Tinker Bell

So I was channel surfing and I found Tinker Bell on the Disney Channel and watched it for a while.



When it came to the part about the bird hatchling, that was just adorable! I loved it. I searched high and low and finally found a nice pic of the hatchling online at a blu-ray dvd review site. (Blu-ray 1920x1080 capture at site.)



More nice BIG movie pics at kidstvmovies.about.com.
Also review.

I tried to find out when/if the movie will air again but could not find that info anywhere online. I'd like to record it and/or maybe I'd buy it if I found a good price on it. It's a very pretty movie.

Three direct-to-DVD sequels to follow:
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (fall 2009)
Tinker Bell: A Midsummer Storm (working title, summer 2010)
Tinker Bell: A Winter Story (working title, winter 2011)

Currently at YouTube:
Tinker Bell Trailer
Lost Treasure Trailer (sequel 2)

Tinker Bell Part 1
(10 min.)

Tinker Bell Part 4
(Bird part starts at the end.)
Tinker Bell Part 5
(Bird part at the beginning.)

Video Screen Captures:

Fonts

Once in a while I'm going to post some fonts that I like and want to use. Because there are just so many of them the good ones get lost on my hard drive.

So I'm really liking this calligraphic font called
Kingthings-Exeter.

And the Flourishes.



kingthingsfonts creator's website.

I like Kfon too.




Bamboo. I rotated it, layer, stack, etc. Fun to play with. I should make a seamless pattern out of this one.

Some others: Leafy, bird.



The fish are kinda cute:



Aierbazzi is interesting. I usually see this kind of thing as a brush, not a font. Just type the letters and they make this bouquet.



Just a few:



Or add a single embellishment:



Made a seamless pattern from the Floralia font. (Free to snag.)



Pattern Creation Notes:
Used Simple Half Wrap filter and PSP Offset to create the seamless pattern.
Black (BG) font color with green outline (FG) on layer blend soft light at 36% opacity.
It looks nice embossed.
Can also add texture and/or colorize.

Cloud Putto

Cloud Putto:



Closeup of head:



Putto
(Plural putti)

The Eagle Has Landed

So it was cloud heaven out there on our land the other day and I was taking pics like crazy. I noticed when viewing the photos that I was getting some cool shadows on the ground and this one looks like an eagle. I can see the entire body outline - tail, wings, beak. I LOVE it!

It looks fab full size.
The clouds aren't all that good on this one compared to others I have.

Here's a better representation of the clouds:



And a little closer...

Eastern Kingbird2

I think this is another Eastern Kingbird.
On our land this time.
Better quality.
So I'm posting it.
I sharpened it some, but it still is a little soft.

In flight:


I know it's terribly blurry, but I like it.
I cloned out the fence.

Moon and Jupiter

Sat 13 Jun 09
5:22 a.m.
Now the star/planet is at the lower left of moon, so this must be Jupiter that is paired up with the moon in the Southern sky. (See previous post.)



Obviously over-exposed moon.

My next challenge was getting a good exposure of the moon without the planet getting too faint.

This is an example where the camera is *wrong* with exposure, so have to switch to manual mode and set the shutter speed myself.
Taken with my S3 point and shoot hand-held.
I tried spot metering but then the camera would not let me go maximum zoom.
I had it at maximum zoom so that takes care of the aperture setting, and then kept increasing the shutter speed until I didn't see any blowouts on the moon in-camera view.
1/125 shutter speed worked.
That moon is very bright.
I was worried the planet would be too faint, but I can still see it when image is full size.



Closeup of moon:


Fly Me To The Moon
Old Frank Sinatra video w-a-y back...1956.

Morning Twilight in June

Thur, 11 Jun 09
Near civil twilight
A little after 5 a.m.

Clear sky.
One very bright prominent star/planet in eastern sky.
Moon (3/4 full?) is in the southern sky and one very bright prominent star/planet to the upper left of it.

Pumped up the ISO to 400 and took some pictures hand-held with my S3 point and shoot.
It was a tad difficult trying to get everything I needed in order to get a perspective on it. (Hilly in background, trees in front, but just the tops, so added a little more ground.)

Southern Sky:



Eastern Sky:


I adore this time of day.
Sky is lighting up on the horizon.
Birds are already singing.
The birth of a new day.

I searched online, but could not figure out what planets those were.

One place says Mars and Venus are together.
Nope, that's not it.

Another place says Jupiter is seen with the moon but at the lower left.
Nope, that's not it.
Nice illustrative pic here, though.
The moon looks like the right shape at least. ;)

Hey, I could do that, just make an illustration of what I saw...





I referred to my photos to get the placements correct. The only thing from the camera in the illustrations is the moon, which I took about an hour later. I wanted to show the shape of the moon more clearly than the original which glowed too much. The rest was created in Paint Shop Pro. I have an evergreen brush I used to paint the trees in. I don't really care for the sunrise gradient, but it's the closest to original I could get.

NOTES:

Dawn vs Dusk vs Twilight

Dawn = morning (before sunrise)
Dusk = evening (after sunset)
when noticeable amount of sunlight in the sky

Twilight = both
Morning twilight starts at dawn and ends with sunrise
Evening twilight starts with sunset and ends with dusk

Twilight - 3 Kinds

1. Civil Twilight
starts (morning) or ends (evening)
when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.
This is generally considered the limit of useable daylight.

2. Nautical Twilight
(aka Military Twilight)
starts or ends
when the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon.
Marks limits of unassisted human vision.
"first light"
"nightfall"

3. Astronomical Twilight
starts or ends
when the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.
This marks the point at which there is no longer any detectable sunlight refracted in the atmosphere

REFERENCES/LINKS:

good-stuff UK
Sunrise, Sunset, Twilight and Dusk: FAQ

Twilight Definitions
Astronomical Applications Dept of U.S. Naval Observatory

Sunrise Sunset Table
Sun or Moon Rise/Set Table for One Year
Astronomical Applications Dept of U.S. Naval Observatory

Weather Underground
Weather and Twilight times by zip (search).

Wiki Twilight

IMAGE NOTES:
png file type gave better quality gradients than jpg file type.
Same or lower file size too.
Surprise.
I already knew gif's suck at gradients.

UPDATE: See post above this one for more moon pics.

Chipping Sparrow

Better setting than previous pic.
Plus, this one is in my backyard.
Actually there were two of them together, but this one flew away and landed here.



UPDATE:
Another one, back view, pic taken 28 Jun 09, teensy bird w-a-y up on top of a very tall evergreen tree at our place. I couldn't tell what it was until I looked at the pics.

Peekaboo Bird

Don't know the ID on this bird, so I called it Peekaboo.

Lilacs

Went for a nature walk on our land.

Here's the view:



Yeah, I wanted to get the great cloudy sky and those hills in the background. It captures the feel of the place. The pic came out of the camera that blue too. I just lightened it a bit.

Lilacs are still blooming, although they are starting to look a little weathered from the rain we've had the past few days.



Closeup:


I tweaked the color balance on the lilacs so the color tone would match more closely. One was a little too blue and the other was a little too red. It all depends on how the sun shines on them.

I cut some and now have a fragrant bouquet in my house.
I love the scent of lilacs.

Robin's Nest

And what do we have here...peering into the evergreen tree with camera and tele so not too close...



Mrs.(?) Robin flew out of the nest and was NOT happy with me.
Posed as if to say sternly, "Back off!"



Stomp.


I hope I didn't traumatize her too much.

Info on "Gestation"

"Question: I am building a raised playhouse for my kids and noticed that a robin had built a nest and laid 3 eggs...

Answer: ...It takes about 12-14 days for a female to incubate the eggs. After the birds fledge, about two weeks later, the father takes two weeks to teach them how to survive. This means that you may need to postpone constructing the playhouse for up to seven weeks if the nest is active. ..."

Just a partial clip. Complete article at the link. There are also more links to follow. One has
pictures of eggs and hatched babies.

NOTE:
It may be incorrect to apply the term "gestation" to birds as "gestating" refers to "carry in womb."
Googling on gestation and birds gets results, so leaving it as is. Put the word in quotes, though.

Wisegeek.com says "the term may be used for the incubation period of eggs for egg-laying animals like birds."

Blue Jay Alert

Hark! A flash of blue in the trees...



Blue Jay Alert!
Running outside with camera...







These are the best ones I got. The bird was on the move, hopping around a lot.

enature
cornell

Cloud Types

Another google excursion...



Clouds: 4 basic categories (Latin)
cirrus/cirro - wispy (lock/curl of hair)
cumulus/cumulo - puff balls (heap)
stratus/strato - layers, blankets (spread out)
nimbus/nimbo - (rain)

4 Cloud Types
srh.noaa.gov



Cloud Classifications
srh.noaa.gov
In meteorology, 27 categories - 9 for each level (low, middle, high)
(Good cloud pics here.)

Wiki Cloud Types

Nice Cloud Drawing
(Click on "A Printer Friendly Cloud Chart" link.)

Luke Howard
(b. 28 Nov 1772 – d. 20 Mar 1864)
was the guy who named the clouds.



Back in 2004 the US Postal Service came out with cloud stamps. Did not know that. I'm about 5 years too late.

2004 Cloud Postage Stamps
University of British Columbia Earth and Ocean Sciences
GOOD Image of the stamps here.

Livescience on the stamps
(10 categories of clouds, 27 subtypes)



Cloud pics are mine.

Bird Song Radio

Oh, this is wonderful!

BirdSongRadio.com

Via MeFi