Week 48 by Becky

Glass Bowls

Believe it or not, this is a photo I took while at the same Art Festival as my No Wimpy Girls. I spent the whole time shooting from the hip. I had my camera resting on my hip and would aim my hip in the direction of interest and take a photo. This is a photo of some very small colorful glass bowls. Great art work, but my photo did not do it justice. My friend, Robin, sent out a link to www.sumopaint.com where you can upload your photo and apply a kaleidoscope filter. This is the result. Took an okay photo and made it a piece of art.  My own art. Check out this neat site some time. Enjoy!

Week 48 by Judy

This Way to the EAC

As Robin mentioned, the NWG's went to the Melbourne Art Festival today. This is a pretty copper sculpture crafted by one of the many great artists. It reminds me of the Moonfish, that formed patterns in the water to show Marlin and Dora how to get to Sydney, Australia, in the Finding Nemo movie. I applied Topaz's Spicify filter to it (one of my favorite filters).

Week 48 by Robin

Polka Dots and Sprinkles

The NWG's went to the Melbourne Art Festival today and enjoyed all the art of others. Although we had fun, it was hot and crowded and the photo of this adorable little girl tells the story. I used a touch of Topaz to sharpen and make the photo pop a bit and then added Noise Ninja to smooth the young skin and background.

Week 47 by Becky

Final Preparation

My daughter had her Senior Prom this past weekend so I was busy taking photos of all her preparations leading up to it.  From pedicure, manicure, beauty shop for the up do, and finally, makeup.  She was absolutely beautiful. Loved this shot in black/white with a splatter of her school colors.

Week 47 by Robin

Mr. Red

Ray and I went out today to take photos, but I didn't like anything. When I came home I put some seed out and photographed some of my garden friends. Here's Mr. Red chowing down. After adjusting the color and levels, I ran Topaz Detail 2, then smoothed out the background by using the blur tool in PS. 

Week 47 by Judy

Stormy Morning

I went to a Camera Club workshop this morning at The Lagoon House. The Lagoon House sits on the banks of the Indian River Lagoon. This was taken from the boardwalk behind the Lagoon House facing east looking over the lagoon to the beachside. I liked some of the cloud formations occurring over the ocean and took a few shots. I applied Topaz's Adjust 5 Clarity filter, about mid strength, and then applied Topaz's B&W White Chocolate filter.

Week 46 by Robin

Somewhere Over the Heron...Way Up High...

Ha ha! Week of birds here on NWG's! Heron from the highest level of the observation deck at Gatorland. What a beautiful bird! It was a cloudy day, so to freeze the action I used ISO 800. A bit grainy. I used Noise Ninja on the background and left the grain on the bird so I wouldn't smooth the feathers out. The blah background is the murky pond. Hopefully, the colors of the heron make up for it.

Week 46 by Judy

Fine Feathered Friends

The Camera Club went to Gatorland in Kissimmee, FL for its monthly field trip. There is a large rookery at Gatorland. This cute trio are baby Great White Egrets. It was a beautiful overcast day...great for photographing. I did a little cropping and applied Topaz's Simple Pop filter.

Week 46 by Becky

Irritated!

Yes, another Mockingbird photo. I would not have caught this photo if I wasn't busy trying to complete another photo challenge that Judy and I are doing. That is, we pick a day and take a photo or more every waking hour of what we are doing at that particular moment. I had picked April 14th as my day. I just finished doing my 8am photos and was sitting on the porch enjoying my coffee when this squirrel had approached my chair. I was like WOW! I had my camera handy so I attempted to take a photo of the squirrel. The squirrel started to move in the direction of the Mockingbird nest. Out of nowhere two Mockingbird parents appeared. This one had landed on the security sign in the front garden. The squirrel gave me the view of his backside so I decided I would take the photo of the protective Mockingbird parent. When I clicked the button, the parent had taken off and this is the result. Not super crisp focus, but I just though it was cool that I caught it in action as it got closer to the squirrel to protect its young. Which by the way are growing very fast. I hope to try to get a photo of them before they fly the coop :).

Week 45 by Judy

Synchronized Swimming

Went camping at Turkey Lake Park in Orlando for Easter weekend. This pair of mallard ducks were bobbing for food along the bank of the lake. I think it's so cute how they both go bobbing at the same time. I applied Topaz's Spicify filter and cropped it a little.

Week 45 by Robin

The Secret of the Lost Morning

This image sort of reminds me of a mystery book. So, I came up with a fake title. I took this photo in the morning on my way to work through my very dirty passenger window. There was fog, sun and a nice tree. Very moody through my spotty, tinted window... so, I gave it a Topaz B&W treatment and added an texture overlay along with some grunge brushes. When you zoom in you can still see some of the water spots from the window. Oh well...hopefully they add an "artistic" touch. Ha ha!

Week 45 by Becky

Mockingbird

At our photo club meeting, this past Tuesday, we had a couple speakers come in to talk about "Birding Photography".  Both are awesome bird photographers.  Well, the opportunity presented itself for me to try my hand at a little bird photography.  This Mockingbird has built a nest in a bush just off our front porch.  She laid three eggs a few weeks ago.  I checked them this morning and at least two have them have hatched. I told my son who came to look and that is when the mommy decided to fly over our heads to scare us away.  I ran in the house to get my camera to see if I could catch her flying into the nest.  This is her flying from one tree to the next.  She wouldn't come near the nest until I went inside.  The lens I used was a 18-200mm and I had to crop it down.

Week 44 by Judy

 The Birds

I pass this tree while on my bike rides and have always liked it. But, this was the first time I've seen so many crows roosting on it. It reminded me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds".  This was taken at dusk with the sun setting behind my shoulder. I liked so many of the Topaz filters I applied, that I couldn't make up my mind which one to use, so I didn't use any :-). I lighten up the photo and added a little color saturation to bring out the pretty sky colors that occur at dusk.

Week 44 by Robin

The Dual Portals of the Mysterious Professor Pooka

Happy April Fools Day! Thought I'd do something silly. I found these glasses at the Dollar Store and couldn't wait to use them today. My dear Pooka has always been a good sport about me dressing her up and such. She is 15 years old, almost blind, deaf and senile. She didn't object to me putting these silly glasses on her for a few moments to snap a few photos. I used a very shallow DOF f/1.8 with my cheapo 50mm lens to get the feeling of an old, black and white sci-fi movie. Lighting was natural window light. For editing, mostly Topaz B&W and a bit of dodge and burn.