A beautiful day for skiing and bird watching.....

Mini Magoo trying ever so hard to master x-country skiing. I applied a vintage seventies style effect to this photo.

look familiar? This is the original image - without post processing and actions applied.

Such a frosty morning - almost magical how everything was covered with these spiky flakes, had to capture it :)

Nothing crafty to post today - but I almost always have new photos to share :)

Enjoy nature - it's just beautiful :)

*Linking up to The Creative Crate's Photoshop Friday. The challenge is 'something new'. These images all reflect the first time I've either seen (the frost on the line), done (the skiing) or photographed (the chickadee).

~MAGOO~

More Christmas Stills.......

Are you sick of these yet? :) :)

There's just something so magical about photographing Christmas ornaments with the lights low and the tree lights twinkling.  Enjoy :)

~MAGOO~

~MAGOO~

'CHEW'BACCA

or occasionally known as Max. Also known as 'your' dog (as I angrily remind my husband when such things happen that shouldn't).

No we don't live in little rock, we are in Canada - just used for fun folks :) He's still guilty.

Our dear Max has a very good life. Walks every day, meals on a daily schedule, water, toys, the regular marathon sessions of petting from our mini magoo. Lets just say he's got it good.

So how does he repay his wonderful human people? He Chews.

But not HIS toys. oh no. Gasp! at the thought.

He prefers more gourmet offerings - such as:

Mini Magoos brand new winter coat.

*sigh* still chewed from this angle too....

But, not quite satiated, we were at a Christmas party on Saturday. Planning ahead knowing Maxi Pad (as we fondly call him - yes even out loud in the backyard and our neighbours hear us) would be in his kennel from around 4pm onwards, I take him for a wonderfully freezing walk (Max was nice and toasty while his human conterpart got frozen eyelashes and snot stuck to her nose). 5km later I bring him home, give him a drink and put him to bed with something new to chew.

Later that evening around 8:30 hubby drives home to let Max out and for his supper. Max refuses to eat, even though hubby waited over 20 minutes for him to eat, back down to the kennel). Hubby comes back to the party, all is well.

We get home, happy and tired - take max out, he eats supper now. I go tuck mini magoo into bed - and catch CHEWBACCA in the act!!

He looksat me, his left paw slowly rises (the accused paw that is holding the boot in place for his very sharp teeth to shred and destroy in 5 seconds). He drops it like a hot potato and makes for his place on the rug.

Looks like I came out into the kitchen just in time.....

I wondered just how much damage he could have done if it hadn't been so late and read a story to mini magoo. Dear hubby wouldn't have had a boot left I think. hmmmm gourmet Columbia rubber - was it good Max? Not enough fibre in your diet? how about those apples I gave you this morning, maybe we should try All bran?

And what about this toy?? Why don't you chew that? Or is it just more comfortable to lie on it and use as a pillow??

Oh yes Max.......your better guard your stuff......Humans can chew stuff and I'm a little hungry right now.....and not above revenge :)

~MAGOO~

A Nikon D90?? What?!?!

I would like to welcome our newest addition to our family : the Nikon D90. ahhhh.

She's here, she's really here. My wonderful hubby brought this baby home today - he knew I was having a bad day (and our anniversary is coming very soon) so he gave me my gift early. I cried, I don't deserve this, it's too much. He insisted I unwrap it and start snapping - how did I get so lucky? I love my man :)

Laura, get ready for the Christmas photos...a photo a day of the ornaments on my tree...now you'll have tons to use as wallpaper on your laptop :)

oh, did I mention I love my husband and he is the best?! Now, how do you top this gift when a) you are out of work, b) want to make something homemade and c) but what?

any ideas? I'll be making a special supper, but man, how do you compare to a camera? ( I know he doesn't care, but I do, I want to return the happy feeling :)

I noticed a difference IMMEDIATELY. Seriously. I found the section for focal points (yes they really DO make a difference). And look, see just on top of the candle where it's all nice and sharp? I focused right there and it worked!

Straight out of Camera shot:

Didn't need a tri pod for this, just put my elbows on the table.

Settings used were:

Shutter: 1/160

Aperture: 1.8 (I love how the background is so soft and lovely)

ISO: 320 *can I just take a moment to say how AMAZING the ISO selection is on this? talk about an upgrade from my D40x (shhh, don't let her hear you say that, it might hurt her feelings).

White Balance: I set it to tungsten, and it's not so bad like this.

oh man, oh man....this is heaven. So sorry but suffice to say there will be lots of photos added daily :)

Now, this little birdie caught my eye :) So I shot at her from many different angles and many different focal points. I also took my ISO off of automatic shortly after my first few shots...with great success! I'll explain as we go along:

Birdie 1

ISO- 1400 (woah, I can't believe it's that high, it's not too bad, not much grain, I'm so happy) but right after I checked my info on the LCD screen I went in and changed it to what I wanted.

Shutter Speed: 1/80

Aperture: f 1.8

White Balance: Tungsten again.

I didn't edit this either - I wanted to show everyone just how awesome these are without photoshop first.

Next little birdie:

Shutter: 1/20

Aperture: f1.8

WB: as above

ISO:320 (if you look closely the background is much smoother now)

Tweet tweet!:

Shutter:1/25

Aperture: f1.8

WB: as above

ISO: 320

Now this one was fun - look at the feathers on her body (not the tail) and notice how sharp they are? Notice the face isn't sharp? That's how awesome the focusing is on this! yipee!

And along came another Birdie:

used same settings as above, just a different angle.

Straight on- how cute.

same settings as above for this shot.

ok, 2 more before you get tired of her, but she's just so sparkly and feathery, and soft!!! =LOVE!

Ok, so that's enough of sweet tweety...but look out Laura, tomorrow I'm snapping more ornaments-just for you! :) :)

Night everyone!

~MAGOO~

Focal Points...

So tricky - I've only got 3 on this camera - the one I'd like to upgrade to has 12!!!

S'okay as long as I have time to fiddle and watch closely through the viewfinder.

Used Pioneer Woman's Actions (yes again!). I used Lovely & Ethereal (apparently it's becoming my favourite) and Dim the lights.

My ISO was bumped up to 800 since I was inside at night and my aperture on this lens only starts at a 4 so I did my best (my favourite part is fiddling until I get the right shot - I took 46 pics of this flower and I learned a lot from the bad photos).

So, seeing as I had some noise, I thought I'd better darken the background instead of trying to fix it.

Before......I only cropped to 5x7 otherwise it's SOOC.

After some photoshop fun :)

I find it's the subtle differences that make is so dramatic don't you??
(and yes it's supposed to be slightly fuzzy and 'etheral' when you zoom in lol)

~MAGOO~

It's snowing today....

And they are the most beautiful fluffy snowflakes I've ever seen - I love winter.

Seeing as there is more than one way to skin a cat (what a terrible analogy! lol!) - here is more than one way to edit the same photo! :)
I'll update these photos soon with fstop, iso, shutter speed soon.

ha! fooled ya, threw a different one in there at the last minute :)

Are you getting in the Christmas mood yet? :)

~MAGOO~

Another Pioneer Woman Action example

Thought I'd show you another photo I played around with using the Pioneer Woman Actions (both actions used are from set 1) I used PW's Black and White, and Lovely & Ethereal.

I thought I'd make it a selective coloured black and white - something different :)

So, if you really like the effects I've been trying - go and check out her incredible site here:

The Pioneer Woman

Have a great night!

Magoo

Actions in Photoshop...who knew?

Who knew they'd be so darn COOL!!?? I know I didn't!

I'm not sure exactly what rock I've been living under....but I stumbled upon and learned about Photoshop Actions today.

I downloaded some amazing FREE ones and I even *gulp* tried them out.

so cool.

I almost peed my pants with the results I got with just a push of a button - oh did I mention they were FREE??

The amazingly talented lady who is offering these actions (she has some for Elements users too! yay!) goes by the name REE. She is the woman behind the website titled: The Pioneer Woman.

I just couldn't believe this place - all the information, all the tips, the wonderfully written posts...and she is generous enough to offer free actions on her website. I have been having so much fun trying out these actions all day :)

Seriously though, if you have some time (and a cup of coffee) go visit her site - my favourite tab is her Photography tab - I got lost in there all morning :)

Here are some of my before and after shots using her actions (and adjusted to my taste, that's the beauty of actions!!!). With actions you can adjust the opacity of each layer, you can turn off certain layers the action has run, everything is customizable to the look you are going for in that photo! I hope you enjoy my very first attempt at using actions.

Next Set:

Next Set:

Last one: so lovely.....

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my experiments :)

Remember if you want to give these a try yourself there are 2 sets she is offering on her website - and there are actions for Photoshop Elements users as well! There are also several other actions she has available to use, just scroll through and enjoy :)

p.s. don't say I didn't warn ya that you'll end up spending all day there reading her witty posts and helpful hints!

The Pioneer Woman

Have a great day!

Magoo

Feeling a little like Alice In Wonderland???

That's what I thought of when I snapped these pics today! :) :)

~MAGOO~

WOOOO HOOOO!

The mail lady caught me today in my driveway.......guess what she had??


MY NEW LENS!!!!! :) :) :) :)


I am in LOVE!!!  One of the first things I noticed about it was just how much heavier it is than my kit lens.  I wasted no time ripping open the box in my driveway and getting my camera out of my car.  I put the lens on and started snapping right away.  I am so happy I bought this lens!  I have a bunch of pictures to share...and yes these are of dogs again...the next post of pics will be much more interesting :)

MAX and HARMONY meet :)

What' chu lookin' at???

YES!  I finally got him!!  (I totally snuck up on him lol!)

Little Miss Attitude :)

I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

~MAGOO~

At the Cottage yesterday.....

And here are some of the random pics I snapped!! I thought I would try to find things that would have lots of texture or something perspective-ly interesting....HOPE YOU LIKE :)

Max....doesn't wander to far from dd. Flopping down on freshly built sand castles is not a welcome behavior....but she loves the company :)

I came out to the cottage today to be pleasantly surprised by 3 sunflower plants growing in a recently cleared area. Look~I even caught the little busy worker bee on his travels...

Tools of the trade...love the rustic look of this...that splitter gets used a lot out here :)

Moss grows in the most curious of places don't you think?

I loved the perspective on this....and how well worn the handle on this shovel is too :) another tool of the trade lol!

I just loved the texture on this log, so cool how anything near the water gets all this growth all over it....neat!

A favourite passtime at the cottage - MAKING STEW!!! and no, I'm not hungry :0

My Max....oh boy does he HATE my camera....that was the 'look' of enough already lady!

Ever watchful.

At this point in the day all I could get was the back of his head....he refused to look when I called his name...he's too smart for his own good lol!

hmmmmmm, more stew....anyone hungry? We'll share!

Weathered wood. Grabbed this pic in a huge pile we need to have cleared off the property.

just a cool looking stump.

I loved the perspective of this. It really does jut out above your head...again this is in the pile that need to be cleared out.

gettin down and dirty :)

Loved how the bright blue just popped against the rust in the chain and the texture of the rock...I think this is my favourite pic. I might turn it black and white and do a selective colour on the blue hook...how neat would that look?

Some rope...neat texture again :)

Very old Muskoka chair...sits right near the lake and it shows :)

Just a shot of bright red in a sea of green and tree bark...thought it was cute :)

Hope you all enjoyed some pics from our cottage yesterday.....it's amazing how different things look when you see them through a lens. Getting down on your knees or belly really changes the angle and perspective...try it - it's fun!

~Magoo