Kat Eye Studio

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A Room with a View

Our hotel in Madrid was in a wonderful location, right on Gran Via and a block from the Callao subway stop. Not only was the location great, but we had a wonderful view. We were right on the corner of the building with a wraparound balcony. How cool is that? I loved being able to capture this bustling street at night, from above. Car lights, holiday lights, store lights. Night is when this town comes alive. The streets are crowded, the stores are open late, and the restaurants are hopping. Restaurants don’t even open until 8:30pm for dinner. And we thought things started late in Italy!

Staying up late is not my normal mode of operation, although I’ve stretched from turning into a pumpkin at 10pm to around midnight since we’ve moved to Italy. My work schedule, and the culture, required a shift. It’s been good for me, seeing more of the world at night. I would have completely missed out on the energy and light at night without this experience. I’m so grateful!

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Time Travel

Someone once told me that human beings are the only animals that time travel. We move forward and backward in time unceasingly in our heads. Dwelling on the past or dreaming of the future, we barely glimpse the present moment.

This time of year is big for time travel. Reviewing our accomplishments of 2010, we are astonished that another year has passed. We look to 2011 as if it is something shiny and new, a package waiting to be unwrapped. Really, 2011 will be another collection of moments, strung together in time, just like 2010 has been. There is nothing special about these days at the end of one year and the beginning of the next, they are only numbers on paper. A way to mark time.

Where have you been time traveling these last few days? What have you seen in your past and your future? I hope for today you spend some time celebrating the present moment. Because that’s all we really have, when you get down to it. Our ability to time travel is just an illusion.

Today’s 9 Muses Musing prompt is CELEBRATE. Tomorrow’s prompt wraps up 9 Muses Musing with RESOLUTION. See you then!

Photographic PS – The “time travel” image above was created by setting my camera to a 1 second exposure, and then zooming from max to min focal length during the exposure. You can see it was handheld because of the wiggly lines, if I had been using a tripod they would be straight. I got this idea from my friend Barbara’s post on lights, but when experimenting I found I really liked the effect with people. Below is a normal shot of the same place, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. Which do you like better?

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Star Light, Star Bright

On Saturday night, after a wonderful, cozy day in the house, we got ourselves out to go into Monza – I wanted to capture the lights. I must be honest, I wasn’t feeling too inspired by them. I know, shocking, but even with me sometimes that happens. So I played around with creating some intentional bokeh by shooting out of focus. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the two images  side-by-side in the computer, out of focus and in focus, that I really got excited. Sometimes something new just hits you out of the blue – I wondered if I could combine them for an interesting effect. What you see above is the result, and I love it.

Here’s how I did it…I started with the “out of focus” bokeh photo in Photoshop Elements, this one:

Then I pulled the “in focus” one in, this one, as a layer above the “out of focus” photo:
I combined them by using a blending mode of soft light, at 75%. Finally, I stretched and tilted and adjusted the “in focus” photo until the stars closely overlayed the “out of focus” ones. These were taken handheld, so while they were taken from the same location and angle with the same zoom, they are slightly different compositions and needed to be matched up. If I had used a tripod (heaven forbid!), I would not have needed this last step.
I tried lots of different blending modes and opacities, they all came out slightly different – the one I’m sharing today is the one I liked best. Let me know what you think!

I interrupt my regularly scheduled participation in 9 Muses Musing because I wanted to share this photo for Sweet Shot Tuesday and Touch Up Tuesday. And, to be honest, I also didn’t have anything specific in mind for today’s prompt of FAMILY. 🙂 Be sure to stop by and see all the other shared stories on FAMILY  at Mortal Muses though! Tomorrow’s prompt is CANDLE.

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Loving the Lights

I am so loving the lights around me! How about you? The reflection of all of the lights in this wineglass caught my eye, that’s what I was trying to capture in this restaurant in Sorrento. The background light bokeh, self-portrait in reflection and the memory of delicious wine were just bonuses that came along for the ride.

The 9 Muses Musing theme today is LIGHTS. It’s my day as muse, and I’m sponsoring a space in my class, Find Your Eye: A photo course with heart and soul, as the giveaway. I hope you will come by and link in or comment today for a chance to win the space.

Tomorrow’s theme is BELLS. See you then!

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Share Your View: Holiday Lights

What fun, holiday lights! This is the holiday streetcar in Milan, where for the price of a transit ticket you can take a ride and get your picture taken with Santa. What a fun holiday tradition, and such festive lights!

Now it’s time to Share Your View. Link in your recent or archive image of holiday lights below to share and then visit the other links to see what others have found. Share what you’ve learned in the process, and any tips or tricks you figured out – either in the comments here or on your blog, we would all love to learn from you too.

Link will stay open for 30 days, so feel free to come back any time you have a great capture of holiday lights. I can’t wait to see your view – thanks for participating!

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