Magic mushroom

Magic mushroom

I have no idea as what magic mashroom this is, but it looks like Psilocybe mexicana a psychedelic mushroom. Its first known usage was by the natives of North and Central America over 2,000 years ago.

We did not pick them up, they ended up being cut down by the lawnmower.

I just took photos necaused they looked great, like from a story book.

More Magic mushrooms
Magic mushroom growing in my yard

October close-up – Pink flowers

Rose, flower is a flower and beautiful in its own right. As is hydrangea, both in pink tones

Pink Rose

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.  This time I am just posting shots of roses.

I love to have fresh flowers at home, I picked some roses this time.

Pink pastels
from the side
fuchsia

Three versions of three onions

Since I do post editing on my art, and my photos, I also do several variations of them, so this is great challenge for me to participate in One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge-October. I used a photo of onions to play the edit game with. #tsc_1to3

Three onions in a color edit done in Lightroom
Onion in black and white – in old BNW style.
Colorful artistic style oil and structure added in Photoshop

October close-up – Carnations

I always ,first pick out a photo when I start write a blog post , I decide what I want to share, and then maybe write few words to accompany it and come up with a title. I keep repeating the title as I am bad as coming up with them.

I mean, flower is a flower and beautiful in its own right. And I want to believe, that so are most of my photos that I choose to share. They should speak for themselves. Not that they always do, but I can make believe ☺

Pink Carnation

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.  This time I don’t have violets, but some of the carnations have violet color.

carnations looks lovely even as black and white image

I love to have fresh flowers at home, I picked some small carnations this time, because they stay looking good for a long time. I take photos of them to pass time and in the process get few nice shots. Edit them see what I can create from them.

white and violet
from the side

October close-up – Tulip

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the T letter is also is attached to it 🙂 Tulips. The stylish and graceful Tulip is always elegant. it Is a delight.

Yellow tulip
Pink Yulip
ulip bud

52 Frames: Week 39: Letters!

It’s all about your creativity and what you come across. You could shoot some cool looking signs in your neighborhood or capture the emotion of someone reading a heartfelt greeting card.

This week’s challenge is more about getting the feel of the story than anything else – like the sheer happiness of reading a college admission acceptance letter or contemplating wabi-sabi in an abandoned carnival sign.

Buy your tickets here

Capturing emotion in an old-school task of penning one’s thoughts to paper is about patience and composure – your own as well as that of your subject.  So, just breathe and take a think about what it is you want your viewer to see through not just your eyes but also your subject’s.

Getting typography shots isn’t something you might have thought of shooting earlier , but here’s your chance to try something new. Look out for cool and funky letters and fonts that are worth a dekko – you never know what you’ll find unless you start looking.

Visiting the circus In Helsinki
  • DoF: Depth of field can play a role here to show just a single line or word while blurring out the rest. Or to ensure that you’re in focus, front to back.
  • Contrast: Consider playing around with local contrast to give that extra boost to individual letters.
  • Cropping: If you want to showcase shapes that look like letters, cropping down is essential to eliminate other clutter.
  • White Balance: Modifying white balance can alter the tone of your shot. Use warmth, cooling and tints to give mood and depth to your image.

Here are some letter I’ve picked either this week, some from further back. My Signature is letters?? so I added it here. This weeks fresh letters are from the circus and I decided to go with the one with the first shot. I would have loved to use some of the older ones, but that would be cheating. So

October’s colors

October colors

Autumn iis about letting go of summer and preparing for winter. Greens give way to dead stems and yellow drooping leaves. Darkness slowly takes over the time of light, but how beautiful it can be at the beginning of autumn🍂

yellows ang orange, in a misty setting
Looks so pretty!

on the road

What clouds, I loved the contrast of the dark clouds against the autumn color by the road as we drove in to the rain and finally to the otherside of it towards the raindow.

Autumn as seen from the highway

Beautiful in Black and White 7

The circus in black and white photos has it’s own kind of mood.

Horses at the circus
Globe of Death
Aerial Hoop
Outside the kids looked at this Martine van from Holland

Sirkus Finlandia

We went to see a traditional circus and I tried to take pictures of the acts, but they did not come out so well, here are some. I am amazed of the skills these circus people have. There were lots of kids in the audience obviously, their joy was so delightful.

The show started with the horses, then the MARIONETTE’S DREAM had some great Skipping Rope act,there was also a MYSTERY OF GENTLEMEN, Acrobatics group, so skilled and ended with DIORIOS, five motorbikes riding in the round metal cage, Globe of Death. These performances impressed me the most.

Roud and round they go

September close-up – Blue Poppy 

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the P letter is also is attached to it 🙂 Poppy. The enchanting Blue Poppy  blooms late spring and early summer. Such a rich true blue flower is a rare garden treasure.

Blue poppy
Blue poppy 2
Blue poppy 3

September close-up – Orchid

Orchid with droplets

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the O letter is also is attached to it 🙂 Orchid

the colors are bright and elegant

September close-up – Nymphea -water lilies

white water lily

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the N letter is also is attached to it 🙂 nymphea

water lillie
the colors are bright and warm

52 Frames: Week 38:  One Light Source!

This week it’s One Light Source. I’m talking directional light – your subject ought to be lit by light coming from a single source – think speedlight or a shaft of sunlight coming through half drawn curtains. It’s the light source and direction that you need to think of first, before you set up your subject and decide on a composition.

This challenge is all about reminding ourselves of what it takes to paint with light – directional light need not be a harsh burst to produce sharp shadows. You can arrange for soft light to come through for a more pleasing look as well.

Look to place light at angles you’d normally not think of – a full side profile or light streaming down from a bare bulb on the ceiling, maybe a night shot illuminated by a neon sign or the perennial favourite of Silhouette Photography – it’s time to be creative and play with the light.

This was my entry

Well, this is what happens every night. My husband reads the latest news before going to sleep. Once again, I had lots of ideas, but ended up taking the easy way out. I was thinking of what to shoot and there it was laying next to me, mobile phone as a light source, so I took my phone and took a shot of a situation I see daily. How more real can you get, a documentary shot. Thanks babe, once again for being a good sport.

I also took a shot with my grandson holding a candle, and match being scratched

  • Set-up: Plan your lighting and concept before thinking about the actual composition.
  • Time Of Day: If you’re planning on shooting using daylight/sunlight as your source, experiment with how the light and shadows will play out at different times.
  • Modifiers: Reflectors, blockers and light modifiers are going to be key here to help shape the light.
  • Exposure Compensation: Consider using Exposure Compensation to expose the image as you think fit and not as your camera’s AI / sensor does.
warmth of a match

Beautiful in Black and White 6

Beautiful seaside views from Inkoo. I’ve also linked this to CBWC

Seen from behind the tree
On a hill

September close-up – Maple 🍁

Autumn tones

I’m on a roll, second time in a short while that I’ve participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the M letter is attached to it 🙂

the colors are bright and warm
Maple leaf

Vibrant autumn colors

I had to go out and take new photos of the berries I saw few days ago, they looked so lovely an I just I had to try to get new better shots of them.

vibrant berries

I am not a fan of the season, it is in the top three thou, but the autumn colors are amazing every year.

Leaves

I found this nature’s artwork in my backyard, fern and a some other plants made a beautiful contrast. You just have to look for it closely to find it. . Sunday greetings to you all!

Oh, A 🦌 Deer

Today, I saw this lovely deer ,from the window facing my backyard, posing on the hill. It would have been nice to go outside and take the photosthere, but it would have run away, if I’d gone and opened the door. So, I took these through the window, taking this to consideration they came out ok.

A deer standing on a hill

It stood there on the hill for a while, looked around and finally turning and walked away. Just to lay down and rest on the hill behind a fallen tree, so that only the ears were visible.

🦌 Deer

September close-up – Berries

Nearly purple berries
Green berries

It’s been ages since I participated in this challenge Cee’s Flower of the Day So hopefully I did it the correct way. Took these today. No Idea what the plant is 🙂

Lake Pikku-Kukkanen

We had an amazing weekend to capture, clouds and reflections.

These are taken at lake Pikku-Kukkanen (Small flower) I was able to capture beautiful reflections on the lake and there were two swans further away, so I really missed noth having my camera with me. In the first shot the exposure was low so the clouds came out really dark. I like the intensity of the atmosphere.

Reflectiond on Lake Pikku-Kukkanen in Nastola, Finland
Lake PIKKU-Kukkanen

Lake Iso-Kukkanen

We had an amazing weekend to capture, clouds, mist and rainbows as the weather was mostly cloudy, but few moments of light. I happened to be in those to capture some beauty. Most are taken by mobile phone, because, well it was so cloudy when we left, and I thought that there would be nothing to photograph. How wrong I was! I usually have my camera with me, once again a great reminder that, Ritva, keep it with you, you never know what you can see.

These are taken at lake Iso-Kukkanen (Big flower) I was able to capture beautiful reflections on the lake.

Reflectiond on Lake Iso-Kukkanen in Nastola, Finland
Lake Iso-Kukkanen

Something I noticed #32

Something I noticed is back, odd shots of ranbom things.

Looking for the changes autumn brings, I had my Tinka cat follow me like a puppy. So here are two shots of my lovely little Tinka 🙀

Tinka

52 Frames: Week 37:  Portrait Of A Stranger!

Portrait Of A Stranger.

Well, there’s more to it than meets the eye, of course – your location, time of day, and the willingness of a stranger to be kind enough to take some time out of their life to help you (a stranger yourself to them). But there’s magic in a camera – some people just open up when they know they’re the focus of a well-crafted photograph.

There’s creative and technical hurdles here too – one of the more important ones being time – you’ll have far less time to compose and take your photo(s) than you would if you had pre-arranged a shoot. You could grab a candid shot or something more glamorous; go low-key to get a moody and intense look. It’s portraiture after all and the images you can get are as varied as there are humans on the planet.

You’re about to experience a shared moment with someone you’ve never met before.

Please don’t shoot from the hip. Talk to a person. If your palms get sweaty just thinking about it, like me, then go with an easier subject, like your local coffee barista, mailperson, or waiter.

Don’t over think this one, other people are just you in a different rental. 

Visiting a nice Italian restaurant in Lahti, I asked our pretty waiter if I could take her photo. She kindly agreed. Haven’t been out much this week as it’sbeen rather rainy, so the chances of taking photos once again happened nearly at the last day. I thought of cropping it to a more portrait, but as it was an at during her work time ,capturing a moment photo, in her busy shift, I wanted it to show the place and to highlight what her job was ,to give context to the shot. Iussed thhe last photo in this post.

warmth of the golden hour

TIPS:

  • Be Friendly: A warm welcoming smile can work wonders
  • Be Patient: People might be busy or not trusting a stranger. That’s ok. Respect their space and choice and look for someone else.
  • Be Prepared: Keep your camera ready with appropriate settings. Scour out cool backgrounds or locations near by.
  • Be Mindful: Do not shoot someone without appropriate permission especially children. Be respectful of people, places and occasions where it might be considered impolite or discourteous to be shooting – like funerals or religious places.
Golden hour by the sea

Autumn tones

It feels like the autumn colors appeared in a night, but probably it took few nights. I am very lucky that I can view the change in the nature from my backyard. watching the seasons change is great, many time I don’t need to leave my living room.

Yesterday between the the mostly cloudy day, was a moment of sunshine. I ventured outside and took these first signs of autumn tone photographs.

my backyard view
Yellow ferns