#13 Design

There are designs and then there are designs...  I find that the shapes and forms that are found in this image can be defined as designs and certainly whoever created this building, designed  it to look as it does.  Did I mention that I am a sucker for architectural detail?  Stay tuned as there may be even more designs - of this same building, The National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada - that I want to include in this category...

Just couldn't resist.  Here's another one - or two, or three..



#12 Isolation

On the shore of Lake Erie, south of where we live, Port Burwell is a tiny village which features a languid stretch of exquisite beach in a provincial park.  While walking about half of its length, I spotted this obviously elderly piece of driftwood which is slowly but inexorably being washed smooth by incoming waves.  It seemed to me on revisiting the photo that a sense of isolation is certainly part of the mood of the shot, especially with the tiny lighthouse out on the end of the point giving a sense of proportion to the location of this woody relic.

I used a Topaz Adjust 5 Vibrant filter - Bold - on this photo, to bring out details in the waves and it also added a cooler tone to it, which I think adds to the lonely feeling I was looking for.

B&W

If you're viewing this on my Home page, I apologize.  It was meant to be posted on the "Beyond Layers" page (which is where it appears as well) but am afraid to take it off here and lose it there...  Still learning!

I used the B&W converter in Elements for this image, let some of the pink in the roses show through.  Added KK's Cherish texture on a separate layer on Soft Light with lowered opacity.  Applied a Topaz Adjust 5 French Countryside filter to the original as well.

#11 Flowers

Having moved last summer into a house with a phenomenal garden, I was spoilt for choice with photo ops.  These are just some of the gorgeous flowers we're looking forward to seeing again this summer and perhaps we'll add more, who knows!

The only one of these that I've worked on for this image is the clematis (the largest one).  In Topaz Adjust 5, I applied French Countryside and then Spicify effects.  Back in Elements, on a separate Overlay 50% gray layer, I added a 150mm lens flare to the top left corner.  After selecting the top part of the background and blurring it (Gaussian - is there any other kind?!), I tweaked it a bit with Levels.  Oh yes, the collage was from the PET site and I added a reduced opacity shot of hosta to the background.

BTW, if anyone can identify the yellow flowers, top right, we'd love to know what they are.

Best viewed by clicking on it to see it with a black background - much nicer!

#10 Nature

Here in Florida, we're blessed to see an abundance of wildlife, right on our doorstep, so to speak.  Our house backs onto a conservation area and there is far more hiding in there than we can ever imagine, I'm sure.  Last year, at the height of our cold spell (yes, it was in the 30s F in the mornings for quite a while!), a Florida bobcat came to our backyard to warm himself in the sun.  Unfortunately, I thought he was a pile of leaves for the longest time - until I got my camera out, at which time, of course, he turned and sauntered away...  No such luck this winter but this beautiful white heron perched himself at the top of a 60-foot tree last week and stayed just long enough for me to get his picture.

The only editing I did to this one was quite a sizeable crop and the addition of a soft vignette to highlight the heron.