7/21 A Couple of July Photos

7/19 Posing Loon - Felt a bit sea sick after focusing while kayaking. 

Centered Face

Where have I been? Working, working, working.....I manage to get the daily picture taken but there's not a lot of creativity. I continue taking pictures to practice. All of my photos are in my flickr albums. If you know me, then you know how to get to the photos. I will try to at least post once a week for a few of my favorites of the week.

Odd Number of flowers

 When I upgraded Lightroom, I upgraded to the Adobe creative studio which includes photoshop. This means I have more tools to learn that will help improve my photos. See the nails in the face picture to the right? So easy to remove in photoshop and that's just a tiny bit of what can be done in photoshop. Another learning experience, but it has already come in handy on my work computer since I have a couple of pages that I need to maintain on that site.

And the Obligatory Hummingbird picture for July

The challenge to getting my pictures done each day is the light. Taking pictures in the early evening doesn't provide a lot of light to be able to use fast speeds for hummingbird pictures. But considering the lack of light, at least I now know how to make changes to the settings to at least get the humming bird in focus.

CY365 Pictures of the Day

Fun with Textures- Day lilies gone wild

1/6 Winter Garden

Texture Tuesday - Winter Cone Flower

It would be such a tease to include a color photo of the same flower, you just need to use your imagination or check back in my blog for the flowers in their glory (here is a good post). When we clean up the gardens in the fall, I leave a few of the dying blooms/stalks for winter photos since they provide such a contrast against the white snow.

Today, I photographed a few of the remaining dead flowers in the garden that were covered in ice. The one above managed to have a white background which made it a good choice for a texture.
I used kk-chill.jpg, multiply at 71% opacity with a another layer of sparkly snow at 100% opacity in soft light. With both layers, I used a mask to have the texture of the flower showing. The kk texture is from Kimklassen.com and the snow layer is from a site that I discovered through The Coffee Shop Blog called JillWellington Photography.com where there are freebies and photography tips. I signed up for the combined Coffeeshop and Jill Wellington newsletter as it is always nice to learn more about photography. With all three of the above mentioned websites, I have some good resources and inspiration for the winter months.

Another icy flower

Skittish Butterfly

Butterfly on Liatris    (kk_pinit9, Pinlight 51%)

Original

This butterfly was around the garden most of the day on Monday. It was really hard to get a picture of it as it would move when I moved, I had to get the shot from the chair with my lens at 250mm. The ISO was at 400 which adds to the grain on the original picture to the left. I love the impressionist background of the above photo with the bee balm blossoms. I used a mask to "paint" the butterfly and the flower its on back in.  This is when I am glad to have a tablet instead of a mouse to use in photoshop elements!

Once I took the pictures, I looked at the butterfly magnified and saw that one of the wings was damaged. That's probably why I could never get close to it.

kk_pinit9, Opacity Softlight 69%

Friday Find- Peonies

Peony Blossom on the Porch 

Texture kk_waterfront28 Overlay, 53% Blend

Same picture as above without texture. 

 My gardens start out sunny in the spring, but once the Maple and Oak leaves come out, they become shade gardens. The flowers are a week or so behind my neighbors and this week our Peonies finally bloomed. These are from a Peony plant that I dug up from my in-laws backyard after they passed away before their house was sold. It is a nice memorial to have in the front garden.

The first year, I had no support for the heavy blossoms, but this year I put the ring out early. The flowers bloomed this week and they are still leaning over. I was hoping for a lot of blossoms and I was not disappointed,  they are beautiful.

I love the textured blossom above in the vase. I used Perfect Effects 8 to add a vintage layer and then took it into Photoshop elements 10 for the texture. The Perfect Effects is new for me and I am not sure what I am doing, but will need to practice since I think there are some great features for landscapes. All it takes is time.

The progress of the Peonies through the spring. 

Nature - Wildflowers in the Garden

Nature Texture: Columbine growing wild in the Garden

Texture: kk_SoTrue Soft light at 100%Opacity with mask for flower, Background duplicated and Multiplied

Right now, at this moment, my garden is in the midst of growing, but not blooming, except for all the wild columbines blooming. I should have taken more pictures of these today, but I have at least 20 of these plants scattered among my perennials. However, I can't remember ever planting them, they just kind of showed up. They probably were in a pot of another flowering plant that I bought and just self-seed well. Either way, this is one time that nature has provided a pretty flower and not a nuisance weed.

Well waiting for these to bloom:

I will enjoy the Columbine:

Friday Find- Wild Flower

Lady Slipper Wildflower          Texture: kk_Mary 33% Screen blend

Original Picture without texture

This is my Friday find of the week. We have had rain and raw weather which didn't mean the best walking conditions until Thursday. On Thursday I went out for an early morning walk with my neighbor and while watching the dog along our trail, I noticed that the Lady Slippers were blooming. This is our state wild flower found only in damp, shaded areas. These are not meant to be picked since they don't transplant well due to their growing requirements. There is a myth that you could be fined for picking them, but that's only in the state south of us.


You have to look closely to find these flowers among the low growing shade plants.

There was more than just Lady Slippers in the woods. I don't know what this wild flower is below. I liked the individual buds on the long stems. 

And even though I had dandelions on yesterday's blog, I just couldn't resist putting this one up today. The blue of the background is from the water and is such a pretty contrast to the white. 

A perfect day for a walk and a find, even better, we didn't see the water snake that my neighbor claims lives near the path. 

Black and White

Texture Tuesday- Black and White Textured cat

Textured with KK_Simple1- Blended Hard light, 42% Opacity

It's Texture Tuesday at Kimklassen.com, where following links is always an inspiration. I took this picture last week and liked the contrast of Punky on the white chair. It was changed to black and white in Lightroom since the only color in the picture is the cat's eyes. Punk is our food motivated fat cat and I am sure he was doing his "withering away" act for sympathy. If cats could talk, he would be telling me to hurry up with the picture to feed him. 

Original:

One picture was not enough for me to play with the kk-simple texture and I added it to a lilac picture that I had already posted on the blog two days ago. This texture was applied with a hard light blend at 35%.

I like this picture that I took with my new macro lens of the white lilacs and added a white frame as a contrast to the blossoms. Real black and white subjects for today.

Quiet Spot

My Spot in the Morning Sun for Coffee

5/15 Photograph Relaxing

Quiet / Rest / Stress Free

This picture would have been a better shot if the sun had been out this morning. After coming back from food shopping, I tried to take the photo again with sun through so many different angles. However, I took too many photographs of the same subject to try to figure out which one to use. Luckily, I have a Fine Arts graduate in the house who helped me critique the photos to determine which was the best. Why this one? Because you see the whole chair in profile with the cup of coffee in focus, the lines of the walkway show movement, there is vibrant color and no distraction of the street in the background. Once I went through the group of pictures, I knew what I liked, but needed the help to weed out to get to the best. With my son's help, I think we did it!

The purple tulips are popping up all over the garden right now and it's good to have pictures of their location. Next year, I would like to have even more to have more photograph options. Maybe some more whites and purples. Who knew that there is blue in the inside of the tulips?

Took the bottom right photo to make a another texture photo. I love how soft the texture makes the background look and the textured flowers could end up as a card set. 

This scene below was what we have going on right now on the street. Lots of boys and their toys with bikes and wagons, thought this was cute.

Friday Finds: Tulips

White Tulip in Front Garden

Today I am participating in Friday Finds hosted by Kimklassen.com where photographers link their finds for the week. The pictures can be of anything that you consider a "find" for the week. Something inspiring, beautiful, unique or you just plain like it. I am going with the beautiful for this week. This photo is appealing to me because of the simple colors and the glow of the white against the green. Perhaps the green leaf going through the center of the flower would bother other photographers/artists, but for me, I like the contrast that the leave adds to the flower. The texture is simple and it cuts out some of the clutter from the background. Usually I add a mask to the texture and "paint" the flower back in for the blossom to have no texture.  However, once I started the painting process, I realized that I liked the effect on the flower. 

Now if we only had some sun today for more photos like this, I would be outside right now!

Texture: kk_Jamal - Overlay 80% Opacity

Perfectly Imperfect

Perfectly Imperfect - Flower Bouquet

Texture Tuesday

How long to keep a bouquet? Until leaves start dropping on the table. 

Without the cats here, I get to enjoy a vase of flowers for a long time without having to place it strategically away from the cats. I got to enjoy this bouquet for a week. The leaves were beginning to drop, but the roses were beautiful.

I had taken a couple of pictures of the bouquet for Captureyour365, but I didn't like all the stuff in the back ground. With a couple of textures, the background is softened. 

Textures used: kk_violet lightened 31% opacity with reflected flowers highlighted, with kk_daisy screen blend with 85% opacity with flowers on a clipping mask

Color- Texture Tuesday

Color, you don't really miss it until you have been without it outside at the end of a long, cold,

winter. A trip to a nursery here in Florida provided a floral fix for me. Lucky to be here where it is bright and warm. But looking at the flowers made me miss my summer gardens. When I get home, the snow will be gone and I may be back in time to see the tulips. In the meantime, I will enjoy the colors of the flowers here in Florida.

Texture used on above photo: kkEdith from KimKlassen Cafe- 54% opacity overlay with a duplicate of the background on the top layer multiplied with 35% opacity.

Budding

Budding Flowers Early Morning 

3/9 Photograph Emerging

Budding / Early / Rising

You know what the shame of this prompt is for today? I was awake during sunrise and it was beautiful. The prompt was not sent until right before 7 AM, too late for me to get a sunrise photo. I thought of other emerging alternatives, dolphin emerging from the water, nope, none today. I did take some early morning sun on the river, but didn't like the photos. After 2.5 months, I have become critical with my my photos and there are a lot that get deleted now. Onto emerging, we went to the beach and I thought that I would at least get some crabs coming out of their holes in the sand, no such luck, not a single live crab to be seen on the beach. I did find a dead crab and thought of posing it in a hole, but it was really dead looking, no way to fake live.

Today was a relaxing day, we rode our bikes up to the Farmer's market for fresh vegetables and fruit. There was another produce stall at the market today and it turns out that they have a storefront right up the street, that will make it easier than waiting for the local Farmer markets. It surprises me that the prices and quality of the fruits and vegetables are not better in the supermarkets here. 

We went to the beach today, the boy went off on his own riding his long board down to where the college break group were while we went further south to avoid the crowds. Breezy, but nice to feel the sun, or as the boy would say, catch some "D", (Vitamin D that is). Finally caught up with my aunt/cousin at the beach. I will have to get a resident pass for the parking since it cost 25 cents per 7.5 minutes, going there today, I thought it was for 15 minutes.  That will be something to do tomorrow.

Texture flower for today is one of the photos from this morning.

Drive

What Drives a Bird to Migrate?

3/8 Photograph Drive

Determination / A Car / Passion

Who knows what drives birds to flock together and migrate, but it is definitely neat to see first thing in the morning. There were about 100 birds outside our window this morning on the river. Most of the birds were white pelicans with a couple of gray pelicans and ducks. After spending some much time in the car yesterday, I could not see spending time taking pictures of cars. A golf course picture would have been good for passion, but we just getting caught up with sleep and getting groceries. We did sit out by the pool for awhile, but it's a bit cooler than we had expected. Still nice to be able to sit outside considering the weather back home. 

After our son woke up, we walked down to the beach bar for him to get a hamburger while my husband and I had shrimp. Then we had a short walk on the beach before walking home. It was nap time for me and a late supper of Chicken Marsala and 3-red pepper pasta. Very relaxing day and the short time we out in the sun left us a little pink.  

Sea grass texture.