Day 176

I can't beleive that 2014 is almost here! I've been posting a lot of landscapes lately so I thought I would switch it up with an abstract macro. I case you haven't guessed what this is yet, this is a pile of Twizzlers that was sitting on the desk in front of me as I worked today. As I was eating them I realized that the twisted lines would make a really cool photo. Not only do they have a really cool corkscrew pattern going on, they also reflected light to get some really bright white patches. I liked the original image out of the camera, but an infrared black and white effect gave it this really neat artistic look.

Day 175

This weekend we had a brief meltdown before getting back to near zero degrees today. On Saturday morning I got this beautiful shot of the sunrise shining through these weeds in a field.

Day 174

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I've been taking some time off from blogging, but I hope to be back to posting regularly next week. Today's photo was taken on Christmas Eve at my Grandpa Tom and Grandma Judy's house. This little tree was the centerpiece on the table I was sitting at, and behind it I could see the fireplace with some stockings and decorations. I tried to enhance the warm, bright, holiday feeling when I was editing by applying the Orton effect from picmonkey.com. I really like the details of the artificial tree's needles and snow, and the homey feel of the brick fireplace with the stocking.

Day 173

This is a shot I took of the path that leads from our rabbit barn to Joy's bee yard. I kneeled in the snow to get this angle so the grass and weeds would look taller and fill more of the frame. In contrast to some of the previous posts, I wanted a little color in this photo, so instead of black and white I opted for the Dusk effect.

Day 172

The snow makes everything look different and more beautiful outside. Here's another black and white winter wonderland, this one of a fence post with a barn in the background.

Day 171

Tomorrow it's actually supposed to get well above the freezing point, so the thick layer of snow seen here will soon be gone. Pine trees are always interesting in the winter because they retain their needles and shape, giving some fun shapes and textures to shoot.

Day 170

It looks like a winter wonderland outside right now, and it's getting colder every day. I do love how the snow looks, but I wish it could be warm at the same time. For this photo of the forest that borders my lane, I liked the black and white effect the really concentrate on the details in this image.

Day 169

I spent the first half of today at the hospital, and the second trying to get caught up on school work. I finally finished a Spanish paper I'd been working on, and then remembered that I still needed to post. On my desk I had my camera case, textbooks, a spool of pink ribbon from a 4-H project, and some other miscellaneous stuff. I used the front of my camera case for a textured background, and then with my left hand held the pink ric rac in front with my left hand while shooting with my right. Needless to say, it was hard to get one in focus. I'm not entirely sure the ribbon is in focus yet, but I thought the shiny aspect was a nice compliment to the ordered pattern of the camera case.  To edit, I applied black and white just to the spot of wall you can see i=behind the case, and then a small dark edge to finish.

Day 168

Even though it's not technically winter yet (the winter solstice is December 21) it sure is starting to look and feel like winter. Today's photo is a footprint in the new snow that we got this week. I took this in the late afternoon when it was already getting dark, so the snow was a dark blue color. While I liked the light blue hue in yesterday's post, I didn't like how it worked for this particular image. So I applied a black and white effect with dark edges to add some drama to an otherwise simple photo.

Day 167

My dog Lupin is not always the best subject for photos because he is constantly moving. The vision behind this photo was a nice, traditional portrait with him looking at me. That didn't work out so well because he was distracted by something to his right, but I think it still was a pretty good image with colors and texture. When I was editing I thought this photo needed something to make it really stand out. I used a black and white focal effect, so that Lupin and the surrounding area would be in the original color with the snow on the edges of the photo turning grayscale. I also added a thin black frame, as I thought it really gave the photo a finished look and complemented the dramatic lighting going on.

Day 166

Winter is almost here and the last few leaves are dangling on the trees. Here are some that caught my interest yesterday because of the beautiful red and brown colors going on. I added the Dusk effect to play up the warm, autumn feel in this image.

Day 165

Yesterday my 4-H club decorated a Christmas tree for the local Festival of Trees silent auction where the trees are sold and the proceeds go to Christmas for Kids. Our tree is adorable this year, decorated to look like a giant snowman. This ornament was on someone else's tree, but seeing as it was blue and sparkly it was one that caught my eye when I made the rounds with my camera.  I loved the way the black and white made this ornament really stand out from its surroundings.

Day 164

This probably isn't the most impressive macro of an insect you've ever seen, but it's my first one so I'm going to post it. We were out taking care of the rabbits a couple days ago and a few house flies were landing on the leaves of this tree, I got out my camera and took a few handheld macro shots. I liked the texture and color of the leaf, and the angle this fly was sitting at. A slight dark edge to bring out more detail and the colors of the fly was my only adjustment.

Day 163

It's been a little warmer recently, so I've been outside shooting more often. This rusty nail was stuck in a board in a pile near our rabbit barn, and I thought the textures would be interesting to work with. I loved the look I got when I left the nail the original rusty red but painted the board black and white.

Day 162

This Saturday my mom took me to a rabbit show, and we had a great time. Before we left I had convinced her to let me get this little Holland Lop buck, who the whole family fell in love with as soon as they saw him. He ended up being an early birthday present for my little brother Nehemiah, who gave him the appropriate name "Loppy." This photo was taken in out rabbit barn while Noah, my youngest brother, held him. I processed it with a dusk effect to add an artsy feel to an otherwise simple photo.