Sunday, November 13, 2011

Did I save them or not?

These photos I took today after Deacon had his bath.  He is 5 1/2 months old here and cute as can be so I was happy that he was posing for me to take photos.   The problem I had was me not him!  I was trying to kneel down and not holding my camera solid so the photos were a bit out of focus.   BUT they are so CUTE!!  Were they worth the work to try and save them?   This first one has 3 layers of dry brush and I was happy that it actually resembles a portrait from a studio.
This Cutie Pie photo has better focus yet I liked the dry brush effect so much I gave this one treatment.
This has to be my favorite (I think for now), and it
also has one layer of dry brush.

We have just sold the ranch and bought a new house with escrow to close Dec 22!  Should be a wild December and doubtful I will get to do much photography, but I enjoy getting these special photo opps with my favorite new boy.   He is a mophead!
Now my afghan hound handle of mopheads can still be used.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

HDR from Canyon Lands archives

HDR applications, High Dynamic Range editing seem to be more interesting to my eye.  Canyon Lands never disappoints. It was my 2nd visit in 2010 and the Light Was Right!   No glaring hot sun with harsh shadows.  My camera was a happy camper.  The vast terrain is filled with multi colored visions that keep me wanting to see more.






Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Delicate Growth

BetterPhoto.com Editor's PickI have a love hate relationship with this wisteria.  I have 3, two that do not bloom and this one that does.   All are extreme growers and you can almost see the vines move and flower as you set the camer lens on the plant.  Love the look and hate the trimming and invasive nature, but the flowers are so delicate and lovely that I shall forgive its nature.   This was taken with my 150mm Sigma macro lense and given two very light filters of dry brush.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Little Green Frog

BetterPhoto.com Editor's Pick
I almost did not enter this in the contest for animals but I got picked to be looked at again with the little green frog.   It is sitting among my zinnias and so there were leaves and all sorts of green stuff in the way.   Then I gave it some textured layers.  

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Tenecales

BetterPhoto.com Editor's Pick
I can't  remember what this was except its in my set of weeds from the day I set out early in the morning before the pasture was hayed looking for textures in the plant life and weeds.  It has lots of great little hairs and spiny things along with the crinkled leaves and long spiky fingers.  Here is was given a light treatment in PS.  

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Seriously Brillient

BetterPhoto.com Editor's Pick
Isn't this an incredible expression!  From the Alexandria Zoo this is one of the largest land birds originating from Australia and for the life if me I can't remember its species!   I had to take this through a no climb wire fence and so I had to do a severe crop on it.  After I got done with some exposure work I tried a dry brush filter on it and it really picked up the texture of the horn and the glassy eyes.  Such a great contrast. and so brillient!   

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Fun In The Sun

BetterPhoto.com Editor's Pick
I entered this cool photo in the monthly theme contest at Better Photo.  It has right now Editor's Pick which pleases me.  It is not the traditional kids playing in the summer sun and water like most that have been sent in.  This is a man painting the Santa Cruz lighthouse in December!  The day was so lovely and warm for this time of year on the coast and you just gotta enjoy the lady on the bench taking a snooze.  I am guessing its his wife who is enjoying the sun in her own way.  So I treated this with a light watercolor wash in spirit of the painter and his canvas.

Monday, August 22, 2011

San Juan Mission

BetterPhoto.com Editor's Pick
This lovely set of columns from the San Juan Mission was
right for the lens with the sun so bright and making the shadows interesting.   It was a bit over exposed I felt and lost much of its texture in the brick and surface so I did some processing of dry brush effect which I think enhanced it.   San Juan Batista, Gilroy California from a visit in December.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Another Editors Pick

BetterPhoto.com Editor's PickSiblings At the B...
I have been a member of BetterPhoto.com for ages
and I get so tickled when one of my photos is chosen for
the final round for their contests.   This is called
Siblings.  Taken with my 100-300 mm Sigma out my
kitchen window.  I posted a bigger version of this on
the previous post.  To see my gallery at Better Photo
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=86733

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Birds!

BetterPhoto.com Editor's Pick
I got to digging around some of my photos that desperately need worked on and found this great sea gull from our visit to California in November 2010.  Santa Cruz boardwalk has an abundance of willing models who love nothing more than posing for the camera.  Processed with textures.

BetterPhoto.com Editor's PickUnlike the Seagull these little siblings come regularly to my birdbath and have some growth yet.  The parents are almost black with blue wing tips and a few spots on the chest.  I have no idea what they are but they are entertaining!  Processed with dry brush.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The Cat

This is actually a watercolor I painted!  Its my very first and I wondered what would happen if I played around with it in a digital way with textures and layers.   Here is my Old World Cat in a grunge sorta way.  I really like it!   For more on its work you can visit my sister blog http://alteredwhimsey.blogspot.com/
and I show you beginning to end.   I think this would print out on watercolor paper and look amazing!  Enjoy!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

How Did You Do That!

I get asked all the time how I get the look of texture on my photos and if its a filter I use.  I do use photo shop, but this is not a stand alone filter. Its many layers of texture I apply on top of the original photo.  Top is the finished example, below it is the original photo, and below two of the textures I used.

There are many places to find textures on the Internet, and these two are from skelletalmess at deviant art.
 http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/textures/?order=9
Most are free to download and so fun to collect.  Problem is you end up with SO many its hard to pick and choose a texture so its like playing a game of trial and error.  Try a texture and a linear burn or multiply, an opacity or soft overlay.

Here is what I did to my photo.  Processed the photo into a dreamy appearance then I added on top of it the blue texture and did a linear burn.  Then I added the light colored texture and applied a soft overlay.   I again added that light colored texture and repeated the soft overlay.  It gives you some cool painterly effects and if you do not like the texture and how you applied the opacity or filter then just delete it!



Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Yeah, I am a finalist again

Hi Sally

Congratulations! You have placed as a finalist in this month's BetterPhoto
Contest! Over 15800 photos were entered into the competition; it is an honor
to have your image selected among the top 778 finalist photos.

Your finalist photo: Sun Glow (#11705602)

This image can be viewed - along with all of the finalist images - at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGall2.asp?catID=45888

During the next few days, the judges select the top winning photos. If
your image is selected as a winner, you will be emailed again.

Again, congratulations!

BetterPhoto Customer Support


http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=86733

The funny thing about this turtle is the last time I was a finalist was with a turtle photo also which can be seen in my gallery link above.   I hope that works if you are not a member!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Its To Darn Hot!

Well, words just can not describe the heat and the humidity and how fast this set in over the whole area. The dust even hangs in the air clinging to the heavy atmosphere making everything appear ethereal.  I think I am about ready for winter again!  This is a cool hay cutter in our pasture processed with quite a few textures.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

My Territory

Its time to look at my spring photos and see what tickles me.   This shot I almost tossed out as the birds were so busy I could not get  good image but the flower was really sharp.  I decided to work out some texture art with it and add the extra bokah texture since everything was sparkly from the morning dew anyway.   As it turns out, I entered it into a contest and got Editors Pick.  I can never seem to get past this or finalist but it makes me happy that I saved this image and gave it a new perspective.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Under Water Again

Once again we are visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium and here are anchovies and a shark species.  The little fish swam in tight formation changing direction and darting as a single body, its quite a contrast to the easy moving shark.  This photo was worked over in photo shop with some texture added a bit of noise and dry brush to get rid of some of the flat feel from taking the image through thick glass.   Its also an ATC card!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Kelp Forest

When I got to visit Monterey Bay Aquarium I could not pull myself away from the Living Kelp forest. This exhibit sits right next to the ocean and draws in fresh water for the creatures living there, and it has 3 levels to view it, from top, middle and floor.   There was so much life and activity it was absolutely captivating.  I will try and share more photos from our vist and some art I created from them as I go along.  This taken from floor level, and one of the exhibits goal is to let you see what divers see when they go below the surface.



Saturday, May 14, 2011

Layers and Layers

Yikes, this is not what you were expecting I would guess, but its about layers today.  As I ventured into more textures and layering in my photography I began to want to try similar things with the little Artist Trading Cards that are being swapped and traded by the thousands daily.  I have never been much of a drawer but I seem to be able to work along the lines of playful whimsy and here is an example of Elven Ride.  Its drawn on the 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch card and then done in washes of watercolor, many layers of watercolor!  And then layers of pencil and layers of pen and you can just get crazy with layers!    The more layers the better it looks.  SO among my photography I will be showing some of these great little ATC's.  This was traded the minute it was posted for trade.  Have a multi layered day!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Time has gotten away from me.

 Lately I worked hard to restore my computer back to factory settings, and this put me behind in some photography work I was getting really hooked on.  My photos with textures and layers are getting new life in photo shop.  These two ostrich are sharing secrets and were awareded Editors Pick at BETTERPHOTO.COM
This great rusted out hub from an old tractor was also awarded Editors Pick.  Its done in textures and layers from my original photo.  Taken last spring in Boswell Oklahoma.
Here is some play that is just wild called weird lines!  Honest its a filter called Weird Lines!  Here I have a blemished daisy from last summer and just could not come up with anything to save the photo.  I began to experiment and came up with this rather odd looking thing that reminds me of an ocean creature.  Awarded Editors Pick also for May.

Some of these will be part of my Artist Trading Card swaps in the Digital Art arena.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Santa Cruz Light House

I have been getting some time to play with the wonderful photos I took when Don and I were in California last Thanksgiving.  This is such a beautiful shot of the Santa Cruz Light House at the Surfing Museum area.  As we walked along the long path, the temps were warm, air calm and people were walking their dogs, painting the scenery, playing on the beach.  It was a slice of heaven with the ocean glittering and sun just overcast enough to allow for some wonderful photos.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patties Day

From Go Green Turtle, Happy Toasting and GREEN thoughts all day long.  Taken at Fort Worth Zoo through plexi glass viewing into bottom of a lake environment.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

When Gas was just Pennys

I thought it was high time to dig out some of the vintage gas pump photo's when, Yes gas was under a dollar.  Here in Boswell a couple years ago I found  3 old pumps sitting outside an abandon building, and all with different prices.  Who knows if they were different types of fuel but this one is 21 1/2 cents a gallon!    Long gone are those days, and now also my youth.  Gee the time flys by fast.












We are at 37 1/2 cents now, and the rust has only made this more interesting like the rusty memories of cruising the main street all night long, getting a burger and soda for under a dollar!  Those ole cars the boys had were gas guzzlers and yet they cruised forever on just a dollar.














Whoa, we are up to 47 cents a gallon now, times are hard and the miles just are not what they use to be for the penny.   These old pumps could probably tell a good tale or two given their wise stature and survival into the 21st century.   I suppose some collector has come along and purchased these for our grand kids to see and marvel about when we paid under a dollar for gas!   I am lucky to remember those days and that it was not that long ago, as I stay forever young!
OK, maybe in my mind...

All these boring photos have come to life with the work of many  textures burned, overlays, and manipulated for our enjoyment.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Hauling out the Tripod

Its been sitting in the closet for the longest time, the ole dusty tripod.  My love hate relationship with the camera's friend.   Stilt like legs that require constant adjusting, maneuvering around especially when using a dedicated macro lens.  BUT spring has not really brought much to photograph lately except some flowers from the fruitless pear trees that I used with this Orange.  Its named Food Fun.  My orange became entertainment as well as breakfast.   Its done with many layers of textures to create the look.  After the Orange was consumed I played with a few very tiny flowers and my grandfathers old pocket watch with my Grandma Maude's photo inside.  I love the idea of using this with my genealogy research.  Again done with multi layers of textures.   Feels good to be looking through the lens again.