The Kat Sloma blog hop

Before I get to this--here is what I woke up to this morning.  April is the cruelest month..

April 16, 2014 in Vermont

Now for the fun.  This is the first year I participated in the postcard swap and here is the picture of my 7 received:

They came from New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Oregon, England and Scotland.  Thank you to all!  See more on:

Kat Sloma blog hop

And now to my latest photography:  I'm doing butterfly triptychs for an upcoming show.  Taking my butterfly pictures, dividing them into stand alone threes and then I plan to frame each one and put them beside each other to form a triptych.  Here is a work in progress:

Decisions, decisions...

I can't decide what to do for my final project and am down to 3 choices: parts and pieces, monochromatic, or winter cold.  I love the blues of the winter photos but I am getting very sick of winter and we still have over 2 feet of snow on the ground.  If I do parts and pieces I may run out of color and then what?  As to monochromatic, same as winter-- in need of color--but intriguing. 
How about voting on your choice for my project.  Here are two images of each possibility.

Parts and Pieces

Winter Cold

Monochromatic

A Visit to "Butterflies Are Free"

To celebrate my retirement from Bear Pond Books and my new emphasis on my photography work we visited the Montreal Botanical Gardens to see the "Butterflies are Free" exhibit.  There are two large floors of plants with butterflies and moths that have just hatched flying free. Magical to be surrounded by butterflies and to have them fly as close to your face as two inches!  Here are a few to brighten the black and white that still exists in Vermont.

Banded Peacock

Owl Butterfly

One Spotted Prepona

Cobra Moth

Orange Barred Sulphur

Rice Paper

Flowers for winter viewing and one of cat-o-nine tails in the snow

I love playing with depth of field! On February 24 it is a black and white study in Vermont with 22 inches of snow in my yard and the temperature hovering in the teens.  What better time to play with depthh of field by taking pictures of flowers! Here are some of my favorites.

 

And I can't forgo the beauty I see outside either!

Rule of Thirds

Before you can break photographic rules you need to at least know what they are.  The “Rule of Thirds” is one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally.
Examples:

Breaking the rules and still liking the photos

COMMENTS?

Post Card exchange

I'm excited to be part of Kat Sloma's postcard exchange with other artists.  What a great idea!  For more information or to be part of the exchange:  Kat Eye Studio 

Experimenting with Photoshop Filters

Okay, a few years ago I did not think I would be playing with Photoshop.  All that objection to "altered" photos has gone by the wayside.  Well, not really.  I do not alter drastically without stating what I've done.  No pore elimination or waistline shrinking for me!

Birch Bark

Icicles hanging from a rock face

Ordinary old gulls