The challenge for this lesson was “From Above”- taking a photo looking down at the subject. Because of my San Diego trip, I didn’t have a chance to go through the lesson until yesterday, so am trying to catch up and get it done before today’s lesson is posted. So yesterday afternoon I stood on my cedar chest to take this shot of blossoms in a glass jar, placed on my mother’s marble top table.
Textured with Kim Klassen’s Anna texture.
The Botanical Building at Balboa Park was one of the highlights of our San Diego trip. Orchids were everywhere! For Texture Tuesday, I textured this image with 3 layers of Kim Klassen’s Sybil (my new go-to texture. . .) , using different blend modes and opacities.
We returned last night from a short trip to San Diego to visit our son, Matt. One of the things we were most looking forward to was a visit to the San Diego zoo to see the seven month old baby panda, Xiao Liwu. We arrived at the zoo early, knowing that the baby was only on display for three hours in the morning, and we headed directly to the Panda Pavilion. There were short lines to walk by baby and mama, and we were able to go through twice. There were some unbelievably long lenses in the crowd- but I think I was able to get good shots with just a 200 mm. The shot below is probably my favorite.
Baby is learning to climb trees, and, according to the guide, falls many times a day, thus learning about gravity (!). He was up pretty high when we moved on, and we were glad to miss the expected tumble.
Photography/computer note: Before we left, I bought a new external hard drive for photo storage, because the old one was almost full. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough room to upload all my San Diego photos until I get the new hard drive hooked up. Expect to see more San Diego photos in the week ahead, as I get them uploaded.
February was Month 2 of our Clickin Moms Monthly Challenge blog circle. Food photography (and cooking)- not my area of expertise, although I love to look at food blogs and collect recipes from online. Soooooo. . . I chose an easy subject- a scone from Heavenly Cafe and coffee from our new coffeemaker. And yes, that scone was indeed heavenly!
To see some yummy food photos, visit Misty’s blog and then follow the links from there to see the whole circle!
We need rain, but this sunny weather is fantastic! Here’ a shot of some daisies starting to bloom in the front yard, textured with Kim Klassen’s sybil texture (again!).
Today I’m posting a few more photos from when we went over to Bodega a week or so ago. I don’t know why these poles were sticking out of the sand, but I love the lines against the sky, ocean, and beach.
We watched this surfer for an hour, and he never made it upright. The waves were huge, and it seemed to take forever for him to get out past the big ones (which you can’t see in any of these shots).
I said no seagull photos- but here is one anyway. . .
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. – John Lennon
Texture Tuesday- dream edition!
I used textures from Kim Klassen’s Downton collection- two layers of isabel, two layers of sybil.
My friend, Tra needs a new headshot for her website, so I agreed to meet her and have a little portrait session. When I got there, she told me she had changed her mind and just wanted to talk- so that’s what we did. But, while we were talking I took a few practice photos. This one is my favorite- I think it gives you a glimpse of her beautiful spirit shining through her eyes.
Tra likes it too- so now we’re going to do another one- for REAL this time! I’ll keep you posted!
This week’s Beyond Beyond (2B) challenge was to find the best light in your house- and to practice some Photoshop tricks to add more light to photos. I am pretty familiar with the light (and lack of light) in my house at different times of the day after having done a Project 365 for two years, so concentrated on the Photoshop techniques. I used the Sybil texture, as well as a white gradient to enhance the window light that was already present in this macro of a sea urchin from my shell collection.
And here’s a black and white version of the same photo (almost the same processing).
It amazes/amuses me to see bare trees with just a leaf or two just hanging on throughout autumn and winter when the rest have all fallen and been swept or blown away. There’s a lesson there somewhere. . .
Textured with Anna from Kim Klassen’s Downton Abbey collection.
I’m done with blossoms- I promise! This is it!
The above is another view of a plum blossom- converted to black and white.
And below is a macro of a blossom on the verge of blooming! I textured this one with two layers of Daisy and just a touch of Anna, whom I added because I like her so much better than Daisy 🙂 ( from the Downton Collection by Kim Klassen)!
Last Friday, I photographed this blossom- one of the few on my flowering plum that day. Today the tree is covered with blossoms.
I used 3 layers of texture in my edit- more than usual for me- because I was attempting to tone down the pinks (the blossoms) and the blues (the sky) in the background. Much as I appreciate the springtime colors in my otherwise drab garden, the effect in the photo was giving me flashbacks of the wallpaper in my childhood bedroom. I loved it when it was put up, but as I grew older I found the pink and blue flowers babyish and frilly and girly. Daisy and Sybil from Kim Klassen’s Downton textures muted the background, while Cora kept the blossom pink. 🙂
I’m still reeling after Sunday’s Downton Abbey finale! I knew something major was going to happen- and I’m still getting over the earlier tragedy (not specifying in case you aren’t caught up). Too much action for one season= but I do think this opens up lots of plot possibilities!
Follow the link at the bottom of the page to see more photos using textures from Kim’s Downton collection. Happy Texture Tuesday!
P.S. I removed the footprints from yesterday’s beach photo- the incompleteness of them bugged me. Next task: add MORE footprints to the black and white version- MAYBE! Check out yesterday’s post for the update.
Ahhhhhh . . . sunshine and sand and ocean waves! We spent a lovely hour and a half at Salmon Creek Beach on Saturday- just watching the waves, the gulls, and the people. I don’t know the official temp, but I’m guessing seventy something- shirtsleeve weather.
We got there early, set up a blanket, and just enjoyed the scene. I had a camera battery with a distressingly low charge (yes, I had charged it- no, I didn’t see that it was actually not charged when I put it in the camera- no, I won’t be using that tricky outlet again), but had decided that I would just take whatever photos I could and would shoot “intentionally”- one of my 2013 goals. No snapping away. And definitely no seagulls- I can photograph them any day of the week in my own town.
Of course, I couldn’t resist the seagulls- they were everywhere. But this photo is the one I like the best- the light, the clouds and the expanse of beach. I’m not convinced the footprints add to the photo- but they were there, kind of leading to nowhere. I am using the photo in response to a Flickr challenge about using leading lines to guide the viewer into the image. But the lines I was seeing when I composed the photo were the stripes of clouds and the surf.
I think this photo also works as a black and white. What do you think?
UPDATE:
I took out the footprints! What do you think?
I thought I’d share a couple more photos from our drive last Saturday. After our walk in downtown Suisun, we drove some of the backroads between Fairfield and Vacaville. These two shots were actually taken right across the road from each other in the fading light, as the sun had already dipped down behind the hills. There is a haze in the first image from smoke we could see in the distance. I reduced clarity to blur the image a bit, enhancing the hazy quality.
I liked the shapes of the bare branches and fence on the hill across the road silhouetted against the cloudless sky. I converted it to a black and white in Lightroom and then added back some color on the tree and hill using a texture.
