Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: merge

4 more pictures in notes above! :) Wow, yesterday's bike ride totally wrecked me! I've been tired all day, and so has Steve--we really should have gone on a shorter ride--and I'm very run-down and battling cold germs that are threatening to make me sick. Airborne is really helping, but I'll be sure not to stay up too late tonight... I hate getting sick! That being said, I decided not to go on my long walks today and instead took the dogs to the lower forest where I uncovered another one of the mushrooms I found the other day. (They are hiding in the tall dead grass and weeds and you can only just barely see the caps!) Since the aperture merging trick I used worked so well with the other mushroom, I used it today as well. This is also a Parasol mushroom, but as you can see, it's very different looking, so I thought it would be ok to share. I am crazy about the exposed gills, aren't they fabulous?! I always like to show them because they're so interesting, but it's not always possible to get a proper angle for this. However, this mushroom's gills are very exposed and I just HAD to take pictures!! Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill (born March 16, 1933) is an American banker, financier and philanthropist. He is a former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup. He served in those positions from 1998 until October 1, 2003, and April 18, 2006, respectively. Wikipedia: Sanford I. Weill Explored on October 22, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

2 more pictures in notes above! :) About a week ago, I discovered some special mushrooms growing down by the road where I saw them last year. Because I know that these ones live for weeks, I didn't rush to take pictures, and instead waited for the right time. Well, today was the day! Steve had the camera on a photo shoot until this afternoon, which meant the sun was in the perfect placement for these mushrooms. In the morning the area is in deep shadow and only when the sun begins to dip towards the horizon does the light look just right for this area of the property. I took Moosie and Zoe with me and as I approached the spot, I noticed that there were other mushrooms too! Taking one look at the large, gorgeous mushrooms, I immediately plopped down and groomed the area for taking pictures while Moosie and Zoe had fun nosing around and exploring nearby. When I got home, I was very happy to find that there were many nice images to choose between, but in the end, I ended up merging two pictures: one with an aperture of 2.8 for a soft background, and one with an aperture of 16 for deep focus on this mushroom, which was about 6" tall! I used a Topaz filter called ReMask to get a clean mask around the mushroom and then placed it into the image with the 2.8 aperture. A bit of massaging to remove bits of the original mushroom, a bit more massaging to work the crisp mushroom into place, and voila! Picture of the Day! :) (If you are interested, Topaz Labs has a 30 day free trial for all of their products, including ReMask: www.topazlabs.com/downloads Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Wikipedia: Rachel Carson Explored on October 20, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.