Round Robin: Ooh! Spooky!

For Round Robin Challenge: Spooky Effects, I asked for photos that show "something scary, odd or ethereal," using any sort of special effects - special staging, lighting, photo editing or anything else to achieve the spooky. I figured that we'd be less than two weeks out from Halloween by now, and we'd have both the interest and photographic opportunities for this!

Two weeks ago, I took my Dad to Old Tucson Studios, in Avra Valley on the other side of Gates Pass from the city of Tucson itself. Built in 1938 for the movie Arizona starring William Holden and Jean Arthur, it's sort of a combination of shooting location and theme park. Stars from John Wayne to Steve Martin have films movies there. The High Chaparral was principally filmed at Old Tucson, along with lots of other tv episode and even bank commercials. I've visited Old Tucson at least half a dozen times since we got here in 1986, but not often in recent years since an arson fire gutted a large chunk of it. But they've managed to rebuild and keep the place going, and I'm very glad of that!

For the past 23 years, Old Tucson has had a second life after dark at this time of year. Nightfall is promoted as "one real haunted town!" I've never yet made it down there for Nightfall, but even in the daytime there were traces of the spooky effects to come:

The best in the window is one of those "eyes that follow you" FX, like the busts at the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. The skeleton is, well, a skeleton. But having witnessed a shootout at the end of Old Tucson's daytime programming, I couldn't help making a connection between the seated skeleton and the loser of the gunfight, gallantly helped onto a chair. A little photo editing, and presto!

Speaking of Disneyland, though, I actually have more spooky material to work with from my Disneyland trip back in May than from the October Old Tucson visit. After all, the Haunted Mansion is one of my very favorite attractions!

The famous "Hitchhiking Ghosts" are very hard to photograph, but I managed to boost the image a bit for an interesting effect!

At Old Tucson there was a stage show in the Grand Saloon, with a middle-aged chanteuse wrangling three singing and dancing ingenues. There's the chanteuse, but who is that behind her?

Why, it's the Bride from the Haunted Mansion!

 Aww, what the heck. One more. Below is the old courthouse in Tombstone, Arizona, the site of more than one hanging. If any place ought to be haunted, this seems like a good candidate. Or maybe the camera was picking up flares from the sun overhead. Yeah, that's it.

Or maybe there are ghosts there after all!

 Now let's see the other Robins' Spooky Effects!

Linking List
as of Saturday, October 19th, 2013
1:23 AM MST

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Ellen - Posted!
Ellen's Phlog
http://ellensphlog.blogspot.com/

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com


Karen

Round Robin: This Is Not Here

For this week's Round Robin Challenge: Not Real, I asked to see "something that isn't real - an optical illusion, a fictional character on stage, fake pearls, a toy sailboat, a tofu hamburger...really, anything that looks like something that it isn't." For my example photo on the RRPC blog post, I edited a photo of a dragon figurine, inserting a background that was part Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, part Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. I plan to do something similar here.

At the same time, though, I have stuck in my head the title of an art exhibit that was at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse in October, 1971, when 14 years old. The artist behind the controversial exhibit was Yoko Ono (guest artist John Lennon!) and the name of it was This Is Not Here. I've always regretted that I didn't take the bus downtown to see that.

Without further ado, here are some things that aren't here. Or rather, they are, but they aren't where they appear to be, and they aren't what they kind-of appear to be!

The four cars of this train through the Molino Basin picnic area are from my Dad's old N scale set-up in Wilmington, which I snagged when we were clearing out his place before moving him here. They are actually on our mantle in the den.

This diesel train was running around a track at the Gadsden Pacific Division Toy Train Operating Museum last weekend. The background is Verde Canyon, where we rode on a real train that does nowhere in particular, back on my 50th birthday trip around Arizona in March 2007. I've tried to suggest that it's emerging from behind some vegetation.

This didn't work, but I had to attempt it. When I was in college the first time, back in 1978 or so, I attempted to make a student film that double-exposed images of lead Dungeons and Dragons figurines superimposed over my friends dressed in fantasy clothing against a real world background. I still can't quite manage the effect! This is a counter top, a real face (part of one, anyway) and a real sky.

This wooden decoy duck was decorated by my Dad about 20 years ago. The little yellow guy with the hat, Desperado Duck, starred in a series of photos I posted years ago, following him downstream as he really floated along in Reid Park. I added them both to a shot of geese in one of the Reid Park duck ponds.

Turnout is light this time. What do you think? Dare you try to show us something that isn't real? Post it and I'll add your name below!

Karen

Linking List 
as of Saturday, June 29th, 2013
1:54 AM MST

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

EMPS: Fantasy in the Sky

This week's Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot calls for an FX shot of something seen In the Clouds. Going through my photo archives, I soon came across this:



I don't know about you, but I see a baby in the cloud pattern on the left side of the sky. Let's take a second look:



See it?



Getting clearer!



Ah, there she is!



Oops! I hope my neighbor doesn't need his truck while the Sky Baby is around!

(The original baby is from a photo of a 2006 baptism. She had her father's arm around her hips, and no leg showing.) 

For extra credit, Carly wanted a photo of a reflection of an object. The house is pretty dark these days due to cloudy weather and early dusk, so I dug into my archives:



Karen

See also: Round Robin: The Beatles' Fool, Illustrated

Round Robin: Untrue Colors

Ack! It's time to show my colors!

Although she doesn't remember it, this week's Round Robin topic, Colorblind, was suggested by Nancy of  Nancy Luvs Pix, three years ago this month. I've been wanting to do this Challenge (Basically, take a photo of something, change the color...make it interesting!) for a long time. This is something I really enjoy doing, taking a fairly ordinary picture and making it surreal (or at least more colorful) by playing with the color settings in my cheap photo editing program, PhotoStudio.

Let me show you what I mean. Here's a recent photo I haven't posted in any form until now:



This shot of Cayenne has had no color adjustment. I did, however, take the liberty of cloning out some of the boxes and stuff behind her - rather unconvincingly I might add!



Same photo, negative image. Is Cayenne a Blue Dog Democrat?


I got a dog and her fur is blue,
I betcha five dollars she's a good dog too!



Same image, solarization effect, I think on top of the negative one. The backgound has reverted, but Cayenne will never look the same again - not in this photo, anyway.

I also have a "dark marker" effect version if you're interested.

The psychedelia above took just a few clicks in the photo editing program I happen to have, but most photo editors have basic sliders to adjust saturation and hue, at the very least. Take a look at this:



I've increased the saturation on this Oro Valley sunset, and shifted the hue a bit. Result: the colors are brighter and just subtly "off."



Last one. This October sunrise, as seen through my bedroom window, has been saturated a little, but is not far off what my eyes saw that morning.



But I think the solarized version is more interesting!

Now let's see the other Robins' oddly colorful photos!

Linking List
as of Sunday, November 21st at 9:58 PM MST

Nancy - Posted!
Nancy Luvs Pics
http://nancyluvspix.blogspot.com/

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Kat - Posted!
In My Dreams I can Fly...
http://inmydreamssfk.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted!
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Freda
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com

Sandy - Posted!
From the Heart of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

Monica - Posted!
Shutterly Happy
http://monica-frameofmind.blogspot.com/

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Chris **Welcome!**
illilian
http://www.flickr.com/photos/illilian/

flashbulb100w
mga gihuna-huna
http://mgagihunahuna.wordpress.com

Jeanette - Posted!
Net On The Net
http://netonthenet.blogspot.com/

Jessica (new blog name/url)
Waters Edge Photography
http://watersedge.photoposts.org/

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com/

Peg - Posted!
Who Can Discover It?
http://whocandiscoverit.blogspot.com/
Karen

Round Robin: The Beatles' Fool, Illustrated

Good Morning, Good Morning, good! This week's Round Robin Photo Challenge is called For a Song. My inspiration, at least in part, was a book called The Beatles' Illustrated Lyrics, which I borrowed from a friend of my mom's many years ago. So, naturally, on John Lennon's 70th birthday, I'm illustrating a Beatles song. It's one of Paul's, but close enough!



Day after day,
Alone on a hill,
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still;
But nobody wants to know him;
They can see that he's just a fool,
And he never gives an answer,



But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round.



Well on the way,
Head in a cloud,



The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud;




But nobody ever hears him,
Or the sound he appears to make,
And he never seems to notice,



But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round.

A thousand voices of thanks to my friend Kevin Harrington, who played the Fool for my camera.

Let's see what everyone else illustrated for us!


Linking List
as of 12:26 PM MST/PDT,
Saturday, October 9th, 2010

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted!
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Jama
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Ruth - Posted!
The ScrabbleQueen Knits, Too
http://scrabblequeen.wordpress.com

Holly - Posted!
Easy Living the Hard Way
http://easylivingthehardway.blogspot.com/

Tara - Posted!
The Lengths
http://mommaneversaid.blogspot.com/

Mairie
Wordinthehand
http://wordinthehand.blogspot.com/

maryt - Posted!
Work of the Poet
http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com

Erin - Posted!
A Hardcore Life
http://erin-hardcorehensel.blogspot.com

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com/

Sandy - Posted!
From the Heart of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

ellen b - Posted!
The Happy Wonderer
http://happywonderer.wordpress.com

Rue - Posted!
Passion in the Moments
http://ethos-photographic.blogspot.com

Peggy - Posted!
Who Can Discover It?
http://whocandiscoverit.blogspot.com/


For John.

Karen

EMPS: "Fixing" it in the Edit!

For the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #100: Fun With Editing!, I present a few totally silly edits and a not-so-silly one.



My first attempt. The background is from a year and a half ago, and the bobcats are from last week.



I spent all night on this, but I'm not quite satisfied. Somehow, as busy as it is, it needs more...something. Oh, I know! I forgot to include a notice of the park rules!



Lovely. Incidentally, there was a guy in the original shot bending over at the water's edge with his butt showing. I added Ganesha (from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland) to block him out of the picture. It seemed rude to post such an unflattering image of him, whereas his companion in the chair was too photogenic to pass up. Speaking of whom....



Here's a more straightforward edit, at least insofar and I didn't paste in any elements from other pictures. I used a watercolor effect, and a paintbucket to change the color of the water. The caption is doubled up to make the lettering a little thicker.

I actually have done a fair number of FX shots over the years, including a brain in a frying pan with flames coming up from the burner, another one of me on the moon (sort of), a vortex in the sky and so on. You can see a fairly complete collection here. Mostly, though, I've been doing Doctor Who photo manipulations for Gallifrey Base. Some of these have elements from my own photos, some not. That set is here.

And here's a last-minute addition:


Cayenne and Pepper meet the jumbo bunny.

Karen

Round Robin: 3 x 3, Part Three: Impressions of a Cat in Motion

For Part Three of my Round Robin entry, I'm using three failed photos of my friend's cat, Harvey. Having been abandoned and left for dead before his rescue and adoption, he's kind of a wild and crazy cat, and he certainly doesn't trust me yet. He did not stay in one place long enough for me to get even one good photo. So let's have fun with the bad ones!



This is the best of the shots. I didn't do anything here except crop and sharpen lightly.



For this one I turned the background negative and overdarkened Harvey's white fur for a pixillated, almost op art effect.



On this last one I used a solarization effect and a motion blur on the background, increased the saturation on the barely-visible eyes and did a lot of smudging at the edges of the cat's outline.

And that's it from Harvey and me. Be sure to visit the other Robins - here's the third and final batch of links!

Linking List, Part Three
as of 7:15 PM Saturday

Suzanne R - Posted!
SuzyQ421's Photo Blog
http://suzyq421sphotoblog.blogspot.com

Sherrie - Posted!
Sherrie's Stuff
http://sherrie-plummer.blogspot.com/

Ruth - Posted!
Scrabblequeen
http://www.scrabblequeen.wordpress.com

Dawn **Welcome, new member!*** - Posted!
Dawn Elliott Photography
http://dawnelliottphotography.blogspot.com

Kat **Welcome back!** - Posted!
In My Dreams I Can Fly...
http://inmydreamssfk.blogspot.com/

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com

Manang Kim - Posted!
My Life's Journey in Focus
http://kissess4u.blogspot.com

Janice **Welcome, new member!*** - Posted!
jabblog
http://jabblog-jabblog.blogspot.com/

Karen

EMPS: Pairs of Glasses, Visualized

Don't faint, Carly: I'm posting my response to Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #72: Pairs. at the beginning of the week instead of at the end of it. Hey, it's not even Monday here yet!

As it happens, I took two photos tonight of my current pair of glasses, for use in the entry below this one. (Go ahead - take a look!) On top of that, an optician at LensCrafters took two photos of me trying on two different pairs of glasses. She did this so that I could see, on the camera viewfinder, how each pair of eyeglass frames looks on me. My uncorrected vision is so poor, you see, that I have to put my face right up a few inches from the mirror to see my face with the no-prescription frames on, which is not ideal. Also, this way I had a picture to take home and show John. He has definite and exacting tastes when it comes to my glasses. His too, I suppose.



So let's see what fun we can have with these photos. First, here is the shot of me in the pair of frames I didn't buy, taken by the LensCrafters employee but edited by me. This was my attempt at duplicating the Doctor's "brainy specs." It didn't work.

And here are my current glasses:



But that's boring, isn't it? Well, then, let's see that rather blurry photo in grayscale, with a charcoal effect added:



Or we can give it the psychedelic treatment. For this one, I used a neon effect, selectively changed the hue and saturation in spots, and then turned the whole thing negative:



And here's the shot that made me decide to do this entry right away, while I was all enthusiastic and inspired and stuff. You can see the full color original in the entry below this one, but here's the grayscale version. I fussed with the contrast and brightness a little.



That's it for now. I reserve the right to do this EMPS again though, at the end of the week! Not that I'm promising or anything, but it could happen.

Karen