Laurel Ridge Daffodils 4-26-08

Tom and I went up to Laurel Ridge to photograph the Daffodils.

I was there the week before and there were lots of great flowers, but it was only 25% peak. The day that we went it was at peak! And the weather was great too.


I met weatherman Geoff Fox there. He actually came over and volunteered to hold my reflector for me. He was very friendly, easy to talk to and quite the photographer. He actually took photos of me taking photos (and sent them to me).

Both of these are photos that Geoff took.

I love all the shades of green that appear in the Spring. The sky, the green leaves and the colors of the daffodils all work to create this Spring image.

Then I walked to the right a little and photographed this same tree from 3:00 instead of 6:00 and have a compelely different look because of the different varieties of daffodils on that side.

Selective color is something that I often reserve for brides, but I like it here too.

I thought that this photograph was strong enough to use as a watercolor too.

I also love the fiddleheads at Laurel Ridge. Small and curled up like a newborn baby waiting for the sun to make them unfold.

I turned these photographs into black and white photographs after I was back home. I prefer B&W for people because it allows you to see their soul rather concentrate on their clothes, but sometimes B&W works for other subject too...

People watched as Tom set up this photograph and then had to run all the way to the well before the shutter tripped.

Backyard Birds

Tom sat outside in the backyard and took photos of birds coming in to our feeders. We have lots of catbirds, adults and babies. They are so pretty with their shades of gray and then the rust color underneath.





This catbird was displaying -- how cool is that!



Goldfinch in non-breeding colors.






Red bellied woodpecker on a log that Tom set up with some suet.





We have lots of black capped chickadees...






The nuthatches are adorable! They were one of the first small birds that I learned to identify as a child, I can still remember reading in the bird book "one of the few birds that walks headfirst DOWN the tree trunk" and sure enough there it was...







I was just elling Jim Zipp that we very rarely get grosbeaks (or orioles) and the next day two appeared (one female and one immature male). Now our friend Gary just a mile away got a beautfil male grosbeak. I have placed the link here -- definitely check it out -- it is spectacular!!
http://newhavencameraclub.org/results_2007-08/ClassA_5-08/content/A2_12_Prestash__Gary_Male_Rose_Breasted_Grosbeak_2008_05_large.html

Magic Wings

We got up very early (leaving Hamden at 5am) for this excursion to Magic Wings (South Deerfield, Ma) but it was worth it. The advantage of going so early is that we have the whole place to ourselves, we can use our tripods and importantly that the butterflies are still warming up and hence slower and easier to photograph.

Here are two butterflies, the second one took first place in the New Haven Camera Club May print competition.

There were lots of interesting flowers too.
After the butterflies warmed up they move fast and thus were harder to capture, hence I started photographing some of the flowers.

The Hibiscus were just beautiful and the pistels and stamens just caught my eye. In the first photo I tried a profile while the second I used selective focus to have a red background against the in focus pistels and stamens

Lastly, there were some new animals at Magic Wings and they took them out for us to photograph.

NEW PUPPY!

It has been too long since we last blogged. My mother was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer (spread to the liver) and then Tom's mother (84) suddenly passed away. It has been a very difficult Spring...

But we did get a wonderful new addition to the family -- a new puppy (a Golden Retriever named Summer). She was born on Tom's birthday and Amethyst (our 8 yerar old Cheaspeake Bay Retriever) just loves her (Summer brought out her maternal instincts). Amy is VERY good to her (right from the beginning, looking out for her, sharing things with her, even breaking her bone in half and leaving it downstairs for Summer when Summer was too little to get up the stairs)


Here are a few images -- she is a real cutie pie





Breanna picked out her name; Summer just adores Breanna!





Summer hit it off with Socrates right away (we think that Summer thought that she was a litter-mate). It took Summer and Leo a little longer. Socrates is a little upset that he has been "de-throned" and when Summer tries to get on "his bed" he really whacks her (but no claws out) repeatedly. His expression here seems to say "why did you bring that thing home?"



She is growing up fast! She was teething for a very long time and now has most of her teeth. For a while she wasn't eating much of her (hard) food and when we looked in her mouth we understood why -- no teeth). She has a great temperment and for a puppy she is VERY calm!

Quinnipiac in Spring

Tom took these photos as I walked around the Quinnipiac Campus with Summer during our socialization homework for Puppy Kindergarten. It was a wonderful Spring day and everything was just starting to bloom and come alive. The QU campus is such a beatutiful campus, but in Spring and Fall it is especially vibrant.



















LOTS of leading lines around this campus!

iPod People

I know that you have seen them -- the iPod Ads in magazines, in TV commercials, etc. Well now your kid, your friend, or even you can be in an iPod ad - it's easy!

Find or take a photograph of a person doing something (doing an action, doing something iPod-ish, etc). Yes, a lot of people stand around waiting with theur iPod and listen to their music but how many iPod ads have you seen depicting a silhouetted persom just standing around looking down the road for the 3 o'clock bus to downtown? Create a fun dynamic image (karate moves, a "Charlie's Angels" pose, etc.)

The funny thing is the photo does not even have to be in focus or well exposed because we are going to make the person into a silhouette.

Select your person in the photograph and then Edit --> Fill --> with Black to get your silhouetted iPerson (or iDog for that matter). You could also create a 'solid color' adjustment layer by clicking the adjustment layers icon at the bottom of your layers palette.

Later you can go back in and fill in a few details...put a layer mask on the silhouette and at 30% opacity bring the iPod color into the black area for some detail.

From http://www.macmerc.com/

One of the most common mistakes I've seen in tutorials showing how to replicate the iPod ad style is that they make the silhouette a true silhouette when, if you look at the ads, the people actually do show detail...not a lot...it's really dark...but it's there. So if you've attempted to simplify the process by shooting a silhouette that shows only a hard outline of your subject with a solid black fill within, you've probably gone too far.

Next --> Create a new layer

By clicking layer --> new fill layer--> solid color or by creating a 'solid color' adjustment layer by clicking the adjustment layers icon at the bottom of your layers palette.

Play around with the colors for hours until you find one that you like -- just kidding, don't go nuts chossing different bizarre bright colors; here are the actual iPod ad colors: Blue #1379F9, Purple #9369BF, Orange #F59110, Green #9FCC39, Pink #EB5297.

Which one should you use ? Try them all -- its easy to create all of the layers and then just save the file for the next iPerson...

Now you have the basic iPerson, but to make it more itneresting put a shadow there to make the person more dynamic.

http://www.photoshoplab.com/make-your-own-ipod-style-photo.html

Jagged Edges — If you find your selection and cutout has left you with some jagged edges, try deselecting the cutout and applying a Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur) set at a very low Radius of 0.2 pixels. This can help soften the edges.

From http://www.macmerc.com/

There are other more up to date variations of this

iPod Graffiti Blue http://dr-photoshop.com/tutorials/index.php?id=59

and iPod grunge http://dr-photoshop.com/tutorials/index.php?id=57