What you may not know is that I also love looking at cloud formations and stargazing too. I do not claim to be an expert..as a matter of fact beyond Orion's Belt, and the Big / Little Dipper's, I couldn't name a constellation if my life depended on it...but they sure are beautiful to look at :)
I can however tell the difference between the sun, moon and stars :)...that has to count for something right?
Now that we have established that I am not an astronomer, we can move on :)
So lately, I have been quite intrigued with the four blood moons which align exactly with Jewish High Holy days for the first time in 500 years...
If you are interested, here are the dates;
- April 15, 2014 --- Jewish Passover
- October 8, 2014 --- Feast of Tabernacles
- TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
- April 4, 2015 --- Jewish Passover
- September 28, 2015 --- Feast of Tabernacles
This wordy explanation into the inner workings of my mind was to introduce the topic of this post.
My interest led me to the moon in general...I thought it would be fun to see if I could capture a photo of the recent Super Moon.
Before I show you the images, I have to say in my defense that I have a 6 year old digital Canon camera, without any extra lenses...all of the pictures I take depend solely on the built in zoom, macro and super macro functions.
I know, I know...you must be thinking they are REALLY, really bad!
Well, frankly, they're horrible...at first glance :)
Okay so, I will describe my little adventure...
Just like Sophia from that old T.V. show, The Golden Girls, used to say, "Picture it..."
Here I am sitting in my living room twiddling my thumbs...(no that's not it...it get's even better...ha ha haaaa) waiting for the moon to make it's way around the side of my building.
I waited until about 12:45 am and it was still sitting behind the frigging tree...grrr.
It did occur to me to maybe walk up the little hill and take pictures from the parking lot...but I chose to complain instead :)
Well, I decided that operation "Moon Through The Leaves" would proceed...
Armed with my camera, I set off into the great unknown past the concrete slab of my patio...once there, in the ankle high grass I stood still, or as still as I could after 3 cups of coffee...
which isn't very still at all as it turns out :(
Anyway, I didn't know that at the time so it didn't matter.
So, as I'm standing still, I'm wondering which vantage point I would like best. I set off through the grass, silent as a Ninja...okay...not really.
I finally find the right spot to start. I have a semi unobstructed view, so I begin taking shots.
I am really frustrated at first that every shot seems blurry, but I finally decide to just go with it.
I start jumping up and down and moving the camera from side to side while snapping...looking I'm sure like a lunatic engaging in midnight aerobics.
My thoughts are proven correct as I hear the muffled laughter of an invisible observer.
The final results were INTERESTING or DIFFERENT...I know, that's usually what we say when we think something is weird.
In this particular case, they do look odd...I can admit it.
When I finished my shoot and began reviewing my images, my initial reaction was not good...and then I began to see shapes in the light and dark, just like when I look at clouds.
It reminded me of when my mom and me used to play the cloud game...I loved that game so much I still play :)
Without further ado...here are the images I took
These last two are my favorites
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| Reminds me of an angel riding a horse |
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| Looks like wings, except upside down |
I took the first image directly above into Photoshop and using a white paint with 11% transparency, I roughly created the rest of the angel...the face, the left arm and horse reins the horse mane and tail and just a touch for the horses legs. At the end of the day it's still supposed to look like an apparition, not a solid form.
Then, using the second image, I rotated it as you can see below and then I added some effects and warped them to make them appear as though they have a defined shape with the hint of softness to suggest feathers.
Here, my angel does not have wings...this is my first rendition.
Of course here it is in full size with wings
Using the image above as an alternate background...
Here we have three angels riding across the heavens
Here, I just played around with colours to create the four horsemen. I used the original in sepia as well as white, red and black
Here are the Four Horsemen
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.
I hope this inspires you to try something new :)
Until next time...be creative :)
