wattlebird, a cubbyhouse and a wild hat

A black and white study of a common Australian bird known as the Lesser Red Wattle Bird. A very noisy, bossy and territorial little creature. this one was so busy yelling abuse at my cat (who was innocently strolling across the garden) that the bird totally ignored my camera and allowed me to get really close and take a great number of photographs.

 Another photo of that same little bird.

My five year old neice playing in her cubbyhouse in grandmother's back garden.

Playing with my new copy of Photoshop Elements 9 I came up with this portrait of a young girl that I photographed at the Balingup Medieval Carnivale a couple of years ago. I loved her headdress but the background was really bad, a couple of people and some very boring stalls. I erased the people and blurred the background then changed the coloring to make her really stand out. I am pleased with the result.

Roses, birds and a dog named Mangles

My little sister Anni and her dog Manny. He was named Mangles after the suburb where my mother lives; but that always seemed a rather butch name for a small brown and white teddybear like him.

These small Silver-eyes were feeding on the nectar of the tree aloe that grows just outside my front door. I just stood in the house with the camera lens poking through a crack in the door.

I got several good shots of the birds that day. I had to stay quiet and still as possible since they are very nervous little birds. Even the click of the camera lens was enough to spook them, but they soon returned to the lure of the rich nectar. 

It started out as a rather boring image. After all there are a million photos of roses/rosebuds in the world. I recently aquired a copy of Photoshop Elements 9 and have been playing with it. I used the lasso tool to isolate the rose and then turned the background monochrome. I feel it made the rose much more interesting.