Silhouette

Oh wow! Thank you so much, Lori for choosing my picture as this week's photo! Such an honor to be chosen, really! :)


This week's theme is "Silhouette," and I chose a picture taken last year - at the Surfing Break. It was so difficult to take pictures of the surfers enjoying the waters and cool weather at sundown, but I sure enjoyed clicking the shutter and document the event.

It was sad that I wasn't able to travel this year and watch the event, but hopefully next year, I can travel again.

B&W Zinnia

Lately, I have been taking pictures after pictures of flowers. I want to compile flower pictures and print them and place them in an album, so when I saw this flower from my August file, I knew I had to include it.

This was originally taken in color, but I edited it using GIMP and some actions I downloaded online. I wasn't able to jot down the steps I made, but it was a simple edit - thanks to the actions and scripts available for users.

The Phoebe Edition

* please mouse over to see the SOOC shot *

A picture I took last Sunday, I found this mini roses way too cute, but a bit difficult to photograph because the flowers were even smaller than my fingernails! Anyway, I did have a lot of fun photographing the flowers because even the roses were itty bitty small, it did have a great pattern.

Editing this picture, I did:

• Scaled image to 640x480.
  
• Added a layer of Kim Klassen's "Phoebe" texture, set to Burn at 70% then processed it using the Vintage script (no grain, with vignette), blended to 30%.
  
• Added another layer of Kim Klassen's "Phoebe" texture, set to Multiply at 25%.
  
• Ran the Vintage script (no grain, with vignette), blended to soft light at 75%.
  
• Ran the National Geographic script, set to my own preference.
  
• Ran the "Summer Heat" action, then adjusted the levels.
  
• Added my watermark, flattened image, then saved.

When I started giving more time post-processing my images, I still haven't tried creating or using frames. With the Phoebe texture, the frame / border around the image made the edited image look as if it's a greeting card or something. :)

Believers, Look Up!

Yesterday was a very awesome day for me because I got to see my fitness buddy, Pipoy in person. I first got to meet him online (at a forum), and since then, our friendship has been steady and going stronger.


I took this picture at the Flower Garden of the Quezon Memorial Circle - where we spent time relaxing after some rounds of walking around the park. It was a great way of relaxing... taking pleasures in the beauty of Mother Nature. Moving from one flower bed to another also gave us chances to move even while on a "resting stage."

I have long heard of the tip that one shouldn't just photograph flowers looking down, but whenever I take pictures of flowers, I would always do that - either look down on it or photograph it with my camera lens at the side of the flower. My fitness buddy brought his camera, too, and while he was taking pictures of this little white flower, I was reminded of the tip I seem to have forgotten.

I applied that tip when I took pictures of this gerber daisy. Looking down on it gave me a very pretty shot, but taking my camera down and look up on it gave me not just a pretty shot - but quite dramatic as well.

All along, I thought I am on this weight loss journey alone. Meeting my fitness buddy is like meeting an angel.

Morning Sky

Today's prompt on Foto Friday is "Morning Sky," and since these pictures I am about to share were taken last November 09 and 10, I decided to link it to different memes, too.


I took this morning of 09 November. It being a weekday, there weren't much people walking and jogging, so I was able to get a "clear" shot of the Colinas Verdes Clubhouse (means without any people around). I do love walking there every mornings, but at times it was difficult for me to go there because I don't have a companion.


* please mouse over to see the SOOC shot *
This was taken the morning after the first shot. I took this along the highway while walking to Colinas Verdes. I just loved how the mountains can be seen even with fog (or was it low clouds?), so I stopped for a while to take this picture.

I am linking this picture specifically for "Shoot. Edit. Submit." meme, and if you place your mouse over the image you'll see the SOOC. To get to the edit, I just cloned and healed parts of the sky and a few parts of the trees then rotated the image. Instead of cropping the picture after rotating, I decided to make another round of clone and heal so I won't have to lose little spaces around the image.

Both images captured the many reasons why I love walking to and around Colinas Verdes. Even if I don't get to do my morning walks everyday, I always look forward to going there because aside from the health benefits of walking, I am also amazed at the beauty nature has to offer.

Happy weekends!