Focusing

Focal Point: Portsmouth Alley

1/30 Photograph Focusing

Concentrate / Come Together / Focal Point

This afternoon, my son and I took a ride to Portsmouth, NH for a job fair at Newington Mall. I promised a lunch out in Portsmouth so I could buy some flavored olive oil. Portsmouth is a touristy, New England maritime city with curving streets and alleyways bordered by the bay. Normally, Portsmouth is busy with people walking everywhere, but today was desolate. Perfect to get some pictures taken. I made a point of not putting my zoom lens on the camera to get me out of the comfort zone of taking close ups. The picture above, I tried in black and white, but I like the combinations of the signs and the bricks.  Although it does look a little spookier in black and white since I took out the details of the building in the back. But today's prompt was about focusing, the end of the alley should be left in focus as your eyes follow the brick alley.

After reviewing some of my pictures, I will need to practice manual exposure to avoid blowing out the sky. That's the beauty of using my camera every day, I can recognize what I need to improve.

I was able to get a few other shots that I can use for this week's photoshop element assignment. It's hard not to include electrical wires in photos in Portsmouth so I have some pictures that I can practice cloning and spot healing. What is cloning? Check out the difference between the first cat picture and the second cat picture.  I also did some highlighting of the colors in the second photograph.