085: #334 Toys

Legos are fun no matter how old you are.
These are bigger blocks for little fingers.

084: #178 Lost and Found

A hat found on the sidewalk in Akron. Judging by the condition it's in, the owner isn't particularly worried about finding this cap again.

083: #062 Computer

My insulin pump thinks for itself within limits, like any computer.

082: #101 Flags and Banners

Flags at the Richfield Veterans' Memorial.

081: Free #04 Guest Photographer

My granddaughter Kayla's first try at being a photographer...

Kayla always wants to see the pictures when I shoot. Yesterday she wanted to take some pictures, so she sat on my lap and I showed her how to look through the viewfinder and where to push the button.

She took some photos of Gregory, then Mom, then Daddy. And when she wanted a photo of herself I turned the camera around and held it out pointed back at her and that's on yesterday's blog.





Not bad for a 4 year old. Since she was using the viewfinder (not live view) I couldn't see what she caught until after she pressed the button.

Canon XSi with the kit lens.

080: #088 Eyes

Kayla's eyes. If you look at the big version you'll see (reflected in her eyes) my arms around her holding the camera pointing back at her. She was sitting on my lap taking pictures of everyone and wanted a picture of herself, too. Tomorrow's post will be by the 4 year old guest photographer. :)

079: #129 Green

My St. Patrick's Day carnation.
How do they get the green dye to stop at the white edge?

078: #198 New

New buds on the maple tree.
ACHOO!

Tagged by Edmund

The 6th image in the 6th folder on my external drive.

Another scene from the courtship at the herons' rookery.

I'll pass on tagging 6 more. I've seen so many tags this morning and yesterday that I think just about everyone has already been tagged!

077: #339 Trio

This funny-looking white goose has been hanging around the marsh for several years. It usually stays with a group of Canada geese and they just seem to accept it like an eccentric relative.

076: #196 Navigational Aids

Moss grows on the north side of the tree.

075: #140 Handwriting

Kayla likes to write stories. At age 4 she can write her name (sorta), but the rest is hard for me to read, so she reads it back to me. Amazing what she has written! Maybe the day care workers are teaching her cyrillic or some such alphabet -- or maybe she's just mimicking Mom again.

074: #204 Nursery Rhymes

Goldilocks and the 2 bears (ursa major and ursa minor)

"Someone's been eating my cheese!" (see the nibble toward the upper right)

OK, that's a serious stretch!
And it's a Mother Goose story, not a nursery rhyme.

The sky was clear when I woke up at 3 in the morning, so I decided to try again to get a clear moon shot, even though the moon is waning. Manual shooting mode, manual focus, tripod, shutter release cable -- I could get what looked like a clear focus but when I took my hand off the focus ring it blurred!

Aha! Two things occur to me as I type this -- I forgot to turn off the image stabilization, and maybe I should keep my hand on the focus ring and shoot.

Shutter speed: 1/40 sec
Aperture: 16
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Center-weighted average
ISO: 100
Focal length: 280mm

073: #360 Who Put That There?

Who put these "ornaments" on this tree?
Walking down the towpath trail I saw this small tree with strings of peanuts tied to it. There's something else as well, but I don't recognize it.

072: #006 Abstract

Abstract by Mother Nature.

I took lots of photos of the tree bark on the towpath trail and had trouble deciding which one to use. The first day I tried it I had one that was brilliantly colored but blurry, so I went back the next day and tried again. The bright colors, unfortunately, were due to a rainy day. The next day was dry and the colors were muted but I finally settled on this one.

071: #256 Reflections

Reflections in a muddy marsh.
The cattails aren't even noticeable except in the reflection

070: #282 Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

Skunk cabbage at the marsh is a sign that Spring is popping!
We've had lots and lots of rain and the low-lying areas are flooded.

I took my Panasonic point-and-shoot because of the off-and-on rains, and this is pretty much "out of camera." I was fascinated by how the camera captured the water surrounding the vegetation. It looks like I added a filter, but I didn't!

069: #117 Gap

Kayla broke a tooth chewing ice.
The dentist pulled it -- she'll get a new one soon enough.
And the tooth fairy was VERY generous!

Edmund asked how the picture was taken.
Portrait mode with flash.
I was a little off to the side and she was looking at an alphabet game on the computer.
I don't like to get too close when I'm using a flash, and I prefer portrait mode when the indoor lighting isn't really great.

A little bit of a crop to tilt the portrait (not straightened this time).
Selective sharpening on the eyes -- a rough selection with 3 pixel feather -- ctl>j to put the eyes on their own layer -- unsharp mask.
And, not that this little one needed it, but Noiseware on the base picture.

Edged with a big white stroke on its own layer with enough gaussian blur to make a soft edge. Then another small white stroke to define it.

068: #034 Breakfast

Well, if you're going out for breakfast you ought to get something
you don't cook at home. Right?

Poached eggs over corned beef hash isn't what I'd cook even though I like it.

067: #188 Monuments or Memorials

A small town's memorial to all its veterans.
Each upright slab holds quotes.
The central black column is engraved with names going back to the beginning of the United States of America.
And the bricks on the platform honor the most recent military men.

This deserves some closer shots.

For those of you who are curious about the lovely building,
it's a restaurant in an old restored house.

066: #349 Vine

I'm guessing poison oak or some such vine.

There were hints of color in the original that I found distracting so I decided to desaturate the image.
Black and white was a little too stark so I made a new layer in sepia at about 50% opacity. I think this works better.

065: #033 Break the Rule of Thirds

This started out to be "bridges", but I took several shots from different angles
and decided I liked this one best -- breaking the rule of thirds.

It could have been used for the song lyrics "bridge over troubled waters", too.
This covered bridge was washed away in a flood some years ago and
rebuilt as a bit of "nostalgia" -- never to be used as a bridge for vehicles again.

064: #356 What Am I?

I puzzled over this when I put it on the computer.
It looks like a small waterfall spraying water up -- a spillway.
Impossible!
I knew where I shot it -- at a small lake that is simply smooth.

Then I looked at the next shot.

Son of a gun. It's a reflection of snow on the small hillside opposite!
I haven't lost my mind after all -- yet!

063: #348 Vapor

Steam rising from a hot grill.

062: #298 Spiral

Trim on a shepherd's hook that will hold some flowers this summer.

061: Free #03 It Must Be Love

Blast it all anyway! I really want a longer lens and a good one, too!
This is one of those "poses" you just don't see very often.
I'm disappointed in the quality of the shot,
but these two lovebirds all fluffed out just had to be blogged anyway!