OOH AHHH

I hope you each had a wonderful holiday weekend, or regular 'ole weekend if it wasn't a holiday in your part of the world.

In my neck of the woods it was Independence Day, so from the 4th through yesterday we were celebrating.  In my world, I don't think we really need a reason to cook hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill, hang out with family and friends, or watch fireworks, but apparently there are rules about such things, so these activities are mostly confined to one, or maybe two times a year...such a pity!

On the actual 4th it was a beautiful and hot day, which was a nice contrast to all of the rain we have been having.  And even though it was hot, there was a great breeze coming off of the river, enough to create white caps and make me cradle my camera like a newborn to prevent it from being attacked by salt spray.  In the photo above, the opposite shoreline is 5 miles away...thank you Canon for my big honkin lens!

I had taken my big lens out with me in hopes of catching the fireworks down river from us.  We can also see them over on the other shoreline in Virginia, but they are far away and rather small.  Not to worry though because some folks down at the mouth of our creek must mortgage their house each year to pay for their fireworks.  

Not that I'm complaining, as the beneficiary of their careless spending, I'm all for their reckless abandon each year on the 4th of July.

The trick to taking pics of fireworks is to use a tripod, and to use a remote shutter release.  I had the tripod, but my shutter release has gone to that great photo field in the sky...ie. it died just in time for my first attempt at shooting fireworks!

Instead of admitting defeat, I decided to use the "bulb" setting on my camera and told myself that whatever I got would be better than my pics last year...mostly because I didn't take pics last year, get it?!

The cool thing about the bulb setting is that it allows you to control the shutter by holding it open for as long as you care to press the button.  It's a pretty nifty setting, and this was the first time I had tried it. 

I had also read that if you held the button during multiple explosions you could capture more than one firework at a time, which I also thought was cool.  The pic above looks like a palm tree doesn't it?!

When we got home I realized that my technique needed a little work, and acknowledged that remotes were really necessary equipment for getting clean crisp shots of fireworks in high winds and low light.  But I have to admit that I am kind of psyched with the results I got, to me, they are almost cooler than regular shots of fireworks.

Sometimes it's the so called mistakes that make me love photography so much.  Even your screw ups can become things of beauty...and let's face it, a positive spin is so much better than banging my head against a wall and lamenting that fact that I will have to wait a whole year to try again!

I'm calling the image above the Big Bang Theory, because if you give your accidents cool names, well that makes them even more legit.  Runners up for the name are Studio 54, To Infinity and Beyond, and It's Electric (made you say boogie woogie woogie didn't I?).  

Ok, my work here is done!  I hope each of you had a wonderful weekend and that this week will be even more exciting!

Mrs. Hummingbird

Well, the rain finally let up yesterday afternoon, and the sun was happy to make a comeback...we were happy to see it back too.

I decided to step outside and do a little more hummingbird hunting with my long lens, and I was not disappointed when a beautiful female hummer decided to show up to the feeder.  I'm so glad you liked the other images, and thank you for your kind words!

Not to be forgotten, Mr. Hummingbird showed up too and even gave me a wave hello! ;-)

I think this might be a mating pair, and I don't think this is the same male as in my last post because his throat feathers were far less dramatic than those of the other male.

Just like with the bluebirds, I never tire of seeing the beautifully colored feathers of hummingbirds, and these are her true colors...no increasing the saturation necessary.  Their feathers are iridescent, luminous, and simply brilliant, it's no wonder people have tried to capture these colors for years and bring them into their homes...Mother Nature is quite the color expert!

 

And here she is...Mrs. Hummingbird...she reminds me of that quote...

"Though she be but little, she is fierce!"   ~William Shakespeare ~

Happy Sunday!

Before and After

The hummingbirds are back, and we finally put our feeder out yesterday.  We relocated it to a more convenient place for me to take pictures, and even though it's been raining cats and dogs today, I was able to get in a few shots, so I thought I would share a few before and after images.

As an added benefit of relocating the feeder, I can now stand inside to take my pictures, and the hummingbirds seem to also love the proximity of the feeder to our tomato cages.  As you can see in each of these photos, this little guy was not worried about the rain at all, and was simply enjoying his new found perch.

Because I edit each of my pictures, I thought it might be fun to show you the "before" and "after" shots so that you can see what I do.  Sometimes I do a lot of post processing, mostly on shots that I want to look more like paintings, but a lot of the time I just tweak things so that they look more the way I want them to.

The shot above is a before shot, and even though I like the way it looked straight out of the camera, which it is above, except for cropping, I still wanted to put my touch on it.

So here is the after shot.  I used a texture on it which darkened the background ever so slightly, and I also bumped up the contrast, but just a hair, so that his head feathers would pop a little bit more than in the first image.

I also left some of the texture on the breast feathers, but removed it completely from the head.  I liked that the texture warmed him just just a little and made his breast feathers a bit more golden brown.  I could have done this by changing the warmth too, but I didn't want the effect on the whole bird, just on his body, so using a texture was the way to go.

Above is a before of him grabbing raindrops on his long tongue as they fell, which was pretty cool to watch!  In this one, I mostly just removed one or two errant raindrops which seemed distracting to me.  See the one on the far left of the image and then there is one below his tiny feet.

If the light had been better I could have maybe gotten some cool bokeh with the raindrops, but my depth of field was so small that only a few showed up, which ended up looking like smudges to me...so out they went.

Here, you can see the after shot, which saved in a smaller size for some reasion, but you can see that the drops have been removed.  And once again I increased the contrast just a smidge and de-noised it just a bit to remove the graininess in the background which was caused by my high ISO.  And boosting the contrast slightly makes the hummingbirds stand out a little bit more from the background.  Simple changes, but ones I feel are worth taking the time to make.

You can see that he had his feathers a bit ruffled from the rain, and he spent a lot of time shaking off the water but I couldn't get a good action shot since the light was so low.

In this shot, besides cropping it down, the only editing I did was to convert it to black and white which you can see below.

I love the drama that black and white can lend to an image...it changes the whole feeling and look of a photo.

So there you have it, my before and after hummingbird collection! :)  Of course I always try and shoot the best possible shot each and every time, but I also think that tweaking your images can not only be fun, but it can also take an image and make it look the way you saw it in your head...well at least in my head anyway!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend, and if you are in the path of TS Andrea, like we are, I hope you stay dry and don't experience any flooding!

Love

xoxo Kat

Roses and Seashells

If you were ever to visit my home you would be sure to find two things...

Roses (when they are blooming)...and Seashells (all year long).

Some things just go together, don't you agree?! :)

She Couldn't Decide

In the end, she decided it was a little bit of both! :)

Lest We Forget

Wishing you a Happy Memorial Day.

Not Again

When I first shot more pictures of flowers today, I thought to myself...people are going to think...NOT AGAIN, please, enough with the flower images.

But then I asked myself if "I" was tired of creating flower pics, or if I could ever tire of seeing flower pics, and my answer was a resounding no.

Right now my yard is overflowing with peonies, poppies, coreopsis, columbine, verbena, some blue flower that I don't know the name of, and lots, and lots of roses.

Now, I know some of you have been avid gardeners for years, and although I've always gardened and had flowers in my yard and in containers, this is the first year that I feel like I'm a "gardener."  You know, one of those people who has beautiful cut flowers strewn about their house, and who walks around each morning and evening admiring mother nature's handiwork.

My mother was a gardener, and could blow my not so tiny butt out of the water, but I'm learning to find happiness in something I used to do for others and not myself.  What I mean by that is I've always planted flowers to look pretty on my porch, or in places people could admire from the street, but I rarely planted flowers where I could enjoy looking at them.

Now, I am filling up the corners of my yard that I look at, while still wanting our yard to be beautiful for others.  I've finally grasped the concept of a secret garden, one that is reserved just for me and those I want to share it with.  Truth be told, I will want to share my secret garden too.

Lest you think that all I'm doing is lounging among the petals, here is my other new obsession...jams and jellies!  I ordered this book a bit ago and I plan to make good use of it once our blueberries are ripe.  

Since I'm gluten free, I don't even really eat much toast or things to put jam or jelly on, but that won't stop me from becoming a confiture connoisseur my friends!  You see, I think I'm channeling a bit of my grandmother these days and that makes me want to create things that are reminiscent of simpler times...like canning, gardening, and whatever else brings me closer to nature.

So if you see a woman wearing an apron, carrying a baby lamb in one hand and stirring a pot of jam in another....just honk your horn and move on down the road...really, there's nothing to see here folks...just shake your head and say "not again!" ;-)  

Follow the Light

A walk through my yard and down our lane, followed by a drive to our farm property today provided me with lots of pretty things to photograph.

One of the greatest gifts photography has bestowed upon me, besides the ability to freeze time, is awareness.  As a freelance magazine writer since the 90s...gulp, has it been that long?!...I had to be aware, observant, etc. in order to visually capture through words written in a notebook what a home's interior looked like so that I could write about it later.

But it wasn't until I picked up a camera that I really became fully aware of my surroundings. 

There is a well known bit of wisdom that photographers quickly learn, and that is to follow the light.  For a photographer, light is everything.  It sets the mood, determines if you can get the shot, and by learning to follow it, you learn to see it everywhere you go.

You become so keenly aware of how important it is to the craft, especially if you are a natural light photographer, that you begin to lament the setting sun each day.  I will sometimes think, "Darn it, I wanted to take a picture of the way the light hits those roses but it's getting too dark now!"

And although there are lots of nifty gadgets and post processing programs out there to help you "create" the light you want in an image, nothing beats the real deal.

I once read that National Geographic won't even consider wildlife images that aren't captured right around sunrise or sunset, also known as the golden hours.  Now, I have no clue if that's true, but it does make sense, because light is truly that important to giving you the right shadows, contrast, and warmth that takes a good photo and makes it spectacular.

I love that following the light has made me slow down and appreciate the subtle nuances of each day and the ebb and flow of light as it plays off everything from flowers to dragonflies.

And I hope to one day figure out how to master it, so that I can capture starlight better and those twinkling lightning bugs.  I don't think I'll ever be so old that I won't giggle at the sight of those magical creatures who light up the night sky each summer, so to be able to capture a whole fairyland of lightning bugs with my camera would totally rock!

Maybe that is why we use light related phrases to denote pleasant things, like

...he is the light of my life

...she had a twinkle in her eye

...my grandchildren are so bright

and so on.  Because light really is that important, and when people lack it they feel sad, lonely, and detached.

Whatever the reason we are drawn to its power, I hope that I never stop following the light...because wherever it goes...surely I must follow!

Because so many of you have requested that I turn my comments back on, I have decided to do that.  Please know that if I don't reply to them, it's not because I don't appreciate each and every one of them, but just as the light fades each day, so do I...and you can only do what you can do, right?! 

xo Kat

Falling Leaves and Dimming Days

This old house is falling down around my ears 

I'm drowning in a river of my tears  

When all my will is gone you hold me sway  

I need you at the dimming of the day

You pulled me like the moon pulls on the tide  

You know just where I keep my better side


Thank you everyone for your wonderful thoughts, emails, and comments about my new venture...I will post more very soon and I apologize that I haven't responded to each and every one of you! 

P.S.  Don't forget to vote for Rough Linen once a day, every day!  Click HERE

The lyrics above are from this beautiful song

Drops of Jupiter

I know some of you were thinking you'd click on here and find a link to that song...sorry if I tricked you!

After the rain finally stopped, I decided to pick up my camera and venture out to take some pictures of the raindrop covered flowers in the yard.  As I was processing them I couldn't help but think that if there truly are drops on Jupiter, well then they must look like this.

Glistening orbs that reflect the light and look like liquid silver, even when there is no sunlight.

I think I have maxed all of you out on flower pics lately, but it's about as exciting as it gets around here these days...well that and the rain.  So I think I will take a little time to see what else requires my attention, like painting porch posts and pulling weeds.

I hope you each have a wonderful weekend, and that you find your own drops of Jupiter in the process!

And Just Like That

It was just a few days ago that I was wandering my yard and admiring some of the flowers, including the Morning Glories which have taken over the fence line on one side of the backyard.  Their colors are so vibrant and if you squint just right you can almost ignore the other changes going on around you that tell you their time is nearing an end.

Muggy weather and warmer temps may still linger but you know that change is coming, and I think with age you can almost sense the changing of the seasons in a way you aren't able to when you are twenty something.

I think that is why I wander my surroundings more often than I used to, and I sometimes feel as though I'm now privy to a little secret that mother nature only imparts on people over 35.  A sense of time passing, of seasons changing, and a need to soak it all in a bit more than we once did.

Try as I might to hang on to Summer, even the nasty hot, drought ridden one we've had, there are some things you just can't ignore.  Today, after months of very little rain in our area...particularly in our section of the county we live in, the skies opened up and let go.

It was like watching someone who had held it in for far too long finally having a good cry, the kind that makes you feel better afterwards.  I had to wonder if even mother nature has those days, when she just has to let her guard down and let the tears flow as raindrops.  If so, then this was surely one of those days for her.

And just the mere image of rain drops pouring down my windowpanes, made me want to bake comfort food, unpack sweaters that haven't seen the light of day for months, and snuggle up beside a fire.

I guess we aren't unlike the tiny hummingbirds that are so frantically gathering at our feeders, fortifying themselves with much needed strength for their long journey southward in a few weeks.  I suppose that we too have our own internal clocks that tell us that when the tomato vines start to bend and brown, and the fruits start to mimic the colors of fall that we have work we need to do to get ready for the changing season.

I know that come this afternoon it will be hot and humid once again and the sun will shine brightly, but I also know that those endless stretches of sunny days and asphalt too hot to tread on will slowly give way to falling leaves and cooler temps.

But today, amidst all of the evidence to the contrary, I will pretend that summer is never-ending...because a little denial never hurt anyone right?!

Taking a Second Look

Thanks everyone for your support about my Etsy situation from my previous post.  I'll keep you posted as to how it all turns out, but for now I'm just waiting in the wings to see what happens.

Instead of dwelling on not so nice people, I thought I would reminisce a little.  It was this time last year that we were preparing for our trip to Germany and France.  Oh how I wish we were in the midst of making preparations to go to Europe right now, but we bought a new mattress instead!  Who knew that a good night's sleep could cost as much as flying 2 people to Europe?!!  I better sleep like a baby when it is delivered in a little over a week, otherwise it's going back to the store from whence it came, and I'm booking 2 tickets to Paris!!!

I thought I might have some fun by re-working a few of the images I took in Germany and France last fall, and I have to say that I much prefer the way they look the second time around.  I know so much more about photo editing than I did back then, and I'm truly finding post processing to be like a little form of meditation for me.  I think it's the creative part that gives me such joy and relaxes me somehow.

I also love that you can do the same thing over and over again, or you can switch it up, and because I'm easily bored, this is a godsend for me!

Sorry for the obnoxious watermark in most of these pics, but it's there because some of these images will be for sale on an online gallery in the very near future...woohoo!  I will have ready to hang high quality wrapped canvases for sale and I can't wait to spill the beans on the whole deal but for now it's still hush hush.  It's been in the works for a LONG time, but it's moving forward a little more slowly than anticipated and I'm chomping at the bit to get it going.  I'll be sure to let you know just as soon as it's up and running.  There will also be a few giveaways, so stay tuned!

The image above is a great example as to why you never throw out those pics that might have the slightest amount of potential.  It's an HDR image of a cafe in Strasbourg, France taken late one night as we wandered home from a lovely meal.  I had never combined the images to create the HDR because it just never appealed to me, but after trying out some of the new software I've been testing, I decided to give it a go figuring I had nothing to lose.

I was not wowed by the original HDR after combining the individual images to create it, but as I began trying different things and playing with the shadows and light I fell in love with it.  I don't love it because it's the best image in the world, but I do love that it transports me right back to that evening and makes me long to stroll those streets and visit those cafes again...it makes me long for Europe.  To me, that is the magic of photography, it gives you the chance to take a second look at someplace you consider to be special!!!