Owner: Photography by KML URL:http://photographybykml.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:19:19 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Photography by KML features the fine art and stock images of photographer, K. Libby. KML specializes in Landscape and Nature photos. The stock photos include concepts, food, backgrounds, abstracts, sports, architecture, transportation, and people. Site statistics:Click here
Purple Lilacs 2007-08-07 08:19:00 This past spring was an exceptionally wet season, and it enabled the purple lilacs to bloom profusely.We had so much rain while they were in bloom I was worried that I might not be able to get any pictures before they faded away.It all worked out in the end, and thanks to photoshop, a couple of the browning edges were able to be fixed as good as new. Ahh - the power of technology! Read more:Purple
Summer Storms 2007-08-04 08:34:00 After several days of hot, humid weather in our region, some summer thunderstorms moved through yesterday.The light was amazing after the storm passed over. It cast a warm glow over us and reflected off the dark clouds that had already passed over. The conditions for this kind of light only come around a couple times a year, and it is always a beautiful sight. Read more:Storms
, Summer
Dragon Fly 2007-08-01 07:53:00 The dragon flies have returned in droves this summer. It is good to see them buzzing around and gently landing on the tall grasses and flowers.While swimming last night at the lake, they were flying over our heads above the smooth as glass lake water. Once in a while they would land on us and the smaller ones would even land on top of the water - which was not too good for a couple of them.Approximately 3 feet away from me, a small one was on the water, and a fish came up and made him his dinner. It was such a beautiful sight to see that fish come out of the smooth water that close to me - barely a ripple as he turned back under and swam away.I felt really bad for the little dragonfly, but the gift that I had just been given was spectacular. It did make me a bit nervous though to know that something that big was in the water next to me, and I had no clue.Even if I had a waterproof camera to take in the water with me, that action was so fast and unexpected, I could never had capture Read more:Dragon
Fiddlehead Ferns 2007-07-29 12:01:00 Fiddlehead ferns are a delicacy that only comes around once a year. In the mid spring they emerge in locations that provide the correct environment for them - they are very hard to find.They grow wild in the northeast US and Canada and finding their habitats is a challenge. As more people build in their growing areas, they are getting to be a rare find.Once finding them, it is imperative to select just a couple from each set, as they need to grow in order to come back the next year.The price for these edible ferns is very high which makes a greedy person pick all instead of just a few. This is also leading to their rarity, as less come back each year.Finding these rare treats and sharing in Mother Nature's once a year gift is something that will be remembered by my family as a special time. Read more:Ferns
Ocean Trip 2007-07-27 09:33:00 We took a day trip to the ocean earlier this week. The weather was overcast and foggy when we headed out in the early morning. The drive takes over an hour, and it was even foggier when we arrived at the seacoast.It started to clear up nicely right after lunch which worked out perfectly. The boys were able to pick up some bait for fishing and we settled down in Rye Harbor for a couple of hours.It was low tide and the boys walked out on the breaker wall to fish for Shiners. I spent time on land with my camera. Surprisingly, the park and shore was pretty deserted for such a beautiful day, so I was able to shoot in any direction without disturbing anyone or waiting for them to move along.I am in the process of finishing up the processing of some earlier photos taken this month, so there will be more images posted of this beautiful day as I get to them.We all enjoyed this trip and came home with pictures, sunburns, and no fish - many nibbles though - they greedily chomped down the bai Read more:Ocean
Blog Resources 2007-07-22 10:14:00 This past week I created a Blog Resources
section to the blog site. I am hoping to gain more exposure for my blog and website by interacting in a blog community.There are links to several blog communities, and I hope to add a few more this coming week. A couple of them are photoblog communities and it is interesting to view some of the other members and their images.I had not given much thought to promoting my blog before doing this, I had only thought about promoting my website. I can see where promoting both with benefit all the way around and will be working with that thought in mind in the future.
Wild Violets 2007-07-18 07:24:00 These little Violets have spread wildly over my backyard. They are a very tiny, delicate wildflower that is the most beautiful shade of purple.About six years ago, my daughter and I were finishing a weekend of a Girl Scout camping trip. We had admired these little wildflowers during our time at the campground, and as we were leaving she inquired if we could take a small patch to transplant in our garden at home.Since there were so many of them all around, we carefully removed a patch and brought it home. She immediately planted it in a raised flower bed in the backyard.These little violets have spread all through the garden and into the grass beyond. The greens and purples are just beautiful and the lawn mowing had to be delayed until their season had past.When my daughter gets her own home in a few years from now, I am sure the first plant in her garden will be some of these sweet little beauties that we transplanted here years ago. After all - there are plenty to share!
Cabin at the Lake 2007-07-11 13:04:00 We spent some time this spring at a small recreation area that is formally a boy scout camp that dates back to the late 1800's. It is now owned by the town and open for all to enjoy.It is situated by a small pond that is just right for the kids to fish in or launch a canoe. There are several log cabins on the site and pictured above is the porch to one of them.The architecture is unique and very rustic and the whole camp is well maintained. The main lodge for the campground burnt down many years ago and left the beautiful center fire place to stand as a sentinel in the field.The stone work in this massive structure is beautiful and meticulously placed. It is double sided and a fire can burn in a hearth on each side. A horseshoe for good luck adorns the cement on one side above the hearth. The other side has a diamond shaped stone in the center of the chimney.Hopefully I can get back to this area in the late summer or early fall. It should be just right about then for a solitude Read more:Cabin
Flash Gun 2007-07-09 12:57:00 I have spent the last few weeks looking online for the correct flash gun for my Sony A100.I am not a big fan of flash photography, but there are times when indoor shots need the light so it is a necessity. The camera comes with a very small built in flash that you pop up to use, but it is pretty much useless - the lens always gets in the way for any kind of even lighting.Sony carries their own models for the A100. They are pretty much rebadged models of the Minolta Digital flashes. The new Sonys are quite pricey. The used Minolta models are also quite pricey - if you can even find them. They seem to be at a premium these days.There are a couple of non-digital older Minolta flash guns made in the 1990's. From what I have been reading, they can be fiddled with to work somewhat with the new DSLRS. Many of the functions will not work, and you need to calculate everything manually to get the best results.There are several third party brands available, but Sony/Minolta doesn't take Read more:Flash
Earth Shots 2007-07-01 10:36:00 Each morning I like to visit a site that displays a new picture each day of inspiring Earth
images. The site is Earth Shots, and it is a daily contest site.Anyone can submit a photo that depicts the beauty of this planet, and it stays active in the contest pool for a month. Each day a new image is selected, and visitors can leave comments regarding it.I have enjoyed viewing some of the spectacular photos on this site. Our planet is such a beautiful home!
Sports Photos 2007-06-29 08:54:00 Sports
photography is not something that I have had a lot of experience with. I am used to shooting still and macro subjects therefore action and moving subjects has created a new challenge for me.I have a 70-200 Sigma zoom lens for my Sony A100. Shooting a sports event was the first time I have really used this lens, and I must say that I am not impressed with it. It produces soft images even with a still subject.I changed over to my trusty Tamron 90mm lens, and I was able to get some decent sports photos with it - although I would have liked to be able to get closer to the action as with the zoom lens.By the time the next sports season rolls around, I would like to have purchased a Minolta 70-210 f4 zoom lens. From all the reviews I have read, this old-timer has great glass for sharp images - one of the higher quality lens next to investing thousands of dollars in the APO or Zeiss glass.Looking forward to the next spring Lacrosse season to capture some better images. Perhaps
Daily Comic 2007-06-27 06:44:00 In a forum a couple of weeks ago, I came upon a link to daily online comic - photography related of course.The authors write a strip each day, and they are then posted for the online community to come up with a title for that day's strip. The author then picks the most appropriate one that fits the punch line. It is interesting to read what some viewers come up with for titles.The strip is titled, What the Duck, and most photographers can relate to its daily humor. They have a feed enabled which makes it easy to view each day. Read more:Comic
, Daily
Time Out 2007-06-25 20:40:00 It has been all work these last few months, and now that the summer has arrived, it is time to unwind and enjoy the days that will go by much too quickly.A day trip here and there thrown in with some quiet moments walking in the woods should yield some new experiences and images to capture.Hopefully we can avoid the crowds and traffic on the day trips and go at our own pace. Looking forward to some relaxing time - it is much needed!
Networking 2007-06-20 08:00:00 Networking on the internet is another recommended way to get more exposure for your website. I have been treading along the edges of networking since I started my website two months ago.In effect it puts links to your website on other websites, forums, and blogs. It requires you to be more social, which has never been one of my strong points. In the photography world, part of it requires giving advice and critiquing other artist's work.I enjoy viewing other's work and leaving comments on some of their beautiful images. The advice part, well that is something I try not to give too much of unless I am absolutely sure of the subject. I would hate to give someone incorrect informationOnce again it is a time consuming process and one that must be done on a regular basis. I pick up a lot of helpful information and tips along the way so it is worth the time spent for that reason also.
More SEO Work 2007-06-18 19:48:00 These last few days have been spent on more SEO
work for my Photography by KML website.I have been learning the code to use for the header that directs the search engines to the title of the website. I have also added an alt description to the banner image.I have written a short description for the site. I read that it was recommended to use under 250 characters as the search engines prefer descriptions of that length.I have also been registering on various photography forums and putting my website link in the signature of my posts.Once again a time consuming but necessary part of establishing a website on the internet.
Directories 2007-06-13 07:34:00 I have been reading about directories and how to submit your website to them. Submitting to directories is used to increase the links you have coming into your website.There are several different ways of submitting to directories. The first is paid inclusion - you pay to have your website listed with a certain directory. They will list your site usually within a couple of days and the link will stay in their directory for a certain amount of time.Another way to submit to directories is by using a link exchange inclusion - they will list you in their directory once they see a link to their directory site posted on your website. It can take a couple of weeks to get your site listed with them, and when they check in the future and see that you have removed their link from your website, they will also remove yours from theirs.The last way is to have your link listed for free in a directory. They encourage an exchanged link, but it is not required. It can take months for them to add y Read more:Directories
Keywords 2007-06-11 07:03:00 Keywording images is a time consuming part of the image processing. I use Pixvue to add the keywords to my photos.After processing the images in photoshop, I usually log into one of the microstock agencies that I belong to, and I do a search for the subject in my images.I get some good ideas for adding to the keywords that I have already come up with. It does take time to organize these lists, but once I have a list it makes it easier the next time I shoot the same subject.I have always keyworded my images and that info goes along with the file when it is uploaded to my website. I have found that I also need to keyword the galleries that I have created. All of this keywording is necessary for the search engines to find my images - the search engines on each website and the search engines that crawl the web.I like to have at least a dozen keywords per image, and I try to keep it keywords as opposed to key phrases. I have found that many sites separate each word with a comma when t Read more:Keywords
Pollen 2007-06-06 10:49:00 This is the first morning in almost a week that we have had no rain. It was a joy to see the sun.The yellow Day Lilies and purple Columbines had been beaconing me to take their photos and I was afraid they would pass before the rain stopped.I made it outside this morning and spent about 15 minutes with them before the clouds began rolling in again. The air was crisp and the wind was blowing through to dry everything up from the rain.I was putting my lens cover back on when I noticed it had picked up a lot of dust and I tried to blow it off before placing it on the lens. That's when I discovered that every inch of my camera was covered with a fine layer of pollen.I was not impressed as it was even in the lens barrel that moved in and out as I focussed the camera. Trying to brush it off only made it more "static", and it was clinging in clumps now and not coming off.Using a dampened lens wipe removed most of it but I cannot help but think of all those little pollens that are still cl
Still Life Composition for Stock 2007-06-02 15:52:00 Arranging still lifes or single objects for photographing is an important part of stock photography.Placing the objects on a pure white background, or sometimes a black background, gives the object an isolated appearance which is very desirable with the designers who purchase the images.It is not an easy thing to keep the background pure white. I have found that overexposing the image a bit seems to help with the "gray" that tends to seep into these isolated backgrounds.Also in post processing, it is easy to remove some of the flaws in the background. This takes time and experience to master.The lighting needs to be just right also, or shadows will be cast by the objects. The designers do not want these shadows, so moving the lights around will help eliminate them for the most part.The lights can create glare or overblown highlights on some objects, so you need to be careful where the lights are placed to avoid this problem also.It is all a big experiment to get all the technical a Read more:Composition
, Stock
New Tool 2007-05-30 08:56:00 Today I added a new tool to my Firefox browser that allows me to toggle around my SM pages with ease.It also has a great bookmark manager that I have organized all my SM and Degrin links in for quick reference.This is a great little add-on that should be promoted more by SM - and perhaps it will once more users discover the Firefox browser. It can be found here: SmugManager with complete instructions for installing and setting it up. Read more:New Tool
Organizing Categories 2007-05-30 08:28:00 The last week has been spent focusing on the Stock Images category in my photo galleries.I have been trying to keep the layout simple without too many subcategories within the categories themselves. Building the pages and galleries and then linking them together has been a learning experience. There is really a lot of customization available within the smugmug pages - it is just finding it and figuring it all out that takes up loads of time.Uploading the images is also very time consuming as it ties up the computer and slows down the DSL connection for the other computers in my network. I try to fit in the uploading around the busy times.This week I will continue to condense and restructure my galleries as much of my work is stock related. All of my galleries will allow stock purchasing and downloading, but I think for now I will keep my Landscapes and Nature galleries separate as they are more appealing as prints also. Read more:Categories
Dirty Sensor 2007-05-23 13:03:00 I knew it was going to happen. I was going to get some dust on the sensor of my DSLR, and I was going to have to deal with it.A black smudge/dot first appeared on one of my images shot with a white background, and since I was outside taking photos, I figured I had captured a bug flying by.The playback images are small, and depending on the focus, the dot sometimes didn't show at all - especially on images with a multi-colored background.After spying the dot while processing the images on the PC, a pattern began to develop. My lens was clean - but it didn't show through the lens to begin with.My camera manual had instructions for locking up the mirror and then removing the lens in order to get to the sensor. I was nervous - damaging the sensor makes the camera useless.After removing the lens, the sensor is right there - and so was that spot I was seeing on my images. Since I only have a blower at this time, I held the camera with the face pointing down, and I used the blower to se Read more:Sensor
Stock Images on Website 2007-05-19 11:19:00 My webhost, Smugmug, will soon be offering us the ability to sell digital downloads as stock.This is good news since I have already been selling stock images through various other agencies, and already have a portfolio established.They will be working on the all the details over the next few months and have asked for advice and suggestions from the community. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.There are many fine photographers in this community as well as members who use this site for sharing their snapshots. Smugmug is getting into the game a bit late, but I think with the correct direction of the quality images and a professional entrance, they can make it work.I will be uploading my stock images into a separate gallery over the next couple of months. They still do not have the organization established yet, but at least I will have some photos available when they do. Read more:Images
, Stock
Tutorials 2007-05-10 08:23:00 I have discovered some great photography tutorials in the Dgrin forum site. This link will bring you to a page that has many how-to tips for general photography, photoshop tricks, and some simple web building tools and techniques that can be used on Smugmug or your own website.This collection of helpful tips has been developed by users of Smugmug and the Dgrin community, so it is added to as new tutorials are written and posted. It is a great collection and certainly worth bookmarking and reading through from time to time. Read more:Tutorials
Evening Catnap 2007-08-10 13:41:00 For the last couple of years, we have had a feral cat that has adopted us as his family. We have appropriately named him "Rusty".He tends to be skittish especially around people he doesn't know, but every morning he is at the front door looking for his breakfast. We don't know where he came from, but we used to see him around several years ago when our cats were still alive. Lately we have been seeing a small fluffy gray haired cat hanging around. I think it realizes that Rusty is getting older and it is getting bolder.If it ever warms up to us as Rusty has I should be able to catch it napping also.
Bracketing Exposures 2007-08-12 11:34:00 I have been experimenting on many of my images these days. I have been bracketing my exposures just so I can study the differences in the lighting.I have been finding that when using a wider angle or shooting landscape photography, I need to keep the exposure right on because if I push the exposure compensation up, then the image is too washed out. Pushing it up on a macro or closer image seems to work really well. The image is not as dark, and more of the details are visible. I believe it also cuts down on the noise that is produced when there are a lot of darker tones. I have noticed though, that the background tends to be over exposed on these images. I have also been paying attention to the histogram of the image and how it changes on these bracketed exposures. Sometimes it is really tough to keep those hills and valleys from going to extremes or shifting too far to one side. It is a good feeling when an image is captured right on - technically as well as composition wise.
Polarizing Filter 2007-08-11 11:53:00 The filter I use the most on my camera is a polarizing filter. I keep it on just about all the time when I am taking outdoor and landscape photos.There are two basic kinds of polarizing filters. There are linear and circular varieties, and the choice between them depends on the kind of lens you are going to put it on.The older, non-auto focusing, lens will use the linear polarizer. The circular polarizer was developed for the auto focusing lens. Using the linear on the auto focus lens will yield very undesirable results with the exposure.I have recently discovered a new type of polarizer that is called Moose's Filter
. It is a circular polarizer combined with a 81A warming filter which yields beautiful results.A polarizer traditionally casts a bluish hue over the entire scene. This is very desirable for skies and water and landscapes, but the warming filter corrects the color temperature, adding a pleasing, warm color balance to the scene.The greens and reds seem to "pop" with t
Tripods 2007-08-16 09:07:00 To shoot images that are sharp and clear, especially at lower shutter speeds, a tripod is a necessity.Many things can lead to blurred images. It could be a focusing problem, an incorrect depth of field, a moving subject, or a moving camera. The solution to the camera moving is to use a tripod.Many DSLR cameras are heavy and adding any kind of telephoto or zoom lens to the camera body will only increase the weight. Using a tripod will ensure that camera shake or movement will not be an issue in your images.There are many different kinds, sizes, and styles of tripods and tripod heads. I use a small sturdy tabletop model for much of my indoor macro shots in the light tent. I have a full-size model that I use outdoors and for larger subjects.My favorite "pod" to carry with me is a lightweight monopod. When hiking and traveling it is perfect.
ABC Wednesday 2007-08-15 06:31:00 D is for Dinghy...... A Dinghy or rowboat sits on the rocky shore.After a busy morning at sea, the wooden dinghy is put ashore to await the next day.We found this sturdy vessel on a walk through a small boat yard that was in a small cove along the NH coast. Read more:Wednesday
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