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It's Thursday Challenge day again where the prompt is SHADOWS...

Additionally, this is Last Thursday - the day when things can go haywire, or are just plain peculiar! Have been doing this on MY TAKE since inception, but now that I'm a regular with the TC crowd, I though it might be fun to see how creative others can get with post-processing. 

Played around on this shot in FOTOR with curve, crop, exposure, monochrome and framing options, with a view to enhancing the existing shadows and atmosphere.

Someone commented about seeing the original... so am including these in small size (click if you want a better view).

If the challenge AND last Thursday can coincide, all the better, but separate entries are fine.  If you join in this linky, all I ask is a link back and that you are an amateur, or at least a regular commenter on this blog.  Have fun everyone!

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

One from my East Anglia trip. Sunset over The Wash.  With a photo-bomber!!!

Taken with the 'Nik' on sunset mode and lens out to 10x optical.

Have you got a fun frame with flying things???

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Shipping by...

Last week you saw the sub.  It came and went a couple of times.  Turned out that weekend there was some kind of naval 'workshop' going on.  To add to the mystery and mayhem it was the biggest mist of the season!!!

Round here we call it the haar.  Either way, it made things interesting...

This supply ship went round a couple of times.  Ahead and behind it were...

To the side and above it were...

...yes that IS smoke you see on the bow of the search vessel!  I lingered long but never got to see if there was a successful 'rescue' or any abandonment of ship!!!

For the curious, Faslane Naval Yard is on Loch Long which breaks North off the Clyde, so naval vessels of all varieties are spotted on a regular basis.  You'll see more here in due course.

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Monday's Critters

This regal bronze was brought to me in Australia all the way from Egypt.  It has been with me for about 20 years now.  

As it sits looking out upon the Dunoon landscape, there are times I swear it sighs...















Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

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MOONdays - last Sunday of the month round here is dedicated to the moon... you may recall I missed that last month and therefore began this month with a moon shot also. Thus I think we may officially call this a 'blue moon'!

To add a little interest as well, this was taken back in January in Edinburgh at 3:30pm...with a little Nokia fone-cam!

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Saturday Symmetry

It is tempting to say this is Nature's symmetry, but it is actually man-made; managed pine forests are plentiful in Scotland.  Taken with the 'Nik' on auto and B&W mode.

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"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship."
(Buddha)

Taken with the 'Nik' on macro mode.


Fancy a bit of FFTH?

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Once again we are on Thursday, and therefore are faced with a Challenge.  The prompt this week is REFLECTIONS (mirrors, windows, anything shiny...)

How about the reflection of the kitchen window on the surface of these shiny blueberries?

Taken with the 'Nik' on macro mode.

Next week is 'Last Thursday' folks; take an image and tizzy it up.  I give you another example which also fits into 'reflection', as the brow of the croc shows in the water...

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

Harking back to that bitter spring day over at Loch Lomond, when it resembled a true inland sea!  The thing is, the weather is rarely any different than this.  We get about one day a week which resembles sunshine.  Life as a duck may, on reflection, be a better option!

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

How's it looking for your birds?

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Shipping by...

A series of shipping shots from YAM's window... The Clyde is of course one of the great waterways of the world!

One really murky, early spring day, I was watching the water.

Then this 'sprung' on me!!

If you look closely at the hills you can vaguely see green. This is NOT a B&W but once again shooting against that low Scottish light has produced a photo with atmosphere and menace.

It got really interesting the next afternoon... come back next week to find out why!

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Monday's Critters

The lambs are growing sturdy!  Taken with the 'Nik' on auto and lens stretched a couple of points only.

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SUNdays

Am discovering that the setting sun can provide some interesting shots from my window. It was 11pm(ish), early July and I was drawing the curtains when the otherwise clear sky presented this!  The sun would have been well below the rim by now, but being reasonbly high on the globe, it's rays can bounce around quite freely.  Here they have lit up a long cloud which I am quite sure is NOT verticle.  Optical illusion.  

Worth sharing???

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Saturday Symmetry

Just back from Dunoon's main street is a small garden park in the centre of which is a now defunct drinking water fountain.  It is dated 1899 and was a gift by the senior councillor of the time.  Being painted black already, it showed up best in monochrome mode and I opted, additionally, to take this detail in macro mode.  There were four spouts originally, as can be seen by the holes where the pipes would once have been (now affording a peep all the way to the buildings at the back).

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"Remember that children, marriages and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get."
(H. Jackson Brown Jr.)

After yesterday's dazzlers, let me now blind you! Gerberas are one of the happiest blooms I know.

Taken with the 'Nik' on macro mode.


Addendum...another photo, posted on the MENO blog, produced a comment which demanded I answer the prompt.  See the result here!

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Over at the Thursday Challenge prompt we were given FLOWERS..!!!

Regulars here will know all too well that Friday is YAM's flower day and you can view a whole 'bouquet' if you hit the Friday Feechurs label.  However, I did make a specific attempt for this prompt, not just choosing one from the files.  I had a bunch of cut flowers which consisted of Sunflowers and Lilies.  

The first lived up to their name, being almost blinding in their brightness, so I took a macro of the middle.  

The second had astounding perfume... another macro shot, but this one I have post-processed as a reminder that in two weeks is Last Thursday and I invite my fellow TC players to join this added little bit of creativity.

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

This 'phine phellow' has found some peace and quiet on marshland at the head of Loch Striven; there was shooting going on nearby so quite a wise move!

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto and lens stretched 5x optical.

Do you have a bird or two to share around?

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Shipping by...

This is far from being a technically proficient shot, but the purpose of the next few Tuesdays is to let you see what I see from my massive bay window...

There are several of these small fishing vessels to be spotted at various times of the day/week. As they are often quite close to shore, I think it is most likely crabs and langoustine they are after.

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto exposure and lens stretched to 20x optical zoom.

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Monday's Critters

Have been holding onto this one as my stock of critter shots depletes... this happy mixed breed terrier was spotted on Ettrick Beach, Isle of Bute, back at the end of April.  He spotted our picnic and decided to try introduce himself.  Owner had other ideas!  This was taken directly into the sunlight and so was pretty silvered already.  A quick click in WLPG converted it into pure monochrome.

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SUNdays

This was taken whilst actually walking...on the big day out in Cambridge. Wasn't really expecting much and, certainly, it is technically poor, but it suits my theme.  I simply switched the 'Nik' on and pointed and clicked...

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Saturday Symmetry

On Thursday, for The Challenge, I posted a gate latch, without which a gate cannot function in its full purpose as a boundary between 'outside' and 'inside'. Mankind does that; demarcates territory, then still claims to be above the animal kingdom.

If barriers must be placed, let them at least have beauty. Let them say "This is my place, but you are welcome."






Part of the 'Boundary Series'.  Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

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"Your heart is full of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout."
(Morihei Ueshiba)



Beech tree and Blaeberry bush. (That link is in auld Scots...)

Taken with the 'Nik' on macro mode.

Now, as there was a question asked via comment as to what a cow was up to… please check the story out on MY TAKE TOO!!

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Over at the Thursday Challenge this week we have been prompted to post a photo on something PRACTICAL. It can be a tool or a piece of equipment regularly used...

...Without a latch, a gate cannot serve it's purpose...

...Without a tava, roti won't be made...

...and where is life without tea?!

A reminder that the Last Thursday of each month, there is little linky here for the amateur participants of the Thursday Challenge in which you are asked to play around in a photo processing software to produce a new and creative image...this is your two week warning!

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

A gull stretches in the late afternoon sun.

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto and the lens extended only about 3x optical.

Do you have a post of birds you'd like to share?  Link it up here!

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Shipping by...

Last week I shared a rather 'poetic' photo of the Bute Ferry on a shady horizon.  This week you now see the ferry as clearly as I could manage by stretching the camera to its limits.  It helped that it was one of those very rare, haze-free, blue-sky days...

The 'Nik', though, I switched into manual mode, set at 200ISO and then stopped down an additional notch on exposure.  The lack of sharpness is due to the lens being extended the full 26x optical and then the additional 4x digital zoom.  That's all there is.  Even braced against the window frame (yes it's taken from my flat!) I could not get a completely clear shot.  That this much detail could be observed at Wemyss Bay was still quite impressive; it is getting on for four and a half miles (7kms) over the water from here.

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Monday's Critters.

The more familiar colour version of the Highland Cattle.  It had just been lolling about in the late spring sunshine (evidenced by the hazy background) but I wasn't quite quick enough to get a shot of that and the raised right leg gives you the clue to what happened next...who knew these beasts could move so fast?  

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

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MOONdays... okay okay hold the vox... I was travelling and missed my usual last Sunday of the month moon post.  So let's fit two into this month...

Not the sharpest image I have ever managed; but this was through double glazing and dealing with the moist Scottish night air.  ...and for those who are itching - it is only the second of the month which called that. What?  You'll see at the end of this one.

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Saturday Symmetry

Continuing the boundary series; there are many funky fences and gates round here.  I walk past this one on my way to the grocery store.  Often wondering whether it will ever get painted, it is also rather appealing in this tarnished state.

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.