Uploads from DeePee64, with geodata

Completely Socked [Explore #277 06/05/2013]

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:20:12 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme of "Dried"

Burning the 1:00 a.m. plus oil today so will hopefully get back to comment later today after some sleep!!

This completely SOOC image is of hydrangea petals from last year's flowers that are still to be "dead-headed".......very dry & brittle.

HMM to all in the group. :>)

Sparkling Rainbow

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:58:09 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group's weekly theme of "Rainbow".

I used 2 objects, a mag-type penlight & a couple of software programmes to achieve this one.

HMM to all in the group.

A Royal Christmas Gift

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:05:56 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme of "Metal".

This image is a small part of the decoration on a brass box that was sent as a "Gift from the Nation" to everyone wearing the "King's uniform" and serving overseas on Christmas Day 1914.

The idea of a publicly funded "Sailors and Soldiers Christmas Fund" was created by Princess Mary, the daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. Following a national press advertisement for donations the response was overwhelming and it was decided to spend the money on an embossed brass box based on a design by Messers Adshead and Ramsey.

The contents of the box varied considerably; officers and men on active service afloat or "at the front" received a box containing a combination of pipe, lighter, 1oz of tobacco & twenty cigarettes in distinctive yellow monogrammed wrappers. Non-smokers and boys received a bullet pencil and a packet of sweets instead. Indian troops often got sweets and spices whilst nurses often received chocolate. There was also a greeting card in each box.

The box was approximately 5 inches long by three and a quarter inches wide by one and a quarter inches deep with a double skinned hinged lid. The surface of the lid depicts the head of Princess Mary in the centre flanked on either side by the "M" monogram. At the top is is a decorative cartouche containing the words "Imperium Britannicum" with another on the lower edge with the words "Christmas 1914". Roundels at each corner and the other sides contain the names of the Allies at that time; Belgium, Japan, Montenegro,Servia, France and Russia.

You can see the box in all its glory in the comments below.

HMM to all in the group.

AGee Colour

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:05:57 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme of "Metal".

HMM to all in the group.

Double O Six......

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 03:09:31 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

......almost a James Bond!!!!

Posted to celebrate the 6th anniversary of the Macro Mondays group - a weekly theme of "Six".

Magic Mushroom?

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:37:29 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Found some new software in the App Store recently and wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately to do so I needed to upgrade my OSX system to the latest "Mountain Lion". With some [justifiable as it happens] trepidation I eventually took the plunge yesterday morning and eventually, by late evening, I had managed to get everything pretty much up and running as it had been under the old operating system. [Although it did need a long conversation with a very nice man at Apple support in Portugal when the whole lot crashed on me!!!!!!!!].

Anyway I again braved things this morning to purchase and download this new software called "LensFlare Studio" and here is my first [probably a bit OTT] attempt at using it on an image I have previously posted for a Macro Mondays group theme and where I spent an absolute age in Photoshop Elements trying to achieve just one sparkly star on top of the mushroom!!

This whole thing only took about 5 minutes to complete and that included trying out various effects & sliders in the new software. I'm really quite pleased with the result and I will almost certainly use the software for future images. Isn't it strange how in another life photographers worked long and hard to avoid things like lens flare but now it is considered to be an art form? How times change.

For those in the "Lensflare+Alien Sky" group here's what I used for the whole effect.
Elements: White Source, Glow Dot & Glint Ray; Bokeh: Bokeh Sparkles & ChromaRing Iris; Lens Filter: Gothic and Lens Texture: Brushed Metal. Tweaked around with the various sliders quite a bit for blending needs.

The original & previously edited image are shown in the comments below and I really don't dislike any of them.

iBrow [Explore #62 24/02/2013]

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 17:02:51 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme of "Hair". Our scruffy rescue dog who is a Heinz 57 variety but quite the character.

Double Hot Chocolate [Explore #142 17/02/2013]

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:55:02 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Seems an odd title I know but just to explain.......The powder is straight out of a tub of hot chocolate whilst the darker bits are buttons of dark chocolate that also contain chilli. So there you have it, "Double Hot Chocolate". It said on the label that I would enjoy those buttons! Well that might hold true for some people but I've yet to understand why anyone would want to ruin some real nice plain chocolate by adding something quite so hot. Whilst I confess to trying them out I guess this is one bag of "treats" that will head straight for the trash. :>(

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme of "Chocolate" HMM to all in the group.

"Crazy Margaret"

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:19:37 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

There's a clue in the title but if that doesn't help the whole things are shown below in the comments! Posted for the Macro Mondays group's weekly theme "On the Inside". HMM to all in the group.

Spicy Conifer

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:19:39 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Time for a guess although there is a clue in the title and I can tell you they are quite tiny. If you feel like cheating a bit check out the tags for the answer!!! :>)

Posted for the Macro Mondays group's weekly theme of "On the Inside".

HMM to all in the group

"Right Between The Ears"

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:54:59 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme "Wood".

I've always loved wood, the textures, the grain, the shapes and the very tactile nature of the medium so this theme was a joy for me.

This image is part of a wood carving that came into the family many years ago. The problem is I don't know anything about its background and can only guess at how it came to be. Here's my theory which could be way off the beam. I had a maternal uncle who lived and worked in Africa for most of his life before he eventually emigrated to Australia. He very rarely returned to the UK and I can't recall ever meeting him and, like the rest of my mother's side of the family, I don't know very much about him. However, given the subject of this piece [which you can see in all its glory in the comments below] I am assuming that it did indeed come from him originally, perhaps as a gift to my grandmother before being passed on to my mother.

Anyway, I think it is an interesting piece and one that combines two of my favourite things in life, wood and elephants. I'm pretty sure it is carved from ebony and the tusks are made from small pieces of ivory. I try not to think about where the ivory came from and accept that it was a normal [if misguided] part of life in those days.

HMM to all in the group.

A Bit Of Ancient Oak

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:46:50 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme of "Wood".

There's a story to tell about this and it will likely help if you also refer to the whole piece shown in the comments below.

In the mid to late 1980's we were living near to Uxbridge [Outer London area], Hillingdon to be more precise. I think it was either 1984 or 85 when the UK was subject to some extremely high winds that one of the ancient oak trees in Hillingdon Court Park got blown down. I was out walking our dog in the park the next day and picked up one of the branches from the fallen tree.

When we subsequently moved to Peterborough some years later we were looking around for a new hobby & came across a course for wood carving at the local adult college . Having enrolled on the course we were eventually required to come up with a project of our own choosing and I took along my piece of oak having come up with the concept to carve an acorn that showed an oak tree growing inside of it. These images show the result of my second piece of artwork, the first being an egg carved from a square block of wood that everyone on the course had to do.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble but I figured some sort of explanation was needed and this piece does provide for some very happy memories as well as the wood having come from a tree that had been planted so very many years ago.

HMM to all in the group

"Got the.........

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:16:39 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

.....whole world on my shoulders"; an idiom and that just happens to be the weekly theme for the Me Again Monday group. It probably looks better if you hit the old "L" key. Any Kiwis looking & wondering where NZ is, well it is there but very close to my armpit!!!!! Just saying......LOL

Interesting that there may appear to be a whole lot more tiny islands in the world due to my old skin textures!!!!!

I did process another one with a slightly different angle of shot that I also quite liked so I've posted that one in the comments below cos I know I can only have one for the group!

HMAM to all. :>)

Whole World On My Shoulders

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:16:39 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

If I could be an animal........

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 02:52:18 -0700

DeePee64 posted a photo:

I'd be a......... This is the theme for this week's Me Again Monday group.

I have no idea why I am so attracted to elephants. It isn't as if I make a habit of trying to be close to them neither am I obsessed with a need to spend my life with them. However, if I had the wherewithal, I'm sure they would figure quite high on my list of animals to help.

HMAM to all in the group.

Taking Pitch

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:30:51 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme of "Music".

This is something that was used consistently when I was involved with unaccompanied, close harmony singing. It was something I did for over 16 years and I was extremely fortunate to be able to sing with some great choirs in some wonderful venues throughout the world.

If you can't see what it is I've posted the whole thing in the comments below.

HMM to all in the group.

Me & My........

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:17:03 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

......Girl, a 1937 British musical with music composed by Noel Gay from an original book by Douglas Furber who also wrote the lyrics for the musical. The most famous song from the musical is probably "The Lambeth Walk" which was also the name given to the 1939 film of the original musical. Not to be confused with "Me and My Gal", a US musical of 1942 starring Gene Kelly [his screen debut] and a certain Judy Garland. Coincidentally there was also another film of the same name made in 1932 & starring Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett.

The above information is given to make up for my somewhat lame interpretation for this week's theme of the "Me Again Monday" group entitled "Me and My.......". The shot was actually taken last year during a photo-shoot with my wife but, as with many of my stored images, I didn't get round to processing it until now. Possibly that may be a good thing as I wasn't then playing around quite so much with textures and layers. Anyway enough waffling, I hope you like my efforts and, for those of you who may be interested in such things, the original image with limited pp work can be seen in the comments below.

Forgot to mention that the scary face pulling was deliberate......you should see the face she pulled behind MY back!!!!!! LOL

A HMAM to all in the group.

Smilin'

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:18:58 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

Weather-wise not such a great day today so I decided to do some tidying of the thousands of "come in handy" images cluttering my various internal & external drives. Funny how easy it is to get side tracked from such tedious tasks, isn't it?

Came across a photo-shoot from last year & quickly decided that it would be more fun to play around in PSE9 than to keep pressing the delete button!!!!! LOL

This one has benefitted [not in the "made it better" kind of way although, personally, I do actually like it better than the original] from a black background merge, some texturising, colour conversion & a bit of work with the lighting of the original image. I'm quite pleased with the result & I'm also hoping she will like it.

Chocolate

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:55:01 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

What a catchy and original title for a theme called "Chocolate", don't you think? LOL

Posted for the Macro Mondays group weekly theme "Chocolate". Not such a great theme for me , diabetic as I am but I did allow myself a little taster of my other submission this week. You can see the whole of this piece, that is yet to be eaten, in the comments below.

HMM to all in the group. :>)

Bet You Can't........

nobody@flickr.com (DeePee64) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 05:44:21 -0800

DeePee64 posted a photo:

......guess what I made this for!!!!! LOL

We both really liked those tiny and somewhat rare flowers from our Jade Plant that I photographed & posted a few days ago so I thought they would make a nice centre-piece for our V.D. card this year. A little more pp work in PSE9 & this is the result.

Neither of us are particularly "big" on Valentines Day & over the years either one of us has often forgotten, so this year I suggested just one joint card to "Us". We shall open the envelope together tomorrow morning before she goes off and leaves me for a TV filming at Birmingham. All together now; "Awwwww, poor you"!!!! LOL

Hope you're all having a good day &, for those who wish it, that tomorrow is equally as good for you. :>)