall.  Makes a nice ornament to enjoy from the back porch.  Used some color grading techniques on this one to bring the wheel out from the grass and the leaves. https://500px.com/photo/137973545/motherless-invention-by-fred-scott-jr?utm_medium=googleplus&utm_campaign=nativeshare&utm_content=web&utm_source=500px

I have been looking into upgrading from my point and shoot camera to a Nikon D550 or the D7200. I was wondering if anyone uses Nikon and the NEF(Raw) file format. What software do you use to work with the NEF format. And, any other thoughts about the cameras in general would be helpful. Thanks folks!

Posted this on up today on 500px.  This was an old image I had from 2014 that I submitted back then.  I edited it again with some of the new techniques I have been reading about. Made the Popular level with a pulse score of 85.5  There was a tilt in the original and this time I took Michael Mossiagin advice and leveled the photograph of and cropped it.  Only lost about 200 pixels from the original image.  This community can be a great help.  Yet, it take both asking for advice and it takes people willing to give advice.  Thanks Michaell https://500px.com/photo/134886549/waiting-on-a-friend-by-fred-scott-jr?utm_medium=googleplus&utm_campaign=nativeshare&utm_content=web&utm_source=500px

The newest addition to my portfolio. Title: Colorado Sky Pulse Score: 79.3 If anyone has a 500px account please let me know be happy to follow you and support your work.  Happy New Year folks! https://500px.com/photo/134286599/colorado-sky-by-fred-scott-jr?utm_medium=googleplus&utm_campaign=nativeshare&utm_content=web&utm_source=500px

Watched an interview this morning titled Portfolio Interview & Photo Tips with Jessica Drossin. Her creative approach with her photography sounded very similar to my own. Just learning where she pulls her tools and resources from became very inspirational. Below is an old photograph that I had edited. I took the original image and tried some of the things I learned from Jessica today. I uploaded the full quality size image onto my 500px account about an hour ago. I already have a score of 81.9. My first edited version of this image only received a 48.2. Hope you all enjoy.