The Shape of Things
July 15, 2009 by Jen
Filed under Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of..., Photography
When I think of shapes, I instantly think of so many, many things. So when Beth challenged us all to capture shapes this week, I began my normal weekly process of over-thinking the whole thing!
Yes, I know, it’s a recurring theme nightmare. As usual (and blessedly, I might add), life intervened and the plan for the challenge started to take shape. [Oh, sorry, really bad pun. I actually groaned out loud as I typed it.]
So here we go. My sweet husband bought me some glass art to hang in our bathroom windows and I just love them. They make beautiful rainbows in the morning sun. [He also hung them for me on demand after changing the filter in my van so that the AC would work decently ... and when I'm certain he would have rather been doing anything else!!!] I heart him. Very much.
glass art from eisenart inovations
My second photo op came out of the blue, or rather, out of the blacklight. After a night of fun with some folks from church, our pastor pulled out a blacklight and announced that he was going to go scorpion hunting. He’d not seen any since moving here and really wanted to. Well, it just so happens that we currently have a plethora of scorpions living in our backyard. I don’t heart these. Someone has been called!
mama scorpion and her two babies under blacklight
When I first looked at his creepy critter, I thought it was dead – it looked a bit flat and skeletal to me. Upon closer examination, I noticed the tiny shapes of two baby scorpions on her back. This shot really needed a tripod and some play with lighting, but it was well after midnight and these guys are CREEPY! I was afraid (um, hoping) that she’d scurry away so I just took the shot. It’s cropped, but otherwise straight out of the camera.
Scorpion fact: The babies are more poisonous than their mama and they don’t glow yet because they lack a protein buildup in their exoskeleton. I learned something this week! I also found myself wishing that we had the kinds of critters Shell gets to photograph!!!
When Husband heard that “shapes” were the in thing this week, he suggested that I get up-close-and-personal with our very blockish pavers. So, I got the wide angle lens out and captured these. [I checked the ground for scorpions first!] I think I’ll be trying out some more shots like this. The perspective is really fun.
These were just begging for a quick shot. I snapped a very organized stack of kindling on a whim and then played with the black and white conversion setting. The landscape setting was the most realistic for sure, but I’ve been doing ancestry research and the newspaper setting gave this kindling a sort of “old treasured artifact” feel that I liked. It also really made the wood jump out!
old plant stakes waiting for winter fireplace use
I’ll end this where I started, I think. You see, my first plan of action was to make a picture using shapes … a mosaic picture of the photos I’ve taken. While I tossed the idea aside as too complicated for me to pull off, I couldn’t help doing a search for some software that might do it for me! Lo and behold … Mosaic Creator. [OK, the page this takes you to is horribly, sickeningly busy. The software is pretty cool.]
This is my first attempt using the software. If you look closely, you’ll see Little Man and BK in there … and a clock I shot for one of these challenges is in the lower right. The tree is made from a lot of beach shots. It’s like a seek and find! I’m going to play with it some more as it looks like it’ll do some pretty cool stuff.
me and a sycamore tree - first try using mosaic creator
I'll be hoppin' along now ...
awesome! i did a similar mosaic thing with my facebook page. i could have posted that i guess. never thought about it. i love your mosaic shot – it’s really cool!
i didn’t post this week, but feel free to come on over and visit anyway :O)
These are all great! The scorpion kind of creeps me out-okay, not “kind of”. REALLY creeps me out! I really like the logs stacked.
Saj´s last blog ..You Capture: Shapes
Wow! Great shapes this week, I love the first two because I love blue. No fun having to deal with scorpions – you were very brave. As for your comment on the fabric with stars, it was actually something my daughter’s friend picked out for a project, wish it was mine tho. (see my last post) And I loved the mosaic, I need to try that!
Dcan´s last blog ..Sewing club
These are great photos. I love the wood too. Not so much the scorpions. I actually felt myself get ill looking at them. Yikes! Scary! But the rest of the shots….cool!
GASP! Those scorpions are EERY! I love the wood!
Thea @ I’m a Drama Mama´s last blog ..You Capture – Shapes
I remember camping and seeing a scorpion for the first time. I was thankful to go home.
Love the suncatcher in the first photo.
Great captures!
Domestic Extraordinaire´s last blog ..You Capture-Shapes
Those are great! I know you don’t heart the scorpions but the shot is very cool!
April´s last blog ..You Capture: Shapes
For shape pictures, I like the heart, the kindling, and the pavers. For interesting, nothing could top the scorpion. Thanks for the extra information and if you hadn’t mentioned the babies, I would have missed them!
Stillmary´s last blog ..You Capture – Shapes
Wow that scorpion is wild. And the bricks and logs are wonderful. How do you do a mosaic. Cool idea.
Andrea aka Prairie Lady´s last blog ..Shapes/ You Capture
Andrea, Thanks!
The Mosaic Creator asks you to pick the “target” picture and then select the set of pictures you want it to use to build the mosaic. There are lots of settings I’ve not touched yet. For the one in this post, I told it to use any of the 15,000 digi pictures I’ve got in my storage folder. Then I pushed “go” and this is what came out!
Pretty easy this way …
great pictures, I love the logs.
Wow, scorpions are creepy…hurray for being able to see them with a blacklight though! That makes it easier to run away from, I would think.
Great shots! I really like the wood one.
Mrs Soup´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday – Wanna Be Ree
Love this post!! That scorpion shot is really cool. I didn’t even notice the two babies until you pointed it out. Oh, and the mosaic thing is really cool too! Not sure if I’d have the patience to do it, but cool none-the-less.
Julie From Inmates´s last blog ..Shaping Up!
Julie, Thanks!
I have a real patience problem as well … that’s why I looked for software!
So cool…ALL your shots!! The scorpion shot creeps me out, but it absolutely amazing. And to capture a mama with her babies. Just…wow! Very interesting tidbits of information as well! Love your mosaic! What a great software find!
Kathleen´s last blog ..10 Things I’ve Learned this Week and You Capture – Shapes
Um, wow. That scorpion shot is equally awesome and horrific. I guess you won’t be running around barefoot in your backyard at night, eh?
Jessi´s last blog ..You Capture – Shapes
Jessi … thanks! I’m not even running barefoot in the house at this point!
Love that heart!!!
I’ve never seen a scorpion and I’m glad it’s only on your blog. Looks scary. I just love the first photo – so pretty.
Catherine´s last blog ..You Capture: Shapes
Cool mosaic. Gonna o check that out. My Mac does this as a screen saver, continuously creating a new one. But it would be fun to have a still image. Thanks for the tip.
And love your wood btw!
animators wife´s last blog ..Shapely Beauty
Thanks! … The software I used is Win but I did find this link and there are several Mac tools that might do the trick!