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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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.
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!
A few more photos of the Australian King Parrots that visited the other day. They've been here since, but haven't stayed at the feeder for as long as they did the other day. Glad I got the camera out and took some photos while I had the opportunity. Waiting for their turn at the feeder ... Showdown with the rainbow lorikeet ... Standoff ... Success ... And the lorikeet is back ... and the king parrots move off. We just had a very short storm pass through quite quickly - some thunder, rain and hail. I think the ground got a pretty good soaking and the hail looked small enough not to have caused any damage to the new plants but I'll have a better look in the morning. All that rain means I don't have to water tomorrow and I would imagine the rainwater tank is full again.
And with this quick post, it's time to have some dinner. Have a great Sunday! Farewell | Final | Seasons Changing This prompt was about photographing sunset. While I didn't technically photograph the sunset, I did take advantage of the lovely golden light you see as the sun is setting. I was doing the end of the day routine with the chickens and looked up to see the most gorgeous light shining through the large fig trees we have in the back yard. Yep, grabbed the camera for a few photos. One of the things I like most about saying goodbye to winter (apart from finally being warm and not having to wear layers of clothes) is the increasing length of daylight hours. I enjoy being outside in the warmth and the daylight and find I get so much more done with the longer days. I'm not sure how people cope in those countries that only have a couple of hours of daylight during the depth of winter. I'm sure I'd go barmy pretty quickly - I don't even like curtains to spoil my view of the outside! But anyway here are a few photos of the view that caught my eye. This is around our fire pit, which was new for this winter. It's been such a wonderful spot to relax, chat and stay warm before heading inside for the rest of the evening. I guess it's just about time to pack it away for next winter. It's pretty obvious why I had to get the camera. The light is just so gorgeous and I had fun capturing the light flare from the sun through the leaves. I didn't realise just how amazing the bokeh was until I uploaded the photos onto the computer. I couldn't get this effect again if I tried.
Image | Replication | LikenessOk, so this isn't a photo I've taken recently. It's actually a photo from a trip we made to Austria last year, but it's the photo I thought of for this prompt. However, when I found it in the Lightroom library, it didn't have quite the reflection that I thought it had. I decided to upload it anyway just to show the before and after of post production work. I came across a tutorial on adjusting a dull photo during one of my many wanderings through photography websites and used the photo below to experiment. This is the photo straight out of the camera. It was taken with a telephoto zoom lens as it was across the lake from where we were walking. I loved the sense of scale it invokes with the large mountains in the background and the small houses on the water. This is the same photo with a number of adjustments made - particularly the use of graduated filters and fine tuning adjustments in temperature, exposure, contrast, saturation etc. A camera never lies but the photographer can always manipulate the data available to create a more visually appealing scene.
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