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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A picture view

No laughing! At Mariposa in April (see post here), I took pictures from a spot in camp, 360 degrees, with the intention of trying to "stitch" them together in the computer.

I finally got around to stitching it together today and this is what I came up with:




mmm.....Yes I know it's small and you can't see it well. (click on the picture and it gets clearer)There's a mountain, a horse team in the distance, a picket line with public crowded around, the ambulance, and a cannon.


I didn't overlap enough on the pics. You can see in the beginning that the scenery overlaps well, but the busier camp objects could have benefited from more overlap.

Do any of you do any picture editing? I believe Pony Girl does a lot of photo editing for her blog, but she also gets really nice, interesting shots to begin with. Most of my prints on the blog are as is - no cropping or editing.

Do any of you ever have your pictures formally framed?
I chose to frame this 8x10 picture, taken by Billy Gore at the Mount Diablo ride in 2008:
Of all my pictures, this captured best, the essence of our relationship. I'm in love with the frame I chose, but less than happy with the darkish-geen, textured matte. I console myself that I can have it re matted at anytime (theoretically). Strictly speaking, the matte, frame, and picture work well together. Unfortunately, I think the combo makes me claustrophobic and stressed. The 3" dark matte "hems" in the picture too much and instead of complementing the "wide open" space that is suggested in the picture, I'm sucked in and held there in the center of the picture. I've never had anything framed before and relied heavily on the service person for my color choice etc. I'll know better next time what works for me.
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It's weird, framing a picture of myself and putting it in my office. Hopefully the focus (rightly so) will be Minx when people comment.
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I've decided a few, carefully selected pieces can be fun to frame and hang on the wall. I'll be keeping an eye out for that "one" shot of Farley that captures her perfectly.
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What do you do with your ride pictures? I try to buy one at every ride. I put them in a small photo album and periodically look at them (usually when I'm adding one). It's fun to see what has changed in horses, tack, and clothing as I gain more experience. I don't like having lots of "stuff" around me, so a simple photo album is a great way to keep a memento of each ride, without having clutter.
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I'm in a contemplative mood today, thinking about Minx, my photos, and some of my past ride stories. As I went though some of my earlier posts I looked at the quality of writing (back when I actually edited posts before publishing). It really does make a difference in readability. Where did all my free time go to edit? I started this blog in the middle of winter, and now, in the middle of summer I'm too tired to do much more than give my posts a perfunctory look over. Oh well, a time for everything eh? Perhaps the well-written, concise posts will reappear with the falling of the leaves and the coming of winter.

7 comments:

  1. I *always* buy all the photos, even when they are bad ;-) because I want photographers to continue to shoot rides!

    I often frame them as well, either as singles or in collage frames. My living room wall currently displays a collage frame for each member of the "riding family" (my sweetheart and me, plus the several juniors we've sponsored for years) and a few of the best singles. There are also collage collections for horses who are no longer with us.

    My work desk (a very informal space) displays current photos printed on plain paper. These get changed every few weeks, so my coworkers will be able to be jealous of the beautiful places I travel with my friends and horses!

    Because...I'm that kind of a person. >g<

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  2. The only thing I do with my pictures on my blog are sharpen them a little on Picassa. Other than that, they are all natural. I only have a point and shoot camera. But it is a very nice point and shoot!
    I always get mad at myself when I post, and than go read and find mistakes on spelling, and I always read it a few times before I post! I am a good proof reader, but I read so fast, I just read right by a mistake! I hate that!

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  3. Nice stitching and pics!
    I suggest you take your framed picture back and share your issue about the matting with your framer.

    I am sure they would love to get you fixed up with a better mat color choice (surely at no charge to boot!)

    Keep up the good work!

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  4. Mary - I just looked at your site. Wow! you have a LOT of choices. If I was anywhere near you I would stop in!

    I think I may take it somewhere else - the place I took it to was a chain, and thinking back, this really was the best matte that was there, but looking at your store shows me just how limited my options were! When I frame a pic of my first tevis (there better be a decent shot!) I'll take this one in too perhaps and see if there's something I like.

    Thanks for stopping by.

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  5. It's so fun to put up pictures of yourself doing things. I have one of me and the boyboi that makes me smile every time I look at it :)

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  6. I use both Picasa and Picnik (Both free!) for editing. I downloaded Gimp then ran from it because I was clueless where to begin, LOL! With my new Nikon DSLR, if I take a shot in the right lighting, I won't edit it at all. If it's a little dark, I might have to add some light. I don't crop too much either, because I do tend to take "cropped style shots" naturally.
    Photography is fun! :)

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  7. When you have time, please drop by Go Diego Go! to pick up your Honest Scrap award.

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