Category: Photos

The Benefit of Adobe Photoshop Elements

Despite what others may say, this program is not easily used beyond crop and changing brightness/contrast of a photo.  Thanks to a class at my local community college I have learned enough to make significant changes to a photo and now can understand the book I bought that was supposed to be the answer to “how to.”  The class is a Photoshop hands on experience not a Photoshop Elements class.  However everything that was taught is in Photoshop Elements.  With a little effort I have found most of the tools.

Artist Chris Burden was the creator of this amalgamation of Los Angeles city street lights.  The lights really do turn on every night.  Mr. Burden collected and restored dozens of city street lamps at his Topanga Canyon studio. Eventually they became his installation at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

My photo was taken in the afternoon when shadows really darkened the entire display.  The first photo below is the original.  The second is my efforts using Photoshop Elements.  I outlined and lightened just the lights and then lightened the entire photo a little more.  The squiggly line along the outside base show the boundary of the outlined area.  The red line was not there at the far left side in the original photo (probably a step safety marker).

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P1000613 edited

Mountain Lions Just Outside of Los Angeles

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Female Mountain Lion looking into a camera

New photographs of a mountain lion and her offspring are giving park rangers a closer and more intimate look at how the animals are surviving in the Santa Monica Mountains.  The report in the Los Angeles Times does not detail the location of the camera that caught these pictures.  The Santa Monica Mountains start just north of Hollywood and extend west and north bisecting the city and ending in Ventura County.  The famous Mulholland Drive and Highway starts near the Hollywood Bowl traverses the ridge of the mountain range.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mountain-lion-photos-20150305-story.html

Walk Around Downtown L.A.

 Downtown LA 7-25-09 053 enhanced

Inside the Bradbury Building opened in 1893

functioning elevator on right side behind the staircase

Four hours of walking will help you sleep at night. I spent Tuesday, December 23, walking around the north end of downtown Los Angeles and still did not see it all.  The trip was made with two other photo hobbyists with really expensive cameras.  Mine is the Panasonic Lumix FZ150.  Lunch at Grand Central Market was really bad.  Definitely not something to photograph and barely eatable.  That said I have posted my pictures on flickr – look for the “Walk Around Downtown L.A.” album or click here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48969186@N04/sets/72157649521818338/

Cactus Garden and Mystery Home

I have been driving by this unique garden and home for decades. It is on the road to Malibu. I use Topanga Canyon Boulevard as an alternate route from West Los Angeles when the freeways are shut down due to fires or serious car accidents.

Finally I decided to stop a take some photos. The garden is listed on Yelp and Yahoo. As it happens the adjoining house is For Sale. Thus there are real estate photos on line. Asking price for this 4700 square foot home is $1.2 Million. Four bedrooms and four full baths on a .44 acre lot. The house was built in 1931.

There appears to be an abandoned road next to the corner as shown in the first picture.   Notice the flirtatious Cupid.  Clicking on the pictures gives you a better view.

Location map

4562 Map

My photos all taken with my Panasonic DMC-FZ150:

Heading south as you leave the San Fernando Valley:

 

P1030506P1030512P1030512 closeupP1030511P1030510P1030508

Heading north entering the San Fernando Valley from Topanga Canyon:

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Real Estate listing photos of the house. Repaved the street and glossed the photos all thanks to Photoshop

4562 Topanga Blvd #1_edited-2

woodland hills #1 woodland hills #3 woodland hills #4

Tallest Buildings in Downtown Los Angeles

The Thursday August 22, 2013 edition of the Los Angeles Times listed the five tallest buildings in the city.  All are in the downtown area.  They are surrounded by many others slightly shorter versions.

 #13 Next door to Water Court is on of the 5 tallest bldgsThe walk around started at the Red Line Subway Metro Station at Figueroa Street at the corner of 7th Street.  It ended at the Pershing Square Subway station.

Click on Flickr above and then click Sets.  All pictures taken with the Panasonic DMC FZ150.

Or this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/48969186@N04/sets/72157635989279605/

Los   Angeles is seeing a resurgence of new construction.  The new high rise center may be moving to Hollywood.

Los Angeles Photo Gallery

I have added some photos of the downtown area of the city.  The motivation was my trip (journey) there this past week.  The distance is about 30 miles via freeway.  My choice of conveyance was the Orange Line Busway and the Red Line Subway.  It was a short two block walk to my destination.  The cost was $6.00 round trip and there was no parking fees.  Signs on the street indicated parking from $10.00 to $38.50 a day.

The pictures were taken with Panasonic DMC-FZ28 and Panasonic DMC-FZ150 cameras.

Click on my Los Angeles Photo Gallery to see the downtown photos. Link is also at the top of this page.

‘The Girl from Ipanema’ turns 50

Remember the words from the song: “Tall and tan and young and lovely…”  The story is that the composer was inspired by the sight of Heloisa “Helo” Pinheiro.  Perhaps she was too in love with the sea.  I remember the couple next door to my parent’s home.   They went water skiing every weekend for years with their children.  She was a tall good looking woman of Scandinavian decent.  Yes a very attractive blond.

They were much younger than my parents.  I grew up and moved away.  One day at a visit I saw Jill.  At the age of 50 her skin looked like leather.

Do you see the similarities in this photo?