Holiday Lights

The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park is a seasonal display of holiday lights synchronized to music.  It is an amazing display of Christmas lights and decorations.

Kat Sloma's most recent Exploring with a Camera series is Creative Lights.
I can't say that I had much time to be creative, but I was fortunate enough to experience the "Creative Lights" in person while visiting Disney in Orlando a few weeks ago.

I know that Kat is fond of bicycles...



and who isn't fond of pink mouse ears !

I am delighted that you took the time to view my photos.. want to see the other 597 photographs I took while at Disney????  - smile -



Disney Holiday Reflections

A big thank you to my Mom for taking her "kids" to Disney in Orlando!
This shop window caught my eye because my brother loves M&M's and these look like M&M's with mouse ears, dressed up for Christmas.

It wasn't intentional, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the word "GIFTS"  reflected in the photo. 

Thank you James at Weekend Relfections for hosting such a nice spot for us to share our reflections!

Photo Art Friday - December 2nd

This week Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo made the suggestion that we try some edits we have been wanting to try, but have felt were too hard or that we just haven't had the time for.  The photo art could be produced from following a tutorial or simply the result of some creative play with new photo art tools and techniques.

I chose a photo that I wasn’t really sure what I would do with, but thought I would experiment with layers and the eraser tool.  I used Photoscape for most of my editing, and pixlr.com to make the layers. After much editing, I didn’t use the eraser tool as much as I had originally thought, and only to bring back the orange color of the swan’s beaks.

I just could not decide if I like the photo with text or without. I think that is one of my next goals - learn how to make text look better.

And with Bonnie's texture "Gratitude"

Happy Friday to all of my friends, especially those posting and exploring at

Photo Art Friday !!

Photo Art Friday - "Vintage"

Happy Friday!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family and friends. Bonnie of Pixel Dust Photo Art, has suggested that this week we post a piece of photo art that has been sitting in our archives.

This is a photo of a dahlia in my garden.  It had rained earlier and the petals were still dripping wet.  I used photoscape for editing and and transforming the colorful photo to sepia tones.  I placed the post card image (I'm pretty sure it was from the Graphic's Fairy)  on top and manipulated the opacity.  I like the old vintage feeling.

I was thinking about the word "Vintage" this morning.  I have lived long enough that many of the items from my past are now referred to as vintage.  Many of them could also be called antique.  But vintage has a much nicer ring to it.  I would much rather be referred to as a "Vintage Woman" than I would an "Antique Woman" !!             
Have a lovely week!

photo art friday in Boston

Happy Friday!   I chose to share this photo editing for several reasons.  And I must admit that the number one reason is so that I can boast about why I was in Boston.  We were at historic Fanueil Hall in Boston as my oldset son was sworn in as an Attorney!!  I was so proud to present my son with his license and to hug him and tell him how proud I am of him and how much I love him.

Photo Editing:

 I don't have Photoshop.  I keep thinking that someday I will make the purchase, but as of yet I must say that I really like using Photoscape and Pixlr, both of which are easy to use and you can find them for free on the internet.

This first photo captured my attention because of the "Cheers" sign, which most people are familiar with and associate with Boston.  The second thing that captured my eye was Santa.  The day we were there, a crew was stringing the lights around the gigantic Christmas tree.

I used many features on Photoscape.  I really played around a lot with this photo.

I cropped, used backlight, saturate, sharpen, vignette and the film effect cross process.

This is the first original photo.

And the second photo, taken from the parking garage as dusk approached on a rainy evening.

I placed the second photo as an object on top of the first photo, made it more opaque, combined them and sharpened and saturated again.  I used color curves to add more green and red while getting rid of some of the excess blue.  I used backlight and the film effect cross process once more.  As of now, I can't really say that I have a technique that I follow.  I just experiment as I go along and save quite often in case I overwork something, I can go back to where I was happy with the reusults. 

Oh.. and here is the final photo!  I like the effect of the windows of the buildings in the Cheers sign.

Time to go to work!!  Hope everyone has a happy and creative day!

Don't forget to visit Bonie at Pixel Dust Photo Art and check out all of the bloggers who are linking to Photo Art Friday!

Dad & Son photo art

A lovely co-worker of mine was looking for a way to combine two special photographs;
one of her son as a newborn holding his Daddy's thumb, and one of her son and his Dad walking through an apple orchard this fall.  I tried combining the photos side by side, one above the other, in black and white and sepia and layering one photo over the other and removing color. 

What finally seemed to provide the best results was editing the baby photo to sepia tones, adding it as an objet on top of the apple orchard photo and making it opaque.

 I think it might be a present for Dad!!  



  

Linking this post with Bonnie, host of Pixel Dust Photo Art and  Photo Art Friday.
Bonnie and the fellow photo artists are SO VERY creative.


                          

Exploring With A Camera - Opposing Lines

In the current  Exploring with a Camera series, we are exploring opposing lines, lines that run in opposition to each other.  In going through my collection of photographs, I was pleased to find these examples.


Opposing lines of the Zakim Bridge in Boston

And close up -

Opposing vertical and horizontal lines of the glass structures.

And I am wondering if the pattern of the curvy lines in this glass blown witches ball could also be considered opposing lines???

check out Kat's new web site for on line courses, and more exploring with a camera series
http://kateyestudio.com/

reflections of firefighters ♥

I am proud of my husband and his fellow firefighters, both men and women.  It has been my privilege to become friends with this amazing group of people.  This photo was taken on picture day at the firehouse.                       This is a reflection of a few members of the group in their dress uniforms.

   God Bless Firefighters.

Thank you James at Weekend Reflections for hosting such a great site and allowing us a place to share our reflection photos with others.  HAPPY WEEKEND!

Found Texture

I think I am a texture junkie.  I didn't realize this until I participated in Kat's Exploring With a Camera Series topic - Found Texture.  I've taken so many close ups of trees, rocks, sticks and peeling paint!

When I think of texture, I think about how something feels.  Cold, rough, and grainy.  Silky, sleek and smooth.  Dry, coarse,flaky.  I finally narrowed down my choices and decided to include some photos of stone, cement and brick textures.

archways in Boston

statue of St. Francis

decorative garden accents

corner of a building in Metro West Massachusetts

Thanks for stopping by! 

Zakim Bridge in Boston

a quick little post for Bonnie's Photo Art Friday...on a Saturday... Happy Weekend !

retro reflections

spotted this reflection while wandering around Salem, Massachusetts ....lots of spooky sights in Salem durring the weeks leading up to halloween, but not in this window display of lovely retro/vintage dresses.    sharing this link with.....

Weekend Reflections

The place to see and share photographs of reflections

Vintage Reflections



Thank you to Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art for the use of her free texture called French Boudoir Blue. 

the weekend in black and white - one more from summer in Boston

one more photo from summer...wandering around the waterfront and the North End of Boston..  

 click here to visit Dragonstar from Ireland at The Weekend in Black and White

photo art friday 2..

Photo editing is fun! Bonnie at Pixel Dust PhotoArt has many textures to share and is very generous in sharing the details of her photo editing.

I edited this photo and decided to add a little phrase that my mother was always saying when I was young.
I know this is a rooster, and he doesn't lay eggs... but I liked him.

colors for Kat ...

When I am working on..nix that..when I am playing on creating a new post, I often create a folder on my destop and put my photos there until I am ready to post.  For the last few weeks I have had a folder on my desktop which I have named "colors for Kat".  Visit The Kat Eye View of The World for details and examples, both from Kat and with links to many photographs and creative, lovely blogs.


In the color wheel part 2 - one of the areas we are exploring is complementary colors, or opposites on the color wheel.    Blues and oranges, yellows and purples are opposites on the color wheel, and that's where this post has led me...



to the pumpkin patch..

to the flower beds...

and to the backyard fire pit...

Hope you have a chance to enjoy your weekend and all of the beautiful colors in our world !!

weekend reflections - last bit of summer

It is supposed to be in the 80's here in Massachusetts this weekend. 
Mark Twain wrote, "If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes."

We are always talking about the weather here in New England.

This photo was taken at Hyannis Harbor, located in Cape Cod. 
A last bit of summer before autumn arrives in full.

Happy weekend to everyone.  Enjoy weekend reflections here:  Weekend Reflections

the pumkin and squash weekend in black & white

It finally felt like fall today.
The day was overcast and chilly, but there were plenty of people out picking apples and visiting roadside farmstands.  We came home with apple cider, apple pie and a pumpkin.

It was interesting to see the results of editing colorful fall vegetables into black and white images. The first photo is a shot of of bright orange pumpkins.  Ereything was covered in water droplets from an earlier rain shower.  I like the drops of water, they add texture and interest.

This large squash was a light tan color..

And these interesting pumpkins were white to begin with.  I had fun editing the photos to come up with even lighter white pumpkins...

Thank you Dragonstar for hosting The Weekend in Black and White - check it out here.

Photo Art Friday

Thank You to Tatjana Parkacheva for mentioning Photo Art Friday on her blog (with her beautiful rose).  
Bonnie, at Pixel Dust Photo Art, has a fun spot called Photo Art Friday,
a place for sharing digital editing of photographs.

While hubby was yelling at the tv watching the Patriots play football, I was photo editing.
Here is the end result (Thank you Henry David Thoreau for the quote)

I started with this photo of the boat, taken in Oqunquit, Maine...

and used this photo...

to create my first texture - What Fun !!!

The Color Wheel, part one exploration with Kat

Kat’s most recent exploration from The Kat Eye View of the World is the color wheel, part 1.

In Kat’s post she gives great examples and great descriptions of monochromatic color, analogous color schemes and chromatic gradation.  In reviewing my archives I discovered that I have taken lots of photos with opposites in the color wheel, but not many to tie in with this exploration.

Thanks to a little photo editing, I have an example of a monochromatic color scheme..

And if I've cropped out enough purple flowers, an example of an analogous color scheme...

And if I could go behind the store window and move Oscar next to Grover, then Big Bird and Ernie, followed by Elmo, I think I would have a fine example of chromatic gradation.  And Bert, well I’m not certain where he will go..  Please be sure to visit Kat’s site for the explanation!!

SIGN - SIGN everywhere a SIGN.....

Signs draw our attention. Lately, I have been drawn to photographing them. So many signs are deliberately designed with colors to capture our attention, but I think these signs still effectively convey their messages in black and white.


Signs show you where to go...

where you are...

and where you might need to go....

signs that are to the point....

signs my youngest son does not want to see...

and signs I like to see...

mmmm....canolis from the North End in Boston...

Linking with Dragonstar at the Weekend in Black and White...  visit Dragonstar to see fabulous black and photos and links to sites of very talented photographers