Good Weather!

So the weather was good for

For studying photography 

[which is a great hobby with

no creative boundaries]

Thursday morning was filled with fog and rain as the afternoon wore on, the temperatures started to drop quickly.

They went from 40 to 30 in two hours with winds gusting to 50 mph. Thankfully, we are in a hollow here so we are getting the wind but not to the extent those on the ridge are getting. 

Oddly enough, my shovels, and skis blew down on the porch. A water bucket I had out there took off for parts unknown.

I assume I'll find it in a few days.

So I decided to work with High key photos before returning to experimenting with macro images.

I saw a photographer I follow on Flickr use a broken ornament as her subject for a macro shot. The shot was so beautiful and so well done, that I stopped and studied it. 

Instead of breaking anything, I picked some weeds when I did chores to practice macro while avoiding the cruel weather.

Wednesday while hiking I picked up 'Old Man's Beard' seeds. Okay they are actually a wild Clematis that grows in the forests not an old man's beard.

The shape has always fascinated me, so I put it in a plastic bag and brought it home to study.

Old Man's Beard aka
Clematis vitalba

Here is a piece of Yarrow I got from the garden next to the porch. I can't believe that the dried flowers held up with the snowfall and all the weather we've had.

I placed the dried yarrow on top of a wooden block on my laptop keyboard and brought up a fractal I'd made years ago as the back drop.

Behind the scenes, it looked like this.

I don't have an iPad, but I do know of folks who place their flowers on top of or use an iPad photo to make a backdrop for macro photography. Ingenious really as you can control the brightness behind the flower.

I don't have anything like that. It worked for this shot and was handy as an experiment. I've done this with toys and had great results.

The shot below is the remnants of the Flea Bane flower in the winter. I put crinkled up foil behind the plant and a red ribbon below it.

Meanwhile in the Christmas Village, Mini-Me and Charlie spot something going on. Looks like a couple of Boo Monsters grabbed a snow mobile and 'eye' spy the Grinch hiding behind a tree and the Vampire Lady from Halloween on the balcony.

Huh. The Christmas Village has so much to see and so much going on!