Autumn Photo Shoot

I hosted a nature photography outing here in Olalla on October 18, hoping to capture some of the beautiful autumn foliage on the local trees.  After a week of rain, Mother Nature did cooperate and the sun came out on our day.  We stopped at Olalla Bay first, taking many pictures of the beautiful trees lining the shore, as well as the numerous cormorants and seagulls sitting like silent sentinels on old pilings.  On the left is my favorite shot of Olalla Bay.  The second picture is another view of the bay, where you can see more of the colorful trees. 

The third shot shows Olalla Bay from a different perspective.  I think the rocks and boulders add visual interest.  They were brought in to prevent erosion of the beach.  At high tide they are completely covered.

Next stop was Crescent Lake, for more photos.  Then we stopped to shoot an old abandoned cabin.  Our final stop was a small park where we took pictures of an old weathered totem pole. 

 

The close-up of the leaf is another of my favorites.  It is a blackberry leaf and I love the red and green pattern.

At day's end a couple of us still had the camera bug, so after the rest left, we went to Burley Lagoon for more photos.  The 5th picture is Burley Lagoon.

In all, it was a great day and everyone got beautiful shots.  Hope you enjoy a few of mine!

How to Make a Light Box

WHAT IS A LIGHT BOX?
Simply put, it is a photographer’s aid, a plain box with the sides and top cut out and covered with a light-diffusing fabric or translucent paper. Objects (such as this chess piece) photographed inside the box will have a clean and professional appearance with virtually no shadows.

MATERIALS

• Sturdy cardboard box
  
• Thin, white fabric (muslin, T-shirt, interfacing, old sheet, nylon) that allows light through
  
• Heavy white opaque paper (poster board, butcher paper, interfacing)
  
• Glue Stick
  
• Utility knife
  
• Scissors
  
• Marking pen
  
• Tape measure
  
• Swing-arm lamps
  
  

INSTRUCTIONS

Obtain a sturdy box, preferably with a lid. The box used for this demo was a Banker’s Box, but you can use any size box. Don’t go too small.

Cut out all 4 sides of the box with a utility knife, leaving 1½” rims. If you use a regular cardboard box, you’ll need to cut off the top flaps. If you use a Banker’s Box, it won’t have top flaps.

Line 3 sides of the box on the inside (or outside, if you’re lazy) by gluing white fabric or light-duty paper to the box. Leave 4th side open. That’s the opening where you’ll place the camera lens to shoot your pictures.

Carefully cut out the bottom lip at the FRONT of the box. You'll be inserting a long piece of paper next, and this will allow the paper to stick out the front of the box.
Cut heavy paper to fit into the bottom and back side of the box, starting at the front, and CURVING UP AND OVER the rim at the back. This will create a seamless backdrop, so be very careful not to crease or wrinkle the paper. Secure paper to the back of the box on the outside.

If using a Banker’s Box, cut out the center of the lid, leaving a 1½” rim. Cut fabric or paper to fit lid and glue to inside of lid. For regular cardboard box, just glue fabric or paper directly to top of box

Finished box. To take pictures, shine lamp through top of the box. If you need more light, shine additional lamps through the sides.

Spring Flowers

Pat Rice posted a picture of her lovely clematis on her blog site, and lamented the fact commenters couldn't leave pictures of their own in the comments section. I agree. I would love to see other people's flower pictures! I love looking at (and smelling) flowers, so I decided to post a few of my own here. I hope you enjoy them!

The yellow picture is a perennial called Basket O' Gold that is one of the first things to bloom in the spring. It cascades over the railroad ties in my landscaping in wild abandon. Their bright yellow flowers are so cheerful. This is a hardy plant that thrives on neglect.

The purple picture is the clematis of a friend. I love how the ruffled edges of the flower remind me of the ruffle on the hem of a Regency debutante's dress.

The green picture isn't of flowers, but of bracken ferns. I liked the pattern of the ferns as well as the bright green color. In case you couldn't tell, I like doing close-ups. *g*

The single flower in the next picture is a columbine, another cheerful little perennial that is blooming in my whiskey planter tub right now.

And the last picture is yet another hardy and determined little flower, the first harbinger of spring: a primrose. These primroses have survived hail, snow, sleet, and driving rain, and don't seem adversely affected by any of it.

Oh, wait, I have one more picture to post. The pink rose is the only rose plant in my garden. I call it my Rose Stick Plant, because it is just one single stalk that sticks out of the ground and it never branches out, nor does it produce more than one single pink rose each year. Originally, it produced a single blue rose, a hybrid I bought through mail order and which I highly prized for its rarity. Then one year the goat I used to own ate the rose down below the graft point, and now all I get is the pink rose, since the stalk the blue rose was grafted to was for a pink rose. Alas.

So these are just a few of my flower pictures.

Pictures Posted at Flickr

I posted a few more pictures at Flickr. http://tinyurl.com/32fe5f Alien space invasion of hundreds of planets. *g*