kirk d

Those are some beautiful horses, this could almost be a scene from our French Quarter down in New Orleans where some folks have carriage take them around after being married at the St. Louis Cathederal. Those look like Azalea flowers that are also common down here. Beautiful picture.

Kirk

I've been watching to many crime shows. I thought this someone kneeling down, hands tied behind their back with the standing figure holding a gun to the kneeling one's head.

Lead balloon - who you kidding, you knew everyone would bite on this.

Nice work.

Kirk

The varying degrees of light are great. Like little lamps near a window. Beautiful.

Kirk

This puts you back in time for sure - I saw a guy riding this bike a while back and it was whacky looking.

This may be really good in black and white.

Kirk

Personally, I like this one with the calm still water in the foreground, it helps convey peacefulness to the scene and allows the reflection to fade and darken into the foreground. With the other, the reflection is still bright and almost part of the waterfall.

As for the sharpness, it may not be so much a lack of sharpness but the the brightness of the leaves may be obscuring the detail that is there.

Charles, do you have a link to the other earlier post of this? It is hard to compare just by memory.

The question on my feathers picture about being set up. I took the picture at the Audubon Zoo, there are a few lagoons and they are full of turtles and birds. The turtle was on a log with a Brown Pelican swimming by when I took the pic.

Thanks,

Kirk

I just pass off his sense of humor as being goofy and in the Lightroom book it is mostly only present in the chapter intros and he even states in the book introduction that his chapter intros have nothing to do with the chapter. The information that follows in each chapter is so well presented and thorough, I'm fine if he wants to humor himself with a half page of silliness at the onset of his chapters.

A manual that is so stiff and technical that my mind gets numb trying to follow the author's explanation of the inner workings of software and other crazy stuff would be painful.

Kirk

Jack, while this does not appear high up, which would make me dizzy, it does dizzying quality, I think the criss crossing nets. Nice job.

Scott Kelby puts out the easiest to follow yet very comprehensive books on Photoshop I've seen. I have his CS2 book and recently got the Lightroom 2, there are screen captures of the tool boxes to go along with the steps of text. Also, he often goes over several approaches to obtaining the same result, which gives you a choice to find a method most comfortable for your needs.

If this link does not work, go to Amazon and do a search on Scott Kelby, Photoshop. He has books on every version.

http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Digital-Photographers-Voices-Matter/dp/0321501918/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1248805350&sr=8-2

Kirk

Forgive the wordiness here: Man, freaky!!

Kind of looks like the inside out figure is turning away from the light!

Kirk

Gordon, you make motion so beautiful. The simplicity and colors are exquisite. Somehow though, the evident motion streaks in the sand give me a speedy quick kind of feeling as opposed to a quiet peaceful one. Then again, it could be my analytical mind racing around looking for something to focus on and finding nothing, it goes back and forth again because the longer I look and my mind gets used to the fact that there is not the usual there then it slows down and is more peaceful. The whites and blue colors are beautiful to look at.

Kirk

Great vantage point, I love fireworks and boats. The different lights from the magenta fireworks to the warm soft glow of the wharf lights to the far off specks on the hillside really make this a captivating photo. Good work.

Kirk

I thought it was a cat shadow and the purple gives it a ghostly Halloween feel and appearance. I like it.

Kirk

Hi Jeanne, these things are so flexible, I like the upside down stuff they do to. The family likes the raising butterflies/moths. I used to do it before Katrina but my two youngest were to young to remember, so, they are getting involved.

Then, my wife brings an aquarium/terrarium in to her classroom of 5th graders and lets them watch and get involved in the process. The milkweed butterfly/caterpillar has a pretty quick cycle. When the butterfly emerges from its crysalis she lets the kisds name it and after the wings are ready to fly a few hours later, she takes the kids outside and lets them release it. Its really an interesting thing to witness, be involved in.

I plant what is called host plants, ones that I know the caterpillars eat - the adult butterfly knows what plants their caterpillars will eat and lays eggs on them.

I have yet to get a moth to make the complete cycle in captivity but we're hoping these make it.

Thanks,

Kirk

Thanks Steve and George and George, if want to feel less guilty about looking at an insect picture, you can think of it as a picture of a pet.

Fred, the exif data says my flash didn't fire, I think I was shooting this day in the late evening light. The edges were to light and drawing attention outward so I darked the edges. On my laptop, it is just how I wanted it and is not strongly perceptible. When I look at it on my desktop or my computer at work, it is much darker than I like and must be how you are seeing it. This laptop drives me crazy for editing pictures but my desktop is always locking up. Thanks for your comments.

Jeanne, raising these things along with Cecropias, Milkweed Cats, Black Swallowtail Cats and Gulf Fritillary cats does take more time than one would think. Thanks for the visit.

Pnina, these things are so big, its hard to get much of their body if you want their head close up, which I think the horns and head parts with the legs is so impressive. There is some body in this shot but it may be darked out from reasons I mentioned to Fred above. I did post another with the body, these guys are amazing. Thanks.

Kirk

Great textures and combination of color treatment. It is steely but delicate like a leaf.

Kirk

Great capture of lighting on the leaf tops framing the dark tranquil shadows of the silky smooth waterfall. I'm sure you can get lost in meditative thought easily in this place.

Kirk

The contradiction of the fore and background is interesting. She seems drawn to what is in front of her and in thought about where she is between the city and garden/outdoors. Beautiful photo.

Kirk

His expression and soul comes across well without the distractions of his clothing.

Kirk

When I was growing up, these Robins would be all over vacant fields in the suburbs and all wooded areas, then they just seemed to have disappeared from our winterscape. A couple years ago, I started seeing them again.

As skittish as these and many other birds are of people, its amazing how many of them build nests so close.

Kirk

Thanks all.

This thing is beautiful to some and ugly and disgusting to others, I've enjoyed the reactions when I brought it to my office to show my friends - they were like a bunch of children ohhing/ahhing/and some "get that thing the hell out of heres".

Large, it would be terrifying. I'd like to try and fashion a costume but I'm sure I'd look more like an alien than a caterpillar.

Kirk

I raised four of these Hickory Horned Devils from about 3/4 of an inch; to their full size of about 4.5 inches. They ate foliage from many Sweet Gum branches that I pruned and supplied them in their terrarium. It took about 4 weeks for them to reach the size/age when they buried in their terrarium mud bottom where they will pupate and one day emerge, I hope, as Regal Moths.

No, these guys don't sting believe it or not although they look like they would eat your arm off. There are only four caterpillars in south Louisiana that sting: Io Moth, Buck Moth, Puss Moth & Saddleback Moth caterpillars.

I raised four of these Hickory Horned Devils from about 3/4 of an inch; to their full size of about 4.5 inches. They ate foliage from many Sweet Gum branches that I pruned and supplied them in their terrarium. It took about 4 weeks for them to reach the size/age when they buried in their terrarium mud bottom where they will pupate and one day emerge, I hope, as Regal Moths.

No, these guys don't sting believe it or not although they look like they would eat your arm off. There are only four caterpillars in south Louisiana that sting: Io Moth, Buck Moth, Puss Moth & Saddleback Moth caterpillars.

Great picture Gord!

Glad to read these are a friend's dogs - at first view of the image, I thought you fell off the deep end and got two more dogs!

Kirk