Oil and water!

Oil and water don't mix; we all know that.  But that combination can make for some unique photographs.  I saw a tutorial on this technique so, why not give it a try?  The problem: when I followed the instructions, nothing worked as planned.  So I played and changed everything, but mostly the f-stop.  And I had to use manual focus, too.  Here are the fun shots that came out of the session.

The oil and water are in a clear glass baking dish which is elevated over an old 60s style tie-dye t-shirt.

Swirl the oil and water and then wait for the bubbles to slow down before shooting.

I like how the individual bubbles pick up the "background."

The hard part is getting focus on the bubbles, and not the background.

The background here is a pile of brightly colored paper, cut into small pieces.

The t-shirt and colored paper managed to make it into this cluster of oil bubbles.

This is one of my favorites.

I think this is my favorite simply because of the color combination.

This was a fun morning!  Now I need to search around to find other ways to entertain myself while learning more about my camera. ☺

The White Tornadoes strike again!

Dog-sitting my grand-dogs, Dempsey and Josie, is a fun adventure.  Because ... what's better than two Boxers?  FOUR Boxers!  Olly, the lone brindle, gets into the action for a little while but then he chooses to officiate rather than rumble.  He is the most sensible of the four. ☺

Here's one round of White Tornado play.  It's too hot in Phoenix right now to let them play for a long time so their rumble sessions are usually restricted to just a few minutes.  And we always hope for cloud cover.

The green squeaky toy is always a favorite!  Paris-Ivy and Josie usually manage to kill one a day.

These Boxer girlies take the game seriously! 

When they get tired of the toy game, the chase is on and Dempsey gets into the act.

Boxers are muscular, athletic dogs ... and their play is usually a barnstorming session.

Hmmm ... I wonder if Dempsey knows what's about to happen!

When all else fails, let's play "Ring Around the Olly!"

This play session lasted about ten minutes ... then it was inside to get some water, cool off, take a snooze, and get ready for the next one. ☺

Black and white - with color!

I'm putting desert shrubs in my front yard ... and vines on a trellis on one side of my carport.  I have rock in the yard but wanted some color!  Of course, I wanted to play with my camera and practice with Lightroom, too.  This time I concentrated on working with "saturation" ... I removed all color except that which I wanted.  You end up with a black and white photo - with color!  

I started with some tools being used for the front yard project ... I kept only the red and yellow hues.

This is an oleander and I love the pink!  The pink will be mixed with white oleanders along an ugly gray block wall.  Won't be ugly for long! ☺

This desert plant is called a Fairy Duster.  The shrub will become very bushy and filled with these fun red blossoms.

A row of Duranta forms a hedge along the front wall of my home.  The small flowers are gorgeous purple.

These bell-shaped flowers are on a Bower Vine.  I'm hoping they will attract hummingbirds like they're supposed to. The Bower Vines are mixed with Tacoma Vines (Solar Flare and Crimson Flare) on the trellis.

I picked the plants but someone else did all the work.  Now let's see if I can keep it all alive and thriving! ☺