"Inside Passage"

Now that the sun is lower on the horizon, there have been some excellent backlighting opportunities, along with interesting interior lighting.

The white areas are where the sun is hitting the ruffled edges of the leaves, blasting the color out.

"Inner Space"
Pastel 16" X 12"

This pastel painting just won First Prize in a Capital Hill Art League juried show, and the prize is a solo show in June.
Coolest prize ever !

The source image was a photo of an antique watercolor hanging in the octagonal dining room of a friend, which was reflecting a window, the sunlight falling across the room, and more art on the other side. Art reflecting art!

The multiple levels of reality and space, and the multiple periods of time intrigued me, plus the colors were inviting.

To see the step-by-step demo, click here

FUN WITH CAMERA 360

I've been spending huge amounts of time with Camera360 (and a few other apps as well), going back and reworking several promising images. Camera360 can show you most of the effects "live", which is great for composing, but it saves at a low resolution.

A couple of months ago, when I was trying to free up some memory, I noticed that Camera360 took up more space than all my (many, many) photos combined! Further exploration revealed that it also saves the original, unfiltered photo at full camera resolution, which you can revert back to. This, plus the stronger and more useful tools and filters that the latest upgrades has given us, has opened up a whole new world of possibilities!

So I've been having too much fun, and not getting very much else done.

The  final (latest?) version of this image uses HDR, Sketch, and Cartoon filters, plus the adjustments, rotate, and crop tools.

They say, "You can't look at the face of God."

The sky was ablaze with a spectacular coral red sunset, and the whole world was glowing. However, when I tried to photograph the sky directly, all my poor little camera could manage was a very pale sky with dark silhouettes for trees.

Turning my back to the fiery light, there was a bit of intense red reflecting in a window, catching the warm glow much better than a direct shot.

"The Sword of Damocles"

 This whimsical little fellow occurred quite by accident, but I loved the goggle-eyed expression. He was accepted into a juried show, "Body Language", by jurist Jay Hall Carpenter

"Body Language will explore the ways we use our bodies to express emotion, feeling, and movement. Submissions should reference the human body in some way"
... and there's my funny litte photo, with all the classical nudes and serious portraits. He's the only food art in the place! Plus, it's a good show.

For more info about the show, click here:
Art League Gallery in Alexandria.

"Cabbage Reaches for  Enlightenment"

It is said that Ansel Adams took pictures of the same old tree for decades. I've only been photographing cabbages for a few years, and I expect to have endless inspiration from them. Plus, the tools and equipment I get to use are just getting better, and more fun. This one was originally captured with PowerCam, and further tweaked with Photoshop.