A crust of raisin bread...
Nope, it's...
mushrooms in a tree...
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tree Companion
Yet another flowering crab. Trying to catch a good photo of one of the bumble bees buzzing around in it. The blossoms are much darker than others I've been taking pictures of and the blossoms turned out too fiery. I turned down the color a tad in Paint Shop Pro with a screen layer blend.
No Sharpening on these. I liked as is.
Taken with my XSi Canon and Tele, so I get some very pretty blurry background stuff too.
Decided to try using some of that bokeh as an abstract backdrop...with a touch of texture. I like it.
No Sharpening on these. I liked as is.
Taken with my XSi Canon and Tele, so I get some very pretty blurry background stuff too.
Decided to try using some of that bokeh as an abstract backdrop...with a touch of texture. I like it.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
In The Trees Again
See notes below for tree id.
This one is good for leaf id.
Like a cascading bouquet (leaf id again):
While I was taking these pics the sun started to shine on the white flowers and then I got a distinct yellow cast on them. I definitely like my white flowers "cool". So I ran a Color Balance on some of them in Paint Shop Pro. Red tones down and Blue up equal amounts, green down slightly makes it "cool" toned.
Warm sunny toned:
Cool color balance corrected:
NOTES:
For tree ID, records show my choices are ash, plum, possibly elm.
ND place (not my county) says white blossom trees:
1. Princess Kay Plum (Prunus nigra)
showy white double flower clusters in early May
2. European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
white flowers in spring
Googling tells me neither one looks quite right. If I id for sure, I'll update this post. It's kinda fun investigating things I take pictures of.
This one is good for leaf id.
Like a cascading bouquet (leaf id again):
While I was taking these pics the sun started to shine on the white flowers and then I got a distinct yellow cast on them. I definitely like my white flowers "cool". So I ran a Color Balance on some of them in Paint Shop Pro. Red tones down and Blue up equal amounts, green down slightly makes it "cool" toned.
Warm sunny toned:
Cool color balance corrected:
NOTES:
For tree ID, records show my choices are ash, plum, possibly elm.
ND place (not my county) says white blossom trees:
1. Princess Kay Plum (Prunus nigra)
showy white double flower clusters in early May
2. European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
white flowers in spring
Googling tells me neither one looks quite right. If I id for sure, I'll update this post. It's kinda fun investigating things I take pictures of.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Bobolink
My first bobolink pic! Not the best, but still exciting.
enature
Cornell
Got a better pic on 31 May 09.
Will keep trying to improve. We have at least two very active bobolinks around here this year, so should get more opportunities.
UPDATE: Sun 28 JUN 09 - More Better
This was a bobolink couple guarding their nest, I think, thus I got closer than they usually will allow. We have a lot of bobolinks this year.
Male front:
Male back:
Female:
Setting:
MORE - Same couple, I think. Pics taken Fri, 3 Jul 09.
"Hi Sweetie, How are the kids?"
UPDATE:
The bobolinks are gone. Sometime between 8-11 Jul 09. I miss them. I got many photos of them. Some of the best are posted here. They were ever present in the field in at least 2 or 3 locations. I got used to their different sounds as I walked around out there.
enature
Cornell
Got a better pic on 31 May 09.
Will keep trying to improve. We have at least two very active bobolinks around here this year, so should get more opportunities.
UPDATE: Sun 28 JUN 09 - More Better
This was a bobolink couple guarding their nest, I think, thus I got closer than they usually will allow. We have a lot of bobolinks this year.
Male front:
Male back:
Female:
Setting:
MORE - Same couple, I think. Pics taken Fri, 3 Jul 09.
"Hi Sweetie, How are the kids?"
UPDATE:
The bobolinks are gone. Sometime between 8-11 Jul 09. I miss them. I got many photos of them. Some of the best are posted here. They were ever present in the field in at least 2 or 3 locations. I got used to their different sounds as I walked around out there.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Western Meadowlark
We have a meadowlark that sings very LOUDLY and aggressively in the early mornings. Hard to ignore. It makes me laugh.
I caught him/her singing on the fence one day...
That was an awful back lit problem that I tried to improve on, so do a silhouette. It was a flat allover blue/gray color and I added a gradient of colors to it and a dash of lighting so it looks like the sun is about to rise on the horizon.
Mr Meadowlark likes to hang out on our lawn...
With this pic I tried softening the background by layering and masking with a very soft airbrush. It's a little too strong, but I kinda like the effect anyways.
On 31 May 09, I got a good back view shot of the meadowlark.
NOTES:
Meadowlark is one word.
There is an Eastern and a Western Meadowlark and enature showed both when I searched for the plains area.
However, it definitely sounds like a Western Meadowlark.
Cornell is a little clearer on the map and shows North Dakota would be a Western Meadowlark.
Eastern Meadowlark
vs
Western Meadowlark
UPDATE 22 Jul 09
*Finally* got a good front view pic of a meadowlark. Yay!
Not on our land, down by the river.
I caught him/her singing on the fence one day...
That was an awful back lit problem that I tried to improve on, so do a silhouette. It was a flat allover blue/gray color and I added a gradient of colors to it and a dash of lighting so it looks like the sun is about to rise on the horizon.
Mr Meadowlark likes to hang out on our lawn...
With this pic I tried softening the background by layering and masking with a very soft airbrush. It's a little too strong, but I kinda like the effect anyways.
On 31 May 09, I got a good back view shot of the meadowlark.
NOTES:
Meadowlark is one word.
There is an Eastern and a Western Meadowlark and enature showed both when I searched for the plains area.
However, it definitely sounds like a Western Meadowlark.
Cornell is a little clearer on the map and shows North Dakota would be a Western Meadowlark.
Eastern Meadowlark
vs
Western Meadowlark
UPDATE 22 Jul 09
*Finally* got a good front view pic of a meadowlark. Yay!
Not on our land, down by the river.
Blue-Winged Teal Duck
I think this duck is male (drake?) Blue-winged Teal.
Ducks at a Distance
A Waterfowl ID Guide - Blue-Winged Teal
Red-Winged Blackbird
My camera was struggling to focus on this red-winged blackbird out in last years corn field, so the bird is out of focus and lacks detail. However, I just loved the stuff unraveling down along the corn stock and couldn't bring myself to delete it.
I softened the background with masking.
And what do we have here?
I thought this was a Song Sparrow maybe, but after more research, I think it is a *female* red-winged blackbird. This surprised me. I did not know that the female and male look totally different. There were male red-wings in this area, so could very well be one too.
I did quite a bit of brightness/contrast work to lift the bird out of the scene. Layering and masking to soften background.
UPDATE: July 2010, more/better, I'll just add these here with the older ones.
Male, photo date 19 JUN 10:
Female, photo date 9 JUL 10 (speckled belly like above, here's the back view):
Another female blackbird front view photo here.
Chasing a Hawk, photo date 9 JUL 10:
(Post-processing note: I moved that bottom bird closer to the hawk so I could post a bigger cropped photo view.)
UPDATE 28Apr11:
Nice rich colors on this one. Good detail close up.
I softened the background with masking.
And what do we have here?
I thought this was a Song Sparrow maybe, but after more research, I think it is a *female* red-winged blackbird. This surprised me. I did not know that the female and male look totally different. There were male red-wings in this area, so could very well be one too.
I did quite a bit of brightness/contrast work to lift the bird out of the scene. Layering and masking to soften background.
UPDATE: July 2010, more/better, I'll just add these here with the older ones.
Male, photo date 19 JUN 10:
Female, photo date 9 JUL 10 (speckled belly like above, here's the back view):
Another female blackbird front view photo here.
Chasing a Hawk, photo date 9 JUL 10:
(Post-processing note: I moved that bottom bird closer to the hawk so I could post a bigger cropped photo view.)
UPDATE 28Apr11:
Nice rich colors on this one. Good detail close up.
Recent So-So Photography
Here's a mourning dove I caught in flight, but an awful bland flat blue and backlit. I grayscaled it, up'd the Brightness/Contrast and then layered in some color and clouds.
The Golden Compass - Movie
I googled The Golden Compass back in Dec07, but had forgotten all the controversy about it.
It was on free HBO, so I recorded it and watched it later.
(The only other thing worth mentioning on HBO was Jumper which was worth a watch. Maybe the book by Steven Gould would be better?)
I thought The Golden Compass was a good fantasy adventure.
The movie is rated PG13 and the books are teen section, so not for the very young, I suppose.
I loved the bear (Iorek).
I don't think Lyra ever rode him with his armor on as the poster ads show.
The movie was stripped of the antigod/antireligious aspects that were in the books, evidently.
I didn't think the movie was religious.
It was fantasy.
I thought the daemon stuff was weird/odd.
The dust idea was interesting and I probably liked that the best of all ideas in the movie.
From googling the topic now, it doesn't sound like there will be a movie sequel, which is disappointing because The Golden Compass ended abruptly with things still unfinished.
I might checkout/read the books, just so I can find out for myself what the story says about the whole god/religion thing.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is made up of three books:
1. Northern Lights (The Golden Compass)
2. The Subtle Knife
3. The Amber Spy Glass
I think the author is coming out with a new book that explores the dust idea further.
It's called "The Book of Dust."
Trivia:
Daniel Craig ( James Bond in Quantum of Solace 2008) is Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass 2007.
And Eva Green (Vesper Lynd in Quantum of Solace) is Serafina Pekkala in The Golden Compass.
LINKS:
There is a His Dark Materials Fansite Discussion Forum,
and an
Interesting Article
via
Ebert.
Lots at YouTube,
Some currently available:
Trailer
Defining Daemons
Intro (daemons, dust, compass, etc.)
Iorek Intro (bear)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Grand Canyon - Movie
So far, I've recorded lots and watched only one movie on free HBO, Grand Canyon (1991).
It's an older movie I've seen before but forgotten and I just caught it channel surfing, so didn't record it. Should have.
I liked the philosophical slant to the movie and I liked the humor.
It's a movie I'd watch again and so I'd buy the DVD if I ever found it locally or Amazon has it for $10.00.
My favorite quote in the movie is when Simon is talking about his father.
Also I got a kick out of Dee, she was soooooo melodramatic and intense, it made me laugh.
I'm not sure if the character was meant to be funny in that way, it just struck me that way at the time I was watching it.
Fav Quote:
Found at
script-o-rama.com
(Not sure of accuracy, and I'm editing, but the punch line is there.)
SIMON:
My father died last year. He was 80 years old.
It's a long time for a black man to live in this town.
He outlived everyone he ever knew.
He saw two wives die and three of his children.
He had a great ugly old face that looked like a suitcase gone a million miles...
...all beat up and dented and scuffed and stained.
Man, he looked like
he walked years on that face.
When I used to look at that face and see all the pain there...
...all the things he'd lost, all the hurt he had...
...I wondered why he wanted to go on,
why he just didn't lay down and give it up.
MACK: Did you figure it out?
SIMON: No. Never figured out much about that guy. I asked him, though.
MACK: What'd he say?
SIMON: Habit.
More Filter Forge Favorites
6322 Background Backdrop
with
3542 Crayon
(Nice texture)
BG Bkdrop again
with
5321 Atmosphere
(Bokeh)
427 Caustic
Layering, blending in PSP.
Not sure what these were meant to be used for, but I found them interesting to play with in Paint Shop Pro.
Hotel Art
Sexy!
(Purple one is embossed, both framed, in Paint Shop Pro.)
It sounded like the creator kinda made a joke out of this "hotel art," but I happen to like it.
And it would be a good start to a digital landscape painting.
Add
Pencil Sketch
to the Hotel Art.
I like the pencil sketch effect on the hotel art.
I'm not sure how well it works on photos.
with
3542 Crayon
(Nice texture)
BG Bkdrop again
with
5321 Atmosphere
(Bokeh)
427 Caustic
Layering, blending in PSP.
Not sure what these were meant to be used for, but I found them interesting to play with in Paint Shop Pro.
Hotel Art
Sexy!
(Purple one is embossed, both framed, in Paint Shop Pro.)
It sounded like the creator kinda made a joke out of this "hotel art," but I happen to like it.
And it would be a good start to a digital landscape painting.
Add
Pencil Sketch
to the Hotel Art.
I like the pencil sketch effect on the hotel art.
I'm not sure how well it works on photos.
Friday, May 08, 2009
High Drama Sunrise
High drama sunrise this morning.
I had difficulty getting the color balance correct.
The colors were definitely dusty blue and dusty pink.
This pic is as close as I could get, color correction post processing.
I never get tired of cloud photos. Endless variety.
Filter Forge
I've been preoccupied with trying out Filter Forge plugin creator.
Hours and hours of entertainment.
I'm posting new blog template images all made with that program.
Features of note:
Make your own filters.
Random button and presets.
Seamless feature.
Reminds me of Inkscape effects generator, only more advanced and more user friendly.
Can download filters and samples at site.
I like that they are numbered with an html link inside the software program.
Every element has a submenu, which is not readily apparent at first glance.
See wiki for info on plugin creators.
Interesting to see the history on it. Filter Forge info and links there.
Filter Forge links to filters I used for my blog template images.
3494 Moody Shadows
7114 Retro Pattern
6742 Yin Yang (Site says removed?)
6249 Singularity
Hours and hours of entertainment.
I'm posting new blog template images all made with that program.
Features of note:
Make your own filters.
Random button and presets.
Seamless feature.
Reminds me of Inkscape effects generator, only more advanced and more user friendly.
Can download filters and samples at site.
I like that they are numbered with an html link inside the software program.
Every element has a submenu, which is not readily apparent at first glance.
See wiki for info on plugin creators.
Interesting to see the history on it. Filter Forge info and links there.
Filter Forge links to filters I used for my blog template images.
3494 Moody Shadows
7114 Retro Pattern
6742 Yin Yang (Site says removed?)
6249 Singularity
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