Patience and perserverence rewarded

Ralph suggested that we try to go out again and photograph Comet Neowise.  Oh how exciting to be able to attempt it a 2nd time.  This time we did a little more research on where to look in the sky.  There were more clouds but they didn't interfere with what we were doing.  We think the day before we were still too early.  It is getting harder to see in the sky but if you look closely below the big dipper and to the left you will see it. Definately a challenge to photograph and we still have lots to learn but it was still fun to go out and try,

Here is another attempt using textures.  While this is pretty overdone, the purpose was to give the feeling that a storm was coming in as the sun was setting.  I used 3 photos to create this one picture. The very bottom layer is a photo of a stork as it was coming in to land.  It was a very sunny and bright afternoon without much interest in the sky and as a result a pretty uninteresting picture.   I masked in a 2nd photo which was a full array of colours which I thought might mimic a sunset.  I reduced the opacity and removed the colour layer on top of the stork.  I then added a 3rd photo of dark stormy clouds.  On this layer I also reduced the opacity to let some of the pink and blues shine though and removed the cloud layer from the top of the bird.  I'll have to mull over whether I am happy with the result. Sometimes I'll leave a picture for a few weeks (sometimes years) after which I'll go back and decide if it's worth keeping.  This was done primarily to teach myself the technique.  

This was the original shot of the stork.

It has been another nice week.  The weather is cooler in the morning which makes it enjoyable to sit outside again.  It's nice to look around the backyard and see the flowers flourishing.  I harvested the majority of our lettuce at the beginning of the week but I noticed this morning that more leaves are coming.  Maybe there will be enough for sandwhiches.

I enjoyed a fun round of golf with Claudia and Arja.  We had some beautiful skies while golfing.  I really enjoy these days together. The temperature was really nice as well and not as humid as it has been.

We spent a couple of days in Niagara again golfing.  These are fun times.  We're really enjoying the tailgate bbbq dinners and are planning another one soon in August. It's a short but nice break. The weather was nice although we did have a bit of rain but not enough to stop us.  There certainly was a lot of drama in the sky.

On our way home we drove by the falls.  There were very few tourists which was surprising since it was the middle of the afternoon.  You most certainly didn't need to worry about people being close by.  We didn't stay long as I only wanted to get a quick couple of photos.

It's hard to believe that another week has gone by so quickly.  I'm sure loving these summer days.  My garden is growing well with the heat but it needs a lot of water right now, especially the tomatoes in the pots.  When we came home they were quite wilted.  I hope that they will be ok.  I harvested two zucchinis this morning.  I think we'll enjoy them on the bbq this weekend.  They are the perfect size.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.  His love endures forever.  Psalm 136:1

Working with textures and macro photography

During the course of the pandemic I have had plenty of time to research and learn new techniques with photography. Some of it is new while others are things that I had placed on the back burner for a long time. I have a real fascination with the photos I have seen on Facebook where the User is applying a texture. Some of the photos are just amazing and so beautiful. Research into this shows that many photographers are doing this and using multiple platforms to achieve the results. Photoshop is one of the applications along with Topaz, Lightroom, ON1 and Luminar. Hmmm so many choices. For now I’m sticking with what I have and am using Lightroom, Photoshop and Luminar. It seems to work for me but I’m sure that as I learn more I may be tempted to add another application to my "go to" toolkit. Time will tell.

Adding textures to a picture involves selecting a new background that will compliment the subject of the photo. There are plenty of free textures found on the internet and many available for purchase as well. So far the freebies have met my needs. I’m sure that there is an easy way to remove the background in Photoshop but I don’t know how to do that and most photographers indicate that it sometimes helps improve the interest of the picture by leaving the background there. I generally develop my original picture in Lightroom and then transfer it to Luminar. I am able to manipulate the texture to make it bold, softer, more opaque etc and this is all matter of personal taste. I generally play with the strength of the texture after I have finished my developing. The next step is choosing what to bring forward on top of the texture. This is where most of the work takes place. Lots of decision making is done at this step. I’ve enjoyed playing around with this. Right now I photograph flowers with the intent of using them with a texture. I’d love to do a country scene and hope in August that I can capture a few barns to do this with. It would be fun.

Another thing that I have been playing around with is macro  photography. Every time I’m out golfing I have been looking for feathers. They are a good tool to practice with especially if you have to stay inside.  Adding a spritz of water helps to add some interest. Ralph helped make something to hold the feathers. These are made out of small wood blocks, dowel and craft clothespins. Using my macro lens I get up really close to the feather and take multiple pictures (5-7) focusing on different parts of the image. This done because the camera is unable to bring everything into focus when it is at such a close range. It's very important to ensure that the subject doesn't move (which is a challenge when the air conditioner is on).   The multiple photos are then uploaded into Lightroom where they receive their normal tweaks. From there the photos are sent to Photoshop where you “align” all the pictures (to make sure nothing has moved). If anything (a fine feather for example) has moved, it will be seen at the end and then it must be erased out of the final picture. Once aligned, the photos are then stacked or blended together. There is a feature in Photoshop that does this for you. It will take all the pictures and reveal the sharpest portions all combined onto one shot. I know it sounds like a lot and for me it was pretty intimidating but after trying it a few times it gets easier.

The above shot is a combination of focus stacking and textures.

Just for fun I decided to try adding a flag to the droplets hanging off of some ornamental grass.  We received paper flags in the mail for Canada Day which was perfect to use for this exercise.  It's important to remember that when looking through the droplet, refraction will occur causing the item item behind it to be upside down.  So to combat this I turned the flag the opposite way.  When focusing on this, I shot 3 pictures focusing on each of the 3 droplets.  Isn't it amazing that you can see the flag through the water drops.  I'm pretty happy with the result.

Last night Ralph and I went out to try to shoot the comet Neowise.  It was late by the time the sun had set and it was dark enough to see the stars.  We were joined by another photographer who wanted to try to capture the comet as well.  He seemed to know what he was doing and had an app on his phone which said exactly where the comet should be.  I'm not sure it was correct, however I took multiple pictures and saw something flashing in the sky but I wasn't successful in getting a half decent shot of it.  I did however take some pictures of the moon which I am pleased with.  This phase is called the Waxing Crescent.   This is the first phase after the New Moon and is a great time to see the features on the moon's surface.  If you enlarge the picture you can see some craters.

Flies! Who would have thought?

The last couple of days has been a little stinky on our back deck.  Maybe not just a little stinky, but really rotting meat stinky. We tried to decipher where the smell was coming from and thought it had to be from underneath our deck. We’ve had raccoons and skunks under it before but Ralph had blocked everything up and he was extra careful to ensure that everyone was out. We’ve discovered that they come out as soon as the sun sets. The raccoons are gone (or so we hoped) but those skunks can sure squeeze their way through the smallest holes. Since we were having a porch visit we were getting quite concerned as it was getting worse as the days progressed. Ralph got up early yesterday morning and started taking off deck boards (not an easy task) and we couldn’t find anything. Do you think it’s coming from the neighbours we asked ourselves?  We didn’t think so as it was really strong when standing in one area. It suddenly dawned on us that it could be the fly/wasp catcher that we had hanging in the tree. It was full, and I mean full of dead flies. I should have taken a picture for you to see but I didn’t. Ralph took the garden hose to it on the driveway and washed out all the dead flies. That was definately the source of the putrid, rotting smell. I have had this catcher for more than 10 years and this has never happened before. I wonder if it was the combination of bugs and coca cola. In the past I have used ginger-ale.  I sure am happy that the smell is gone.

We enjoyed a few days in Niagara this week.  We've really enjoyed these mini vacations as it is a nice break away while keeping in mind to social distance.  The hotel was very good and they are making alot of effort to keep things sterilized.

The weather remains very warm and makes it important to stay on top of watering. I harvested a few onions as their greens were falling over and starting to dry out. This is a sign that they are ready. They aren’t that large but I’m sure they are full of flavour.  Ralph made me a nice drying rack for them as they need to dry for a while to develop the skin which allows them to be stored for up to 3 months.

We’ve been able to get three meals so far from our beans. I don’t think I will grow them in pots again as they don’t seem to like that. I have found them a little tempermental. I think I might still get another two meals from what we have in the garden.

My zucchini plants seem to look good with lots of flowers but they are not bearing fruit. The one zucchini I did have ended up falling off while we were away. I will leave them alone and see if anything happens. I also have a lot of flowers on the squash. I hope that these might work out better.

Its the end of another beautiful week and we have been blessed richly by our Lord.  I hope this beautiful weather continues and we are able to continue enjoying this summer.  The COVID-19 numbers continue to be very high in the US with the last three days reporting greater than 200,000 cases in total.  I pray that God brings them some relief soon. from the spread of this virus.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Hot sunny days of July

July has roared in like a lion bringing with it many hot hot days. I’m not complaining though as we can bask in the sunshine and take enjoyment from its warmth. My gardens are thriving with the heat. I have lots of tomatoes on the vines and it looks like it might be a bumper crop this year.

We’ve been eating fresh lettuce with our meals and it is so sweet and just melts in your mouth. With. help from Grace Speelman I know how to pick the outside leaves and allow the lettuce to continue growing.  It's thriving with the heat and seems to be doing really well.

The green onions (2nd batch) are growing well and they seem to grow inches on a daily basis. I have been feeding them  banana tea (homemade fertilizer). It works well.  For the first week only 1 shoot was growing but during the 2nd week additional green shoots have arrived and are getting to be a good size.  I think they will be ready in about 2 weeks to be harvested again.

The onions have been kind of hit or miss.  Some have shot into bloom which will stop the bulb from growing. I have been harvesting them and cutting the tops (like you would green onions) and freezing them for soup. I've also kept the bulb thinking it will still be good for flavour in soup. It can be scooped out when the soup is ready.  I started out with roughly 65 small bulbs and I currently have about 40 still in the garden.  The squirrels got quite a few and some went to flower.  I'll know for next year not to put them in pots.  I think they work best in the ground.

Today I started harvesting the beans. Hmmm they look so good and plump. We’re going to have them for dinner tonight. I picked through 3 plants and took the largest beans off.  I'll have to do more this week as there are quite a few beans that are ready.  It's exciting to see how well tthe plants are growing and starting to produce the vegetables.

We spent a few days with John and Grace and went golfing.  What fun we had. It was hot but we had plenty of water.  At the Bay of Quinte course we saw a hawk with seagull in it's clutches.  There were all sorts of seegulls in the air flying around and they seemed pretty agitated by the hawk.  It looked like it was going to be a "big" meal for this bird.

In the evening Grace and I went outside and looked at the Milky Way.  I was able to capture a few shots although the bugs were so bad that they chased us inside pretty quickly.  It's so nice to be away from the city where you can look up to the skies and think about how majestic our God is.  We certainly don't see that here in the city.

We visited this really nice place that had these beautiful daylillies and hostas.  It is called True North Daylilies.  It was very inspirational to see and now we're thinking about where we could put a few of these beauties.  They would need full sunlight.  I think I might have just the place in the front garden.

While we were wandering through the garden, we saw a bird house made out of a gourd with a pheebee living in it.  Hmmm, I have a gourd as well - maybe I can try that.

I think my gourd might be a little big but who knows maybe a bigger bird is looking for a nesting box lol. 

We also saw a "bee bath" which I didn't take a picture of, but here is my version of if.  It's simply a small bowl with rocks and water where the bee's can settle and get a drink.  In this crazy hot weather, they need water as much as we do.

Lunar eclipse

Saturday night (July 4 into July 5) we had a lunar eclipse.  I knew it wouldn't be a full eclipse as what I had read indicated that it would only cover a small portion on the upper part of the moon.  I expected that part to disappear (lol) or go fully black like a solar eclipse does.  I kept watching and waiting for the moon to change (I was shooting photos at the same time). Finally around 1:30 a.m. I googled the information around what to expect and discovered that these are very "light" in colour (ie more white) and often very difficult to see. I'd been watching since 11:30 waiting for this.  Ralph had already gone to bed and I was on the front lawn with my tripod and camera. Overall I'm disappointed with my shots as I know I can get them crisper.  Last night I couldn't figured out why this wasn't happening as I adjusted ISO, shutter speed and F stop.  It just wasn't working me.  I gave up at 1:30 and went to bed.  This morning when I woke up the first thought I had was to check my image stabilizer on my lens and sure enough, I had forgotten to turn it off.  Grrrr...keeping it on when the camera is on a tripod can cause camera shake.  I think this might have been the problem.

On Sunday night I was anxious for the moon to come up.  I even took a walk to the school looking for it hah hah.  No moon yet by 10:00 and I was getting pretty tired.  Between church services I had done some research and I wanted to try my new found knowledge.  I was pretty tired from staying up so late the night before so I ended up going to bed. I just couldn't wait any longer.  I did however set up my camera (checked the stabilizer as well) and left it on the tripod by the front door.  In the event that I woke up in the middle of the night I thought I might go out and try again. Sure enough I was awake at 1:00 and the moon was shining brightly.  I got dressed and went outside.  Tonight you could see the moon as well as Saturn and Jupiter.  I really wished that I had a telescope as the sky was so clear.  I could see a really bright light in the sky to the west of the moon but my camera couldn't pull it in.  It was too far.  I am however very happy with my new moon shot as it has much more detail than what I was able to get the night before.  Here are the most important things to remember:

1. Turn your stabilizer off
2. ISO and Shutter speed should match ie. ISO 100, SS 100
3. F stop of 11 works well
4. Set your camera meter to spot metering
5. Use a tripod
6. Focus on the edge of the moon, not the center

Success!!  Considering that the moon is 1/4 million miles away I am very happy with the details that I was able to capture. The night before I wasn't able to see the ridges and lines on the surface, while on this one you can, especially along the right edge.  It was worth getting up for!!

Canada Day

This summer we have been blessed with some beautiful hot days.  On Canada Day Ralph and I got up early to miss the crouds and went down to the lake for a couple of hours to see the sun rise.  There wasn't much cloud in the sky to add a lot of interest but it was so peaceful while sitting there.  It was easy not to think about Covid and just enjoy the beauty that the Lord has given us.  

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art