I had the most wonderful day! This morning I met with a group of amazing women to watch a webinar on Helping Children Manage Stress (from The Institute of HeartMath). I went with the intention of picking up some tips on teaching the HeartMath tools (which I use in my own life) to my grandchildren. I came home so inspired with the work these women are doing and even more mindful of how important it is to nourish the spirits of the young ones in our lives.

I came home and was so surprised to find that my husband had gone to the nursery, bought flowers, and planted them in the containers on our deck!  Life is good!

Of course, my photo (collage) of the day MUST focus on our new Gerbera Daisies!

So I am NOT in a flower photography rut- I am celebrating our new daisies (and a great day!).

 

 

Today is supposed to be my Photoshop Friday- the day I edit in Photoshop instead of Aperture 3.  We’re talking basic editing here- no fancy textures, effects, or actions (I do have a few from The Pioneer Woman, but want to learn the basic stuff first).  I exported this image to Photoshop from Aperture 3.  It went straight to Adobe Camera Raw, which told me that I had accidentally kept my Aperture preferences set to TIFF for Photoshop export.  I had been playing around with this last week and had discovered that I needed to change my preferences to PSD for the changes to be synced with Aperture. Oh well- I could always save the changes and just reimport.

So I worked on the image for awhile in Camera Raw, doing the kind of things I do in Aperture 3. Then I opened it in Photoshop and played with blend modes (overlay, multiply, and soft light ). Truthfully, I could not see any differences with these blend modes. I turned them off and on and adjusted opacity in each- and was not impressed. Maybe it was just this weird image..

Then I hit SAVE and closed the file.

Oooops.

It saved it in some weird temporary file place, and I couldn’t find it to reimport it into Aperture.  I had forgotten that it wouldn’t sync automatically because it was a TIFF. Darn.

So I just re-edited the original photo in Aperture- and called it done.  And I didn’t realize until afterward that I could have reopened it in Photoshop (it shows recent files) and just saved it to a different file on my hard drive.

I am very sick of this photo.

f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 1250, 300mm (why did I set my shutter speed so high?- no clue. . .)

What is this image anyway? I took a zillion photos of branches of a dry arrangement reflecting in my hall mirror. I had the front door open so that I could 1) have enough light and 2) stand back far enough to zoom in at 300mm with my temperamental long lens.  The bokeh is light reflecting off a bench on the porch.

BTW I was in my bathrobe. But it was OK because I am retired. . .

 

 

On this dreary, drizzly day, I decided to stay inside and take photos of something in the house.  Like most teachers, I have a collection of all things APPLE. One of the glass apples by my desk caught my eye.  I couldn’t decide which photo to use- so here are two.

Both are at f/4, 1/160, ISO 1000, 35 mm

When I started this blog, I knew that I would photograph some of my Blue Ridge dishes eventually.  Ten or fifteen years ago, I was introduced to Blue Ridge pottery through my friend, Nevin, who has a BIGTIME Blue Ridge collection. I fell in love with these gorgeous plates immediately and agonized if I was being a copycat by buying some for myself. There is no logical reason for me to collect dishes. I have my mother’s china as well as my own- and really have no room for these.   I rationalized that I would be hanging them on the walls (I did) and that they perfectly matched my navy and red color scheme in the living room (they do. . .). I just love them!

Blue Ridge was made in the late 1930’s to 1950’s in Erwin, Tennessee by Southern Pottery.  It’s hand-painted  with a distinctive look and a ZILLION patterns.  I started buying them in antique stores but quickly moved on to eBay. I have several favorite patterns- this beautiful one is called Spring Glory and is relatively difficult to find.

f1.8, 1/500, ISO 1250, 35 mm

It is Day 60- MARCH!- and I am still doing this! Yay me!

Stay tuned for more Blue Ridge throughout the year. . .

There has been so much excitement on the weather scene this week- it might SNOW!  This is definitely BIG NEWS in the Bay Area.  We’ve heard it could snow at sea level or in the surrounding hills.  Anticipation is building!  There was a big (rain)storm last night, and there is possible snow early tomorrow. For now, it is sunny.

f/1.8, 1/250, ISO 400, 35mm

I am trying to learn Photoshop. I have watched training videos online through kelbytraining.com and feel like I have a beginning understanding.  I decided yesterday, after watching the last video of my subscription, that I would edit today’s photo of the day in Photoshop (specifically Adobe Camera Raw, which is so similar to Aperture 3, my Apple photo software). Aperture has a great feature, in which you can edit with an external editor and the changes will be reflected within Aperture. Sweet!  This would keep all my photos organized within Aperture, but I could also edit with Photoshop if I chose.

Problems!!!

The editing went fine- pretty basic- but no changes were reflected in Aperture! The magic dot appeared in the lower right corner indicating that it had been edited with an external editor- but no changes appeared.  I eventually saved the file from Photoshop onto my hard drive and reimported it into Aperture.

Guess I need some more one to one training at the Apple Store. . .

I snapped a few photos this morning, trying to get my 365 project out of the way, but nothing seemed to work.  Then I spotted a grouping of candles on my counter and knew that I had found my photo of the day. I hoped there would be a reflection, but I couldn’t see one until I snapped the shutter.  And then there was the added bonus of a little bokeh in the background!

f/1.8, 1/100, ISO 400, 35 mm

We planted our plum tree over twenty years ago.  I’ve always loved seeing it bloom as the first sign of Spring, but it wasn’t until I started Project 365 that I noticed how pretty each blossom is.   I am amazed at how the discipline of looking for a photo each day compels me to intensely look at my surroundings! I have photographed the first buds, the first blossom, and now blossoms when the whole tree is in bloom.

f/4.8, 1/800, ISO 500, 195mm

I shot this looking up into the tree, zooming in to almost 200mm, and then cropping the image.  I am wondering about depth of field- so shallow when zoomed in.  I am already thinking of trying this again with a smaller aperture. . .

We are in recovery mode from the German Chocolate cake, so this week’s grocery trip involved a lot of produce- fresh fruit, GREENS (for smoothies as well as to eat with dinner), and the ingredients for soups and salads.  Antioxidants, omega-3’s, phytochemicals, lycopene, whatever- we’ve got it covered!

f/1.8, 1/100, ISO 1000, @35mm