I Know it’s a Rubber Band, But Who Does This Look Like?

Canon 7D, EF35-80, 70mm, +4 Filter, f/5.6, 1/160, ISO 250

Please leave a comment letting me know your opinion of who or what this is.  We finally got a short break yesterday from six straight days of rain. I went outside to move my car. For some reason, I looked down and this is what I saw. Before moving the car,  I went into the house and got my camera. I used my +4 close-up filter so I could get a clear shot. What does it look like to you? I knew immediately what it looked like to me. I also took some photos of some large mushrooms. Soon after I came back into the house it started raining again. I think it will stop now until Sunday morning. I am supposed to photograph a large family portrait (26 people) on Sunday afternoon in a backyard. I hope it clears up so I can do it! I did not do much to this photo. I cropped and straightened the image, then just did a layers adjustment.

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What is This Lensbaby Photo Of?

Canon 7D, Raw, Lensbaby +4 Macro Filter, 50mm, 1/500, ISO 800, Curves adjustment

What do you think of my little unknown object? Can you tell me what it is? I would love to hear your guesses. I came across this totally by accident and was very surprised at its appearance. It is unusual. I used my lensbaby. I enjoy seeing the images I can get with it. I did a curves adjustment in Photoshop just to make the background more white. It was too blue. I used a higher ISO because it was late in the day and cloudy. I am happy with the result. I love the Canon 7D and I try to learn one new thing about it each day. I will be taking many days to learn it all, if ever.

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Using My +2 Macro Filter

Canon 20D, Raw, f/5.0, 1/1000, 58mm, ISO 200, +2 Macro Filter

I was looking for something to photograph today. I wanted some inspiration. I got it looking in my backyard at the Christmas Cactus. What changes it made in 2 days! I wanted to use the +2 macro filter with a very shallow depth of field. I am happy with the results.  I upped the green saturation a little and the contrast. I like what that did. I also like the angle of the sun lighting the leaves.

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Heavenly Bamboo

I was out walking in my front yard today looking for something to photograph. There are a lot of things and I took a lot of photos. I took a lot of the little round berries, pods or whatever they are on the heavenly bamboo plant. None of them seemed to work. I went back outside with my lensbaby and +10 macro filter and saw this beautiful leaf. Aren’t the colors great? I am very happy with it. I love the lensbaby and maybe one day I can get one of there “better” ones.

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Another Great Cactus

I took this photo a few weeks ago with my Lensbaby. I keep going back to it because I like it. I finally decided to share it with you today. It is a photo of a cactus we have had  for many years and it is now over 4 feet tall.  Every time we have moved it also moves.  It  looks like it has white hair growing on it. I wish I knew what this cactus is called, but I don’t know that much about plants. Those thorns are very sharp, whatever kind they are!  Awed that it was a 2 inch plant when we started…

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Another Up-Close Photograph

This appears to be the month of up close flowers! It is not intentional but I guess I will need to intentionally put a stop to it! This one, in case you you could not tell, is with the Lensbaby +10 macro filter. It is a photo of my mother’s Christmas cactus. These are buds  from which the beautiful pink flowers emerge. We are going up to Pasadena tomorrow and that is always a great place to take photos!

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White on White

This photograph was taken with my Lensbaby 2.0 with the +10 macro filter. I showed you the buds the other day so now I show you the orchid as it is just beginning to bloom. To me it kind of looks like an alien space ship! Willie mentioned the body snatchers! I think it looks good and I like the white on white look. 333/365

Orchid Buds

Now that I am becoming obsessed with my Lensbaby Macro +10, I have another photo to show you that I took this morning. The white orchid is blooming so beautifully, I took a photo of a new blossom that is opening and then I wanted to photograph these buds. With the macro filter I was unable to include the flower and the buds in one shot, so I took this one of just the buds. Maybe I will show you the flower at a future time.

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Macro View of a Cactus

I took this image with my Lensbaby, +10 macro filter. I was trying a few other things today and this is not quite as good as yesterday’s image. I like the colors and the composition. It is a very old cactus and we have had it for many years. The yard is looking pretty nice now as a lot of the geraniums are blooming and the fruit trees are full of buds. The lemons on the lemon tree look like grapefruits! Willie does a very nice job. There is always a lot to do.

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Lensbaby Macro Shot

I am so proud of this photograph! I thought I would try my +10 macro filter on my Lensbaby 2.0. I had only used the +4 macro filter before. Now the +10 is  my favorite. I was finally able to get a good focal point and so lucky I was able to get this bee. Isn’t it great? When I went outside, there were a few bees buzzing around my basil plant that is very large and has a lot of flowers on it. I will work on getting closer to the bee next time, but they really like to buzz around a lot!

This is a great Lensbaby macro photo…

We had some of the fresh basil from that plant on the spaghetti I made earlier in the week. It was great! The day started out very overcast and even a little chilly. I have been waking up early, so when I went out to get the newspaper at 5:30, it was pretty cool outside, and oh so nice and quiet! Willie took the dogs for a good walk today at Central Park. He said Donnan was really good until they went into the dog park. Why can’t he learn from Kyla? Willie said Kyla kept an eye on Donnan and didn’t go very far away from him. The Dodger’s are playing the Cardinals – has not been a good series for them! We’ll see how it goes!

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Some Very Special Ice

I  am very happy with the way this image came out. Does it look like ice melting in the summer heat? or does it look like a pile of uncut diamonds? Well, actually, it is neither – but I won’t tell you what it is. Try to guess and let me know what you come up with. I took this with my +4 macro filter with an aperture of 4.5. I converted it to black and white but that is pretty much what it looked like originally!

What could this be…?

We have all been pretty lazy today – not doing much. I looked at some new lynda.com videos, checked out my Twitter account, did some reading on Saturday’s PhotoWalk, watched the movie Caprica. It could be an interesting TV series. Then I watched my soap (AMC) while working on the computer. Willie is still not at 100%, plus he has to take his dad to the doctor in the morning, so we will not be going to San Pedro tomorrow. It will still be there on Monday! Took Kyla over to Larry and Shelley’s last night. She loves running around their grassy back yard!

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Is This A Succulent Jade Plant?

I am a little unsure of what this plant is. It is a succulent Willie has growing in a pot in our backyard. I am sure he got a little piece somewhere and stuck it in some dirt. Aren’t the colors beautiful? I broke out my Lensbaby with the +4 macro lens, put the camera on the tripod and the plant on the ground (a little hard on the back!). My sweet spot is still not quite where I want it to be, but it came very close on this photo. Willie looked at it from across the room and said, “It’s out of focus!” I pointed to where it is in focus and he came closer to look at it. He said. “ok.”  (Sidebar: When my mother was a little girl, she would get her mouth washed out with soap if she said “ok.”). I love the colors – they go from pale green to yellow to blue, purple and red. What more could one ask for?

Can someone tell me what the name of this plant is…?

Willie had me help him set up his own weblog today. It took us a while to come up with a name he liked that was available and then to select a theme. As soon as he has a post I will put up a link so you can check out his work. This is my first post I have written on my new PC. I have found that Vista is not that different from XP. It is just going to take me a while to get organized. Willie is feeling better today. I am sure he will be fine by tomorrow. We are planning to go to San Pedro on Friday to take some photos and maybe walk the dogs around. I am sure it will be a nice day. Until tomorrow…

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A Juicy Tart Lime

Here is another food photograph this month. I had asked Willie to fix me a drink this evening (he makes a mean vodka tonic with lime). He cut the lime in half and I thought it would make a nice photograph. I was right! I did eventually get my drink but not until I took several photos and downloaded them all. I used my +4 macro filter. I wanted to show all those little pockets of juice. It came out looking fresh and juicy. This is not from the tree we bought last year. I don’t think we will get any more fruit until the Fall. For now, they come from the market!

Juicy, fresh tart lime…

I spent more time working on the new computer today. The software takes so much time to download. I had to add my Google toolbar and get the desktop the way I want it. I still have a long way to go! I guess it will be worth it – I sure hope so! Willie was not feeling real good today, a little stomach trouble. He seems to be ok now. I need to decide what classes I am going to take this coming semester. I have another week to decide. Willie and I, along with friends Carol and Bill, are going to be part of the Laguna Beach PhotoWalk Saturday evening. We got an email from our “leader” today with final info for the event. We are looking forward to it. Any of you going to be on one on Saturday? Let me know about it and where you will be.

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Food Photography With the Lensbaby

Well, I have done Lensbaby a few times this month and food photography a few times this month, so this image uses them both. I messed with my diopter yesterday to see if I could get a better focus with my glasses on. I tried today and it is a little better. Can you really get a sharp center focus with the Lensbaby 2.0 and have  it flair out from the center? That is what I was trying with this image. It is a little better. My last two food images were of healthy fruit, I saw this and thought, what the heck, let’s use something not healthy!

Colorful, forbidden “fruit”…

Watching the Dodger game now – they are beating NY Mets 5-0, 5th inning. We’ll see how it ends! Willie just left for Long Beach. The full moon rises at 8:35 tonight. Maybe I will go take a photo. But, when you have taken one good full moon photo, another one is not going to be any different! Filled out Willie’s means test today for the VA (he is a Vietnam veteran). He will see his doctor tomorrow about his smashed finger. I am not sure what time. I forgot to say that I used my +4 Lensbaby macro filter on this image. I tried the +10, but I would have only shown you about 1/2 a dozen candies in the middle! I cannot believe Gary Sheffield is still play baseball!

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What is Your Favorite Summertime Fruit?

Are you a fresh yellow peach fan? or do you like white nectarines better? How about watermelon or some nice bing cherries? These are all good, but personally I cannot decide between peaches or watermelon. I had some of both today. I cut this peach in half to photograph. It started turning brown and kind of funny looking after a very short time. I gave Willie half of it then came to download the images. Then he ate the other half! I will remember that! He said it was real good!

A juicy, succulent peach…

I took this with my +4 macro filter sitting on some white matt board. You can see a lot of moistness on the peach. There are two more in the kitchen so I will get another one. It was an absolutely beautiful day today. Larry and Shelley got home early from the mountains. He said the parade yesterday was fun and then they saw fireworks in the evening. They have photos on their website (check the sidebar for the link to their site). Looks like a lot of people were up there! Hope your week-end was a lot of fun!

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An Elephant in the Jungle

What do you think of this elephant? It is another Lensbaby attempt. I was trying very hard to get the focul point on the elephants eye. I did not succeed very well, but out of all the photos I took today, this was the closest. This is a wooden sculpture with actual ivory husks (I probably should not admit that) that my mother had for many, many years. I do not know if she purchased it herself or if it was a gift. I am sure that at the time it was all very legal, just like her real ivory earrings!

A real ivory tusked elephant…

I tried converting the image to black and white but I was not happy with it. It will take a while to get the hang of this Lensbaby – but it will be fun learning! I finished up the ceremony photos today from the wedding. I went on to the formal/fun photos, but Photoshop kept shutting down on me. I guess I had done enough for today! I will try to finish tomorrow. The weather warmed up today. Willie is barbecuing us a nice steak for dinner. That has always been one of my favorites. When my brother’s and I were growing up and it was our birthday, our mother always gave us a choice of what to have for dinner. I always chose steak! I don’t remember what Frankie and Howard chose. I will have to ask them!

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