The Speaker’s Balcony

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 18, 2016

On our recent visit to The Nation’s Capitol we were given a personal tour of Congress by an aide to Representative Pat Tiberi (R-OH). Our own Senator never answered our request and my great nephew arranged for the tour. I want to thank Mr. Tiberi’s office for arranging the tour on such short notice. I learned that if you want to visit go through your Representative or Senator rather than arrange a tour on your own.

There are many perks for doing this. Your group will be small, it was just myself and my wife. Your tour guide can save you hours in line. If Congress is not in session you will be allowed on the floor of Congress. You can only do this with a personal guide. It was really inspiring to sit in on one the chairs and have the view that congress has when listening to the State of The Union. Also the Representative from your home district will be knowledgeable about your state and the history as it relates to the Capitol.

You will be allowed to visit The Speaker’s Gallery which offers one of the best views of Washington DC. This is where the Speaker of the House can sit outside and enjoy a private lunch with his colleagues or a cigar. This is the view that the third most powerful person in our government enjoys every day.

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The Speaker’s Balcony

New Lightroom HDR Merge

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 15, 2016

I don’t normally write reviews on equipment or techniques. There are many people who do it much better than I do. I did write a series of technical How To articles for eHow a few years back but when they stopped paying me, I stopped writing them. Since then I have been more concerned with creativity than technology.

I have been disappointed on how difficult it has been to create HDR images. I don’t travel that much with a tripod which has been a prerequisite to do these sorts of images. I have tried HDR plug ins but have been disappointed with the results. GIMP made a pretty good plug in but the images were usually noisy or ghosted beyond repair. However, today I tried the new Merge Photo tool on the new Lightroom.

I took this picture, edited and posted it in less that 30 minutes without a tripod! I used auto bracketing on the Nikon 5200 with three images one f-stop apart. Easy to use with a great how to video on YouTube that takes four minutes to watch. Once again Adobe products continue to amaze. Wait why do I need Photoshop again? Oh yah its bundled with Lightroom.

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Lightroom HDR

Fountain in the Garden

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 14, 2016

The Florida Botanical Garden in Largo Florida is a wonderful experience and it is FREE! It addition to acres of stupendous plantings there is a Florida Heritage Park attached with historic buildings from the the beginnings of the State. There is a school, rail siding, auto repair shop and many others. The place is very large and can’t be seen in a single visit. This beautiful fountain is in the Tropical Plants area.

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Fountain in The Garden

Mellon Park

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 13, 2016

It may be a cold spring in Pittsburgh but that doesn’t stop the turning of the earth or the length of the days. A besutiful display of trees and bulbs in Mellon Park, Pittsburgh PA.

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Mellon Park March 2016

Osprey Portrait

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 11, 2016

I have yet to get a good picture of an osprey in flight. They are less predictable and faster than pelicans and frequently confused with bald eagles. This one is perched along a lake in The Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo Florida.

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Osprey Portrait

DreamMap Birthday Sale

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 10, 2016

Today is my birthday! To celebrate we will be offering DreamMap on sale! Starting on August 12th and ending on August 19th you can buy our exciting fantasy/mystery novel DreamMap at Amazon for just $.99 for the Kindle version. You can also purchase the trade paperback for just $10.53 and get the Kindle version for just $1.99 additional. So discover the other world romance of Jake and Rose and experience the thrilling ride through our world of the DreamMap.

To order your copy, click here!

Blue Heron

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 9, 2016

A few weeks ago I posted Death from Above and some people were expressing displeasure with the blue heron and called the perpetrator a nasty bird. Really it’s just the circle of life folks. But in all fairness to this beautiful bird, I thought I should show the less violent side of the blue heron, the Gecko is on its own.

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Heron

Surfer Dude

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 5, 2016

If the wind is low and the waves small you will usually see people on longboards paddling through the water off Sunset Beach Florida as the sun sets. If the sky is gray and the winds are gusting there are no beach loungers walking the shore just all the young dudes.

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Surfer Dude

Purple Haze

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 4, 2016

If you follow this blog you know I like to take pictures of flowers but basically have no idea what most of them are. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife who is an a fantastic gardener and reads everything. I kid her and call her (reedie). Reedie’s gotta read and I am sure she probably knows what this is. I just call it pretty. It was in the orchid room of the Selby Garden in Sarasota Florida so I am assuming it is an orchid.

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Purple Haze

Plant from Space!

Posted by Imagery Photography on April 1, 2016

OK I have no idea what this plant is. It could be from Mars for all I know. I go to a garden and take pictures. MY wife and friends read the information and maybe tell me about it but when I am composing I have learned to shut out distractions. This is frequently to the displeasure of anyone that I am with. I think this is some sort of Aloe but whatever it is I find its beauty and coloration unusual.

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