What a difference a couple of days make

A few days ago I posted a picture of the new growth on the cycad plant in my back garden. Today when I went outside I noticed that there was a big difference.
Now we shall have to cut off all the old leaves so that when these new ones open out and drape down around the trunk they will look all fresh and green and not compete with the insect ravaged old leaves for attention.
These Cycads can be found growing wild among the trees of the forests of New South Wales and I have pictures of them among the natural bush of the north Queensland coast too. So they are very wide spread.
AJ

Another lighting effect

Once more I have been playing around in lighting effects, this time with "spotlight". Of course, with any effect it is possible to go "over the top" and get really bizarre effects but I am so conservative that I aim for the natural look!
We had a shower of rain this afternoon and I raced out to get a few shots of rain dampened flowers. A few spots of water on the petals always gives a great look! Rain does it so much better than a mist gun!
Anyway, with one of the shots - a rather gorgeous day lily - I thought I would have a play with the spotlight effect. The settings I used are shown above - I hope they are large enough that you can see the numbers I used? You can easily see how I pulled the ellipse about so that the bright effect was where I wanted it to be. If the ellipse is too narrow or too small the effect is much harsher.
I also clicked into the white colour picker squares and changed the colour to a light yellow to echo the colour of the flower. Stronger colours have a different effect so I recommend that you have a play!
Now take a look at the subtle difference I made to my picture. Maybe you feel it is too subtle? However every picture is created to the likes of the person in control of it - I work on my pictures so that I like them. Its a bonus if YOU like them too!

Another Photoshop effect to try

I thought it was about time I taught myself how to use a new filter in Photoshop. So after working quickly on a couple of pictures (after all this was just an experiment!) I duplicated the image and with the duplicate applied a lighting effect. You can see from the screen grab the settings I picked. The effect was rather good so I have included a couple of before and after shots to show how it looks when used.
To get to the lighting effects go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects and have a play! When the omni lighting effect is used - this is the one I particularly liked - it seems to have the effect of brightening in the area of the circle - which can be resized and moved too - and darkening the surrounds. Well the darkening is created by moving the "ambience" slider. This darkening is loosely like adding a vignette to the image.

Multicultural Day

Hot on the heels of Eurofest came the Multicultural Day, also in Surfers Paradise. Once again the day offered music and food and once again I was there with my camera to capture a few of the things that happened while I was there.I was fascinated with the displays that were put on for our entertainment by the Japanese Society. To begin with I watched the nimble fingers of a group of women as they played some unusual stringed instrument. The frets that hold the strings are relocated for each new piece of music. So that was interesting too. While the kimono clad ladies were playing their "harps" (for want of a name) a gentleman accompanied them on a bamboo flute.
Later I returned to the same stage to watch a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. As each of the movements was performed (the bowing, turning of the bowl, etc) a woman on a microphone attempted to explain what was being shown. Unfortunately the sound quality was very bad and that combined with her rather poor command of English pronunciation made understanding her very difficult.
Under another tent - storms had been forcast - the music was being played loud and fast for a very wiggly South American girl. She encouraged quite a few people to join her on her "stage" to learn the steps to a dance. It was amazing just how many did join her - but look at the faces, they are new Australians and haven't learned to be reserved like the rest of us! They had a ball!
So two fabulous fun and food filled days for me this weekend, I wonder how I can fill my time next weekend!
AJ

Eurofest - foods of many nations

Saturday was a hot and sunny day and perfect for driving out to join in with a festival that was being held in Surfers Paradise. The festival was called "Eurofest" and it was a celebration of food and music from Europe.We were greeted, on arrival with the exhilarating music of Spain and I had no trouble at all in getting near to the stage to take my photograph of the performers. They were extremely talented but I would imagine a little disappointed at the small number of people present at the time of their performance.Having arrived in time for lunch - deliberately! we lined up at the Hungarian tent to get ourselves a bowl of Goulash. There is no point in going to an event like this and not trying something a bit different. The meat was tender, the soup spicy and I found Colin to have plenty of room in his bowl for my unwanted chunks of potato! There was plenty of potato in the goulash! Potato, Carrot and meat were the only ingredients other than stock. We enjoyed it and then lined up at the Dutch tent for little pancakes with maple syrup and icing sugar. I cannot spell the name so I wont try to write it!
While we were sipping a coffee (we really did enjoy our lunch!) we had fun watching the German Umpah band (that's not their official name!) as they played the chicken dance and lots of jolly beer-drinking tunes.
I am not sure what it is about Australian audiences but they are very reserved! Only half a dozen children and one mother who remained seated, actually danced the chicken dance - I thought everyone knew it! I think back to the time when my boys were under ten (and not embarrassed by their mother's antics) and how I would join in and encourage them and many other children too, to join in. It was fun! Have people forgotten how to have fun?
AJ

Feed the birds.

Every morning without fail I feed the birds. The first of my feathered friends to arrive are the lorikeets and at this time of the year they are particularly noisy and in large numbers. Not only is is mating time but there are plenty of youngsters who are now out on their own that have learned that human hand-outs are worth screeching for! These lorikeets are supposed to mate for life and yet as I watch them they seem to flirt first with one bird and then, when she rejects him by flying off, they flirt with the next nearest female! After all the twenty years of feeding the birds I still cannot tell the difference between the sexes - its just as well they can get it right!
Once the lorikeets have taken their fill of sweet water and bread - I use raw sugar in water, it is natural and does not attract the bees as honey would. The birds love it - as you can tell! - the finches come in.
I put out budgerigar seed for the finches and manage to attract three different varieties. Red Brow, Double Bar and Chestnut Breasted. The picture I have included is of Chestnut Breasted finches, they usually come in flocks, they seem to be a far more sociable bird than the other two varieties of finch. However all the finches are flighty and take fright very easily. The Chestnut Breasted are by far the most timid and must have vivid imaginations! They scatter the seed everywhere when they panic to leave!
AJ

Spring on the Mountain

Spring is in the air! So many places are inviting garden lovers to visit them with special spring festivals or Open Gardens. Last week it was Toowoomba that was the subject for my camera (video) and this weekend it was a place much closer to home, Mount Tamborine. This time around I used the Nikon D70s and had a great time in the perfect sunlight capturing both wide angle shots of scenes as well as close up shots with wonderful bokeh (wonderful broken shapes in the background caused by the shallow depth of field) such as in my first photograph of cherry blossom.
The first garden I visited was actually the Botanic Gardens and the weekend was a fund-raiser for this new and developing garden. What has been done already is wonderful and it is a pleasure to wander around with a camera.
One part of the garden is devoted to palms and the light and shade created by the palms gives a wonderful atmosphere of being in a jungle. A raised boardwalk keeps the tramp of many feet off the soil so that water courses are not formed when there is a rainfall and also so that the roots of the trees are not damaged. There are companion organisms in the soil around the trees that could be destroyed with the weight of walking feet and raised walkways are very much a feature of some sensitive parts of National Parks too.
Yet another part of the Botanic Garden is devoted to the Japanese style of garden along with raked gravel and arched bridge with red uprights. Comparing this with the Japanese Garden in Toowoomba and the Japanese Garden in Cowra would not be very fair, this one gives the impression of being very new and not really very Japanese. But I would guess that things will change over the years and it will grow to be an impressive area.
More on the other gardens in another posting.
AJ