Apples by the Creek

If you are wondering why I am posting so many pictures of apples this week, this is why. I am taking an online eCourse with Kim Klassen - BB2. Each week we get a new assignment. This week we were to get some apples, imagine all the different possibilities, and then take photos of them for the week. 

Kim Klassen's BB2 Class 16

My Steps:

Background

Background Copy

Levels Adjustment Layer

KK_Cherish - Color Burn 79%

KK_Iam - Hard LIght 84%

Layer Mask

B/C Adjustment Layer

H/S Adjustment Layer

Type - Jenna Sue 160pt

This post is linked with:

NF Waters

Water World Wednesday

All Vintage Was Once New

This was my mother's old kitchen scale. It has suffered water damage but still weighs perfectly, and I use it all the time. It is one of my treasures.

Kim Klassen's BB Class 16 ~ Apples

My Steps:

background

background copy

kk_zanthe_scripted at soft light 100%

kk_maybe at multipy 100%

levels adjustment layer

kk_iAm at multiply 100%

curves adjustment layer

h/s adjustment layer

type - Jenna Sue 190pt

Two Apples in a Bowl

Apple in Bowl, a photo by Climbing the Digital Mountain One Step at a Time on Flickr.

Kim Klassen's BB2 Class 16 ~ Apples
~kk0101
~kk0101 copy multiply 100 %
~kk0101 soft light 100%
~b/c adjustment layer
~kk_lisa multiply 100~%
~kk_lisa multiply 100%
~b/c adjustment layer
~kk_holly lighten 44%
~Several adjustment layers:
     h/s, b/c, and levels

Long Live Our Frogs

We have so many frogs at our place we cannot count them. Apparently the hot tub turned goldfish pond and the other smaller pond on our sheltered back deck are very attractive spots for them to spend their days and nights. Geeze, do they make a LOT of racket! When my daughter comes home, they actually keep her awake at night. I have to put a loud, white noise machine in her bedroom so she can sleep. This year we have Peepers for the first time, and they REALLY do make a racket. Haven't seen them, but I hear them off and on all day long.
                        (double click and then click again to enlarge)

"I'd kiss a frog even if there was no promise of

 a Prince Charmingpopping out of it. I love frogs.

~Cameron Diaz

This post is linked with Camera Critters.

Some Shadows from Richmond and Lexington

Gene and Patti's Kitchen in Richmond

Our Homeplace on the Creek

(double click and then click again to enlarge)

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

~Mahatma Ghandi

This post is linked with Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

A Walk With My Granddaughter, Eloise

Our Walk at the End of a Very Happy Day

Richmond, VA
(double click and then click again to enlarge)

"Sugar and spice and everything nice, 
that's what little girls are made of."

This post is linked with Friday Fences.

Just Look Around You To See Nature's Beauty

As Buddy I were driving over to Richmond last Friday for his 10K run the next morning and for me to have my playdate with GD, Eloise, I took these photos while we were moving along at 70mph...with the exception of the shadow shots along the Afton Mountain fence guard. They are all SOOC with the exception of some cropping to place into the collages. 

This post is linked with:

Skywatch Friday

Friday Fences

Weekend Reflections

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Learning to Create a Storyboard

Mr. and Mrs. Red and Woody on a Snowy Day Last Week

Here are some mosaics I made in PSE11 for my BB2 Class #8. The pictures were taken last week during that heavy wet snow. As you can see, I was experimenting with adding type in the second collection. This was the easiest-peasiest thing to do ever. Just a couple of clicks and the pictures were out of the old photo bin and into a mosaic.  

Mr. and Mrs. Red ~ "The Love Birds"

This post is linked with:

Camera Critters

The Bird D'Pot

Mosaic Monday

Wild Bird Wednesday

NF Winged

In Transition

This post is linked with NF Blo-Ma.

Two Chairs ~ Three Versions

Assignment 7 for our BB2 class was to take this original picture by Kim Klassen, edit it in LR, and then move into PSE...or do whatever I chose. 

It was it totally up to us to decide what we wanted to do. 

This is my edit which started in LR with some Presets added, then moved it into PSE, and finally to RadLab for some final touches. 

Here I once again used LR, PSE, and RadLab, 

but this time I decided to convert the photo into one with gritty sepia tones.
Such cool shadows.

Plant the Seeds of Your Dreams

iPhoneography

This "Beyond Beyond 2" assignment 6 was to shoot from straight overhead and then once again to let light set off the picture. Buddy is an organic gardener, and these are some of his little bean babies he saved from last year. The rosemary is some we wintered over just by chance in this little vase.

This post is linked with Texture Tuesdays at Kim Klassen Cafe.

Pink with Happiness

This week in our "Beyond Beyond 2" course we are working on adding light through the use of gradient map adjustment layers in PSE and radial light in LR.  "Light" has been the order of the week. I've used the 2 pink tulips I bought over and over again...definitely got my $5.00 money's worth.

This post is linked with Macro Monday and NF Blo-Ma.

The Tulips Are Changing

Last Friday I went to the florist after my doctor's appointment and bought 2 pink tulips to photograph. I couldn't believe it...5$ for the two! Not cheap, but worth it! I already posted a mosaic and one macro taken on February 22nd with my 50mm lens. This morning I took these shots with my telephoto, and as you can see they are finally beginning to open up. 

A Tulip Doesn't Strive to Impress Anyone

W00-HOO ~ ANOTHER SNOW DAY WITH NO SNOW

This is my world right how: eating, sleeping, working, and spending lots and lot of time on my eCourse. I am having oodles of fun, but there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day for me. These are pictures taken with my 50mm in my new white room Buddy painted for me for my 74th. I am such a happy camper. At the moment we are studying DOF and light. These pictures were taken on February 22, 2013.

“A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower. You didn’t have to struggle to make your face different than anyone else’s on earth. It just is. You are unique because you were created that way. Look at little children in kindergarten. They’re all different without trying to be. As long as they’re unselfconsciously being themselves, they can’t help but shine. It’s only later, when children are taught to compete, to strive to be better than others, that their natural light becomes distorted.”

~Marianne Williamson

This post is linked with Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday,  and NF Blo-Ma.

Memories of Valentine's Day 2013

Traditional Nursery Rhyme

"Ladybug, ladybug" is chanted by children when a ladybug insect lands on their person. If he ladybug does not fly away of its own accord the child would gently blow it away chanting - "Ladybug, ladybug fly away home". This insect is found every summer in the gardens of Britain - the most common colour is red with black spots, less common are the yellow variety, In Britain ladybugs are referred to as "ladybirds".

Farmer's knew of the Ladybird's value in reducing the level of pests in their crops and it was traditional for them to cry out the rhyme before they burnt their fields following harvests (thus reduced the level of insects and pests). 

The English word ladybird is a derivative of the Catholic term "Our Lady". The tradition of calling this rhyme was believed to have been used as a seemingly innocent warning cry to Catholic (recusants) who refused to attend Protestant services as required by the Act of Conformity (1559 & 1662). The law forbade priests to say Mass and forbade communicants to attend it. Consequently Mass was held secretly in the open fields. Laymen were subject to jail and heavy fines and priests to execution. Many priests were executed by the terrible death of being burnt alive at the stake or, even worse, being hung, drawn and quartered. The most famous English recusants were Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot Conspirators. 

It is possible that the word Ladybird was exchanged for Ladybug, in the American version of the nursery rhyme, due to the word association with Firebug meaning an arsonist or pyromaniac. There has been some speculation that this Nursery Rhyme originates from the time of the Great Fire of London in 1666. 

Thank you, Rita, for my precious ladybug dip bowl and little knife.