This month Becky B invites us to share our #WalkingSquare trails with her. Still Restless Jo shares her walks every week and lets us link up to her post. Then, this Sunday, Terri Webster Schrandt got on the trail with Sunday Stills. Lens-Artist, Sofia teaches us about exposure, and of course, John always wants to see our Cell Pics Sunday posts. Cee always gives us a chance to shine. This week for CMMC we get to do macros, and I have a couple of those in the “closer look” gallery.
and we’re off
Today we go back for a closer, squarer look at the Cape Meares Lighthouse Trail near foggy Oceanside, Oregon. On the way, we met friends having a get-together. Some of them were a little tired after their walk. Fortunately, Terri and I didn’t find the trail that challenging.
I started out with the rectangular posts. Squaring them cut out too much information even though they are square in the gallery. For the most part, I think that squaring the photos strengthens the focal points.
a closer look along the trail
For all of these photos, I played with exposure in the processing phase of the photographic walk rather than working with the aperture. Tina talked about bringing a photo into focus by removing the background. I also like having a blurry background, which is the case in the first and third pictures of this gallery.
playing with exposure
This is the same as the middle picture above. Which do you like best and why? Below is the same picture in color.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
48 responses to “Hit the Trail, or Be Square”
[…] let me know if you think I have missed anyone, so we can hit the trail together and enjoy some bonus […]
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Wonderful! Looks like a trail that I enjoy exploring. 😊
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It’s just your style, plenty of trees!
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Yippee! 😁
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Nice photos, Marsha. I’d love the walk and enjoy the nature on the Cape Meares Lighthouse Trail. Would be nice to spot dogs as a bonus!
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Gift. Thank you for taking time to read so many of my posts.
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Wonderful examples, Marsha! I also enjoyed the walk here. 🙂
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Thanks, Amy. It’s a beautiful area.
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A great post Marsha!!
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Thanks, Aletta. 🙂
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These were great choices Marsha.
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Thanks, Kirstin! 🙂
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Love the dogs. ‘What, me hurry?!’ I like the low exposure tree bark. More detail and clarity, FWIW.
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FWIW??? I love taking dog shots. 🙂
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Squares, a great walk and having fun with the camera and editing – what a fabulous post 🙂
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Thanks so much, Becky. I had some time in the late night and I thought, why not play with it!
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Thank you for taking part, Marsha. What a lovely walk and photos. Your squares work wonderfully, I had a phase for squares, maybe I should go back to it 🙂
I think your underexposures are my favourites, I like the textures on the overexposures but there’s too much going on. The low key ones are also quite moody, and I like that with B&W photos.
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They have their different appeals. It was a rather random picture, which I liked for that kind of experimental work. It would be interesting to try it on other types of photos as well.
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Love all of the pictures and depth, black and white or color Marsha. I still can’t figure out why the timer starts at night when I’m trying to take a pic and it looks nothing like what I was aiming for. Drives me wild.. I need a lesson!💞
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Night pictures are hard to get the exposure correct. Darkness is not your friend!
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Oh that explains everything!!! Thanks a lot! So disappointing!
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I have some horrible night pictures. You can fix some of it in Photoshop programs, but sometimes they are just awful no matter what.
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That’s good to know. I won’t waste my TIME as I know enough to be dangerous!! 👷🏼♂️
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Great collection along your walk. I love the trail going through the trees.
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It was an easy one. You would not have been challenged, Donna! 🙂
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It’s not about the challenge, it about what you find along the way.
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Lol! I always find something unless I’m so challenged that I can’t breathe. Then I’m a little tunnel visioned!
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Hahaha
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I recognized some of those places. 😀 😀
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cool!
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I remember all these scenes, Marsha! Despite the misty fog, it was a good outing and my first time seeing an Oregon coast lighthouse. (Jo, that is not me in the pic, LOL). Interesting exposures here. That one sappy bull one on the tree came out well in the different lights–all looking so mysterious. And I like the way that gallery layout looks!
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I loved the misty fog. It was the perfect setting for mysterious. I loved “shopping” for all our Sunday Stills pics! That was the perfect location to get those! As it turned out, it was perfect for Becky B’s squares, too. I had a couple of you that were on the trail taking pictures. They weren’t super complimentary, just as this one wasn’t for this guy. So I won’t post them. My favorite picture of you from the entire trip was with the little boy. That one is framable! My favorites of me are on the Spokane River on our hike there.
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We did have a fab time! Funny how we are still using the 10k pics we took. I’ll pretend that little boy is my future grandson 🤣 When I decided on this week’s trails theme early last month, I didn’t know Becky would be back with squares. Always glad when that works out!
We just got 3 inches of snow overnight. Our garbage can got blown over so I went out to pick it back up before the garbage truck comes. I offered, Hans was still asleep 😴
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Smart man, that Hans! I’m the one who fake sleeps when things like that happen at our house. It helps, though that there’s not a garbage can! 🙂 Our disasters are usually of Nutter Butter’s doing. It’s very obvious when Vince happens onto one of the disasters. He’s not quiet about them so any sleeping during the experience would have to be faked. 🙂
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[…] Always Write […]
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Thanks, for the link, Terri. This was just a fun post! It’s my first week of not hosting PPAC. I’m so excited that Natalie is going to take it over. She is perfect for the job because it always fits right into her own coffee shares. Who knows, I may end up posting more just because I can relax and not worry about having to get a post out on time!
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I wouldn’t want to be walking down that path at night when that light beam rotates right into my eyes. 🙂
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LOL, me either! With my luck I’d fall backwards down the “hill!”
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Hi, Marsha – I LOVE a trail, any trail. And, when a lighthouse and a good friend is involved, it is that much more divine!
Great exposure play!
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Thanks, Donna. It’s so easy to play with pictures after they are taken. Of course, you have to take a decent picture to start. LOL!
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That looks like a lovely walk and your squares work nicely. I agree about that format often emphasising a focal point 😀
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You are the queen of focal points. Your pictures are always so professional, Sarah. Not only that, you pick some amazing subjects.
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Thanks for the mention, darlin. You should be in my Monday post, if the scheduling works. Love your squares and that capture of Terri at the lighthouse.
When I’m taking photos I don’t want to think about the technical aspect but purely what I see, and edit afterwards if it doesn’t feel right. I’m just a diarist. 🤔💖
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I am too. I love taking pictures, but first and foremost, I am a diarist. I don’t even go in real depth like a teacher would or should, but my mind goes in many directions and I tell stories and TRY to entertain. I’m not sure I’m successful. I will link to you new post today. I wanted to wait until you had your new post up.
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🤣💖 thanks, honeybun!
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🙂
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If you want to blur the background Marsha ,use a telephoto and open your F stop wide open. That’ll give you a very shallow depth of field.
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I do that when I use another camera. But with my phone, I just get close. 🙂 That’s probably why I don’t take many bird pictures. You have to use a larger lens.
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