Not feeling very much like cooking tonight, so it might be takeout ...
Finally, some much needed rain! This was taken with my iPhone yesterday afternoon during our drenching downpour. Lots of surface water and lots of runoff downhill. It was a challenge trying to take photos with two dogs under my feet, no matter which way I turned. They had to be right beside me because there was thunder. I cannot begin to understand why it was better to follow me around than to stay in the dry safety of the house, but that's what they did. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the water to dissipate once it stopped raining. You can see the new enclosure we built for Houdini. There is no way Bella can climb this fence. The side door to the art studio opens onto this area so they have an outside and a safe inside spot as well. Both of them are getting used to this new arrangement and at least we know they are safe and secure when we go out. Hopefully this means no more calls from strangers letting me know they have picked up my dog in the middle of the road at night! Just a photo of my cottage garden attempt - it is enjoying the good soaking it's getting, and I'm enjoying not having to water constantly. Not that I mind watering, but I was conscious of how low the water tanks were getting. This rain has been great for topping all the rain water tanks up. I think we're in for a few more days of rain which will be nice.
Not feeling very much like cooking tonight, so it might be takeout ...
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Special | Everyday | DetailsContinuing the Giving Thanks For theme that has been happening in the CY365 prompts this month. This one is about slowing down and noticing the little things in life: It's easy to forget the little things. The pile of toys we pick up every single day. The empty carton of milk that always seems to wind up in the refrigerator. The flowers blooming in the yard. Today, slow down. Pick up your camera and capture the little things in your life. This was Friday's prompt. We had finally received some much welcomed rain on Thursday evening and overnight and once I checked the email to discover the prompt was The Little Things one of the things that went through my mind was how thankful I was for the rain, followed closely by wondering whether there were any raindrops left on the flowers so I could take a quick few shots before heading into the city for work. I have been taking a few photos of the agapanthus over the last couple of days as it's been gradually opening and the following photos were taken quickly this morning. Today's prompt is about taking a photo from a different perspective and I was very tempted to use this shot of the agapanthus as I was on the ground looking up the stalk for this one, but thought I'd do something different later. Black and white conversion of a white agapanthus. And finally, the little bee being busy doing what bees do. The original email was of a bee and commenting on how addictive it can be attempting to take sharp, focussed shots of a tiny bee that moves all too quickly. All the photos were taken with the macro lens, but this is the one that come closest to being a macro shot.
Aroma | Flavor | Scent Well I've finally worked out that the overall theme for this month is "give thanks for" which is why the previous prompt was Give Thanks For Yourself. There are some days I surprise myself with how quick I am! Anyway the photo that came with the Good Smells daily email showed a tray of home made biscuits, fresh out of the oven. Now I'm saving a 'baking-something-nice-and-decadent' photo for another prompt that I know came a few days ago, or maybe it was a few weeks ago. Who knows, it is all going by way too fast. Can you believe it is almost Christmas? I figured I could make something for morning tea or dessert and use it for the photoblog CY365 prompt as well as for the food blog. So, instead of taking a photo of cooking for good smells I decided to do more of what I like - yep, some close up shots of flowers. We planted two gardenia shrubs in front of our bedroom sometime early last year. This year they are both in full flower and the smell that drifts in is just beautiful. I've played around with different types of processing, but haven't made up my mind which one I like best, so I'm going to put up a few. The next three photos were taken with the gardenia sitting on a coffee table with a black glass top. The colour of the glass in the photo depended on where I was standing when I took the photo - in one direction I got a white reflection and when I stood on the other side I got a black reflection. Good to know so I can now choose what sort of colour I want when I'm looking for reflections. All the photos have been processed in Lightroom. Sometimes I have started with my own adjustments and then used a preset, other times I started with a preset and then made my adaptations to the result to achieve the effect I was after. Which one/s do you like?
The other component of the daily email was to use a lens that you don't normally use, or to use a normal lens for something different, which is something I do tend to do. These photos were all shot using my macro lens, but they aren't really macro photos. The macro lens has allowed me to get up quite close to catch the detail but I've not gone as close as I could. The macro lens is quite a lovely high quality lens and I have used it for portraits and other shots as well as for any really close up macro work. Similarly, I have used my telephoto zoom lens to get close up shots. These shots aren't from any of the CY365 prompts. I was doing the usual throwing-the-ball-for-the-dogs this afternoon when I noticed the afternoon sunlight coming through the agapanthus and liked how the petals looked almost transparent. The camera was down in the office, and it had the macro lens on, so it was good to go. This was the flower that triggered this photos and I thought I'd convert it to black and white. I wouldn't mind doing more with the black and white rather than colour - there are many ways to convert colour to black and white, so a bit of experimenting will be required. So of course, once I had the camera in hand I couldn't stop at just one photo. The next two shots are from another agapanthus flower which is just slowly starting to open. I love how all the little petals are curled up just ready to burst out into full bloom, and I love that macro photography helps to see these details more clearly. I had a lovely time playing with post processing in both of these shots - guess that's pretty obvious. Every flower is a soul blossoming in Nature
Gerard De Nerval This isn't a CY365 prompt, although I'm sure if I looked through all of them I could find something to fit the photo. However, I've been putting off doing a workout on the stationary cycle for some time and really should get in and do it - so as tempting as it is, I won't use looking through the prompt list as a reason to put off exercise. I'm not fond of cycling but seeing that going for a run is out until my hamstring is fixed, I guess cycling it is! I was wandering around the garden after breakfast this morning and noticed a tiny little mushroom that had popped up overnight near some ground cover I've planted. I decided to take a shot and have a play with the different sliders in Lightroom that I never use, mainly because I don't really know what they do, to see what sort of effects they created. Anyway I was after a fairyland/fanstasy type of feel in the colouring. I think it needs more work or I need to be more 'out there', but this will do for this morning's offering. I saw one of the parent curlews this morning on my walk, but decided against taking the dogs near the nest.
Have a wonderful Wednesday, whatever you may be doing. Oh, I am looking forward to next year when the mangoes will be ripening and ready for eating.
All these tiny little green things are hopefully going to all become mangoes, and this is just one flower head. At the moment the tree is really covered in potential fruit. Once they get bigger we'll cover as many as we can to protect them from the birds, but the birds will still have plenty from the top of the tree where we can't reach to cover them. Askew | Contorted | CrookedThe prompt was about capturing reflections that were distorted. However, one of the photos I saw on the CY365 gallery used a specific camera technique to create a distorted image and I decided to give that a try. I set my shutter speed on 4 seconds, ISO 100 and aperture f5.6 and had a go at taking some photos with the zoom lens. No luck - all of the ones I took came out white, and I wasn't sure why. That led me to a google search, but I wasn't too sure of what keywords to use. Eventually I found this site which explained what I need to do quite well. I changed my aperture to f32, as what I had used let in way too much light, which is why the photos were coming out white, they were completely overexposed. I then set the shutter speed to 0.3 sec. I left the ISO the same. Those changes made the differences and I was able to at least get something. I think the most difficult aspect of taking this sort of photo is camera shake. It isn't possible to handhold a camera steady at such slow speeds, and then add in camera shake as you move the zoom lens and often it just ends up as a complete blur. The idea is that the centre of the image stays kind of in focus but I think I would need to set up the tripod to achieve that. Perhaps that's a project for another day. One of my first attempts - even though the flower isn't quite in focus, I liked the movement of the lines and processed it to achieve an effect I liked. This is closer to the look I was trying to achieve. Focus in the centre and the movement radiating outwards from the effect of zooming the lens while pressing the shutter button.
Bokeh | Blurry | Ill-definedThere wasn't anything specific behind this prompt, so I've just gone with playing with the macro lens and blurring out parts of the shots. I took the opportunity to take some photos of the new plants that have gone in the cottage garden area. I have no idea of the name of this plant but I bought three of them, all of which produce a different coloured flower on a stalk. I'd need to go and check the label on the pots they came in. That little spot you can see to the left of the flower is a tiny bee. I have some photos to put up later with the bees inside the flower collecting pollen. This one is a type of lavender, again I'm not sure which one exactly. I'm also not sure whether they will survive in the garden. It may be too hot for them. Guess I'll find out as the year progresses towards warmer weather. And after being out in the garden taking photos, I think it's time to do some work, including mowing the lawns. Hope you have a wonderful public holiday!
Routine | Duty | ResponsibilityToday's prompt was the recurring self-portrait one, the one I don't particularly like doing, but I thought I could use it to record the new cottage garden we've been creating around the patio. Well, really, it's been mainly me doing all the planting, but Steve and I did the heavier work of putting down weed mat, pavers, mulch and pebbles before the plants went in. I know the prompt was A Household Chore, but I don't really see being and working in the garden as a chore. I really enjoy watching a garden grow and flourish and change over the years. Somehow I don't get the same sense of satisfaction when it comes to many of the repetitive chores one does in a house. Getting these new plants established has become part of my routine, just watering them in and checking how they're doing. I have no idea how they're going to handle summer as I have no experience with most of the plants I've put in, but it will be fun to see what happens. The little wire basket around the plant in the front is a rather poor attempt to protect the plants from the dogs. To be fair, Bella and Zimi have actually been pretty good, and I do smile when I see Zimi following the path through the garden. It all comes undone, however, if they hear something of interest - anywhere - and they take off full speed ahead with no care what they run through or over. Yes, definitely only hardy plants will survive here! I went to Bunnings this afternoon. I wanted to get some pastel coloured spray paint to paint some old tins and then I plan to put some plants in them. Not sure where I'll put them once they're potted, but I'll find a space. I did come home with quite a few new plants to put in. Probably not a good idea to let me loose in the gardening section at the moment. I know, I wasn't smiling. It's always quite a challenge to work out the focus and exactly where to stand when setting up a self portrait. I had a bit of fun playing in Lighroom and also in Perfect Effects 8. Every day brings something beautiful
If we are just willing to look up and see it Marjorie Pay Hinckley Direction | Edge | LeadingBasically this prompt is about using line to create movement and direction in a photo with the aim of leading the viewer into the frame. I've been meaning to photograph the flower that has blossomed on my shallot - it's sent up a long stalk in the middle with a flower that has gradually opened. I probably should remove the flower, but I'm curious to see whether seeds will fall from it and if so, whether they will then grow. I'm still using the leaves from the sides of the plant in salads and other dishes. So for this prompt I'm going with the lines you find when you look at flowers through a macro lens - my favourite! The opening flower bud on the other shallot plant. I'm pretty sure this is classed as a weed, but the colours on it are just gorgeous. It's some sort of tiny climbing vine that is growing at the front - I probably should pull it out, but it isn't doing any harm yet. Lots of fine white lines on the callistemon. Hmmm, this wasn't the version of the cordyline that I wanted to post, but it's a bit late to go wandering back to the shed/office to upload the correct version. Short and sweet and that's it for tonight. Tomorrow is a full day in the city - early start from home and a late finish. Take out for dinner perhaps!
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