"No Spring Skips its Turn."

Whenever the word "spring" is spoken, the first image in mind would be "flowers." We don't have spring here in the Philippines, but I notice that the very cold weather from November til February of the next year would make some trees and plants shed its leaves and come March, the leaves return and the flowers bloom... just like winter and spring.


With that in mind, I decided to just choose an image I took from this time of the year last year. One of the crops in season are Mung Beans, and this is a picture of the plant's flower I took while vacationing in my paternal hometown. I paid my aunt a visit and they planted quite a lot of mung beans, which I helped them harvest.

Winter can be compared to a person's cold and somewhat dark time; but just like each year... winter will end and spring will come. If you're in a dark moment, just hang on there - something great will happen sooner or later.

On the Water

I truly have neglected this blog... could it be I am losing interest with photography? I admit my focus took a little turn - that I am more into taking random pictures instead of really focusing on the art of photography, but I do miss taking pictures using my camera... lately I have been relying on my cell phone's camera to capture moments.

Anyway, I still love photography, which is why I am gathering all remaining flame in me and rekindle it...by making sure I post something here even at least four posts a week.


This week's prompt on Foto Friday is "On the Water." When I read the prompt, I knew I'd use an image I took during my last trip to Bohol, and among the pictures, I chose this.

A trip to Bohol will never be complete without doing the Loboc River Cruise. Usually, tourists make this their itinerary for lunch because the cruise includes a buffet... but some tourists go for the dinner cruise because the Loboc River lights up come night time - making it romantic and somewhat magical.

Still, if you ask me, I'd still do the cruise during the daytime as I love to see the water, the lush greens and be in awe of nature's beauty.

"Grow Like a Tree"

...and another week went by without a blog post from me. More than ever, I am feeling the pressures of juggling many things at the same time, but no way will I ever give up this blog and taking pictures.

This week's Quotography prompt is "Trees." I love photographing trees! I love how each tree is different from the other and how much drama there is in a tree. My favorite is the leafless (but not dead) tree, but this month I am loving the "fire trees" I always see around Colinas Verdes whenever I do my morning walks.

I call them "My Sakura," or "My Cherry Trees," mainly because the tree only had flowers and no leaves. From afar they look like it's on fire, but zooming the camera in, more beauty and more drama surfaces.

Grow like a tree. Something I am telling myself...but I also tell myself not to be too tall and too proud.

"A Change in the Weather is Sufficient"

This week's Quotography prompt and image is something I could relate a lot...because it's been raining here for many days, though I am glad that it's sunny again - I can go out later to walk.

Anyway, I chose to share this old image (taken in 2009) because it showed how unpredictable weather was at that time. It was sunny all morning, but come near lunchtime, we spotted the rain from afar that made us pack our things and head on back to the boat to continue our island hopping.

We were thankful that even if it rained the time we were traveling, everytime we went down the boat and enjoy the beautiful islands of Coron (Palawan), the sun would peek and give us sunshine. It has been a wonderful trip.

Cream Cheese Brownies

For Photo Friday's prompt "Edited," I chose to edit this picture of some Cream Cheese Brownies I photographed last Valentine's Day. To edit this, I applied the "Adding Backgrounds" tutorial I learned just recently, and for the background, I used this bokeh image from Digital Picture Zone.

Merging two images plus more editing using GIMP, I ended up with this:


Steps I did -

• Scaled image to 480x640.
• Scaled the bokeh image to 480 on the longer end - to fit the width of my brownies image, then pasted the bokeh image on a new layer.
• Made a selection around the brownies plus the plate using the Path Tool, then feathered the selection.
• Erased the bokeh images that touched the plate of brownies. Flattened the image after.
• Ran the National Geographic script, set to my own preferences.
• Gave it a pass of the Dodge Tool, just to lighten the color of the brownies.
• Ran the Manny Librodo Sharpening script, set to my own preferences.
• Added my watermark, flattened, and saved the image.

I am not sure if the bokeh I used was a good idea, but I did love the part between the plate, brownies, and bokeh background looked seamless. I guess feathering it was the key. It sure would look awkward if the edges was a bit visible.