Short and sweet

These irises and peonies live right outside our front door and I love them, but am always bummed to see them go after what seems like only a few days. 

Texture Tuesday, Volume 17

Joining Kim for Texture Tuesday...

edited with kk_justatouch at soft light and 48% opacity

Summer weather is finally here!  Enjoy your week :)

Texture Tuesday, Volume 16

Linking up with Kim today for Texture Tuesday - the theme this week is yellow.

We went to Holland, MI for the Tulip Festival the day after Meredith's First Communion.  It was a nice day...could have been a little warmer...could have been a little less windy...but, it wasn't raining.  Most of the tulips were not in bloom yet, but we found a couple of patches on 8th Street that were in all of their glory!

edited with kk_0312

Happy Tuesday everyone and have a great week!

Texture Tuesday, Volume 15

update:  well...wow...I posted this Monday night wondering why Kim never posted a Texture Tuesday post.  I was worried that something had happened in her camp!  Here's the official link -


I'm getting this in late, but...better late than never, right?!

Joining Kim today for Texture Tuesday...even though there isn't a link for today...I hope everything is okay. 

I used kk_ruemarion, kk_way and kk_cora to edit this...and added a sepia filter, increased contrast and decreased saturation.  If you mouseover the image you will see the SOOC shot.

I looks vintage...I like it.

Have a nice week :)

Spring!

I love to shoot flowers...did you know?

Even though I have been using some expensive, and supposedly better, camera equipment lately, I am still very pleased with the quality of pictures produced by my 6 MP camera :)

I used a 4+ macro filter on my 18-55mm lens for some of these...

Texture Tuesday, Volume 14

Linking up with Kim again...this week's theme for Texture Tuesday is...SIMPLE.

Life is a bit overwhelming right now so SIMPLE is good...

These are the only posts I've been able to do lately, but I really enjoy doing it :)

Can't get much more simple than this.  Edited with kk_justatouch in two layers; one in multiply blend mode and one in soft light.

I hope everyone has a blessed week!

Texture Tuesday, Volume 13

Linking up with Kim for Texture Tuesday.  

The theme today is... perfectly imperfect.  

I spent quite a bit of time on this and when I put them next to each other, I think I like the unedited version better - I guess that makes the edited version perfectly imperfect :)

I used kk_3003 and kk_0411 with a purple to orange gradient, increased saturation, and added a vignette.  

I enjoy seeing what everyone accomplishes every week...I'm always inspired!

Texture Tuesday, Volume 12

Joining Kim again today for Texture Tuesday -  

Today's theme is 'For the love of...' and I chose sisters.  

These two are about 19 months apart and are joined at the hip most of the time.  They have very different personalities and that's what makes their relationship so endearing.  I hope they never lose this closeness...

Edited with kk_justatouch in Multiply mode

Have a great spring week!

Old time flash

Someone I work with mentioned that I could get an old Sunpak 344D (also called an auto-thyristor) flash for my D40 and that it would work fine...if I learned how to use it!  Ha!  Once I saw that I could get one for about $8 on eBay, I did my research to learn how to use it so that by the time it came in the mail, I had it pretty well figured out.  

I love it!  It gives great light that's not harsh and I've been snapping everything indoors the past couple of days.

I have to sneak pictures of this one or I don't see his face in photos!

This one (left) taken with the new flash...

This one (bottom) taken with on-camera flash...subtle but noticeable difference...

Texture Tuesday, Volume 11

Linking up with Kim Klassen today - for Texture Tuesday -

I wish I could follow her more than I do.  Life does not allow for too much extra time spent on hobbies right now, but I know that all too soon I will have that extra time...so until then...

I used a watercolor filter in PSE first and then added a couple of textures and played around with opacity.

Happy Tuesday!

Texture Tuesday, Volume 10

It's almost too late, but I'm still linking up with Kim for Texture Tuesday.  I just posted this picture recently, but I had to use it again because of the theme this week...light. 

Someone pointed out the face in the reflection and I hadn't noticed it before then...how do I not see these things?!

edited with Kim's kk_steelmagic

Happy Tuesday!

Macro photography photo shoot

As part of the local photography group I joined, we were able to use a professional rental studio including some awesome equipment...like, backdrops, lenses, lights, tripods, etc.  It was great fun especially since Sarah came with me.  We took so many pictures, it's funny to post only 5...maybe Sarah will allow me to post some of hers...

Scholastic Art Awards

Sarah is on her way to becoming a great photographer!  She saved up money from her pool job this summer and bought a Nikon D3200 and has been producing inspiring stuff ever since.  She has taken a couple of photography classes at school and eight of her pictures were submitted to the Scholastic Art Awards contest.  She won two Honorable Mentions!  What a great accomplishment considering 2500 items are submitted and these were her first submissions. 

Marian was well represented.

Can't see this one...her picture is on the bottom.  It is a photo of Meredith's silver shoes and she's standing on the cement lid of our well pit.

                                                

Also tough to see this one.  Hers is the top one.  It is of her friend, Abbey, and she has a feathery mask on.

This is cool!

We all agreed that it is amazing that all of these things are made by junior and senior high school students.  So much talent!  We all also agreed that art is tough to judge because some of the things we saw were (in our opinion) very disturbing and still won awards!

Congratulations, Sarah!

Texture Tuesday, Volume 8

Linking up with Kim for Texture Tuesday.

I don't know the name of this flower, but I shot it at the Greenhouse I visited Saturday.  It is edited with Kim's kk_0411. 

Greenhouse visit

I went to a local greenhouse today with the photography group.  Only four of us showed up - the ones desperate enough to get out in this weather I guess.  I had to get groceries anyway so I decided that doing something fun beforehand would make that task much more worthwhile.  Not a lot of blooming flowers obviously, but still fun.  I used some of the macro filters on some - here's a few...

Texture Tuesday, Volume 7

Linking up with Kim for Texture Tuesday.

Simply cold...

edited with kk_3003

edited with kk_0405

It was -14F when we woke up this morning...

We have never seen weather like we've seen here in northern Indiana for the past couple of weeks...we definitely have snow and cold temps but not like this.  Looking ahead to a colorful spring!

Glad to see the sun

I knew the sun would come out today - if only to save my children from the misery of being with my crabby self :)

A good dose of vitamin D delivered via the sun is so good for the psyche!