HDR Fun !

 

Over the past few days, we've gone on walks with Miki in the morning as the sun was rising.  I got some really pretty shots, but thought they might be good candidates to play with my HDR (High Dynamic Range) software.  I haven't done that in a while, and here are the results!

The above image may look familiar to you.  I posted the "regular" image on a post from a few days ago, but thought it needed something.  I thought I'd play with it with HRD, and here's the result.  I really like the sort of magical light that is in the image.  I know this sounds crazy, but the image sort of seems happier (I know, I'm nuts!).

This image was shot just a bit up the road from the first shot.  I just loved the way the sky looked that morning, and our friends' place just seemed to be the perfect setting for capturing it. The fence in the foreground also adds a nice rustic touch.  Oh, if you click on the image to enlarge it, you'll see a plane over at our friends'.  They were getting ready to take their nephew to the next stop on his summer travels, up to northwest New Mexico.  

 

 

This image was shot in almost the same place as the first image.  In fact, all 3 of these are taken around our friends' place (what a charming, picturesque place they have!).  This image was shot on the same day as the 2nd image, so the clouds were just lovely.  I wanted to capture the sun reflecting on the road leading to their house, and thought a wider view would just relay the nice warm feeling of coming home.

 

 

Enjoy!

 



Morning Magic

 

The past few mornings have been quite magical in terms of photo ops.....

The above image was taken early in the morning after a (somewhat rare) rain overnight.  The raindrops just seemed to glow in the morning sun, and the quote I found seemed to fit the image.  I played with layering the same image on itself, each time cropping it to make it just a bit smaller, so the layers could be seen.  I also made the lower and middle layers less opaque than the top layer.  I thought the result was rather cool.

This morning, Jeff, Miki and I took an early morning walk.  The sunrise had reached the point where it was casting some very soft light.  I really like this image of our friend's yard, with the sun reflecting off the horse corral in the background.  I think I need to play with this image more to make it pop a bit more.  

The sun and clouds created such a soft feel to this image.  I feel like if I could reach up and touch it, it would feel like the softest pillow one could imagine.  It seemed to beg for a quote, and this one seemed perfect.

And, finally, a morning surprise.  I planted some bulbs in a large pot that sits just outside our front door.  I actually forgot what I planted, and this morning, this gift was waiting for me.  How could I not take a photo of it?  I just love the shading and richness of the colors while maintaining such a soft feel to it.

 

Enjoy!

Fun & Beauty

There were some pretty sights to see, and fun times to capture in images from this past weekend!  

As we were driving back home from Denver, we avoided the major highway for a bit, taking a secondary road that ran thru the! Black Forest area (the Black Forest wildfire was the HUGE wildfire in Colorado this June, but we weren't in the area where the fire was - thank goodness!).  In the distance, you can see Pike's Peak!

We stopped Sunday at Lathrop State Park, near the Colorado/New Mexico state line, and as we were exploring the state park, I was able to capture this lovely image of the lake with some mountains in the background.  I love the changing color of the water here - almost reminds me of the Caribbean!

These two images, above and below, are of Miki doing one of the things she loves best - being in the water!!  In the above image, she's chasing after the stick Jeff threw in the water for her to fetch.  In the image below, she and Jeff are in the midst of one of Jeff's tosses into the lake!  Her joy is contagious!

Enjoy!

Weekend Blooms

Of course, wherever I am, I'm always on the lookout for some beautiful blooms, and this past weekend was no different.....

The prickly pear cacti were in bloom!  How lucky to be able to capture some of the blooms.  Here's an apricot blossom.  I didn't know they came in this color....

The above bloom was a wildflower growing alongside the road we were driving on.  We stopped so Miki could take a potty break, and I happened to see this one.  Feels like there should be a quote in this image, doesn't it?

Here's another violet/purple bloom (seemed to be the color of the weekend for flowers).  I played around with this image, so that it looks like a colored pencil drawing.  Just having some creative fun!

Purple thistles were around all over the place this weekend, and here's one image I captured of it.  Again, I think I need to find a good quote for this image!

Yellow was the runner up color of the weekend for flowers!  Here's a beautiful image of a yellow bloom on the prickly pear cactus.  This has to be one of my favorite images of their blooms.

And, finally, a sunflower!  Again, I played with this one to create an almost drawing like image of it.

 

Enjoy! 

Lime Gulch Wildfire (Colorado)

Last weekend, we did some camping in Colorado.  We happened to be camping on Thursday night at a state park about 15 miles from a new wildfire that just started the night before.  They called it the Lime Gulch fire (I'm not sure how they come up with these names, but I think it's based on the area where they start).  Take a look -

The first image, above, is one I took from our campsite.  That's our Jeep and the back end of our RV in the foreground of the image.  The smoke looked bad, and the state park went on voluntary notice of potential evacuation, but that was just to be on the safe side.  The fire was quite a ways away from us, and the wind was blowing it in the opposite direction from us, so as long as the wind held the way it was (and it did), we were ok.

This image is one I took Thursday night around 10 pm or so.  The quality isn't good (it's blurry), but you can get the idea of what a wildfire is like at night.  If you enlarge the image (click on it), you'll see some orange streaks in the upper left corner of the image.  Those are also the wildfire - probably tree tops burning.

 

I took the above image Friday morning.  At the time, I thought perhaps the fire was already under control.....but I was wrong.  It was just sort of waking up and hadn't gotten itself wound up with the heat of the day and wind yet.

This last image was one I took on Sunday.  We spent the weekend in Denver, and stopped at this state park again on our way back home.  If you look just to the left of the mountain in the distance, you'll see a little plume of smoke.  That's what's left of this wildfire.  By this time, it was about 90% contained, and well under control.  No homes or people, pets, etc., were hurt or lost as a result of this fire.  I think the area where it burned was not developed or occupied at all.

 

 

Whew!

Mainly Green Chunky Book Swap

One of my new favorite forms of art is what's called a Chunky Book.  The pages measure 4" x 4" and the pieces have some sort of dimension to them (that's the "chunk").  I participate in swaps so that I get multiple pages from different artists and share pages with them.  The theme of this swap is "Mainly Green".  Take a look.....

The page above is what I call "Birds of a Green Color".  The peacock may not be totally green, but the tail feathers definitely have green in them.  I added the little green & yellow bird, and some other green papers.  The stitching around the page is embroidery thread in a variegated green color.

I enjoyed this vintage image of the woman, and thought she'd be perfect for this theme.  I added some spangles, a little umbrella from one of those fancy drinks, and a feather.

This is a cocktail napkin that had green bottles on it, and the glass of wine is white wine - Green and white!

I think these are Lilies of the Valley, and some tiny pearl like beads on what I think was florist wire that reminded me of the flowers.  I added some artificial white leaves to add a touch of something delicate to match the flowers.

This last piece is an abstract with just various shades of green.  The 3 circles are actually buttons.

 

Enjoy!

Sunday Morning Sunrise

On Sunday, I noticed what looked to be a really cool sunrise happening.....

When I stepped out onto the patio, it was very quiet - as if the world was not yet awake.....

I heard a sound behind me, and turned to find Patches, our neighbor's painted pony watching me watching the sunrise.....or was he watching the bunny you can see in the lower right corner?



As the dawn continued, I began to hear the birds start to chirp and sing, and then they began to fly around.  I felt like they were waking up with the dawn, too.

 



When I looked down from the dawn, I noticed a little bunny looking at me.  He posed so nicely for a photo, I couldn't resist.  Don't you love the way the dawn seems to illuminate his ears?  Like the light was sort of shining thru them....

The clouds kept moving and blending with the sun's rays.  At about this time, the roosters started cock-a-doodle-doing.  Yes, the world was definitely waking up.

The light is really interesting.  When I look to the east, the light is golden.  When I turned to face north, the sky has a pinkish tone to them.  Soft pastels over the Santa Fe Mountains.  At this time, the dogs began to wake up, and the doggie communication system was kickin' in high gear.  It reminded me of the movie "101 Dalmatians" when the dogs all communicated with each other over a long distance to help rescue the puppies. Made me smile.....

 When I looked back to the sunrise, this was the view I had.  I wasn't sure the rays would actually show in the image, but they did.  What a great way to start any day!

 

Enjoy!