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.
Lively | Colorful | VividThis is a prompt from back in early October, and the email had a photo of a stunning autumn scene with gorgeous red, orange and yellow foliage along a river bank. Of course, that wasn't going to be happening here as we were coming into spring, and a dry one at that. I've been watching the rainbow lorikeets at the feeder pretty much since we moved here and started putting wild bird mix out for them. And I never tire of watching them at the feeder or their antics. The other day I had the camera close by and there were two lorikeets so who could resist and I got to less than a metre away from these two. They definitely fit into the Vibrant prompt. They're even colourful underneath. I can't remember which lens I was using for these shots and the information is on the main computer down in the office. Very little has been done in post processing. Just love these birds.
Exercise | Journey | Act This prompt is part of the 'Thankful for' series. Unfortunately any meaningful exercise is out for me at the moment while I wait for two partial tears in my hamstring to heal. I had a PRP injection last Friday and am hoping that it does the job and I can get back into doing some exercise again, and soon. I'm taking it really easy though at the moment, and not even taking the dogs for their morning walk - which I am missing big time. My early morning walks are one of my favourite parts of the day. I'm so looking forward to getting back to running, weights and my ballet classes. Zimi absolutely loves chasing the water out of the hose, which often makes watering the plants a challenge. I'm trying to get him to differentiate between the 'shower' setting which is for when I am watering and he has to leave it alone, and the 'jet' setting which is when he can play. Not terribly successful so far, and worse if he hasn't had his morning exercise as he has all this pent-up energy to use. I've been watering to try to keep a small amount of grass around the patio area alive, mainly to stop it from going back to dirt and then blowing in through the house. Of course Zimi thought this was great fun, so I roped Steve into playing with Zimi so I could get some action shots; just a bit difficult to do solo. However Zimi wasn't playing as well with Steve (or maybe Steve wasn't playing well with Zimi) so I didn't get to take very many. The top two photos show Zimi in the process of leaping up to catch the water and all legs are in the air in the second photo - which according to the daily CY365 email is the ideal shot. Steve took over camera duties so that I could encourage Zimi to play more (which he did). I'm not quite sure exactly why Zimi likes this but he seems to derive great pleasure out having the hose on his face and in his mouth. Misty, our previous German Shepherd also loved chasing the water coming out of the hose, but Bella shows no interest whatsoever.
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. Gourd | Pumpkin Patch | Home Grown I was so excited the other day to see the tiniest little butternut pumpkin on one of my pumpkin vines. I haven't tried to grow pumpkins before, so I have no idea how they will fare here, but it was worth having a go. I've planted two types - butternut and a little round one whose name I can't remember and I can't find my book where I recorded it. Hopefully with eight plants a few will grow and actually produce something we can eat. The prompt I guess was really in preparation for Halloween in the Northern Hemisphere, but I thought I'd take the opportunity to record the beginnings of my pumpkins, and it does fit in with the sub-heading of home grown. My first little one. A couple of the other type just getting started. Promises of a lot more to come ...
The Ocean | The Sky | A WallOne of the previous prompts for the CY365 was Serene and I've had in mind an image for quite some time. I finally decided to get the camera out and see how it would work. It didn't. We have one of those Chinese temple statues kind of things that go in the garden. We had it in Cairns for a couple of years, however, when we got here we had no real idea of where we wanted to put it, so it found a home in the pool area and was forgotten. Once we redid the landscaping we moved it to a place of its own. I thought it would make a nice photo with gardens around it and the pool in the background - a touch of serenity. But it didn't work out regardless of how I tried to take the shot. While crawling around in the gardens I noticed the sunlight reflecting on our ceramic pot, and thought it worth taking a couple of photos. I'm glad I did. The glaze almost looks like blue lava flowing out of the indents in the pot, with the blur of running water flowing over the sides. I also like the orange reflections from the sun; yep, that golden hour for photography, that wonderful light. So while I didn't end up with anything for Serene I knew that there was also a prompt for Blue, so I've run with that for tonight. And that's another weekend over. I saw on Facebook that there are only 8 more Saturdays before Christmas. Where has my year gone? Has yours disappeared as quickly as mine? Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you have a great week in front of you. Night for now.
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 Look Down | No Socks | Patio Where I stand - one of the recurring monthly prompts where the idea is to stop and look down and to capture our world from a different perspective. Unfortunately today wasn't a particularly interesting or exciting day for this prompt, I just did the usual housekeeping type of stuff. Taking a photo of the vacuum cleaner or the mop and bucket just wasn't really all that interesting.
These photos of Bella and Zimi playing were taken after they'd eaten dinner this evening and they were playing while I was wandering around the yard trying to work out what to photograph. Of course they needed to be almost underneath me while doing this. Bella can be quite inconsistent - at times she's more than happy to indulge Zimi's play antics (like when he pulls her tail) and then at other times she just sits and growl at him for seemingly no reason at all. I'm glad Zimi knows what her different moods are; we can't work them out. I did try to show just how dry the grass is again in this photo and in the processing. The rain has been woefully inadequate this year. We get a little, the grass greens up, the rain stops and then the grass dies off again. I'm very thankful for our rainwater tanks, as they are helping to keep the plants going, but I don't like to use water on grass, and besides grass is amazingly resilient and will come back with a good downpour. Let's just hope we have some soon. Photos taken on the iPhone and processed in Lightroom and Perfect Effects 8 - for fun. 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. |
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