Nothing but Blue

As I flew the drone further and further away, it revealed the entire Western Lake. What makes me like the image so much is all of the white roofs and blue waters. On its own, the blue waters would be enough. They are bright and contrast well with the surrounding brush. Then you add the white rooftops, and each looks a little different and special. They pop against the blue waters and match the white sand beaches. Then, and my favorite part, there is a single red roof (from one of the gazebos I mentioned a few days ago). You don't really notice it at first, but once you do, you can't not look at it. 

 

Lakeside

Continuing in our hypothetical day, around midday, I flew the drone over Western Lake. On the lake, there are many wooden docks. There were about two more like this one and two others with a little gazebo at the end. Right as I took off and was looking for interesting objects to view from above, I looked down and saw the fascinating contrast between the green shrubbery and bright colored wood. I positioned the dock such that it was vertically centered, and both the coast and tip of the dock were in the frame, then took the picture. 

 Main Street

About thirty minutes later, I decided to fly the drone over the main street of Seaside, Highway 30a. I am glad I took the picture when I did, as the shadows of the palm trees and faint hues of the sunrise complement each other well. The centerpiece of the image is the bright sun but around it is the rich colors in the shadows. The two leading lines, one from the street and the other from the shoreline, both lead to the back of the image where the sun is. It all just flows so smoothly. For the one who carefully looks at the image, can you find the 4Runner? Just another reason to like the image so much more :)

 

Morning Adventures

As the day continues and the sun rises a little higher into the sky, I wanted to end the sunrise portion of this adventure with this. Even almost two months after taking it, I still remember my reaction when I first looked through the camera and saw the scene. I was so excited to have been able to take the picture. The seagulls were flocking around this person and their two children as they took a morning stroll. The focus was sharp, the exposure was proper, and the action of the seagulls with the people and sunrise created a wonderful picture. If I were to name a favorite of any of my sunrise pictures, this would be the one. 

 

Color

For this next picture, I wanted to capture the sand and the remnants left behind when someone walks in it. As I was waiting for the sun to rise, this person walked by. I waited for them to walk a little ways away, adjusted the focus to barely in front of the lens, then took the picture. I like how it ended up, the sand in crisp focus, the person with some resemblance of a human but not entirely, and the vibrant colors of the sun. The one thing that I dislike about the picture is all of the other marks in the sand. I wish that there was only one line leading to the person, but I can't complain as this still turned out exactly how I wanted. 

 

Peaking

As the sun continued to rise, a few more people decided to take a morning stroll. One of those people was this couple who happened to stop to take a picture a little ways ahead of me. I ended up taking a picture of them taking a picture, and it ended up like this. Everything looks so calm and still. Them in a silhouette, the sun just barely peeking above the clouds, and the waves crashing along the seashore. There was the smell of the sea in the air and a steady wind creating a little taller waves that day. 

 

Morning Walk

Back on the ground, I took this picture minutes into the new day. The sun was barely above the sea when this person walked by with a dog. I waited for them to walk a little further away from me, then took this picture. The orange sun lighting up the sky, the buildings of the town a few miles away from this beach, and the silhouette of the person and their dog as they took a morning walk along the beach, all combining into this picture. 

 

Rise

As I continue through the rest of my adventure, I want to structure the pictures as if a day will pass by, starting with, of course, a sunrise. Once again, from the drone, this picture comes from high above the sea. There were two directions to take the picture, one facing directly into the sun, and possibly overexposing it, and one facing away from the sun. I chose to face the sun because I felt I could manage the bright sun by decreasing the exposure. The raw picture ended up really dark, but with the power of Photoshop, I was able to brighten the city while keeping the sky a nice soft orange. 

 

Town Square

Welcome back to Florida! As we pick up this adventure again, I wanted to start with a picture from the center of Seaside. I flew the drone about 500 feet above the town, then took this picture. I like how simple everything looks. The green space is in the center, which is surrounded by a row of palm trees, which is surrounded by a row of buildings. Surrounding the buildings are homes, then in front of the buildings and green space is the highway, which cuts almost directly through the middle of the picture. Above that are more homes, the beach, then the water, which happened to be a dark green that day because of the wind. From up above, everything looks so peaceful and structured. 

 

Reflection

As the sun continued to set, the clouds became more and more interesting. In the color version, you can see bright yellows and some oranges. Although the black and white version doesn't show that, you can still see the sunlight pouring through the clouds in the middle left side of the picture. I wanted to turn the picture black and white to really illustrate the silhouettes. I positioned myself between the sun and my brother and sister and captured them as they were running from the waves. I also was lucky enough to take the picture when they were in the highlight of the clouds, which made their silhouettes sound out even more. 

 

Sunset Walks

After landing the drone, I took some sunset pictures with my main camera. This first picture is one that I took as I was walking along the beach. There were also some other people walking, and I wanted to capture them and the surrounding environment. I took a few steps closer to the water, partly getting my feet wet, and moved my camera closer to the surface of the water, then took the picture. The people are barely out of a silhouette, the sky is colorful, and the waves create a soft blue tone to the image. 

 

Floating

As I flew my drone over the water, I noticed some manta rays swimming. At first, it was just one, then another, a third, then this large squadron (yes, a group of manta rays is called a squadron, I Googled it). I happened to be at the right place and the right time because as I flew my drone over the group, some paddle boarders were right over them. I changed the camera angle such that it faced directly downward and snapped the picture. The dark spots of the rays below the light green water, below the bright colors of the paddleboards.

 

Top Down

I am back! After taking a break from taking pictures and posting, I am excited to showcase some new ones I recently took during an adventure to Florida. As you may notice, this picture is looking straight down onto a beach. No, I did not take this from the roof of a hotel. Instead, I have added a new weapon to my arsenal, a drone. This is my first series of images with the drone, and I can undoubtedly say that I am very impressed. I ended up purchasing the DJI Mavic Air 2. It was between that and the Mini 2, but I chose the Air 2 for its higher picture quality and better safety features. Whether you care about that or not, it will allow me to (literally) reach new heights, and I have many drone pictures ready to post. 

This first image comes from a beach near Watercolor. I noticed the row of umbrellas and chairs and wanted to capture that line and the lines of the beach in a way not seen by many people. So, I flew the drone up to about 400 feet and snapped the picture. The dark blue umbrellas contrast with the light-colored sand, which contrasts with the teal water, and from this angle, it creates a unique and fascinating image

 Waterwalking

A few days later, I went on a bike ride around town. As I biked around, I came to this lake. A lake we call Teddy Bear Lake because there are three large, marble teddy bears on the opposite side of the lake. But, I did not focus on those bears. Instead, I found this bird walking on the lily pads. When I first arrived, I didn't even notice it, it blended in very well. Then, as it started moving, I saw it. I took a few pictures of it, then continued with my bike ride. 

 

Lightning

After returning from Colorado, I was sitting at my desk, looking out the window, and I saw this storm rolling in. The storm didn't contain much rain, but it did feature a lot of lightning. I was trying to focus on my homework, probably some math, but kept getting distracted by the lightning. I took my camera and set it up on the tripod. I pushed the lens as close to the glass as I could, to try to minimize the glare, and started taking pictures. The last time I tried taking pictures of lightning, I pressed the trigger or shot a video and hoped to capture it. This time was different. I used the long-exposure technique to keep the shutter open for multiple seconds. This would mean that the lightning could strike anytime between those seconds, and I would capture it. After taking a few blank pictures, I finally got what I wanted. A crisp picture of the lightning lighting up the sky, surrounded by clouds and trees. 

 

Into the Mountains

This is the final image of the Colorado series. I saved this picture to be the lost one posted because I think it is my best picture. You have the road leading you to the back of the picture, the car, breaking up the symmetry of the landscape, and Star and Taylor Peaks in the background. I took this picture right before I took the Ashcroft picture. We had passed Ashcroft and were continuing on the road when I turned around and snapped this picture. I didn't really think much of it when I was taking it, but it's those unexpected pictures that are always the best. 

Reflections

I think this is my favorite sunset picture out of all the others. Before the sunset, I had done some searching on Google Maps and found this lake near the place where we were staying. I biked over there and set up my camera. I placed it very low to the water to capture the full reflection of the tree on the lake and took some pictures. Then when editing, I recalled something I had learned in one of my school's photography classes, flipping a picture horizontally and placing the two mirrored pictures next to each other. So, this means that what I saw when taking the picture is only half of what you see now. I mirrored it because I like how it looks paired with the reflection of the lake. You have the reflection of the trees on the lake, and the reflection of the trees on either side of the image. 

 

Rolling Sunset

Next, I wanted to post three of my favorite sunset pictures. This first one comes from the top of Cozy Point Hill. During one evening, I wondered what it would be like if I took pictures of a sunset from the top of the hill. And boy, I was not disappointed. About thirty minutes before the sunset, some rain began to fall from the clouds. This along with the streaks from the sun created a magnificent picture of the mountains. 

 

Maroon Peak

As we start to conclude the Colorado series, I wanted to post some pictures that I wasn't able to edit in time. This first picture is of Maroon Peak. After taking pictures of the sunrise and visiting Crater Lake, I ventured off on the Scenic Trail Loop. I ended up on the other side of Maroon Lake (the west side) and facing Maroon Peak and a stream that flows from it. While I was taking this long-exposure picture, two deer ran in front of me and the camera. Unfortunately, they were too fast to be captured in this picture, but it was an incredible experience to have two deer run right next to you then cross this stream in front of a huge mountain. 

 

Fishing

A few days after hiking up Aspen Mountain, I went biking on the Rio Grande Trail. The Rio Grande Trail is relatively flat (or, flat for Colorado standards) as it traverses next to the Roaring Fork River. As I was biking along the trail, I noticed a man fishing. This was one of the first times that I have taken pictures of someone fishing. I wanted to achieve two things, to capture the line frozen in the air and the movement of the water. While it was hard to edit and combine the two pictures, I think it turned out very good. You can clearly see the line against the dark background of the trees and you can also see the streaks of the foam in the water.