Seventhray Photography

10:34:47 PM EDT
Feeling Happy

Well I see that I already posted The Fluted Swallowtail!  Oh well it's a pretty pic, doesn't hurt to post it again!  As you see there are more butterfly photo's.  We decided not to cut part of our enormous yard this year and let it go to field grass and hay.  Well that has brought every butterfly in the county!  I'm loven it(although my alergies are going crazy)!  I have gotten more pictures out of my front yard this summer than I have in a whole year!  I hope you enjoy the pics, there are skippers, monarchs, wood nymphs, angel wings and there will be more in the next entry!  I have added some more flower photo's some coming from next door and some coming from the garden at my husbands work place.  I took a lot of my flower photo's after it rained which made them look a little more special.  I did add in two photo's that were taken after a heavy fog one morning that had left water droplets everywhere!  I got wet taking those pics! 

I hope you like the flower & Butterfly entry!  There will be more soon!

Until next time!

Lynda

Remember if you use these photo's do so only for personal use and please give me credit if anyone asks where they came from!  Thank you!

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10:54:36 AM EDT
Feeling Happy

Sorry I haven't posted in a while my life has been one crazy turn after another!  But hopefully I have things straightened around enough  to start posting regularly and visiting more blogs!  This is going to be a short one today, I don't have much time to write.  I have to keep my phone line clear just incase there are problems at school with my son.  Thank God it's almost summer vacation! 

My husbands family has a camp next door to us and they have planted a garden.  They don't maintain it much so from a distance it looks like a bunch of weeds.  But if you get up close you can see all kinds of beautiful flowers.  Just amazing!  Here are some shots I got the other day and the week before after a rain storm.

I hope to post soon again for I have many, many photo's to share!  I will see you soon!

Until next time!

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11:30:22 AM EDT
Feeling Happy

Wow, have I been busy!  I haven't had any time to add entries or to visit other people blogs!  But I managed to squeeze in  an entry this morning and hopefully I will find some time today to go visiting!  I do want to make an announcement!  I will be changing the Seventhray Photography blog address.  It will be effective Friday the 4th of May.  The new address will be

http://journals.aol.com/seventhray1/photos

I just wanted to shorten it a bit so it is easier to remember and type. 

Well I have a few more nature shots to share with you today! 

Photos 1,2, 3 & 4 are shots of a deer couple that was visiting the area a week ago.  I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.  They are just beautiful!  These two weren't as patient as the other deer I took photo's of during the storm.  I had to act quick to get a pictures of these two.  I wasn't able to get close either.  When I was taking picture 4 I had to sneak down the rows of pine trees, pop in quick, take a shot and then hide.  I would then sneak down the row some more, pop in, snap a shot and hide.  This is as close as I could get before she took off.  You can see she was keeping an eye on me.  She didn't miss a trick!

Photo's 5 & 6 are photo's taken the day after the big April Storm.  The mist coming up from the lake was real pretty.  It was hard to capture it.  These pics are nice but I still don't think they show the true beauty of that morning.

Photo's 7, 8 , & 9 are more bird and critter shots.  I love the blue jay shot!  Would you believe that photo was taken from inside my house looking out the front window!  Just beforethe storm came in I had made sure the window was perfectly clean so I could get some shots from inside the house.  It worked pretty good.  Most of my bird shots are taken through the window!  Photo 8 I just love!  This female cardinal was not easy to get and neither was the male(I will be posting them in the next entry).  I love how she was perked right up.  So much expression.  And photo 9.  The Squirrel!  They are so cute but boy are they annoying!  How ever innocent this little critter looks, it is not!  He was not just taking a rest and looking at the scenery.  He was plotting how to raid the bird feeders the little rascal!  I have more shots of him to!  Caught red handed in the bird feeders!  It was actually pretty amusing.  In the next entry I will tell the tale (no pun intended)!

Well I hope you enjoyed this weeks entry!  I will post some more soon so stop back!

Until next time!

All Photographs are copyright of Seventhray Photography and may not be used without permission.

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11:59:50 AM EDT
Feeling Hopeful

Hello!  What a crazy spring!  The snow just won't stop!  But even though the weather is treacherous I have still been lucky enough to get some great shots!  I took some storm pics so you could see a bit of the storm most people didn't here about because it only occurred on top of the hills around my area.  Us hill folk got pummeled!

Photo 1 & 2 are the beginning of the storm this was Sunday morning.  This is the road I live on.  I went down into town and it was only raining at that point.

Photo 3 & 4 were taken Sunday afternoon.  I had to go down to the satellite dish at the edge of the woods and wipe the snow off so I could get a signal.  I had decided to take my camera at the last minute to get some shots of the storm.  I didn't even realize how bad it was until I got down to the field.  Our house is tucked in the woods a bit so we don't always get the full affect of a storm.  The wind was just blowing the snow in waves, it was incredible.  These photo don't show the full scope of the storm but they give you an idea.

Photo 5 & 7 were taken Monday morning.  There are a few more photo's I am going to add to this part so you can really get a better idea of how much snow we got.  But these two are a good start!  That poor Blue Jay you could just tell he had was sick of the snow also!

Photo 8 & 9 And through all that snowy mess a deer came right up to the house to feed.  I was so excited!  My son just happen to look out his bedroom window and there she was!  She was real patient.  I was able to open up the window and zoom in on her.  It was great!

Photo's 10 - 14 are some photo's I took this past week of the birds and little critters that have come to eat at the feeders I put out.  Some of these birds are so hard to photograph I have resorted to taking the picture from my living room window.  I cleaned the window as best I could and it has been okay.  I prefer to get out side and take the pictures but the weather hasn't allowed that lately!

Well I hope you enjoyed the "Spring?" photo's!  I will be adding more soon so stop back!

Until next time!

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4:04:54 PM EDT
Feeling Chillin'

Hello!  I have some more spring photo's for you!  I am still waiting for the leaves, green grass and more blooming flowers so I can post some more colorful photo's for you, but from what I here I am going to have to wait a bit longer.  (heavy sigh) More snow!  Ick.

I've been trying to photograph some Robins but boy are they skiddish!  But I have some more chickadee photo's and a couple of other birds for now.  I hope you like them!

Photo's 1 and 2 are from some pansy's me and my daughter picked up at the store the other day.  I took them out side to get some sun light and thought they'd make a nice macro.  Photo 2 I played around a bit in the Picasa2 program I got free from google.  Great program, you can do all kinds of things like sharpen your photo's add tint, add softness, straighten, crop, saturate.......and the list goes on.  A great program for free and it doesn't take up a lot of room on your hard drive like some editing programs do!  That's a plus for me seeing as I only have a meager 32gig drive with 128mb ram.  Pathetic isn't it!  Anyway back to photo 2.   I used the sepia option to get this old world type affect!  I thought it looked cool.

Photo 3 Yes another crocus photo!  But that was the last photo I will be getting out of those flowers!  The rain the other night beat the living daylights out of them and all they are now is a bunch of flower mush on the ground!

Photo 4  Ahh the woodpecker!  This little bugger let me get right up close (well closer than most).  I was impressed with it's courage!  I do have more shots but I decided to post this one.  I may post the others at a later date.

Photo 5  I love this one!  I have to chuckle every time I see it because it looks as thought the little chickadee is giving me the "Harry Eye Ball"!

Photo 6 and 7 I am pretty sure this is a Junco.  I could be wrong!  But at any rate they are adorable little birds that are a joy to photograph!

Well I hope you liked Signs of Spring 2  I am sure there will be a 3 and 4!  Hopefully I can go to the "Spring in full Swing"  mode soon! 

Until next time!

 

 

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10:15:50 AM EDT
Feeling Happy

Hi there!  I have a few spring photo's for you to view!  I don't have to many yet because spring is just starting but what I do have is pretty!  It was 70 degrees yesterday and that was a nice change for us hear in the North Eastern US.  We've been in the deep freeze for to long!  The critters seem to be enjoying themselves also.  The chickadee's were busily pillaging the bird feeder, flinging seeds everywhere!  Chipmunks were busy steeling the seeds that dropped from the feeder.  The squirrels were plotting there next plan to raid the bird feeder, the neighbors roosters were crowing there heads off.......even the bugs were out being buggy! 

 

My day started off with a beautiful sunrise and then off to the Crocus flowers to try and get some shots in between the bee activity!  Later on I was ever so lucky to get a couple shots of a chickadee and in the later half of the day I found one little yellow flower sticking it's head up out of the mud!  Not a bad start for spring.  I can't wait for the trees and the rest of the flowers to start blooming!

Well I hope you enjoyed "The Joy of Spring", I am sure there will be more spring photo's coming soon!

Until next time!

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3:34:33 PM EDT
Feeling Happy

Hi!  How are you doing today!  I have some really neat photo's to share with you today!  I got playing around with mirrors and got some really cool results. 

1 - 4  I did these photo's with two mirrors facing each other and I came in on an angle to get the shot.  I had to crop some and add tint to hide my reflection in the photo and to get rid of unnecessary stuff, but all in all I like how they came out.  I never really experimented with mirrors before so this was a really cool session for me to do.  I first tried having one mirror on the bottom and one on the top with the subject sitting directly on the bottom mirror(boy was that neat to look in to!) but I couldn't get the right angle so I opted for side by side.  This is only the beginning of my experimenting,  I would like to try other subjects to see what I can come up with so in the near future there will be others like these.

5 - Had to try the drip thing! lol Just couldn't resist.  It didn't come out as I wanted it to but I thought it was neat enough so I decided it could be posted.  I may try this again because I would like to catch more of the drip in the mirror, I think that would be really cool, but the lighting was even more difficult that the standard drip photo's so I may not bother.

6 - I personally like this one a lot!  I am not sure why, maybe because for me it has a sensual side to it.  hmmmm  Something to ponder!

7- 11 Now me and my husband went back and forth on the angle of these photo's.  He said I should turnthis photo that way and I said no I should turn it that way........  Either way I love them! 

12 - 14  The were just some fun photo's.  They were actually the very first mirror photo's I did so I was just grabbing anything I could get my hands on to photograph.  I though they came out pretty cool so they got a spot in the entry.

Well that's the first half of the Smoke and Mirrors series.  I will be doing more soon so make sure you check back often!  I hope you enjoy! 

Until next time

 

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1:46:30 PM EDT
Feeling Happy

Hi!  I am glad you could stop by!  Well as I promised "In The Studio 2".  But before I begin I would like to let you know that Digital Hocus Pocus is accessible!  You can click on the link in this article or go to my "Other Journals" and click on the link there. 

Well I have to admit I'm hooked!  It started with the water drips and now I can't stop.  I am having so much fun! 

#1 - 3 are from a Christmas Cactus my son gave me when he was in first grade(he is in 6th now) the silly thing won't grow worth a darn but it sure does flower a lot!  I used the macro and a desk lamp in front of a black background which help bring the detail of the flower out.

4 & 5  "The Fire Within" was done with just the macro and the black background.  No other light source was used.  I really though it was neat the way the wax was melting over the candle.  It gave the candle more expression.

 6 - 8  are an idea that was sparked from an photo I saw at the Aminus3 photo community.  All this is, is a water drop on a memorex CD.  I used the black background, the desk lamp and the macro again to produce the effects.  I never realized how colorful a CD could be!

9 -  11 This was fun!  This is just one of those static lamps you buy at the store.  I saw this sitting in my sons room and I thought "how cool would that look!"  So I got it in front of the black background, no lights, no macro, just normal settings and there you have it! Wild looking photo!

Next will be more Studio work but this time with mirrors!  I can't wait to show you!  Well I hope you enjoyed In the Studio 2"!

Until next time!

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11:19:30 AM EST
Feeling Chillin'

Wow!  This was not an easy shoot!  The only reason I liked using a digital camera for this session was the fact that I could snap as many shots as I liked and I didn't have to worry about wasting film.  Other wise using a digital camera for this type of photography is a pain in the backside!  Focusing was a BIG problem.  While I took Greg from Photo Trek's advice, it still didn't alleviate all the focusing issues I had because my camera is so touchy.  Whether it was in auto focus or manual it didn't  want to co-operate.  This has been an on going problem  with my Lumix so I was kind of expecting it.  What was also frustrating is thinking I caught a drip and I didn't!  Fun shoot but also trying on the patients!  My recommendations to any one wanting to try this is

#1. Use a medium size dropper, I tried to use a small dropper at first and it just wasn't enough.  The bigger the drip the neater the results(just don't go to big).

#2. Don't try to get fancy like I did.  Use a simple bowl for the water and a simple background. I learned the hard way on this one!

#3. If you are using a digital camera and have the capability, bring your flash down a notch.  I found that factory setting on my flash was too bright.

#4. Have a helper if you can, it makes life so much easier.

and last but not least

#5. Have patients!  It can be frustrating but it's worth hangen' in their because you will get some really neat photo's!

Now, on to the results.  Some of the shots I didn't crop and left natural and some I did crop and added some color.  There were ones I just wanted to leave alone for analyzing and viewing and some I just added a little crop and color for the fun of it.  Thats not to say I wont crop and tweak a few for that WOW shot but for now I just want to show them in there original form  so we could say "hmmmm" "yeah" "ohhhhh" and "uh huh" to.

#1 is a good example of this.  While this isn't the most "in focus" drip I thought it was neat because of the double drip that occurred.  This was done with one dropper not two.  How I got two drips side by side from one dropper I don't know but I thought it was cool.

#2 Even though this drip was real simple and the water was a blur, I liked it because I thought the water drop looked cool and the trail that occurred was interesting.  I am not sure exactly what caused the trail but I think it adds enough to the photo to make it post worthy.

#3 Okay why not add some color! I thought this water drop earned it!  Any color could have been use, they all looked cool, I just decided to stay with this one.

#4 I actually like the water splash more than the drip in this one.  I am not sure if I like the color though.  I guess I was trying to bring the texture out but I don't know if adding color accomplishes this.  This one may go back to the Editing board?  Hmmmm.

#5  The edge of the bowl stands out in this one but I couldn't show the droplet with out it and I like the drop so much I wanted to show it.  I think it is real neat that the black background and the bowl background in the drip, are reversed.

#6 I though this one had potential and I like all the action that was going on!  I see this one as one of those photo's that you could leave as is or tweak.  Either way it look goods!

#7 Turn this Photo upside down and what does it look like to you?  Unique drip!

#8 I really like this one!  Again one dropper and multiple driplets.  I was lucky to catch this. I think the reason this kept occurring is  because my hand would cramp, my nerves would get rattled and I would squeeze the bottle hard causing a lot of water to come out at once.  I was so focused on the camera and what it was doing I wasn't paying much attention to the bottle and it's drips.

#9 While this is not one of the most interesting shots I took I still like it a lot because of the shape of the water drops.

#10  Another  shot with a lot of action. Though I might take this one back to the editing board and play around with the lighting and contrast a bit.

Well there you have it The Water Drops!  Whew!  That whole session was intense.  I do have more "In The Studio" photo's  But I decided to post them separately.  They will be next.  "In The Studio 2" photo's will consist of a cactus flower, a candle, a peacock feather and some more drops or modified drops.  I hope you enjoyed the "In The Studio" Photo's!

Until next time

Lynda

All photographs of "In The Studio" are copyright of Seventhray Photography and can only be used with permission from the owner.

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5:52:24 PM EST
Feeling Chillin'

Brrrrrrr!  Makes me cold just looking at them!  Welcome to my February.  We had 27 inches of snow in 24 hrs the other day!  Just amazing. 

Photo 1 - This may look like a water fall frozen over but it is actually the icicles hanging off the roof of my house!  Can you imagine?  My husband asked me the other day if I was done photographing them so he could take them down before they took the house down!

Photo 2 - Up close and personal with the Ice.  I just couldn't resist a macro!

Photo 3- This is underneath the Ice.  I held my breath for this one.  There is just something unnerving about being under this much ice!

Photo 4- I just loved the way the ice formed here and I liked the intense blue sky in the background.

Photo 5 - The wind was blowing so hard making the wind chill below zero but I braved the sub zero temps to get a few cool shots.  The snow was so light the wind was able to make neat patterns in the snow.

Photo 6- Like I said 27 inches in 24 hrs!

Photo 7 - I had a lot of fun trying to catch the drips off the icicles.  I am not happy with the fact that I didn't get the drip in clearly but I still think it's a neat shot. 

Well I hope you enjoyed the 14 below series.  Soon I will be posting another Entry called Snow Flake Art.  Very pretty pics so be sure to drop in again!

Untill next time!

 

All Photographs of 14 Below are copyright of Seventhray Photography and can only be used with permission from the owner.

Tags: Ice, icicles, water, frozen water, snow, cold,

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