§ "Closed" CAPTIONED...

'HARE' today...gone tomorrow!!!


FOOTPRINTS in the sand...


A TREE grows in Brooklyn Corpus...


FUNgus among us...


COME fly (ride) with me...let's ride away!
I should have captioned this HOT WHEELS maybe?

§ Nature's Art...

The Art of Nature...
Paint dripping everywhere
Shades of green, yellow, red, and blue
A hint of gray, the silence of brown, colors of each hue!

Critics have yet to give it a name
I call it the Art of Nature

With each step a picture is there
There's no one we should give blame
He keeps on painting...
Here...everywhere
~Written by Anni
November 2021

 

§ They've Been FRAMED!

A blogger, Steven [who has shown some of his grand skills in photography by the way] from Left-Eyed View recently asked me this in one of his comments:

What a gorgeous sunrise that you've captured!
Have you ever had photos printed and framed?

My answer is this...I have framed only my bird photos. And most of my frames are on the dining room walls, which has now been dubbed my bird sanctuary. Within this room I have some of my bird sketches, paintings, ceramic birds, and of course many many collage framed birds and 8X10s. So, without further ado, I share only some of what you'd see if you step up to the dining room; just some of it all. The photos are shot at such an angle that they may seem out of proportion - only 'cause I tried to get them without sunlight or artificial lighting in the 'frames'. Oh and please, ignore the dust...

The following four images are -top left to right- 1] Very rare white morph red tailed hawk, aka: Krider's Hawk 2] Belted Kingfisher 3] Another extremely rare bird for the U.S. -a Jacana from Central/South America and 4] the Burrowing Owl [the only owl active in daylight!]

- - -

...from floor to ceiling throughout...

There are more, but stopping here for loading speed.

§ Hobies & Interests...

As much as I find birding my number one interest outside the homefront, I have other 'favorite subjects' to photograph also. Including the sea, sunrises, and wildflowers. They are really not 2nd 3rd or 4th choices for preference as I see the beauty and tranquility of them all equally. I view all my interests as a healthy lifestyle of exercise but mostly... education. Birding, on the other hand, is much more challenging and I tend to take that all in stride and accept it and have literally made it into a hobbyist situation. In Texas alone, I have spotted and recorded with photo nearly 300 species!! But, wait, a bird is found, and I set my camera and that bird flies off before I get a chance to focus and record it by photo, I still call them nasty names under my breath, but I've learned to move on. Anyway, as much as I'd like to type more on my interests in photography, I will stop the chit-chat and show some recent images while walking on park trails and at birding hotspots. The photo in this beginning paragraph is of a yucca. I stopped for a much closer inspection and photo op, getting a macro of a single blossom from its candelabra of the waxy blooms shown in the first image of the series. There is a butterfly in one of these also. And I like to think of the last one in the series as a "Texas" Lonestar!! Can you see the star...

§ Double Exposure Site & Tutorial....

In my comments, Sandra asked for more info on how to do a double exposed photo.  First off she mentioned what program I used.  The only program [software] I have other than the Windows Paint which I never use, is one I installed with my disk...Paintshop Pro.  This I use for resizing my photos to have them small enough to load on my blog quickly and yet large enough to view details.  I also make my own photo frames, watermarks,  and my own blog headers, etc. etc.  with this installed program.   [by the way, each Windows 10 update, I have to reinstall it!  I hate that...Windows ALWAYS takes it off my computer upon updating!!!]  Just another glitch with Microsoft.  Makes life interesting, I guess.

Okay then, moving on...

Chose a photo from your phone, computer, laptop, or any device of yours [don't steal from anything online because of copyright issues unless given permission is my advice].

Go out to the website that generates free double exposures. I'll use radio buttons to differentiate all the step by step process once you have the website opened and ready. Are you ready? The website is found here

Scroll Down to "upload photo"

upload [this is the first exposure]

find a 2nd photo for the double image and upload

scroll to the right to word "process" and click it

your photo will be generated

Download and save

This is free an unlimited. My result from taking you through the step by step 'tutorial' is this below. I chose a dragon fly and beach image...


Hope this helps anyone interested in how to let the computer do the work for you. I could also tell you how to do your OWN version thru Paintshop Pro, with layers, but that's a whole 'nother process.

§ Exposing Myself...well, Pictures!!

Dreary weekend so far. Yesterday morning, Saturday, I stayed home and got a lot of small chores done around the house. Like changing sheets, doing laundry, making a large pot of spaghetti sauce [hopefully it'll reheat and be leftovers for a couple of days], cleaning both bathrooms and changing out the towels in kitchen and baths. Then, I played on the computer for my allotted hour's time sitting in one place. I played with some of my photos and went out online and did a few "double exposures" with their filter. Did one of each...one in black and white, and the other with the color images. Some, I thought, looked better as black and white.

This is blue bonnets last spring and an egret with the "canopy" stance they do when hunting for a meal.


A shrimp boat silhouette and a Gulf sunrise superimposed


A white tailed stag infused into park landscaping along the river bank


Top of palm -with a bird- against a bay sunrise


Daughter, Irene, and butterfly


Another shrimp boat scene [can you tell I love seeing these?] and sunrise


Brown pelican and bank of jetty super-imposed [and palm trees]

Before I knew it, it was time to get up away from the computer and do a bit of walking. I stopped at my stationary bike and peddled for 30 minutes. By that time it was time to get busy with something else for activity. Gotta keep busy for I get bored at home. lol  Maybe find something to sketch or do another pastel with my oil crayons?!!  Maybe fold the clothes I washed?  [I don't fold them the very minute I take them out of the dryer except to hang the permanent press...otherwise, they sit for a day maybe.]  Or help Bud finish setting up his smartphone.  He has the hardest time understanding these "techie" things, I would honestly say, it'd be easier for me to just do it...but, hey...it's good for his brain.  Oh, I know what I can do for a few minutes!  Take down the Valentine's Day decorations and get the dining table back to 'normal'.  We're also thinking of watching an oldie but goodie movie...Robin Williams and Good Morning Vietnam.  It's been ages since we've seen that one.  Shut the lights off, sit cozy in a warm house and enjoy a good movie.