Learning new tricks

This time with the camera. Well, I have used the Sequence shooting before, but never thought to do this.

And I really wonder why. It is such a delightful way to present a photo. It involves a bit of knowledge of layers and editing, with modern programs it is much easier to do than ages ago.

I did this handheld because I happened to be walking outside with camera in hand while peering at the flowers. I wanted to see if any other butterflies showed up other than the Swallow Tail.

The result was the same butterfly in flight in two stages.

That was fun to try so I tried it a few more times. Several times I noticed a lot of activity around the Zinnias so I grabbed the camera and kept trying to catch something amazing.

Below is an example of how the shots look as I start to put them together. These were shot at 1/2000 of a second in rapid fire. The butterfly moved quickly but overlapped itself in subsequent shots. 

I thought it would be a good learning experience to try and merge 4 shots of the same butterfly.

It was work but in doing so, I understand a bit better as to how the Swallow Tails move.

A Monarch showed up later in the day by the Zinnias and I had to wait for it to settle down. I took a series of it and was disappointed in that it just fluttered and hovered over the same flower while a Swallow Tail did a Photobomb!

This one of the Clearwing Hummingbird Moth was probably the most frustrating of all. These little fellows move like lightening. Getting them in focus as they move? Almost impossible. But I tried.

My last attempt at a series was a humming bird. They are one of the most challenging birds to 'catch'.

This female did a lot of hovering and each shot had a different wing position, however they would have been piled right on top of each other. So I found two shots that I could merge like this:

There was another shot I wanted to include that had her with her wings folded forward. 

Photography is such an amazing way to observe these beautiful creatures.

I think I learn so much from observing and photographing them. 

I do the same thing with insects, flowers, trees, and fungi. If it makes me curious, I have to study it through the camera.

That said, birds are beginning to migrate. The Orioles have been gone for a few weeks, the sound of Robins has diminished, the Bluebirds headed out in mid July, the red wing blackbirds are few and far between...and the Wrens are still here, but quieter.
I will miss the Wrens more than any other bird. 

Soon enough the trees will start to show that they are tired and ready for their rest. 

Exploring AI Art

AI in photography? Nonsense, right?
Well, I couldn't resist trying a program that allowed you to type in words and add a photo of your own, then pick a style using wombo ai art. I'd read about it from a review on new AI art which was pondering the relevance or non relevance of new ways of creating art. 

Is it real art? Is it not real art?

The consensus in a way is that it is not 'old' art in a sense but a new kind of art. 

I'm ambivalent regarding that. My conclusion is using AI as a means to an end can be art as long as the 'artist' is in control of manipulating the final piece.

I'm one that has explored computer generated art in the past and enjoyed using it. 

So....

Here is the original photo I used.

I typed in Scary, End of the World, and picked the Malevolent Style.

I didn't expect I'd really get anything I'd like. After all AI isn't really quite art or is it?

The result:

I sort of liked it in an abstract way. But felt I could improve on it tremendously if I used some magical editing skills.

Crop/Resize/a bit of punch added and this was the result:

Still neat but not quite there. It needed something to tell more of a story and create a feeling.

I put it in DxO's Analog app and gave it some minor adjustments and a partial 'dirt' texture.

Clearly, my Grand daughter who is a gamer, would appreciate the final result. Dystopian, end of the world, creatur-ish, scary, out of the world...strange.

I stopped there because it struck me with the emotion of slight discomfort. 
Perfect.

I thought I'd try another one. I uploaded this with the key words: Forest Love and picked the Arcane setting.

Edit:

I tried an edit with a double exposure using the very same photo at the start of this blog. 

It's okay but I can think of better shots to use. 

This was an experiment in using DxO's analog double exposure edit which allows you to do this effect easily. 

It works quite well.

I couldn't leave well enough alone so I wondered what would happen when I used this shot:

This one was a bit too gloomy, but the result from the text I typed in was interesting. Instead of a forest, it looks like a city on doomsday.

I upped the 'influence' of the original image and got this which ended up looking like a painting with subtle tones.

It is sort of addicting to type things in and see what happens. The end result isn't always wonderful, but it is fun to see what happens.

Yeah.

You can tell that yesterday was hot, muggy, and awful! I spent the late afternoon inside mucking around with ideas and art exploration. 

Too dang uncomfortable outside.

That is funny

So here I was on my 'high' horse ranting a bit about programs that allow anyone to go ahead and swap out skies.

FStoppers came out with and article 'Is Sky Replacement Ethical in Landscape Photography?'

And then I go ahead and do some wicked fun stuff with Infrared. So my conclusion is. If photography is art for you, do what you wish. If it is documentation photography, then stick as close to the real thing as possible.

Some days I am documenting things like fungi, slime mold, and wildflowers. Other days I am looking into a wild and strange world with colors than the eye cannot see. 

Infrared shots with a 665nm filter and I used a filter called Nostaligic from DxO Color Efex.

So really. Who am I to say anything? 

Glimpses of us in Iso

I am normally NOT a person that does 'self' photography, but I was stuck inside waiting on a phone call from a doctor's office on rescheduling ...

I wanted to convey an emotion felt by so many isolated people out there. I cannot imagine having to stay indoors and not be able to get out and wander around.

I get antsy if I am not hiking or walking daily. I will pace the house or sit and be grumpy.
Obviously I wouldn't ever do well in solitary confinement.
Even the internet or TV streaming doesn't interest me!

I liked this shot even though it shows off my gloriously aging face which I am finally coming to terms with.
All those lines! I will attribute them to being outdoors all year round. Weather beaten features are handsome on a man, not so on a woman!

Anyway.
Here is a glimpse of our morning routine. Coffee, handwritten journal, sewing machine pushed to the side and laptop all on the table in a jumble. That is, before I cleaned up.

I had set my camera on a timer and then sat down to talk to Rich about what he would like for supper.

I set my little red camera up in front of me and used my smartphone to take shots of Rich without his knowing. He really doesn't like photos of himself. Probably since he refuses to get a haircut and hasn't bothered to trim his facial hair.

I ask a lot and he just ignores it. His hair, his face. Oh well.

But there it is ... that's how we are.

A friend of mine did an amusing photo session with his kids and himself. Placing himself in the same frame over and over again.

I just had to try it while I was sitting around.

I tried to get Charlie in on this but he wouldn't cooperate.

Oh wait!!!

Here is the final. I couldn't help but add this one in.

There I am! Stinky!

Glimpses of life stuck inside a tiny house.

Yes, there is Charlie's dog bone in the photo. I never even thought about removing it!

Have a good day.

Upstairs and experimenting

I really didn't want to move the bed in the tiny tiny room because to vacuum under it requires jiggling, lifting, this way and that and then moving the heavy bed a bit more one way and then the other way just to get under it and kill the dust monsters that lurk on the carpet under the bed.

While I was at it, I washed the walls down and changed the bedding.
It was snowing outside and it sounded like hail at the same time.

The weather was nuts. High winds, snow, then sunshine with snow and sunshine with glorious light.
And back to snow.

I stopped and looked through a forgotten album that had photos of my boys in it. It was a mix of dates stuck in a book so that I wouldn't lose them. The photos brought a smile to my face as I sat cross legged and looked through them slowly.

I eventually got back to work and had another bag of 'stuff' to get rid of. If I haven't used something in a long time I need to move it out.

I found a cheap piece of black plastic that I'd used a few times to make reflections with Still Life. I noticed that my hands actually were reflected when I reached for something.
And then I thought.
I wonder if I could take a photo of the reflection of my hands??

There was enough light coming in through the window to give an eerie glow to portions of my skin.

Remember, this is a reflection of my hands palm up towards the window.

So I liked this in a way because it was so different.

I decided to start trying different things with it. I discarded what I was working on and made my own texture and added text to it.

This was the end result of messing around.
I got to here and stopped.

I sat back and then closed the program.

I was done and the image stuck with me. It invoked something I couldn't quite describe, but it felt right.

It was a good experiment for how I'd felt off an on for the past couple of weeks.

My Infrared Fun with old files

Step one. Try an IR filter.
I did that for years and had good but frustrating results with it.

I also never quite understood what a channel swap or channel mixer was used for ... or how to use it.
I ended up with a nasty pink mess or a pretty nice black and white conversion.

This was a very long exposure with a 720nm filter attached to my Olympus camera lens. I do love how this turned out. Most of my other IR shots were flops.

I kept trying though. I wanted to have those cool odd colors that I'd seen before. I read tutorials and thought I had 'it'. No. I wasn't really very close.
Sometimes I was rewarded with this...

My only option was to ditch it and hope for something better.

Yet I wasn't going to give up.
 I switched the white balance to Fluorescent. And got purply pinky stuff.

But at least after some effort I could get this...

And my only choice was to convert it to black and white.
Again, not quite what I wanted.

I wanted false colors, odd colors. Colors that were different.

So I went back to the drawing board and started to learn about Channel Mixers and swapping blue and red. About how the green effects things. I began to dabble in adjusting the hues of colors.
No rhythm or reason for it. Just experimenting.

I picked up an old file that I considered a flop from 2017.

Well that was odd enough, but turned out a bit better in black and white than the odd colors. But I sort of liked the odd colors. This was a 3 step process. Going from Auto Color>Channel Mixer>Saturation and Hue adjustments. The color shot could have been a bit more normal, I suppose, but I was into seeing how far I could push the odd colors.

So I thought I'd try another one or two from 2017.
I won't show you the red shot but...

I like this edit a lot. In fact it would be one I'd keep.

But I can't leave well enough alone of course.

A bit of color swapping here, but I wasn't happy with it.
So...

Well why not? False colors!
What if I could see the world through different light wavelengths?

And then of course I had to convert it to Black and White because not everyone can handle liking false colors and seeing the world in colors that are not supposed to be.

With my little converted pocket Canon I am having a lot of fun.

Enough so I may eventually convert my Olympus to a full spectrum camera for Infrared work.

It may be wild or it may be tame.
It depends on my artistic type mood.

Not an Axe Murder-er

At the Vernon County Fair I sat next to a fellow that I assumed might be about my age.
We watched the judging together and once in a while we found ourselves murmuring to each other as to how we might view a photo.

During the break I asked the gent if he'd like to grab something to eat and talk more about photography and cameras. He said yes, he was new to photography and was eager to talk to someone.

We got immersed in talking about how we discovered photography and how we liked to take photographs. We exchanged email information and cell phone numbers. By mid afternoon, I had to leave. But John and I had promised to get together for some sort of field trip if we could work it out, so I could perhaps help him with his Canon camera settings.
His interests were the Wisconsin River and Cranes.
We tried to organize a 'field' trip morning to the river but things kept getting in the way.

Finally last week we both agreed on a time and day. I suggested we meet at the BP Station near my home as it was on the way for our planned field trip.
Meet at 6 AM and drive to the Gotham boat landing for what we hoped would be an incredible sunrise over the WI river.

At 3AM I woke up with a start.
What if he is an Axe Murderer?
What if...
Um.

I laid in bed and wondered why I let myself watch stupid cop shows on Netflix with my husband before I went to bed.
What if he was a serial killing Axe Murderer?

Nonsense.
But.
Okay perhaps he kills cereal with a spoon.
Stupid mind.
Stupid head.

It was no use. I had to get out of bed. 3:30AM. I warmed up a cup of coffee. Then I set up the coffee pot so Rich could just push the button and make coffee. I dressed in layers and went out with a headlamp to do chores.

At 5:45ish I drove to the gas station, I was surprised. I was a few minutes early and I as I parked John rolled down the window of a little black car and said good morning.
I laughed. Indeed, he wasn't an Axe Murderer.

He explained that he was driving his daughter's old car as his truck was still not quite finished with the brake job he was doing.
Off we went, picking up the conversation that we'd had at the Vernon County Fair as if two months hadn't passed.

Cameras, photography, love of taking photos, birds, water.
Would we see a beautiful sunrise?

We didn't find a gorgeous sunrise, but we did find adventure.

John did find some birds at the river but we weren't able to ID them. I thought they were too large to be gulls but heck they were at the train bridge which probably was half a mile away!

The first spot we were at for the sunrise was dull and dreary. But I pointed out that there were trees that were making for interesting reflections in the water. So even though the morning was grey and colorless, perhaps we could salvage it with reflection shots.

I showed him how I saw the photo, and then he showed me his preference of the same scene.
It was a great learning experience.

It may be two months again before we get together to seek out a beautiful sunrise on the river. John really wants a great shot of that. It is on his 'list'. In the meantime I will brush up on his Canon and the settings it uses so I can help him.

Oh. And note to self. No he isn't an Axe Murderer, he isn't a creep, he is just like some of the other friends I've made that are photography nuts.

Here is some of what I ended up with.
I used some rather strong editing skills to come up with some of these.

 This one was my favorite to work on.
Original:

Edit one:

 Edit two:

Edit three:
This is my favorite one for so many reasons. I felt inspired and wanted to make a painting so I ran this through Deep Dream Generator and decided that this was the one I adored.

Another shot with a lot of potential, but I haven't done much with it.

Cruson Slough.

 And then the black and white edits of reflections.

The weather was dull and dreary, yet I was able to show my new friend all of the possibilities that were out there if you looked for them.

Rich did very well with being able to make coffee and doing his morning routine. I was back home by 11 o'clock and found him sitting and watching another murderous cop show. Indeed the perp on that show was not an Axe Murderer, but much worse. He captured women in a black van and chopped them up with a saw...eeeks!

It was a good thing John did not show up in a big black van with no windows.

Last note about John. He is an incredible entrepreneur. We discussed his ability to market his ideas. He told me how he was going to build his fledgling love for photography into money. He had a vision. I quipped that I had creative skills but NO marketing skills what so ever.
As I got out of his vehicle to go home, he said, "You know we can do that...marketing your photography."

So.
Lesson learned.
No harm in mentoring someone in photography. The favor may come back in an unexpected way.

This and that ~ the day after Christmas

On those frigid dark mornings I sometimes dabble in a bit of fun. I took a photo of a bare tree in the pasture and 'developed' it into something else. 

Not quite sure what it is, but I do like the colors. Very abstract.

Can you tell that it is dark and below zero outside?
I thought it would be fun to make a Christmas colored fractal...

I don't know why I enjoy 'making' these odd shapes and designs, but it just ends up pleasing me and it is a challenge to work in a graphic program that makes unbelievable worlds.

Or a bit of other worldly...

And...then I decided to see what I could do with a Mandelbulb I made.

Sort of cool. Interesting shapes and patterns.

But then I took it to another photo program and did some manipulations.

Okay this one I like. I mean I really do like it.

Well the sun is coming up. It is about -7 and that is with no winds. The sky has beautiful orange and pale blue colors in it.

Rich's daughter and her family are coming today along with Mom. The house is prepped and tidy. Well, tidy for me.

I need to gather my outdoor gear for chores this morning.

I do love cold. I have the appropriate gear to wear in it and be very comfortable.

So have a great day whatever you are doing.