Top 10 Landscape Photos of 2013

Happy New Year

I am starting off the new year with a week of 

"Top Photos of 2013".

I have five different categories to share with you.

The top 10 in each category are from our

 travels and everyday life.

Again I must stress these are snapshots and only edited for size, light and maybe a filter (Instagram).

So let's begin with the 

"Top 10 Landscape Photos of 2013"

Smokey Mountain NP 

Estes Park CO

St. Thomas USVI

Outer Banks, NC

St. Maarten, Caribbean

My Backyard

Smokey Mountains NP

Colorado

My backyard

Outer Banks, NC

It was hard to pick just 10.  I love looking through my lens at all of God's glorious creation.  

 This years travel will bring us to some great destinations.  We will be going to the Dominican Republic, Northern Europe, Florida and the Northeast.  I look forward to sharing all my pictures with you through out the year.

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Outer Banks, NC

 Today I am bringing you a few more of my favorite lighthouse photos that I took 
on our trip to the Outer Banks, in North Carolina.

 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is a very famous light.  It was moved back in 1999, saving it from falling into the ocean.

Ocracoke Lighthouse was our last lighthouse on the Outer Banks.  It wasn't open to the public, so there weren't any good angles to get creative in my picture.

The Ronanoke River Lighthouse was In Edenton,NC.  It had a lovely park/dock area to get great views of the light.

~~~~~~Thanks for stopping by~~~~~~

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Outer Banks, NC

I thought I would share my favorite lighthouse pictures

 from our trip to the Outer Banks.

We added six more lighthouses 

to our list of visited lights.

I am sharing three of the lights today.

Below is Currituck lighthouse.  

You can read more about this light HERE 

 I added a vignette frame to these two photos. 

 On in the town of Manteo, on Roanoke Island, is the Roanoke Marshes lighthouse.  It is a replica of the light that was located at the at the entrance to Croatan Sound.  The town has a great waterfront area full of shops and eateries.  

Our next stop was at the Bodie Island Lighthouse.  It just opened up for tours this past April.  You can read more about Bodie island HERE. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Thanks for stopping by~~~~~~~~~~

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Stunning Sunsets

We just got back from the Outer Banks in North Carolina. 

 Since it is a barrier island you can see

 some AMAZING sunsets!  

 The refection in the above photo was just fabulous. 

 I couldn't stop snapping pictures.  

 These geese flew over us and I was able to grab a couple good silhouette shots. 

I found a good article on capturing a STUNNING SUNSET. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the skies show His handiwork" 

Psalm 19:1 NIV

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Favorites

I have been meaning to share with you some 

individual photos from our WISCONSIN TRIP.

Below you will find four of my favorite shots

 I took during our travels.

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

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Barn Quilts

I am back online and have a lot of pictures to share.  Autumn is our travel month and we spent some time in Illinois and Wisconsin.  Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my favorite pictures.

Down the winding roads of Door County Wisconsin,

 I found these barns scattered among the farms.  

The photos are bit blurry 

because some were taken as we drove by.  

I like the colors of the quilt squares on the barns.

 I love this old rickety barn. 

 It looks like it has been there for awhile.

Here is a crazy quilt square.

I Googled Barn Quilts and they have actual trails that you can follow and find all these colorful pieces of art.  

You may have some near you

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a blessed day!

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Sunset on the Inside Passage

On our last day at sea we cruised through the Canadian Inside Passage.  After dinner we went up on deck with our table mates and watched the sunset. 

I found this port hole type window to frame my photo.

Now this is a cool house.  What do you this that little house is on the edge?  We got a bit closer and found out it was an art studio.  Could you imagine working in that studio?  Amazing!

Then the sun began to set.  Fabulous!

Then the sky turned these beautiful pinks and purples. 

The next day we left the ship in Vancouver.  This was a nice way to end our cruise.

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New Book & Photo Assignment

I found this book at my local library.  It gives step-by-step instructions, pictograms, and before-and-after comparisons that provide a complete course in capturing a landscape's natural beauty. Renowned photographer Tim Fitzharris reveals foolproof techniques he has used through decades of fieldwork in a wide variety of settingsTim gives great tips on how to capture spectacular vistas. While on our trip to Colorado I tried to use some of the tips to make my landscape photos better. Tim says that the lighting is one of the most important things in capturing the great landscape picture; I had to shoot in full sunlight. Sorry, when you travel you have to shoot whenever you are at a particular spot.

Tips:

• Allow ¼ - 1/3 of frame for the sky.
• Include overlapping terrain features
• Include as many planes as possible to create a greater depth of field.
• Shoot from different angles

This book contains so much information to pass on to you, so go to your local library and check it out. It’s a great read and learning tool.

 

This week assignment from Better Photo:

Capture a Scenic Landscape

• Compose your scene, pay attention to graphic elements such as line, shapes and forms.
•  Look for interesting shadows or reflections.
• Try to make all elements lead in a nice way through the picture

I took these picture out in Colorado.

 My layers/fields in this picture are the sky, the snowy mountains, rocky hills and tundra field. 

By the way this is Red Rocks National Park, CO.

Can lanscapes be vertical?  Sure....  Here my layers are the sky, the tree, the rock and grassy area.  I focused on the two sides of the rock and let the grassy area pull your eye up to the tree at the top.



Rocky Mountain National Park



Here we have the sky, cloulds, trees, grass, water and reflection.  Can you see how each picture has different layers and elements to make it pleasing to the eye?  I really enjoyed taking these pictures.  While they are not the best lighting, I learned a lot about composition.

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