Fall Photos and a New Topaz Labs Filter

I am so far behind!  Not that that's anything too unusual but the pressure is starting to build up on me.  I took lots of photos this year but unfortunately real life and two jobs have taken up a great deal of my time.  I have barely scratched the surface on my processing tasks.  What a bummer.  Hopefully after the holiday season I can take a break and just work on my photos.

Topaz Labs has just released a new special effects filter called Texture Effects.  I should mention that I LOVE Topaz Labs products.  So when this new one was released I just couldn't resist.

I played around with it the other night just for fun.  These products are so easy to use you can just jump right in there and get some cool effects.  But they are also very powerful editing programs that can give you some amazing effects if you take the time to really work with them.  There is a bit of a learning curve because there are so many options and effects but fortunately Topaz Labs has many webinars and videos to help you get the most out of the program.

On this first picture I had had some difficulty with my camera settings.  I seem to have trouble at night under red lights.  Hopefully I will figure it out some day!  It was much darker than it appears and the area was lit with red spotlights.  Very creepy but didn't translate well in the photo.  I wanted to see if I could salvage this mess and get a usable image with a dark, old world vibe.

Scary ladies at the Busch Gardens Unearthed Haunted House

This next one is just a standard amusement park shot.  I do love the carousel horses at Busch Gardens.  They are painted authentically and the park really keeps them in great shape.  I thought I would give it a somewhat grungy neon look.

Here are the original photos.

 

If you like to play around with special effects you might like to give Texture Effects a try.  They offer a free 30 day trial version.

I'm really hoping to get my fall photos posted before Christmas catches up with me!  It's not likely to happy but I can dream, can't I?

Sharon

Fun and Interesting Photos

In my last post I shared some pretty spring photos.  Now I'd like to show some of the more interesting and fun sights I've captured.  If you pay attention there is usually something interesting going on around you.  You just have to look.  Of course there's also a plentiful supply of things you wish you had never seen but that get burned into your memory permanently.  We won't go into that right now!

This lizard is not beautiful in the ordinary sense but he had PERSONALITY and that makes him beautiful in his own right.

The is one of the rescued eagles that live at Busch Gardens.  His wing is injured but he is majestic none the less.  There are a few of these rescued birds in the park.

Funny story that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about... A couple of weeks ago as I was driving on a busy highway I noticed a very large bald eagle sitting on top of a telephone pole.  It's not unusual to see hawks and vultures in that area but I've never seen an eagle, especially one sitting on a pole.  He was massive.  Then right after I passed him I also passed a fender bender.  Guess I wasn't the only one who noticed the eagle!  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him...or the accident.

Here is one of the drummers from the show in Italy.  Amazingly his smile and energy don't dissolve in the heat.

What can I say?  These two are just perfect examples of how to have fun at work.  I didn't think they noticed me trying to sneak a photo.  But then they suddenly struck a pose for me!  Great attitudes!

Beefeaters in England

And now for something completely different...  This little corner of Italy is decorated in an Asian theme for the Food and Wine Festival.

Very colorful

I just realized today that June is almost over.  Why do the summer months go by so fast?  There must be some scientific explanation.  People are already planning Independence Day activities.  I'm not ready for it.  Once again I will try to fit in everything I want to do this Summer and at the end of it I'm sure once again I will have failed to do half of them.  I guess I'll just content myself with the half and hopefully capture them in photos so I will have something to look at as I sit under a pile of blankets next winter!

Sharon

The Colors of Busch Gardens in the Spring

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  I try to make time for it but time is one of those things that just seems to get away from me.  Like everyone else I don't have enough hours in my day.

I did manage to take a few opportunities to get out and about...with my trusty camera, of course.  Here are a few of the scenes that caught my eye.

I see you admiring my beauty!

What a lovely

Handsome fellow

Enjoying a lazy afternoon

Busch Gardens in full bloom

Serene in green

Electric England

Busch Gardens is known as one of the most beautiful amusement parks in the country.  It's a wonderful place to practice photography.  The only downside is having to fight the crowds.  Why do people insist on walking in front of me when they surely can see the camera in front of my face?  It can be very trying to the patience.  Thankfully we have season passes so we can go during the less popular hours.  We love to go at the end of the day just to do a little walking (for exercise) and then treat ourselves with ice cream or funnel cakes (to cancel out the exercise)!
Sharon

#photography, #Busch

Springtime Walk At Newport News Park

Dilemma

Sometimes at this time of year you have a major dilemma on your hands.  It seems like there are a lot of great movies released just in time for Spring Break. On the other hand the weather is just starting to get really nice.  So what's a person to do?  I know what I should do...paint, paperwork, housework.  But that's no fun at all.

 

Easy Decision

I opt for a small hike in the park.  Nothing major, just 3 miles.  I think I can handle that!  Packed up Hubby, my trusty camera and bottles of water and off we went  on our lovely nature walk.

Photo Trophies 

The first thing we came across was this crane.  He was flying low by the swamp.

Crane

We were crossing the Swamp Bridge and I was enjoying the baby River Cooters.  So was this frog.  He was waiting for one to come his way.  Thankfully the tiny one I was watching was out of his reach.  And Jase Robertson might love frogs, but the last thing I think about when looking at one is "Yummy!"

Bullfrog

Red-bellied Cooter

This Turkey Vulture was flying overhead.  He was making quite a racket.  I will say he was not very attractive.  But to each his own.  Maybe in the vulture world he's a hottie!

Turkey Vulture

I was standing on the bridge overlooking the swamp trying to be quiet, when some of the brushes to my right started to move.  I heard a lot of rustling sounds and then suddenly this young beaver swam in front of me.  He was happily chewing up reeds.  We also spotted a larger beaver playing out in the deeper water.  I have never seen a beaver in the wild and now I have seen two on the same day.

Beaver

Once over the bridge I hoped to spot some deer.  Unfortunately I didn't see a single one.  But I did see my first butterfly of the season.  This is a Zebra Swallowtail.

Zebra Swallowtail

I came across two birds that were so high I really couldn't tell what they were.  All I saw from the first one was a flash of blue.  I thought it was maybe a bluejay.  The second one flew overhead with something in his claws.  I figured it was probably some nesting material.  On my computer I was surprised to see that what I had photographed was actually a bluebird (never seen one before) and an osprey who had caught himself a fish dinner.  The third bird was was hidden in the brush on the bank.  It took a lot of searching on the web before I found out he was a green heron.

Bluebird

Osprey

Green Heron

I was beginning to fear I wouldn't spot any snakes.  We walked that whole 3 mile trail and didn't find a single one until the very end.  This guy was right off the trail by the parking lot!  He was about 5-6 feet long and happily wrapping around a tree.  Success!

Black Rat Snake

What a wonderful way to spend a day!  I had a great time and I hope you enjoy my photos.

Sharon

#nature walk in Newport News, #Virginia trails, #Virginia hiking, #Newport News trails

Virginia Oddities

Another beautiful Sunday!  This makes two in a row for us.  It was 71 degrees and sunny today.  Just lovely!  We decided to take a Sunday drive to the Rockahock Campgrounds today.  They are having a Christian concert there on April 25-26 and we wanted to check out the place ahead of time.  It was a pretty nice campground right on the Chickahominy River.  Sidewalk Prophets are going to be playing on April 25 and I've been wanting to see them for a long time.  They are one of my very favorite contemporary Christian bands.  I'm really looking forward to this concert.

After looking around the campground we decided to cruise the local area to see what else we could find.  My GPS told me there was a BBQ restaurant right down the road.  Once again the GPS did me wrong.  The BBQ place turned out to be a gas station!  I'm thinking we won't be eating there.  This is why we try to check out locations ahead of time.  I need to know how far away the food is at all times! (only slightly exaggerating!)  You don't want to let me get too hungry or it's kind of reminiscent of a Snickers commercial!

I've been wanting to take some photos and this warm weather is right up my alley.  I love to do photography but I'm not die-hard enough to brave the cold weather.  It's just not in me.  We didn't have to go very far before I found some worthy subjects.  I love odd things or things in odd places.  So we were driving down the road and I spotted this tiger.  I was so excited you would have thought it was a real tiger!  Of course we had to pull over and take pics!  It wasn't till I got home and really looked at it that I realized I wasn't at an Exxon station.  I never even noticed that it was a BP!  Hmmm...that's odd.

Exxon tiger

Right down the road I found another fabulous statue.  Again I didn't notice till later that the statue is of an injured horse.  Unusual.

I was very happy to have found these statues.  This is just the kind of unusual stuff that gets me excited.  But then I found something else that piques my interest...an antique store.  Love them!  This was right down the street from the horse and I just couldn't resist stopping.

It was a nice shop with nice people.  I found some nice blue mason jars for $6 which is a steal for the big ones.  I'm sure I'll be going there again.  I took this photo because I loved the signage.  All in all it was a wonderful day!

But now there's a winter storm warning for tomorrow morning.  Blah!  They're calling for 26 degrees, ice and 4-6 inches of snow!  Can you believe it?  I, for one, can not.

Sharon

Terrible Take-up

Here in Virginia we have an expression 'terrible take-up'.  Actually I think it's more of a York County thing.  It basically describes a sudden shock to your system.  Now that I think of it I think I heard it mostly from my former in-laws.  Hmmm.  Wonder if I was the terrible take-up?  Anyway, I guess it's a country way of saying 'taken aback'.  Think I've read that expression quite a few times back in my Harlequin Romance days!

At any rate, I'm not enjoying the change in weather we've had the last few days.  It was just a week ago it was a balmy and beautiful 78 degrees.  I came home from work and sat out in the back yard to just soak it up for a bit.  Next thing I knew there were three baby squirrels playing in the tree.  They were adorable.  I do love squirrels in the off-season.  Can't stand them in the summer though.  They massacre my garden.  ARGH!  Anyway one little squirrel was giving his buddy a bath.  Never saw that before.  It was so cute.

  

Suddenly there was a red-headed woodpecker and a blue jay in the same tree.  Guess they enjoy the warm weather too.  I couldn't get a picture of the blue jay.  He was way too fast for me!  But the woodpecker was still just long enough for me to snap this one.

After the birds were gone I spent the next few minutes enjoying the antics of the little squirrels as the sun slowly set and the light changed to a beautiful gold.

What an acrobat

King of the hill?

So much for my fond memories of last week.  The lovely weather did not last.  It was 19 degrees last night and here I sit tonight.... wrapped in a blanket and cranking up the fireplace.  ARGH!  What a terrible take-up!

Sharon