SmugMug Photo & Video Sharing. You look better here. : 07/04/09 1 of 9 500mm fireworks out my window i apologize for being gone so long. no excuse for it. many many thanks to all of you who expressed "where/how are you" in one form or another and made nice comments on my pics. i apologize for not replying; again, no excuse. i intend to be continuing in the dailies beginning now but may have to miss the occassional day. i beg your forgiveness in advance. i'm very much looking forward to seeing what all you gfreat folks have been posting and shall do my best to comment as much as i can each day; i beg forgiveness in advance for if/when i miss some. its been said many times but can't ever be said TOO many times i think: y'all are a great bunch and its my greaqt privilege and pleasure to take part in this with you. bless you all. i was ruminating on freedom and responsibility this independence day and had some things i wanted to say about it here but i find my energy slipping away so you'll be spared that, at least for now. i wish each of you who find this pic true freedom and the joy that comes from accomplishment

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DailyPhotos > popular today > Black sail in the moonset :-) - Nov 30 2009

Well didn't want to turn to the archives again... couldn't shoot new pictures... so fabricated this. A fake moon, fake ocean, fake stars, fake shadow... oh yes, the sailboat is real, but darkened... the whole picture is not a masterpiece, but hey... don't blame me, blame photoshop... in my head it was perfect ;-)

For yesterdays picture... the real Azur is the one in the middle.

DailyPhotos > popular today > 12.01.2009 Natures Alarm

DailyPhotos > popular today > December 1, 2009 - "Deck Reflections"

This is another shot from the Japanese Garden in Ft. Worth. I find it interesting that a better view of the deck was available in the reflection versus what I could see directly from my perspective. The Koi under the deck are not reflections :)

I used the Adobe Elements Raw Editor for most of the pictures in my gallery from the gardens. This shot was cropped and exposure/saturation/vivid slides moved a touch along with a pre-sharpening filter. The gallery of shots from Sundays session is at

http://dakotacowboy.smugmug.com/Travel/Texas/Ft-Worth-Japanese-Garden/10491545_BjYrp/1/728088305_oab8o

I had not used the Raw Editor much before, but found it a very fast way to process most of these shots with results that I liked.

DailyPhotos > popular today > "Itching to Scratch an Itch"
Day 273, Tuesday, December 1

This Tri-colored Heron isn't as sharp as I had hoped...
I was about to get more opportunities... when some passers-by scared him into flight.

View Enlarged, Norm

This is my HOME PAGE
This is my COMPLETE JOURNAL

DailyPhotos > popular today > 30.11.09 - November

11 down, 1 to go :)

DailyPhotos > popular today > Red Door.

Ripley Village

More of my Ripley Images @

http://littlespelk.smugmug.com/Other/Ripley-Village/

DailyPhotos > popular today > Tobacco House
This is part of a series of shot I will put up for the week that I took in Yorktown. This is a Tobacco house where the person lived and worked tobacco. Tomorrow I will show the inside of this house. The tones and the color reflected the bleak exterior of the home. It was a dull gray with mold on the side. Matching the lifeless feel the sky had. The B&W had a good feel for the day and the tone. In talking with the local colonial folks it was fitting as this was not a great place to work.

Have a great day

DailyPhotos > popular today > 12/01/09 - The Colorful Nutcracker
OK, so this did turn out just a bit, um, bright:-) But, I finally found a use for the brushed stainless steel on my dishwasher door! Joey has a collection of nutcrackers. For some reason, he's fascinated with them. When we go to the thrift store, if we see one that's different than the ones he already has, we add it to his collection.

Here's the set-up shot:
http://fotomom.smugmug.com/Nature/November-2009/10198920_oRbHf#728583965_uTNXy
Still me 'cooking' in the kitchen, but not quite as funny as the last set-up shot that I shared.

I also ended up with a black foamboard shot that I liked (and maybe should have posted instead) which is here:
http://fotomom.smugmug.com/Nature/November-2009/10198920_oRbHf#728637668_oL9pK

So, I used an icicle style set of small bulb LED lights and basically played around with draping them over and around the figure. That's what put the lines of light on the dishwasher door. Then I've added a frame in PhotoFrame and then on top of that a Vignette on the frame to tone it done a tad and make the color less uniform. If I needed a Christmas card, which I don't, this could be a possibility;-)

Thank you for your response to the Christmas Tree stand picture:-) I have not had a chance to pick up the print yet, but hopefully the print turns out well.

FYI, in our Facebook group discussion, there's a thread going on 'Introduce Yourself'. Check it out if you'd like to contribute a few words about yourself or read what some of the rest of us have said.

HAGD,
Maryann

DailyPhotos > popular today > December 1, 2009

The second thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me:
Rigging up the lights ~ Bob Rivers Twelve Pains of Christmas

Why is it that every year the light we bought the previous year break. My son was replacing bulbs that apparently burnt out or broke since last year. Every year we have to go out and buy another set of lights, such a pain to me!

Black sail in the moonset :-) - Nov 30 2009

Well didn't want to turn to the archives again... couldn't shoot new pictures... so fabricated this. A fake moon, fake ocean, fake stars, fake shadow... oh yes, the sailboat is real, but darkened... the whole picture is not a masterpiece, but hey... don't blame me, blame photoshop... in my head it was perfect ;-)

For yesterdays picture... the real Azur is the one in the middle.