Wicked Weather!

You can Dance in a Hurricane

But only if you

are standing

in the

Eye.

I heard the above words when I was listening to my Pandora Station with earbuds while sorting out medications for Hubby. Doing meds for half the month or the full month takes quite a bit of time. I generally listen to music to blot out any distractions.

I just loved the lyrics to this song and sadly I don't know what the song was!

The winds whistled and roared above our little hollow and once more, I was grateful for not living on the ridge. We'd had over an inch of rain during the night with a lot of lightening and thunder. 

A few times when the thunder shook the house, Charlie was sure that the world was about to end.

Since it was soooo gloomy out, I decided to do some lightbox photography.

The ambient light was a little easier to control. Pictured above is the lightbox with a black background and a little Ulanzi cube light, a balloon light, a face mister, and tacky stuff. 

The tacky stuff is great for keeping the feet of the taller figure in place.

The little light comes with filters to change the color of the light. I'm still experimenting and learning all about light. I never thought I'd ever do anything other than outdoor photography.

However, here I am, learning something new.

I am really happy how this turned out. I used the lightbox with the lowest light setting and a diffuser over the light.

I used the Ulanzi cube with a slightly orange filter at the foot of the toy pointing up.

I used the face mister to produce...well, mist!

I learned a lot about mist. It can confuse the camera and it can also make things rather grainy. 

Finding the right balance takes a bit of work and quite a few shots.

Dark Trooper leaving his

charging station with 

a mini Dark Trooper

I found these non-Lego Legos a while ago when searching for knights.

[Pointing below at the photo---->]

If you are a fan of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings series, these guys would be identified as Uruk-Hai Orcs. One Orc from Lego would be nearly $26.00. 
In a photo like this, you cannot tell if it is a real Lego or a knock off. I was able to get 7 Orcs and 7 Elf like knights in one package for less than one Orc.

These guys look pretty fierce. And now I am laughing because this Orc is holding his shield upside down!

A few days ago, I did make it down to the creek to enjoy some quiet time with Charlie. I had Squatch and Hobby in my bag. I went to my favorite spot and did this:

It's nice that they too can get out and enjoy some peaceful times.

This morning the moonlight woke me up and the skies were clear and bright!

Whew! Mother Nature has decided to give us another break from the Wicked Weather.

It'll still be a little windy, but at least I can get out today and enjoy the weather.

Indoor Stuff/Creativity/Play

Generally around this time of year, I get stuck inside not because of bad weather, but because I am tired of the scenery outdoors.

I get weary of the same black/brown/white scenery that is being offered up outside and in the woods.

So I get out my craft stuff and start making a mess. I am all over the place. I can be painting a skull or thinking about photographing Still Life. The table can be littered with various paints, my 'craft' table has projects and 'stuff' all over it.

However, I am getting better and not leaving a mess in the house all of the time. I don't like clutter, so by the end of the day, I generally tidy up and put things away. The house is too tiny to clutter up all the surfaces.

I started messing around with the white skull. It looked nice in all white, but I wanted to add shades of silver and grey. The pearl white showed up very nice and the black looked out of place. 

Hubby liked the black on the skull and asked for more of it. In the photo below, the various shades of grey and white do show up. I turned the light box on its side and used a white tea towel. I kept moving things around...

I ended up using masking tape to attach the tea towel to the sides of the box.

--- of course, Farmer Bob was very helpful in taking care of things....

The towel experiment didn't work out so well so I went back to the basic white plastic back drop.

Hmmm. This sort of sucked too. However, there is always a possibility of a little editing to help out. I used ON1 and made the shot into more of a High Key shot which eliminated the box edges.

The result was satisfactory, so I went on to experiment with a tiny pitcher I'd picked up ages ago at an indoor flea market. 

the set up...

the shot...

the edit...

I actually liked the slight textures from the towel in this shot. It felt right. Of course, I should have had something else in the shot, but I was just experimenting with light and exposure.

I experimented with different lights and different ways to diffuse or soften the light. I wanted to use things that I had on hand. Below is a flashlight with an amber pill bottle as a diffuser, a plastic cap on another light, and even bubble wrap!

Rich walked by and just shook his head. 

However, before it got too bright out, I decided to see what the purple light and bubble wrap over the flashlight would do.

Purple light in back, flashlight in my hand from
the right.

What it looked like with the curtains opened and taken with my very crappy cell phone:

And now I have to deal with this...
somebody wants to get out and explore....

You can't use up creativity

the more you have

the more you use...

Maya Angelou

Lights, lightbox, colors...

The weather did not cooperate at all for heading back out to explore along the Kickapoo River. I may have another chance this weekend.

It was supposed to start raining in the afternoon but it started as soon as I finished running errands and doing chores.

I thought I'd try working with the Light Box I'd received. It came with 5 colored back rounds and two pieces of cardboard squares. One set of black and the other set was white on one side and silver reflective on the other.

The light ring on the top of the box can't be moved, but came with a diffuser sheet. If this is all garble-de-gook to you, don't be alarmed. It was all new stuff for me too.

The colored sheets are plastic which is good and bad. The bend in the plastic reflects light sometimes in unwanted places. The light ring on top is white and it took a bit for me to figure out how to make it brighter and dimmer.

I even just turned off the light and used a colored light through the top to give me different effects.

I made a DIY light box before with blocks and  paper I taped to things.  I thought this would be useful and fun.

Here is my favorite Grumpy Dragon shot from the side with the lightbox on its side, light shining on the dragon from the left side. I used the green back drop. Funny how the green gave off different hues shot in this manner.

Then I decided to try the green dinosaur in the Lego flower garden.
Green backround with lighting from the top.

Same scene though I changed the lighting at the top to blue and boy was I surprised! It looked like it was taken in the middle of the night!

So I added the moon and stars.

And then I changed it to a bright red light [this was a tiny red balloon light!] that I set at the back of the box.

So light can dramatically change the over all look of everything inside the lightbox.

So I went to a black background. I adjusted the camera settings and thought it would be funny to have a Lego character interviewing a Hasboro character for a job.

Since I have two Mandalorians, I thought I'd do one more with blue/green light and a grey brick paper background I took from my craft paper supply.

The last experiment was with an yellow background and white light.  I used a Vintage Mode on the camera settings which was sort of fun.

It has possibilities, but I like the bright colors so much more.

I can't wait to use it for something much more useful, like macros of Lichen and other tiny things I can bring home and set up.

This last shot was made for a challenge in a Lego Flickr group.

A Gardener creates Love in her flower garden...