Dinner

SmugMug Daily Link

Just a quick food shot for you today.  I made chuck roast last night with rutabaga and onion and served it with green beans and carrots leftover from a roast chicken meal.  It was way yummy! It rutabaga isn't something you've tried to cook before, I recommend it.

Red-Spotted Purple

SmugMug Daily Link

I never can quite figure out why they call this butterfly a red-spotted purple, but it sure is a pretty butterfly.  Taken near my mailbox today.  I wish the head/body was in the shade so much.  I pp'ed this with Color Efex Pro Detail Enhance and Darken/Lighten Center.

Green Dragonfly

SmugMug Daily Link

Posting at the end of my day instead of the beginning.  We had a fall feeling sortof day.  Low humidity and certainly lower temps than we normally experience in August.  Donnie and I decided to make good use of the weather and work outside at the old/my house.  Donnie was tearing down an old greenhouse, and I was pruning, weeding, picking up sticks, and generally sprucing things up. We have several days more work to do, but we made excellent progress today.

I  have a butterfly shot that I also took today that I am super excited to post for my daily tomorrow.

Sunflower and Bees

SmugMug Daily Link

I was out and about this afternoon.  Joey had a dental appt., and we did our regular Tuesday shopping.  I noticed a patch of sunflowers last week when we were in the area and decided I was going to make time this week to take a few pics. Here is the result.  I used Color Efex Pro to brighten the center and to bring out the details on the sunflower but I didn't like the extra details on the background.  I grabbed the sunflower with the quick select tool to pull it off the modified background.  This left me with the enhanced sunflower but original background.  I decided to add some green tint to the original background. The result should be a crisp and well detailed sunflower but a nicely green and blurred background.  The extra detail on the background just didn't work well but looked nice on the flower. I've used this technique before.

On another sunflower patch nearby, I saw some goldfinch.  Super cool.  Joey was excited too.  It was neat to watch them swoop down and eat seeds.

SmugMug Link  

Purple Glory

SmugMug Daily Link


It's usually August before I see my first morning glory each summer. Seems late, but year after year that's the way it is in central NC. Those seeds have such hard shells, I guess it takes that long before they can germinate. Anyway, I finally spotted a few alongside the road where I usually see them, Barber Bridge, and I stopped this morning after dropping the boys off at school to take a few pics. I have to be VERY careful not to step on fire ant mounds or get too close to the poison ivy that is also in the area. I always look for blossoms up high with nothing too close behind them so I can isolate the bloom and try to get a nice background. The light wasn't as magical as I would have liked this morning, but I loved the deep purple color just the same.

Here's the view up the road.

SmugMug Link

Here's the view into the field including a SP.

SmugMug Link

I never tire of stopping at this spot and seeing what's worth photographing.

Spicebush Swallowtail

SmugMug Daily Link

I think this is a Spicebush Swallowtail, but I'm not completely sure.  Taken at the same location as the shots from the last few days.  I tried to approach my shooting a bit differently today.  Instead of rotating with the butterflies 180 degrees around the sunny side of the bush, I stood off to the side and tried to catch the wings with some back light.  I had mixed results.  Less shots in the same amount of time and just not 'the' shot today either I don't think.

I did some pp to this shot with Color Efex Pro.  Here's the original.

SmugMug Link

E is for Ecstatic Over Butterflies

SmugMug Daily Link

I know I've said this before, but taking butterfly shots is very addictive for me. I mean, really, how can I go past a bush with 15 different swallowtails on it and not stop to take pics.  Then, once I'm taking pics, how can I possibly fire off just a few.  I told Donnie I'd be gone 15 minutes yesterday.  40 minutes later I came back drenched in sweat.  It was hot out there!  I don't think my shots from yesterday were quite as good as the last few days, but I had fun and have a few I thought were worth sharing.

This is my almost daily.

SmugMug Link