Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: texture added

I put this photo through a filter in post-processing and preferred this somewhat more detailed result than the original. Unfortunately, the light was fading when I started my drive back to the city and stopped to take a quick couple of shots. This old barn was in the same farmyard as the collapsing barn posted yesterday. Always so sad to see beautiful structures falling into such a bad state of repair, but I'm sure many farmers have more urgent things on which to spend their money. Two days ago, on 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seems ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) I was so fortunate to see several beautiful Short-eared Owls. They were way across a field and didn't once come close and perch on a fence post. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched together just before it was time to drag myself away and return home. How beautiful they are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. I will keep hoping, though, for the chance to see one close up on a fence post. An interesting link, with the information below, that answers the question: "WHY ARE BARNS USUALLY PAINTED RED?" home.howstuffworks.com/question635.htm "If you've ever driven through a rural area, it's likely that you've seen the red barns that speckle the farming landscape. There are several theories as to why barns are painted red. Centuries ago, European farmers would seal the wood on their barns with an oil, often linseed oil -- a tawny-colored oil derived from the seed of the flax plant. They would paint their barns with a linseed-oil mixture, often consisting of additions such as milk and lime. The combination produced a long-lasting paint that dried and hardened quickly. (Today, linseed oil is sold in most home-improvement stores as a wood sealant). Now, where does the red come from? In historically accurate terms, "barn red" is not the bright, fire-engine red that we often see today, but more of a burnt-orange red. As to how the oil mixture became traditionally red, there are two predominant theories. One is that wealthy farmers added blood from a recent slaughter to the oil mixture. As the paint dried, it turned from a bright red to a darker, burnt red. The other is that farmers added ferrous oxide, otherwise known as rust, to the oil mixture. Rust was plentiful on farms and is a poison to many fungi, including mold and moss, which were known to grown on barns. These fungi would trap moisture in the wood, increasing decay. Regardless of how the farmer tinted his paint, having a red barn became a fashionable thing. They were a sharp contrast to the traditional white farmhouse. As European settlers crossed over to America, they brought with them the tradition of red barns. In the mid to late 1800s, as paints began to be produced with chemical pigments, red paint was the most inexpensive to buy. Red was the color of favor until whitewash became cheaper, at which point white barns began to spring up. Today, the color of barns can vary, often depending on how the barns are used."

This was such a 'blah' photo that I resorted to adding a 'snow texture" to it. There was no sign of snow yesterday, but the light was fading when I started my drive back to the city. Yesterday, 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seems ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) I was so fortunate to see several of these beautiful owls. They were way across a field and didn't once come close and perch on a fence post. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched together just before it was time to drag myself away and return home. How beautiful they are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. When I left this area, I made a turn down a backroad, as i had noticed a red barn in the distance. Quite a nice old barn with a collapsing roof, with another barn next to it, off to the left of my photo.

A photo of two beautiful Cormorants from my archives, taken on 25 June 2012, on a drive NW of Calgary. This photo has been floating around in my archives and I always avoided deleting it. At last, I cropped it and added a texture to it (I think I used the Film Grain filter), and here it is. Now I can forget about it : ) That was quite a day I had on 25 June 2012, as I had a "forced" day away from my place as all my windows were supposed to be replaced. I had to remove my car from the parking spot, but I had no parking permit to park on the street. This meant that I was going to have to make sure I stayed out for the whole day. A drive NW of the city came to mind and it turned out to be a great day, which I'm so glad I didn't miss. When I got home, I discovered that the windows had not been replaced! Great Gray Owls were what I was hoping for and they didn't disappoint. On the way there, I passed a small lake, where I saw these two Double-crested Cormorants standing on a rock "island" in the middle. After stopping to get a shot or two of a Swainson's Hawk perched on a fence post, and pulling over to let a "real" cowboy on horseback herd his cattle along the road, I finally reached "owl country". Another find that was totally unexpected that day, was when I found myself staring into the eyes of an animal that I didn't recognize. It was hidden in the grass at the edge of the gravel road and, from a distance, I wondered if it was the Great Gray Owl that I had just seen flying and then disappeared. I managed to get a couple of very poor photos of it in the grass before it suddenly ran across the road and disappeared from sight. Had to wait till I got home and could do a Google search before I learned what it was! A Woodchuck - I didn't even know that we got Woodchucks here. The fact that a huge gravel truck and trailer were barrelling down the gravel road towards me, was a distraction and concern. Another couple of seconds and the truck might have hit the quite large animal! I was also concerned about my own safety, otherwise I might have tried to get a road-crossing shot! There was a fairly constant flow of these huge trucks that day, delivering gravel to cover the muddy road after all the rain we'd been getting, but the timing of this particular one couldn't have been worse, lol! As for Great Gray Owls, I think I saw two different adults, but also two absolutely adorable owlets perched side by side in a distant tree. Sadly, people just don't seem to be seeing owls in that whole area anymore. What a treat it was, while it lasted! How lucky we are. I was shaking my heard the whole drive back home, thinking about how lucky I had been in the previous two days (few weeks!), seeing so many "new" things.