Here are the steps I took to turn this regular photo of a horse figurine, framed by my dog’s legs, into a stylized image comprising of gold outlines on a black background using a couple of photo apps. :)
The step-by-step guide follows:
Tag: smartphone photography
Macro view of a blown bulb base .
Phoneography Monday Challenge: Macro
Apps used: Samsung Note 10.1 LTE native camera, Snapseed
Our energy saving bulbs in the study had blown recently and I was surprised to find the craters in the base… sort of like a minor earthquake had occurred within the bulb. Hence the choice of subject matter for the macro theme.
Phoneography Monday Challenge: Macro
Apps used: Camera+, Snapseed, VSCOcam, Moldiv
I’m not sure whether these are caterpillars or not but they were flourishing in the garden downstairs. These might be the yellow spotted millipede. Normally, Donna and I just walk past them but the other day I thought I would try taking pictures.
It was then that I really started seeing them. And what I saw was greatly amusing.
| Norm the Pug is pretty well-known for his iconic pet self shots. But how does he do it?Here’s we got Donna to pull a Norm Pug (faux) selfie. Right now the human has this to say to you, Norm Pug – you make it look so easy. |
“Oh, grandmother, what big eyes you have!”
“All the better to see you with.”
“Oh, grandmother, what big hands you have!”
“All the better to grab you with!”
“Oh, grandmother, what a horribly big mouth you have!”
“All the better to eat you with!”
*chuckle*
Accompanying text: Excerpt from Little Red Cap, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Phoneography Challenge: Macro – Donna
App: Camera+
People who are unfamiliar or have a fear of dogs may see the dog as the sum of its parts – the staring eyes, the long black claws, the gaping mouth, the sniffing nose atop the fangs, but most of all the unpredictability that comes with an unfamiliar animal.
But what I see is a lovely canine companion, fun-loving, playful but also patient and smart enough to put up with all sorts of non-dog things I make her do, like playing dead and high-five. How else could I get a dog to let me take pictures of her parts at such close range? :)
human: You know Donna, you should really pick up your toys sometimes.
human: And pray tell, what you were busy with?
human: But you were not in the garden, I didn’t take you there.
human: Oh no my dear, if I was busy sweeping the floor, doing laundry and going out to interviews and driving lesson, we could not be doing any sort of training at the same time.
dog: The Arian Ox must be ‘sitting’ and ‘waiting’ for you to come home. Now gimme my treat!
human: But I didn’t ask you to sit and wait for me to come home. I just asked you to behave yourself when I am not around.
dog: Same thing. The probability of the Arian Ox getting into mischief is high when it is not “sitting” and “waiting”.
human: I see. Well if you don’t mind me saying, its quite ridiculous for a dog to keep referring to itself as the Arian Ox when it is clearly a dog.
dog: The Arian Ox will refer to herself however she likes as befits the pack leader of this household. This matter is not up for debate.
human: Mr P do you hear that? Your dog thinks she’s a pack leader.
Mr P: Bwahahahahahaha. Look at her, just look at her.
human: Nope, we don’t think you are the pack leader around here my dear.
dog: We shall not entertain further discussion of this matter. *snorts loudly* The Arian OX will now go poke her blog friends Ruby the Black Labrador and Simba. Being a Leo and a Sagittarius, they get along best with an Arian dog. Not like some humans…
human: Just behave yourself so they don’t feel forced to chew your tail to take you down a peg or two.
dog: *has changed into costume of a mystic* The Arian Ox intends to read to them their sun signs so they may better know themselves and know that I am the one true pack leader among us all!
human: Baby, I think they already read their sun signs here and here on their human’s blog.
dog: *snotty snort snort* I am the pack leader, they will listen to me!
human: You’re hopeless. Go fetch! *throws hippo; mystic costume slips off dog as dog gives chase*
dog: *snort snort* You will not be rid of the pack leader so easy! Now throw again!
human: But I thought you are going visiting?
dog: I suppose I should visit Angel and Chaos first since their human gave me the WordPress Family Award. That makes me their pack leader too! And since I’m starting a pack, I think we should have lofty ideals. I think we should take over the world! And that means I need wise dogs, big dogs, dogs who can gobble up to world to join the pack. So these dogs and humans should all get the WordPress Family Award and join my pack: –
Nominees
Angel and Chaos and Yashie,
Ruby the Black Labrador,
Sonel and Simba,
Kuruk and Victoria Julianne,
Linda Arthur Tejera,
Lens and Pens by Sally,
Linda Trunell,
Artscottnet,
Artinstructor and
Completely Disappear.
Aren’t I doing a good job as pack leader already? :3
human: *has wisely left dog alone to her piped dreams*
I was never really into Sun Signs. Even until now, the only things in the sky I can effectively point out are – the sun, the moon, the clouds, Orion’s belt and Mars. That’s about it. So isn’t it lucky that Donna the local mongrel’s sun sign just happened to be Aries (Mar 21-Apr 20), because hey, at least I can pick out an Arian’s ruling planet – Mars – in the night sky. Nevermind that I can’t pick out the actual Aries constellation :P
I was influenced by Sonel and Ruby the Black Labrador’s recent posts on Dog Sun Signs and couldn’t resist checking out what Donna’s will say. I thought the Arian in a nutshell could describe most local mongrels – Loyalty, Trust, Heart breaker, Forgets past failures, Active, Energetic. :) I also thought it would be interesting to see what the Chinese horoscope says, that’s why Donna is above referencing to herself as the Aries Ox. :P
This comes a little late, but I would like to thank The Thriving Pessimist, Angel and Chaos’ human, for nominating this blog the WordPress Family Award. :)
I was on WordPress many, many years back in my youth :P and there wasn’t such a great community back then compared to what I found now. I am very thankful for that. I’ve enjoyed all the fun dog and other posts from various bloggers and also the idle chit chat in the comments now and then when we happen to be online simultaneously. Besides individual blogs, I also think that photo challenges such as those being hosted by Lens and Pens by Sally and Sonel also help to fuel the community towards a common endeavour and engendering very positive interaction within the participating bloggers. It takes time and commitment not just to host but to foster continued interest and active participation in such blog hops and these awesome people are making the time and effort to host and keep it going.
But mostly I would like to give the WordPress Family Award to these people because they have thought it worth their time to interact with me and commented so often it feels like we’re just having an on-going conversation day by day. They took the time to write advice in detail when it comes to training Donna or when I experienced difficulties or just when they think I may be doing something not so advisable. I have only named the more interactive bloggers/commentors, but I do have to say that I really appreciate the readers who regularly came by, and also the little things like liking a post or saying good day because it all adds to that sense of being part of the community as well. :)
So thank you :3
If you would like to pass on the award to somebody else whom you feel have made an impact on your WordPress experience and family, visit Shaun’s page on the WordPress Family Award for more details.
p/s: “Mugshots are ugly” has recently been reblogged on the Versatile Blogger Award (VBA) site. Thank you so much House Full of Dogs for the nomination again :3
Sun sign references:
– http://www.astrologyweekly.com/sun-signs/dog-horoscopes.php
– http://dogingtonpost.com/your-dogs-horoscope-aries/#.UcvkWTudiSo
– http://www.gotohoroscope.com/chinese-astrology/aries-ox.html
This is a shot of the neighbourhood childrens’ playground that I took last week. On any other day, the picture will be clear and sharp, the buildings in the background would not look as faded simply because we are generally a hot, sunny island with very clear visibility. And yes, there might be a child or two about the slide, ladder or climbing wall.
We have been beset by smoke haze from hot spot fires in Sumatra, Indonesia from last week and the PSI index reached as high as 401 (air quality is described as hazardous when it climbs above 300). Over the weekend, things seemed to have improved, and air quality seemed to have stayed more or less moderate so that’s good.
On another day, I noticed the sun reflecting off the windows of a building.
I turned around searching for the sun and there it was.
I was telling Mr P how without the haze shrouding the sun, the picture above would have been impossible for me to shoot. And then he shared with me his own photo that he took coming back from work at 3a.m. The picture was shot from the carpark downstairs.
Mr P doesn’t take pictures very often, but the moon, red from the haze is something neither of us has seen before.
While I may whine and gripe about the haze like everyone else, I also have to concur with Wiley who was wise to say,
Not sure how to pay it forward in this case :P Mostly, we are just thankful Donna and I have the option to hole up in our tiny air-conditioned study when necessary. Although I expect the electricity bills will climb.
Dogs lick themselves when they are relaxing, bored or stressed it seems.
Note:
Haze is a yearly occurrence in Singapore normally in the months August-September. We’ve been lucky to escape the worse of it in the last few years and one barely notices it if one is stuck at work in the office all day. This year’s haze is so unexpected and it’s not until I experienced how severe it can be in our own backyard so to speak that one starts to empathise with those who have to live with it daily.
Haze health tips for pet owners, read this previous post.
This post is a companion post to Weekly Phoneography: Population, in capturing our already very urbanised neighbourhood at a point where:
- we have started to see physical changes in the landscape, growth of buildings around 3 times the height of existing flats
- the interplay of the elements of nature in an urbanised environment – air, trees, sun, moon
Not the smartest advertising around but this will have to do :P Just a quick banner pointing to the Phoneography Monday Challenge since this post below is my late submission for it :P
Chandeliers in Formal Dining Space
Hanging Lights in Casual Dining Space
We were at Tim Palace (pictures #1-#3) for Fathers’ Day lunch.
The colour laser lights dancing on the chandeliers made them flash and sparkle above where we were sitting. It was interesting how different they look closeup from the bottom up (#1-#2) compared to the long shot (#3) of the dining space at the other end of the room from where I was sitting. Over there, the main light source was from the large screen display and the curved floor-to-ceiling windows since it was mid-day. The light and sound crew were setting up for a formal dinner later in the evening. There were security scanners being set up outside, which according to our uncle meant that either or both of the two key figures in our country will be attending the dinner that night.
On a different day, I took a more casual snapshot (from the moving escalator at the basement) of the organic cafe called Real Food where I had lunch. One sees straight lines at first, but notice the curved wash of light from the lamps that mirror the darker curved design in the flooring.
I didn’t plan it but once I had all the pictures in one post, I thought the way the pictures were taken were pretty reflective of the formal and casualness of each of the different dining experience:
| Formal Dining | Casual Dining | ||
| > | bottom up | > | top down |
| > | details | > | general long shot |
| > | planned shots | > | shot from moving escalator |
| > | more time to be trigger happy | > | 1 hasty shot |
Chandeliers in Formal Dining Space
Location: Tim Palace, Toa Payoh Safra Club
Picture #1, #2 – App: Camera+, Ansel filter
Picture #3 – App: Snapseed, Black and White filter, Center focus (vignette)
Hanging Lights in Casual Dining Space
Location: Real Food, Novena Sqaure 2
Picture #4 – App: Snapseed, Black and White filter, Center focus (vignette)
My last entry for Black and White Phoneography Monday explored light reflection, light and shadow in the interior of a mall called iVillage. I seem to like to picture interiors in black and white.
