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This is just something that caught my eye somewhere in Hunterdon County. I liked the combination of the colors and the stark whites in the stone. I was at te bottom of a small hill near a river looking up and the little vignette caught my eye so I took a quick snap.

I have been really, really busy lately. I was working on a few things to do with the Youth Orchestra and a Music Camp that the director runs in addition to the usual craziness that goes along with having busy teenagers.

Jon has some exciting news...Last Saturday he auditioned on Viola for the Central Jersey Regional Orchestra and made it! His audition was pretty solid too. He scored in the top 7 out of 34 in sight reading, which he thought he was not very good at. His overall score was 191 out of a possible 300. The high -low score range for the kids who made it was 242-134. He made the Symphony Orchestra 14th chair out of 16. They have a string only orchestra that took an additional 12 kids. So out of 28 kids he was 14th overall.

Auditions were open to all music students 6th-9th grade (depending on the instrument) in Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset and Union Counties in Central Jersey. There were about 700 students trying out for one of 3 ensembles; Symphony Orchestra, String Orchestra, and Band.

Rehearsals start this Saturday, and the concert is in March, so he's going to be a pretty busy kid for the next few weeks. (Sorry for the brag.) Unfortunately I will not be able to take photos since they hire a photographer.

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What you see is what you get. Just a pretty little rose that was part of an arrangement. A study of delicate curves and subtle shadings taken with my macro lens with the soft, diffused, natural, light coming in through my glass doors in the dining room.

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This was shot some time ago. I was going through my archives and doing some housekeeping when I came across this one. It had a very green background in the original and I liked it but the green was a bit bright. I decided to convert it to black and white which looked really nice, but then I though maybe apply a green filter over that and see what happens. I liked the result so while I usually don't do things like this except on rare occasions I found this image to work rather well. It seems that when I do play with filters and post processing, I tend to do it on older archived images...I wonder why that is?

I just realized that this is my 400th post here on Capture This. Wow...almost 2 years has passed since I started this.

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Thanks for all the well wishes for Russell. He made it through the concert, but just barely. It definitely affected his performance and he was not happy about it. I told him he was a trooper for showing up and that he had no control over what happened. The conductor was very understanding since he's been in those shoes himself.

His fever was back and it was off to the doctor after school today. It's just a nasty virus, not anything we can do but treat the symptoms and let it run it's course.

I shot this yesterday in Mohawk Park close to my home. The way the sunlight glistened off of the silky hairs on the seeds reminded me a little of fireworks.

Someone mentioned that the previous image almost looked like a filter was applied. There was no filter applied to that image. There was just basic curves, black and white conversion using the gradient map, and I think I might have cloned out a very small black spec that was on one of the larger petals.

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I should apologize to everyone for teasing you with the food photo. My son Rob was mad at me for torturing him with it. He wouldn't talk to me for a while, just ignored me on AIM and told me I was mean for posting it. He did forgive me eventually. I will be sending him some goodies to make up for it.

This is another one of my black and white flowers. I have been really enjoying doing flowers in black and white. It's very interesting to see how they turn out.

I shot this in my living room using light coming in through the window plus a 60W table lamp from above.

This was very pretty in color too, but when I looked at the individual channels, I found it most striking in black and white, and somewhat high key.

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This is another macro from my neighbor's flower arrangement. I just love flower macros. The softness that surrounds this one just feels soothing to me.

I have talked to Rob again, which is a blessing since everyday I talk to him is one day less to worry. But so far he's comfortable, he's even decorated his "home" which actually resembles a POD only with a door and a window, air conditioning and electric. He told me he got a couple of small rugs for it. I offered to send him a spring wreath for his door. He just laughed. I think I may just send one anyway.

Now I do have a vent I want to share with you all about an issue involving my son and his wireless carrier. I don't normally use my photoblog as a platform for such things but this really steamed me so here goes.

His wireless company is Verizon, and they offer a 6 month suspension of contracts/service as a courtesy for military personnel who are deployed. He set it all up and was told that all he had to do was give me permission to look into his account and call when the six month mark came so that they could extend it another six months.

I called Verizon today just to make sure that the phone was indeed suspended and that there was no outstanding balance. Everything was ok with that. I asked what I needed to do when the six months was up in order to keep his # and extend the suspension. The answer I got was quite shocking. I was informed that despite what they told Rob, their policy was that after the six months was up it couldn't be extended, it would just be disconnected and his # reassigned. Well at that I had to laugh, because the policy is ridiculous, understanding that a deployment like his was going to be a minimum of 12 months so the "courtesy they extend to the military" is totally pointless.

I argued this to no avail for some time until I finally was put through to a supervisor who had brought a manager in on it. I explained to them how utterly worthless their policy was since deployments are at 12-18 months. I did manage to get an exception for Rob, but I am now going to fight for them to change this ridiculous policy. I let them know of my intention to get the word out and try to rally for a change in this policy for all deployed military.

I know it's seems a small thing, but this # has been my son's # since High School, even before he switched to Verizon. He likes his #, all his friends know it, his buddies from Basic training and AIT training, and friends from college know it. The thing is these young men and women are sacrificing so much, is it too much to ask that a huge company like Verizon be fair about their policy for suspending their service for the duration of their deployments up to 2 years? It's a small thing to ask for someone who is sacrificing so much. At any rate, I just wanted to put that out there.

If anyone out there uses Verizon wireless and agrees that this is an absurd policy, please let Verizon know. If enough people speak up, maybe, just maybe they will change it.

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This is a macro of a purple Chrysanthemum. It was in a flower arrangement that was delivered to my next door neighbor. But she wasn't home to get it so the florist asked me to hold it for her. I already had my camera all set up for some macro work in my kitchen so when I brought the arrangement in, I couldn't help myself. I know my neighbor won't mind and I think I'll frame a print for her. She's a really wonderful neighbor and dear friend.

Update on Rob

I spoke with Rob today and he is in Iraq now. While I cannot say exactly where he is, he seems pretty comfortable with his situation so far. He will have fairly regular, perhaps daily access to the internet since he brought his computer with him, and there is decent connectivity there, better than he had in Kuwait actually.

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Just off my back deck I have a large all white variety of hibiscus. It is a beautiful plant with a profusion of large pure white flowers that start to bloom right around the beginning of July and keep on blooming until late in the fall when the frost comes and touches it ending it's season until the next summer. It is my favorite flowering plant because it's season is so long and the flowers are so stunning and pure white.

It was a day of heavy, soaking rains last August. Later in the afternoon the skies started to clear and the sun came out. The air smelled so fresh and clean, and everything was heavy with rain water. I stepped out onto the deck and noticed the way the light was touching the Hibiscus and reflecting in the drops of rainwater that weighed down the delicate, now translucent, petals of those wonderful flowers. It seemed sad and yet so beautiful at the same time.

This Hibiscus was the very first thing we planted when we first moved into this house in April of 1993. This house is actually the house I grew up in. My parents sold it in 1987, and we bought it back from the same people my parents sold it to in 1993 shortly after Jon was born.

This is probably my favorite shot to date. I don't really know why I hung onto it so long except perhaps because I have so many photos of this Hibiscus and it was somewhat lost among them all.

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If this posts on March 6, that means I once again managed to get to the internet while I was away.

This was shot in the woods near my house a few weeks ago while I was trudging through the brambles to find some treasures to photograph. It's not exactly treasure, but I found it interesting all the same.

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I am home. Arrived home about 2:30 AM and I'm exhausted. It is one heck of a drive from Georgia to New Jersey to make in one shot. I don't have much to say at the moment other than it was wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. I will fill you all in later.

Thanks for the visits and comments over the past few days. I will catch up with you all later, right now I have to go unpack and do laundry...yuck!!!

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I'm 44 years young today!!!

Yes it is my birthday and I am happy about it because the alternative...well let's not go there! It's been an interesting year with lots of ups and downs.

I am getting the best birthday present I could ask for...I am leaving for Georgia to see my son, Rob, tomorrow. He has a few days off before he deploys to Iraq for 12-18 months. Yes I am sad and scared that he is going, but I am not going to think about that now and just concentrate on the time we have together as a family over the next few days.

We are pulling the boys out of school so that we can go see him since he cannot travel up here. He only has 4 days off before he leaves. We will be driving there...ugh...since we are going to bring his things home here so that he doesn't have to put them in storage while he is away.

We will be staying in a cabin that has no internet access as far as I know, so, needless to say, I will not likely be posting on this site much, if at all, in the next week since it doesn't accommodate automated posting. However Parallel Universe does have automated posting and I am going to try to cue up a few photos there, so if you really miss me, check there...hehehehe.

This photo is of a water lily that I found back in August in a little pond at a park near where Russell has his bassoon lessons. I did some PPing to it, obviously, but not as much as you may think. The background was very dark to begin with and the sun was shining right on the lily, it was really a lucky shot. Once I cropped it and adjusted the curves, I converted it to black and white, tweaked the levels, dodged and burned where needed, and added text. I didn't have to do any masking at all to get this. I left the little blemish on the one lower petal because I am not perfect and neither is this lily. Yes I know some might say it's a distraction, but I liked it there and so there it stays.

Have a good week all and I will be sure to catch up when I get back. Who knows, I may even have some nice photos to post when I return.

The other day someone asked me how I organize my archives...well...I have an excellent memory lol. I do need a better system. A few weeks ago someone told me of a book about organizing archives, it had a quirky name, but I don't remember it. So much for my good memory! I hope I can remember it because I really do need a better system than what I use now which is almost no system at all.

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Paul reminded me of the name of the book. It's "The DAM Book" by Peter Krogh. Thanks Paul! Maybe I'll pick up a copy for my Birthday!

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This is the same yellow rose from this shot. I was experimenting with lighting...again. I like the way this one turned out. The rose was dried which accounts for the interesting textures and shading. I know it's dark but it was the mood that seemed to fit best. This rose is quite tiny and could easily fit on a quarter with room to spare.

*It was quite late when I posted this and I wanted to do a little description of the technique I used to make the deep shadows and light areas in this photo. It was really quite simple. I used a light stand, my SB-800 speedlight in remote mode, a white umbrella, tripod and my sons music stand for a table so I could get in close with everything. What I did was to fire the flash through the umbrella rather than reflecting it into and out of the umbrella. The flash was placed close and to the right almost at a right angle to the camera so the light came from the right and slightly above and fired across the frame. I shot it at different settings in terms of the flash, everything from TTL to AA, including different power levels on manual. I believe this was one shot at 1/4 power on manual at 24mm zoom (on the flash). I deliberately underexposed the shot to get the dramatic effect I wanted and then re-adjusted exposure in Camera RAW.

In post processing I adjusted curves, in layers, changing opacity here and there to get the look I liked. I then converted it to black and white using gradient map in layers, then I tweaked the levels in layers. I dodged and burned where needed. This is probably the most post processing I've ever done on any photo.

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I've spent a lot of time this week revisiting the archives; tossing some and selecting some that I like for posting and or printing. I have so many photos and I never looked that closely at a lot of them. I think what would happen is one or two out of twenty really grab my attention and make the others seem less worthy. This was one of those shots. It was taken at the great swamp the same day as this and this.

I'll be rather busy the next few days I've got a lot of projects to finish before going to see Rob next week, so I may not get around to visit as much, but I will try.

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I have Loved you with an everlasting Love,
I have drawn you with Loving kindness.

Jeremiah 31:3

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I received this tiny yellow rose tonight with the bible verse attached from a friend of mine, Isabelle, who is in the orchestra that I work with, and the boys rehearse with on Thursday nights. I am not a particularly religious person in that I can't quote Bible verse, or even go to church all that often. Although I have read and do study my Bible on occasion and I do have faith in God.

Right now I am relying on that faith to get me through some tough times that lie ahead for all of us in this family. We got the dreaded news. The date for my son's deployment to Iraq. He will leave for a 12-18 month tour in Iraq on March 10. We are not alone and it is comforting to know that there are people out there that share this burden along with us, but I am not going to lie...it's not going to be easy and I hate that my first baby is going off to war.

I am very proud of him for being the kind of person that puts others first and willing to put themselves in harms way to protect the rest of us. He did not have to join the military and put his college and his life on hold to enlist for a 4 years active duty, 4 years reserve duty, this was his choice one made out of his deep sense of duty and honor.

We will be going to see him for a few days before he leaves which is really good. We will have to go to Georgia since he only has a few days and cannot travel very far. So his brothers will miss a few days of school and take this road trip with us. We are driving because we are going to bring his stuff home here so he doesn't have to pay for storage while he is deployed. He is staying in a dorm on the base so he does not have his own place where he can leave his things.

I respectfully ask that this post not be turned into a political debate on the merits of this war. I will ask that if you are a person of Faith, please pray for all the brave men and women and their families who share this burden with us.

This was taken right after rehearsal using my halogen under-cabinet counter lights in my kitchen for light and shot with my macro lens. I threw it together fast and last minute, but it was one of those things I felt I just had to do and post right away. I only knew I wanted it to be lit from above.

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!!!Thanks to Azhar for fixing my archives!!!

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We frequently get large congregations of these extremely noisy and messy black birds called starlings in our neighborhood. In the summer they are a problem, especially if you have a lot of trees and want to enjoy your yard. We had a few large trees near our deck which provided nice, natural, cool shade, but come early evening you had to retreat to the indoors since the birds would come to spend the night in those trees. Between the noise, which was bad enough, and the droppings, which were intolerable since it fell like rain, there was no way to stay outside on the deck under the shade of the trees or in the yard to enjoy a summer evening. The problem was so awful that I would have to scrub the deck and deck furniture with bleach just so I could allow the kids to play out there when they were small. It was really disgusting and frustrating.

Our neighbors had the same issues and between us, we tried all sorts of methods to try to drive them off. We used high frequency noise machines, cap guns to scare them, nothing seemed to work. We were told that if we just trimmed and thinned the canopy of the trees it would cause them to search for heavier cover and would still preserve our shade...well it sounded good but didn't work. In the long run, we ended up removing and trimming away the trees that hung over the deck just so we could use it at all.

This was taken a few weeks ago right from my front door. This was a "small" flock compared to what we experience in the summer months.

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*I am aware that my archives are broken I've been trying to fix them for several weeks and have been unable to. Blogger has been completely unresponsive to my repeated requests for help. I know the problem is not anything that I have changed since they worked fine between August and December and I've changed nothing in my settings that would affect the archives. Unfortunately Blogger has very poor technical support and they send an occasional form email telling where to look to troubleshoot including Google groups, which I've tried to no avail. In the meantime I apologize for any inconvenience to my visitors.

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This is a shot from a couple of weeks ago. It was the only appreciable snow we've had so far this winter. It was only a coating and it melted very fast. I took a quick walk around the park near my house and by the time I got round the pond there, it was nearly all gone.

These are actually teeny tiny delicate little branches with teeny tiny delicate little dried leaves. It was tough to get this shot since it was a little breezy and the macro lens is a bit finicky about focusing in those conditions.

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't been able to get out and shoot for the blogs as I'd like to, but I hope to get out in the next few days.

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Since some people have asked, I decided I probably should tell you what Noise Reduction Software I used in the last post. It's called "Noiseware Pro" by Imagenomic http://www.imagenomic.com/.

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Back in October while on the 2006 NJ Lighthouse Challenge, my son Jon, found this dead Monarch Butterfly on the lawn of the Cape May Lighthouse. It was in nearly perfect condition so I brought it home and placed it in a glass bowl in my china cupboard and forgot about it.

Well on Sunday I was playing with some still life vignettes and when I went into the cupboard I saw the Monarch still in fair shape, a little worn from not being properly preserved, but it was still fairly intact and retained most of its scales and color. So I put the Monarch on the wood shelf and snapped a couple of photos at High ISO with my macro lens.

I was experimenting in low light using high ISO's to see how well my camera can handle high ISO shots under different low light sources. These were shot at 1600, and did pretty well. There was some noise in the shadow and background areas, but really very little and virtually none in the detail of the butterfly's wings. But since I just had installed a new (to me) noise reduction plug-in that I had heard raves over, I decided to apply it and see how it would affect the detail in the Butterfly's wings. I was really quite impressed at the result. In the second photo you can still see the scales, they kind of look like the weave in a fabric which was really interesting to me.

I should mention that the banding you see in the lower part of the top photo is the grain in the oak wood shelf of my cupboard, it's nothing to do with the camera, and not JPEG artifacts. The blue in the corner is the edge of a plate that was in the cupboard. When I shot these I really had no intention of posting them, but today I was looking at them and found them interesting enough to post. So here they are for what it's worth.

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Since some people have asked, I decided I probably should tell you what Noise Reduction Software I used. It's called "Noiseware Pro" by Imagenomic http://www.imagenomic.com/.

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It's been so incredibly warm that I am sitting here in my office at almost 9PM on a January evening with my windows open wide. We went out to supper and had on very light jackets and even they were a bit much. Tomorrow promises to be in the 70's. WOW!

Now that the Holidays have passed and things are settling back into the normal routine, the house has become quite quiet again and somewhat depressing...I miss Robert being home. He left On Tuesday afternoon and we won't see him again probably until summertime...sigh. Thank God for cell phones and internet, although next week he goes away for a month of additional training and he will be likely be out of touch with us for the entire exercise.

Blogger has been having issues with archives so I do apologize to anyone who has tried to look at them. I do link each post to the one prior so if you want to look at previous posts just click on the current photo and it will link to the previous one unless otherwise noted on the posts.

This is a macro of purple coneflower seeds (echinacea) from my backyard. I thought the seeds looked interesting in this state. Although dried out and dead they hold the promise of the next generation of flowers in my garden.

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Thanks all for all the Christmas Book suggestions. I will look into a few of them. I was in COSTCO on Saturday and did find a little novel with a Christmas theme that looked cute. I don't have it with me right now so I don't remember the name off hand.

Robert is safely home and torturing his brothers again...Life is good. He came in Saturday afternoon instead of in the morning since there was a last minute change of plans...such is life in the military...At least Continental didn't charge him to change his flight last minute, so good things!

Mark gave me an early Christmas present...a new lens!!! Yippee!!! I have a REAL Macro now. He wasn't going to try to pick it out himself so he told me to go pick it out and we went and got it Sunday. I got a 60mm f2.8 Nikon Macro. It is really fun and I am going to really enjoy this lens!!!

Todays shot is one that I took with the macro lens. Can anyone figure out what it is??? I bet Micki can guess since she does tons of these shots herself and probably has one somewhere like it.

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