This photo is dedicated to my pal out in Midland - Jannn. She just loves the lens effect and I think of her every time I take a photo like this...

Twice the blessing today, RAIN... and a beautiful display on the caladium leaves. It looks as if it were sprinkled with diamonds! Years ago, I saw a leaf that had fallen, and the rain had formed these tall droplets on the upturned underside surface. My how they amplified the leaf... and I use that inspiration quite often in my work, to call attention to detail. Loved the rain!

I felt so like an intruder. I had been teaching my youngest about how your 'eye' is perceived in photography, 'birdseye view' etc. So we were walking early one morning, AND since I love droplets... this caught my eye. I crouched down and snapped away. Not until I pulled it into editing, did I notice that I had disturbed the peace of the little spider on the backside. He must've just scooted around when I came bursting into his little world. His presence was a little 'extra' that I hadn't anticipated... and now when I look at this image, I'm not so fascinated by the droplets - but more how accommodating the spider had been for me! (yeah, that's the way I see it!)

mmm. Lovely dogwood, pale and blushing pinks on a wonderfully striated textural background. I dropped out the color of the background so that the blossom would shine. It does, doesn't it?

A friend of mine has a teenager who was wanting to post an image for his avatar in one of the chat sites online, I was sent a regular portrait image and took it immediately into Photoshop. Because there were harsh background shadows, I selected the core of the subject (asking: who is this person, what in this image is 'telling'?) then worked within minimalist "less is more" parameters, after all - don't you agree that this image gives enough visual information for a teen online - I do.

As much as I like realistic images, I have a great deal of fun editing digital images in Photoshop - the 'dry brush' being my absolute favorite tool. I think a lot of what makes an image eye-catching is the deliberate thought process while it is being composed. Balance, exposure, cropping, texture, color and of course subject.

Almost without editing, my images are usually pretty well composed in my camera's viewfinder, framed in what I consider to be the most pleasing way. But, often when I am faced with the 'whole' in the editing window - I will crop it way down - and find the results more pleasing because often - just a hint of what IS... really, is all we need.

There is a certain path that I walk in the morning each day. I have two dogs and we take in the early morning air, sounds of the forest and the glory of sunshine filtering down through the trees with gusto.

Although the route is timeworn, the things I see and what I envision are new to me each day. This single droplet for instance: In this forest, many pine needles fall and quite often they land astride another branch... forming an upside-down V.

To my delight one day last winter, after a light rain, I came upon a bare-limbed smallish tree heavily decorated with these fallen pine needles. Each needle holding tightly to one clear droplet of rainwater. Sunlight caught each droplet as if they were holiday decorations of only the finest jewels.