Day 48: A Line; About Town

Good news. I got out to take some photos today. Which means you only get one from actually being at work. But even that one is kind of nifty, I think. I really needed a shooting day like today. I haven't felt like February has been as strong as January was, but then again it's only a little over halfway through so I'm probably just being hard on myself. Alas, on to the photos!

1/25 sec. exposure at F/5.6. ISO 400.
Click image for larger version.

I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to go out after work (I've got so much reading/writing to do before Monday), so I had to come up with something at work just in case. I ended up taking a sheet of paper and a fine point, red marker and drawing a squiggly line with it. Then I somehow held my camera with my left hand, somehow getting a finger on the shutter release button, somehow actually get the shot to come out clear. I took a couple different versions with different parts of the page/line/pen in focus. In this one the pen and the beginning of the line is the clearest part. In another the line is very clear, but the pen was blurred. I liked this one the best, but the other one was okay too. All I did in Aperture was turn down the white balance to get rid of the yellow from the fluorescent lights (like always when shooting at work).

After I got off work, I was going to go up on the roof to take some shots from on high, but I figured it would be too much like yesterday's post, so I decided to do that some other day. Instead, I walked around downtown. There's the back of this one building (very near The Coney, if you're familiar with Indiana, PA) that is like my photographic nemesis. I've tried to get a good photo of this building on several occasions for the past year (with terrible results every time). I'd like to say that this time was different, that I finally captured this shot's full potential. But I can't. I'd be lying. Actually, they came out so terribly that I'm not even going to share them today. But I promise I'm not giving up on this one. Someday, this shot will work out and I will share it with the world!

As I was walking to that spot though, I stumbled across another photo op. That's the one thing I can definitely say about Indiana: the buildings on Philly St. have a lot of character behind them. Like, literally behind them. The backs of the buildings. Stay with me, pee-pull.

Anyway, I found this one. And I like it.

1/25 sec. exposure at F/6.3. ISO 200.
Click image for larger version.

For this one, I turned the white balance up for a change in Aperture. It warmed things up; it was pretty blah before. Then I also did the same thing I did in last night's Stop sign photo: I turned the yellow's saturation all the way up. It brought out the yellow in the Coca-Cola sign and makes it really stand out. I just really like all the lines that are happening in this: the diagonals of the catwalk/stairs, the verticals of the stairs/bars, the three wires coming across.

Anyway, not exceptional, but better than a lot of what I've given you guys this month so far. I hope you're still enjoying what I'm doing here. I'm still enjoying doing it...for the most part. Just kidding. I'm still having tons of fun; it just gets a little exhausting with everything else going on. But I knew that when I got into this thing. I can't believe I'm almost to day 50! I feel like I should do something special, but it's a day that I'll be at work, so I'm not sure what I could really do that would be that great.

Sleep now, sweet chariot.