Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: selective color

(+1 inset) (please view large for the pretty details/!) (By the way, I'm away on my trip, posting a picture every day but I don't have much time to comment...thank you so much for your visits, comments and stars, and also for understanding that I don't have the time I usually do to give you the attention you deserve in return!) Boy, it's been a busy couple of days! We've really been enjoying ourselves but it's kept me off the computer and away from working on my writing and photo processing. I will need to figure out how to balance that too, but for now I'm doing my best! Yesterday after lunch, Steve and I grabbed our rain gear along with our cameras and headed over to Stout Grove in our truck, leaving the RV at the campsite This remarkable and famous redwood forest sits inside the protective borders of Jedediah Smith State Park. We couldn't wait to see it! The rain was coming down but we hoped for the best. The short drive was accented by unbelievable masses of glowing ferns which were seemingly growing everywhere. As stunning as they were, have you ever seen wild azaleas and rhododendrons in full bloom? I haven't. It was incredible! We couldn't miss the flashes of magenta and purple of these leggy bushes and small trees which peeked out from behind the towering and majestic redwood trees which ruled this place. What a show. Stout Grove sits at the end of a pothole-filled dirt road and we made our way carefully to the trail head and found plenty of parking. We were happy to learn that there weren't many other people brave enough to deal with the inclement weather. Those we met were warm and wonderful people with joyful smiles and glowing spirits. It was nice to share this place with other nature lovers like us. As we took off down the trail we protected our cameras as best we could from the droplets coming down, but as we walked, the rain slacked off and within 15 minutes, it stopped altogether, almost as if it were planned that way! HUZZAH! I went crazy with fern photography. Steve was using the Sony and having fun with that, and after a while we traded cameras and I got some nice pictures of the trees. Heh, a 100mm macro lens really can't take a picture of a towering redwood...unless it's just a tiny bit of it! :D I know I could have brought some other lenses but that's why I had the Sony. At a few points I was carrying BOTH cameras, *shakes head*...I think I may be certifiable! :D Our visit was just fantastic and after we felt we'd seen enough, we headed back to the car. Once we were tucked in, it began to pour again! What are the odds?! :) (I apologize for not including pictures of the redwoods and the ferns but I just don't have time right now, *cry*...I'll be posting plenty of pictures once I'm home and have time to go through them!) After we got back and had dinner, we pulled out a game that Steve's sister sent to us, "Qwirkle". What a fun game! Easy and yet full of strategy, we had a really good time and look forward to playing more games in the future. --------------------- This morning we got everything tucked away and headed out by 10:30, heading out to the coast and then north for a couple of hours to our next campsite on Coos Bay! It rained the entire time we were driving but it was such a lovely drive! Views of the ocean and enormous boulders with waves crashing against them...it was very amazing to see. The lush green of the forests and farmland was a beautiful contrast as we rode along. Once we pulled into our campsite both of us assumed our various roles. It wasn't long before we got everything in proper order, we're really getting used to how to most efficiently get our RV set up. Steve took Molly out to use the bathroom and soon came back to tell me that I just had to come out to see the beach! It was a mere TWO MINUTES WALK from our RV!! The rain, once again, STOPPED when we left to go to the beach! Our luck is incredible...it keeps happening!! The beach. Holy cow. It's just lovely here. Either direction is marvelous. Tide pools one way, miles of beach the other. Tomorrow we'll ride our bikes along the water's edge. I hope to creep around the tide pools and get some cool shots of anemones, crabs, barnacles and other wonderful subjects. Won't it be nice to just relax and enjoy this place that we don't have to drive out to?! We are so happy...this is our favorite campsite this trip, and exactly what we hoped for! Ok, I really have to stop my blabbing! :D It's SATURDAY SELF CHALLENGE! Today's theme is Selective Color, so I picked one of the gorgeous little flowers I found at Stout Grove, kept the flower in color and removed the color in the background. I've also included one view of the jaw-dropping beach that's just a short walk from our RV! Pam, I loved your note about Cannon Beach. Unfortunately it's too far north for this trip but it's on our Bucket List so we'll definitely be visiting at some point down the road. No worries though, there is beauty-galore here that we will show you! :) Steve and I are sending hugs your way! Explored on 5/18/19; highest placement #1.

Playing with a very shallow depth of field is so much fun, and is a great way to call attention to certain details. Here I'm showing the edges of the petals of an aster flower, while the rest of the flower falls away into blur. This flower was in a garden which was part of a walking tour that Steve and I went on a couple of years ago in Ashland.

One day when I was walking along our ridgeline a couple of years ago, I turned to look at the trees around me when I noticed something odd. It was a pine tree sapling, obviously young, but it was higher from the ground than it ought to be. There was an oak tree in the way so I moved around it so I could discover how the sapling could grow so tall. But, when I moved around the oak tree, the sapling wasn't where I thought it would be...so I turned my head and...HOLY COW! The sapling was growing from a hole in the oak! And it was obviously doing quite well in its strange home! I have come back to see how it's been doing and it continues to grow from this odd spot, and apparently the oak tree is no worse off from the helping hand its giving the pine! Remarkable! This picture was a very interesting challenge to me. I wanted to show the sapling and the oak, but I wasn't able to get the very busy background sufficiently soft enough for my satisfaction. So I experimented with filters and textures. Nothing worked. Then I tried black and white. Nope. Finally I thought...WAIT! Let's try a bit of both! VIOLA! I found a way to highlight this lovely little sapling without losing it in the crazy dappled background!

This particular image was perfect for turning into a selective color shot--only the bolt was colorful! This image was taken on Saturday, November 12, 2100.

(3 note enlargements above) A couple of days ago, I posted some pictures of etched and painted emu eggs , but this one was special enough that I wanted to dedicate a separate entry. From what I remember, this lovely egg was bought at a London auction by a friend of the family who run the High Cascade Emu Ranch. It appears to be very old, but after looking at this style of carved emu egg done in the Aboriginal style, it might be a recent artwork, created to look old. What I do know is that it's just beautiful! The carving is fantastic, and the stand is intricate and lovely with wonderful details all over. Below are three more pictures to give you a better look! ENJOY! :) (Please note: this egg and its stand were in a glass display, which accounts for the odd reflections in the top photo. I turned each photo into a selective color piece in order to highlight each subject.)

This is one of the common insects we have climing around on our hillside and up along our ridge. They are a kind of stink bug, which translates to: don't touch or you'll get sprayed with a noxious juice!

(By the way, the latest news about Lucky's Pond is my third picture tonight, and picture two shows the frogs that are living at the pond! :) I love irises and their interesting shaped petals, but when it comes to photographing the small wild ones that grow here on our property, they are a real pain. They grow low to the ground and are always in the middle of their sword-shaped leaves with lots of other plants around them. In short, they are quite a challenge. I suppose I could just PICK one and turn it into a studio shot, but I don't want to do that. So, in the case of this flower, I did some heavy Photoshop work to separate the flower from the background and also used selective color. I hope you like the result! The Yellow-Leaved Iris is native in the Pacific Northwest from midwest and southern Oregon to northern California. On our property they are a cream color with yellow, but they can also be pale yellow as well, with butter yellow in the centers of each petal and lavender veining. If you would like to know more about irises, Wiki has a nice page here: Wiki: Iris I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

CHECK THIS OUT!!! I am extremely proud of these two pictures because these spiders are notoriously skittish. Unless you're looking carefully, finding a spider's burrow is difficult unless it's been raining. I've found many of these cool-looking tubes, but I never see the spiders. The second they feel Godzilla Janet stomping along, they are down the tube! A week or so ago, I noticed a few of these burrows and saw a spider just as it was disappearing into its burrow, and for the first time I got excited. I decided to look carefully for these burrows with a very light step and see if I might get lucky enough to get a picture. A couple of days ago I went on a walk and saw a large one, and stopped instantly because there was a spider there!! I started taking pictures and couldn't believe it was still there! I slowly moved closer and closer until it finally had enough and disappeared. I was so excited! It wasn't until I looked at the pictures on my computer that I realized why it hadn't moved! It must have just caught a spider and was distracted while tending to it, and I got pictures!! I'm so happy! Not only did I finally get a picture of this skittish spider, but it has a spider victim in its mouth!! What a prize!! HOORAY!!! :D

On our property, I have seen about half a dozen types of butterflies and skippers, and the most common of all is this one. Next is the Common Ringlet , which is an off-white butterfly. The others, which are actually colorful and beautifully patterned...I rarely see or they flit around me laughing before flying away while tears stream down my face. To all of you reading this who are saying, "What's the problem?! There are LOTS of beautiful butterflies everywhere for ME!!" ...I would like to get into a pillow fight with you right now!! :D I shouldn't complain because this skipper IS pretty!! But I would love to see more COLORFUL butteflies please! :D :D The Propertius Duskywing is a type of butterfly called a skipper, which is in-between a butterfly and a moth. Skippers have stocky, hairy bodies like moths, and knobs at the end of their antennae like butterflies (unlike the lovely feather-like antennae of moths). When resting, they also tend to hold their wings differently, with the hind wings flat and the fore wings up over their body. However, this one is holding its wings moth-like; butterflies tend to hold their wings up over their body. This Duskywing is found in the Pacific Northwest from British Columbia to Baja, California; larval caterpillars eat oak leaves, and adults feed on flower nectar. If you would like to know more about Duskywings, Wiki has a list of links here: Wiki: Duskywing . For more information about Skippers, Wiki has a wonderful page here: Wiki: Skippers .

[best appreciated at full size against black] Every year at this time, we begin to get ladybugs in the house, especially in our computer room. They crawl in through the vent for our air conditioner, and then fly around in the eaves where we can't reach them. I keep my eyes open to try to catch them when they're low enough on the wall, and then put them outside. This little guy was found crawling around on a power cord, too tired to fly anymore, so I scooped him up and brought him downstairs, when I noticed his pretty spots and thought it would be nice to take a picture. When I put him on the counter, he looked dead! But then he started moving again and crawling around and I realized I'd made him "play dead". I decided that it would be fun to show this, so I put him on a leaf, laying on his back and asked him to please hold still for a picture! After his moment of stardom, I carried him outside and put him on some grass with a droplet of water and wished him a happy life! To carry on the theme of "playing dead" I decided to make this a selective color piece! I hope you like it! :) These images were taken in March, 2012.

Isn't it so very sad? This poor tennis ball is now floating mournfully in our pond with melted dog slobber on it. Zoe has long-forgotten her beloved ball, since she has plenty of others, but every time I see it, I have to giggle at the memory of Zoe's face as it rolled out onto the ice a week or so ago. I wonder when she'll get it back?! :D (By the way, I made this a selective color piece)

I slept in late this morning because Steve and I have been staying up too late, and I awoke to the sound of Steve singing to Molly as he made coffee downstairs. I lay in bed with a joyful smile on my face as he crooned to his beloved doggy girl... Only Moooooo can make this world seem right Only Mooooooooo can make the darkness bright Only Mooooo and Mooo alone can thrill me like you do and fill my heart with love for only Moooooo Only Moooooooooooooo can make this change in me For it's true you are my destiny When you kiss my hand, I understand the magic that you do do You're my dream come true my big fat Molly-Moooooooooooooooooooo (this stanza is repeated twice) You can see the wonderful video here! "Only You" by the Platters Steve Brien (born April 28, 1962) is my wonderful, handsome and very talented husband. We met in March 2000 and have been married since 2008. He was born and raised in southern California and has worn many hats over the years for his career including miniature special effects in the movie industry, and website designer and project coordinator. He currently works as a product photographer at Fire Mountain Gems & Beads.

Last year I was amazed to find ferns growing on our property, as I was convinced they didn't grow here. I decided to see if I could find them today, and I was successful! Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (French pronunciation: ​[maʁsɛl pʁust]; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past). It was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927. Wikipedia: Marcel Proust