2014.. Returning With Clouds plus Skywatch Friday

Hello again,
     It's been nearly 2yrs since I've been here to do a Posting.  But the urge had been growing, and today has become the day.
     How regular I'll be I just don't know, but right now the feeling is a good to be here one.
     Where to begin, well Clouds felt to be just right.  I love them, and right now can't think of a better way to return to share something with you than with a subject I love.
     The introductory photo is one of my own, it was done with my Sony Ericson phone during March of 2012.  Well that's something I hadn't noticed until doing this.  I'll consider the happening as a special way to return.  I chose the photo randomly to represent Cloud Postings, and the date suits.

Participating in Skywatch Friday

March 20, 2014 Edition

Hosted by Yogi, Silvia and Sandy

        The photos I'll be including have been done with a camera.  Christmas 2012 I half achieved and half received as a gift a Nikon L120, but that is it's own story.
As for the Clouds... well I can now photo them as I never could with my phone.  But... it is going to be interesting to see how they'll look here.  I've had to resize  in order to be able to upload them.  The images have travelled from 40megabytes to about 1megabyte or less.  Well if I don't start, neither of us will know...

        This first one I did during the Summer of February 2012, the time being about 5pm...

        I played in my editing and viewing programme.. FastStone.  Also a new edition to my life.  The original image had normal blue sky in the darkest areas with the white fluffy clouds creating the beautiful shaping around the blue.  Yet it looked plain, but when I de-saturated the colouring and lifted out the black and white tones, I felt the result to be interestingly captivating.

        This next image I really love a lot...

 
        Also done during Summer of February 2013,  and though about a week after the previous one, the time is also in the 5pm time frame.  What I do sometimes with Clouds in FastStone is to let the programme Auto Correct the Colours and see what it does.
That was one of those moments when I saw something worth keeping happen.  I loved the intensity the richness of those clouds create with that one small bird.  Always affects me when I see that image.  Gives me an idea just what a bird is seeing when flying about on rich cloudy days.  I have a copy prepared for printing, look forward to seeing it.  Just hope will retain the effect.

        The next photo is the same image without the enhancement.  I could not choose which I liked more....

        One has more drama, but to me they both are beautiful.  It is the bird who makes the difference.  I was truly fortunate the bird flew into view at the right moment.  Unfortunately am not sure which of the birds visiting my yard area it is.  By the size and movement of wings, I think it may be one of the Ravens/Crows.  No matter how hard I try to learn whether Raven or Crow, I am still unable to be certain which inhabits the area I'm in, so I simply use both names.

        This next one was on the same day as the previous two and also in the same time frame.  I left it in it's natural tones...

        I simply enjoy how my imagination responds with seeing a huge fluffy being, a marshmallow being, emerging to move across the vastness of sky.  There feels to be a purpose of destination to me.

        About a week later, and nearing the end of February and Summer in 2012...

        Those wonderful clouds were happening during the 1pm time frame.  This time I can identify the bird, he/she is a Crested Pigeon - Ocyphaps lophotes.  The electrical cable is a favourite roosting spot during the day for many of the birds visiting the yard.
Again the image portrays for me the smallness of the bird in relation to the vastness of the sky, and the richness of the clouds.

  
        A momentary diversion to introduce you to a Crested Pigeon...

Crested Pigeon - Ocyphaps lophotes

         I felt the photo suited the previous image, even though done during the Summer of December 2013 around the 5pm time frame and with no clouds... but the cable is the very one in the previous photo.

        The Crested Pigeon is the only grey Australian pigeon with a slender crest.  Crested Bronzewing is another name he/she is known by.  Their length is about 32cm/12.5inches.  They like open country, settled areas and farmland to wander about amid.  Then when the time comes for egg laying, only 2, they'll use twigs to build a sparse nest in a tree or shrub.  Crested Pigeons enjoy eating seeds, berries and insects.  The insect eating part for me explains why they occasionally enjoy the meat I give to the meat-eating birds who seasonally request assisted feeding.  The Australian mainland is where they prefer to call home.  They're not fussed with too much heat and humidity like the far tropical north of Australia's climate is, so they'll avoid ranging into those areas.  Nor do they like the weather to get too cold, therefore will avoid living in the southern parts of Victora and South Australia.  I know Crested Pigeons enjoy South East Queensland, the region where I am, because I have the pleasure of enjoying their company all through the year.

(Crested Pigeon information sourced from... http://www.ozanimals.com)

Back to clouds....

        This next one happened the same day and time-frame I did the one with the Crested Pigeon, just a different part of the sky...

        Also left natural... I smile when I look at those clouds, which to me are doing a nose-to-nose kiss.

        This last one happened in the Eastern Sky, during the middle of March 2013, with the beginning of Autumn emerging.  The time frame is about 5pm...

        Now that one is Auto Colour Corrected, and I loved the outcome.  Can you see the face looking up with the golden light above his head?

        I'm adding another photo.
This next photo was taken at the end of Spring, in November 2008.  The time-frame also 5pm.  The event happened under the steps of the house where I rent.  It was heavily raining, and I had decided to try and photograph the rain.  At the time I had my trusty LG phone I called Blacky.  Blacky had a VGA camera which was less than 1pixel for photos, but sometimes the results were really lovely.  Anyway,  I nearly deleted the following photo when I saw what looked like a smudge, but I decided to zoom in and check... am very glad I did....

        Please forgive the quality, Blacky always tried to do well.
What is significant about this photo if you can see what I see... there is a face on the bottom left-hand area.  I've always called him my Mud-Man.
        If you can see him also, you may also see what I felt when I saw that face in the clouds of the previous photo.
        Though not smiling in the other photo, to me there is definitely a resemblance.  Had me wondering if he may not be a Spirit Being of the area I live in.  After all, the area I live in did once house Aboroginal Folk before European Settlers came.


        I've enjoyed doing this.  There really is a sense of accomplishment once done.  Though I remembered how long doing a Post could take, I'd forgotten the actual physical effort involved in seeing the doing through.

        I may be sporadic in my Postings, but I will be doing them.
Really grand to have been able to come back and find my Blog intact even on the inside.  Appreciate Google giving one the opportunity to return without having deleted a Blog which has not had any Posts added for two years.

Till next time... 

thank-you for stopping by.  

Do hope you enjoyed the Post.

Magda

All images are mine.

Any editing done with FastStone.

I've mentioned in the Post the tools I used to do the photos, so won't repeat

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to view other Participants sharing their Sky Scenes