I'm Back (I think)

Well I now have new computer. Brand spanking new. Okay not brand spanking new, it is about three weeks old now. I had a week before we got the cable to hook up the terabyte drive (which by the way is now half full since Pan put my pictures on it). And we are installing programs one at a time, at least a day or two apart; except graphics programs which we will install at least a week between them. But I have been working on it, making scrapbook pages, playing with photos and playing Sid Meier's Civilization (an older version). Caught up with the black and white photography challenge at Gotta Pixel, and will post them here now (hehehe):

July's challenge was to find something abandoned. I had managed to take a picture of this abandoned house while we were visiting Nuke in South Carolina that just seemed to fit the bill.

August was to photograph a flower. This is the one that made the cut and was posted at Gotta Pixel.

This was actually my favorite, but due to popular demand (and the fact that it really is a much better photograph the one above won out).

September was suppose to be a 'skyline' but where to you find one of those on the Gulf Coast, except possibly New Orleans and I wasn't going to drive there. Instead I chose a shot of a nearby town and marina.

Then October was to photograph a landscape. Beach, beach and more beach, lol. I did manage to get this one at dusk as we were leaving Pan's sister's beach house.

November was a month to bring forth those birthday pictures. I really love how this turned out. Doesn't look great with the girls faces smeared but I think I may actually have a larger copy of this one made for my daughter.

Since the challenges are more than just taking pictures, but about converting color pictures to black and white, I tried something a little different with these than I have in the past. Something I use to do when I was the graphic artist at the paper. I separated the photos into their red, green and blue channels and then picked the best one to make adjustments to. For those not in the know, separating photos into red, green and blue channels does not make them red, blue or green, but monotone with each having different contrast, saturation and brightness. Other than the second flower (which I used the red channel) and the beach at dusk (blue channel); I used the green channel.

I'm hoping to get back up to speed on posting soon. But it has been a while so bear with me okay?