Feeling Like Summer
Warm breezes, ample sunshine and the flowers of summer.
Fresh, like a glass of lemonade....
Or cool and fragrant
Lazy, dreamy days approaching the summer solstice
Smoky Selway Ridges
1 day ago
Showing posts with label yellow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yellow. Show all posts
Tiny Yellow Details
Taken on Sunday's walk as I started to work out the soreness in my legs.
Sunday wasn't too bad - the worst pain came Monday, especially when climbing or descending the stairs.
After a short, painful run on Tuesday, everything is almost back to normal.
The Golden Hour
>> Sunday, August 4, 2013 –
around town,
flowers,
mosaic,
seasons,
yellow
August's golden light swept through the prairie
Summer's sweet breeze, fading
Shared with Mosaic Monday. Is summer fading fast where you are?
Collages and Mosaics with the iPhone
The warm weather has sent the trees, plants and flowers into a frenzy. What was bare just a week ago is now in full bloom. Since it has been so warm, these blooms won't last very long, and Friday afternoon I went out with my SLR and my iPhone to capture these fleeting moments.
But today I only have photos taken from my iPhone. Seriously, it is hard to beat the ease of taking the photos, editing them, making a collage / mosaic and sharing these photos with this phone.
For the photos, I used the Olloclip Macro lens. I've posted about this lens attachment before and I love the clarity and bokeh of the resultant photos. Here is a picture of the olloclip in the package:
Once I had a nice collection of photos, I brought them into the Photogene2 app. I can adjust the photos there if I want. I used a tiny bit of Clarity on these photos to make them pop.
For the collage, I have two apps I normally use - Diptic and Montager. But I remembered that Photogene2 has a basic collage function too! It was easier to use the Photogene2 collage option and here are the two mosaics I created:
Magnolias in different stages of bloom:
Weeping Willow:
Once I created the collages, I shared to my flickr and Instagram feeds. All from the phone - no computer, no card reader and no wires. And while I don't think my camera phone will ever replace my big camera, the camera phone certainly wins from an ease of use standpoint.
Now to hook up my DSLR and get those other photos downloaded......
Linked to Mary and Mosaic Monday
Texture Tuesday - These Dreams
We're dreaming over at Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. For today's photo, I added her Dream Texture, Soft Light blending mode at 100% and added the text as a separate layer. The text font is Scriptina. The water lily is from our fish pond in the backyard - we have lots of pink flowers, but only a few yellow ones, and they are my favorite.
The original photo:
I hope you have a wonderful day!
The Fields of Gold
I must have yellow on my brain - my last post from a week ago featured a yellow flower and today it's a sea of yellow.
Life has been crazy, hence the lack of posts. With all the end of school field trips, concerts, promotion ceremonies added on to the routine stuff, I haven't had the time. Things will settle down after this week, thank goodness!
I took these pictures last week - as the sea of yellow in the fields only lasts until the farmers plow them away to plant soybeans or the yellow flowers fade away.
I know the flowers are weeds, but they are so pretty to look at when driving down the country roads.
Texture Tuesday - Sunny and Old Fashioned
The hot spell we endured enjoyed last week caused many new flowers to burst into bloom, including this sunny columbine. I shot this at work, as a couple of the employees took to filling up some flower beds with an assortment of perennials a few years ago and we now enjoy the fruits of their labor.
I converted this to sepia and then added a texture from Kim Klassen.
I erased some of the texture from the center of the flower by applying a white layer mask (from Coffeeshop - Layer Mask for PSE) and erasing by applying a soft grey brush to the layer mask.
If you like today's photo, be sure to check out the other textured creations at Kim's Texture Tuesday.
Thursday Diptych - Spring Fields
No Team Up Thursday this week - Lee is visiting her sister in warm, sunny Arizona.
But in the spirit of Team Up Thursday, I prepared a diptych - scenes from the fields in Spring.
The daffodils are fairly common, but the purple haze only appears in the cornfields until the farmers plow them away. I'm sure they are weeds, but they transform the brown fields into fields of purple ripples. Then, like the sunny daffodils, they are gone. Such is the fleeting of Spring.
November Evenings
The angle of the sun in November casts a beautiful glow, don't you think?
Straight Out of the Camera (SOOC) today, because I'm running around, getting ready for our next adventure. Where I get to wear these:
The last time I wore these sandals, I was walking along the banks of the Italian Riviera.
While we aren't going back to Italy this weekend, we are going somewhere fun....
Selective Focus - Daylily
>> Friday, October 22, 2010 –
flowers,
selective focus,
techniques,
yellow
Since it's been almost 18 months since my last major "gear purchase", I've been itching for something "shiny and new". I'm enamored by the cool selective focus abilities of the Lensbaby, but not sure about the price - the Lensbaby composer runs about $250, and I know I would want the Wide Angle converter ($80) and Fisheye optic ($150). That's almost $500 for a lot of plastic.... I could buy the Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye lens for a little more money, or be saving for the 105mm f2.8 Micro lens I've been coveting.
So I started researching ways to replicate the "Lensbaby Selective Focus effect" using Photoshop Elements. I tried a couple of things and ended up with some pleasing results.
The original picture:
Steps taken:
- Duplicated the original image in a new layer (ctrl-j)
- On the duplicate layer, distorted the image by selecting Filter --> Distort --> Polar Coordinates --> Polar to Rectangular
- Still on the duplicate layer, applied a Motion Blur by selecting Filter --> Blur --> Motion Blur --> Angle of -90, distance of 125 pixels (this can be modified to fit your picture)
- Again, on the duplicate layer, distort again by selecting Filter --> Distort --> Polar Coordinates --> Rectangular to Polar
- You should have a blurry, distorted top layer.
- Apply a Layer mask on that distorted layer. Since this functionality is not available with PSE, I use the Layer mask action for PSE from the CoffeeShop.
- Using a soft brush, with the foreground color set to Black and my brush opacity set to 40%, I erased away the blurry portions on the layer mask, revealing the in focus layer below.
The final result:
Another example - Lee's picture of her daughter's knee high Converse sneakers:
I'm sure this is one of many ways to achieve the selective focus effect. I've seen examples using a Gaussian Blur, too.
So, for now, I'll hold on to my money and keep playing with filters. Or maybe I'll just buy that Nikon Fisheye lens and keep playing with filters!
I've linked up today's post to the Love That Shot Link-Up . If you have a shot you want to share, make sure you go and check out Love That Shot. Read more...
Fields of Gold
I see these yellow flowers in the fields every spring. I'm pretty sure they are weeds, but when you drive by these large swaths of bright yellow, it's hard to consider them as such.
Keep Warm Under the Light
The weather here has been crazy! After a long, cold winter, our April was the warmest on record. Today, a cold front is coming, with frost warnings and whipping winds. So we are going to huddle together under the light to stay warm.
OK, we're not chicks, but I think they have the right idea.
Let's Make Some Lemonade
>> Sunday, April 18, 2010 –
food and drink,
yellow
I made lemonade on Friday for my Book Club group, and much to the kids' dismay, the Book Club ladies drank it all.
So I had to buy more lemons and make some more.
Basic recipe -
Heat up 1 C Water and 1 C Sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
Combine the simple syrup (that's the official term for that water and sugar you just heated up) with 1 C lemon juice and 6 C cold water in a 2Q pitcher. Mix and serve with ice. Add more water / sugar to taste. Enjoy!
A Nice Tall Cool One
>> Wednesday, April 14, 2010 –
bubbles,
food and drink,
yellow
With some fizz.
Because we've gone from Winter directly to Summer. The temperatures have topped over 85degF these last three days. Thank goodness the stores haven't started selling those Intex pools, because the kids would be lobbying for one.
SOOC Saturday - Harbinger
I don't think you could go wrong with the daffodil. Or dress it up / down with post processing - SOOC is the way to go.
Best Shot Monday - Lovely Fall
>> Monday, October 19, 2009 –
best shot monday,
trees,
yellow
I couldn't decide between the two pictures, so I am posting both
Underneath the canopy of changing leaves:
Yellow leaves from another tree in the parking lot - with leaves so yellow that it stuck out like a sore thumb and drew me to it.
Check out the other Best Shot Monday Entries here, and share yours today.
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