Meteor Shower

SmugMug Daily Link

I just couldn't resist playing around with the water bead shots in PicNik some more yesterday. Here is the original picture for the shot above:

Notice in this case the water beads frozen solid in ice with food color allowed to seep down into the icy cracks to add some color.

SmugMug Link

Here are few more art/original pairs:

This one has both the Circle Splash and the Waterfall effect on it.

SmugMug Link

SmugMug Link

SmugMug Link

SmugMug Link

This version has a PicNik Space Texture applied to it.

SmugMug Link

The three above were all made from the shot below.  Different filters can have very different results.

SmugMug Link

I did take a few morning glory shots yesterday, and this was my favorite:

SmugMug Link

Probably onto something besides space tomorrow butcha never know since the weather is so iffy for outside shooting today.

Light rain overnight and a few gusts of wind that are noticeable but overall not too much effect from Irene in Raleigh.

The Birth of a Solar System

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I'm a fan of science fiction.  My dad used to tell folks how proud he was to have me propped up beside him watching the original Star Trek on TV.  From there is went on to Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space, Star Wars, Logan's Run, and Star Trek the Next Generation, etc.  Dad and I would go to used bookstores when I was a kid, and he'd come away with science fiction and fantasy books from authors like Piers Anthony, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Arthur C. Clarke.  Me, I was buying Bobbsey Twins books, but that's a story for another day.  I've gone on to introduce my boys to science fiction too.  Family tradition and all.  They know who The Robot is and Robbie the Robot and what a Cylon is and most importantly to Joey who Data is.  Joey is reading the Legend of Droon series of chapter books, and we're on TNG episode 46 of 176 on Netflix streaming.  The old bumper sticker, "Everything I need to know about life I learned from Star Trek." just might be true;-)  I eagerly wait for the next Star Trek series or movie to come out and mourn the loss of favorite scifi shows like Eureka which was recently cancelled.  But no matter what's on TV or what I'm doing in my life, I tend to see things on some sort of spacial and scientific plane.  Thanks, Dad!

I've been fooling around taking shots of water beads for a few weeks now.  What are those you ask?  Well, they are 1/4" diameter or so mushy water soaked bubbles that are often used in floral arrangements in the vases with water or as part  of a kid's science experiment.  For some, like me, they can also turn into valuable photographic tools.  I've had success before with shots like this:

SmugMug Link


and:

SmugMug Link

The ones I've done recently haven't really been working out I don't think:

SmugMug Link 

and:

SmugMug Link

I hate to give up though, ya know?!?

On Monday, I was working with some clear water beads and another frozen rose, but that was a total fail.

I came back today to try some more shots of just the beads/remnants of the other photo shoot and got some shots like this:

SmugMug Link

and:

SmugMug Link

I'm on the back deck with my interesting glass top patio table.  I liked what I got, but just NOT enough color for me!

From there I went into Picnik and used the Lomo-ish, Orton-ish, Invert, and Circle Splash effects to create these:

SmugMug Link

and:

SmugMug Link

and:

SmugMug Link

and:

SmugMug Link

Now that's spacial and that's more like it!  Picnik can be pretty cool for some things some times, but I find it hiccups a lot.  I lost two images do to it erroring out.  Once I saved a picture and half of the .jpg was in error and gray back in Picasa.  So use it, but don't get your heart set on the results until things are really saved!

I do understand that some folks will no longer consider these pictures and won't like the abstract shapes, vibrant colors, or theme I've given to these images, and that's OK, but they do appeal to me very much...so much that I almost wish I could turn a wall in my house into one of them!

Other things of interest from yesterday:

It was windy and the butterflies were moving all over the place but I got a few shots.  I liked how the light was going through the butterfly wings in some of them.

SmugMug Link

Johnny enjoyed open house at his school.  He gave me a grand tour of his classroom showing off his artwork and then in Joey's classroom he gave Ms. Miller a lesson on how to use her computer:-)

SmugMug Link

Joey also enjoyed open house.  He was most proud of his little plant on his desk and excited about the potential of getting into the treasure box. I was impressed with his science journal upper left.

SmugMug Link

Black Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

SmugMug Daily Link

I was back at Porter Farms and Nursery yesterday, twice, trying to take another butterfly shot worth sharing with you guys. Things didn't seem to click as good as they had on Monday. Of the two or three shots that I got that I liked, the wing was well focused, but the head/eye was not. I suspect I'll go back today to try again although right now we are quite cloudy.

I have doctored this up from the original quite a bit:

Another shot from yesterday that I pp'ed and liked:

This shot of the butterfly in flight I also liked:

Of course I wish I had gotten the flight more centered in the frame and sharper but I think it represents the quick flight between the flowers of a butterfly pretty well.

An open wing shot of this pretty butterfly:

This clearwing moth was also on the butterfly bush:

as was this Pearl Crescent Butterfly (I think):

Inner Glory

SmugMug Daily Link

I took this shot Monday earlier in the day than I took yesterday's butterfly shot.  Just another morning glory on the side of a tobacco field.  I love how these flowers seem to have an inner glow.  You might think that I used pp on this, but the only thing I did was remove a few pollen spots.  The color is as it was shot.

Yesterday's butterfly shot is a tough act to follow.  I find it interesting that the most popular picture on my SmugMug site is this butterfly shot that I took last summer at Porter Farms and Nursery.

I wonder what today will bring.  Hurricane Irene seems to be heading more east all the time which is a huge relief.  Out to sea!  For those that might have missed, VA had an earthquake yesterday.  Yes, Virginia!  I did not feel it down in Raleigh, but I have friends and coworkers that did.  How odd!

Here are a few more morning glory shots from Monday for you to enjoy...

I'm thinking I might could turn the shot below into a more artsy shot with a high key feel.  Maybe I'll find time to fool with it some more.

Flutterby

On the way in from picking up the kids at school yesterday, I swung into the local produce stand, Porters, to pick up some onions and fresh yellow squash. I love having veggies so easily accessible. I also love having such great photo ops there too. There are 6 or more of these huge light orange/yellow butterfly bushes, and they are always covered in some kind of butterfly. Today, this bush had 3 swallowtails zooming all over it, and I spent several minutes snapping away. This is my favorite of the bunch although there were a few close seconds.

The boys were pretty content...fresh lemonade with maraschino cherries and a slice of orange:-)

I was trying some frozen pictures again yesterday.  They didn't turn out as expected/hoped.  This B&W conversion of one of them was about the best of the bunch I thought:

Joey and making banana brownies using his Nintendo 3DS and a Cooking Trainer game:

I love his smile (and his food).

Reflections

I really had trouble focusing on the big picture at the car show. There were so many neat reflections and interesting close-ups, that I had to keep reminding myself to take pictures of the cars themselves. Pictured here in the chrome wheel cap of a Chevy Truck is a 1939 Plymouth with a 5.0 liter Ford V-8 engine in it. See the full car here:

Here's the 1951 Chevy Truck with the actual chrome wheel cap:

Two other reflections that I took and liked are:

In that one you see city buildings on a chrome air filter cap but they are quite abstract.

And there's a neat reflection in this chrome head light too: