Aww Mondays
The love seat on the patio is one of Lucy’s favorite spots. She will ring her bell to go outside and one of us will open the door thinking that she is going outside to take care of business. She may get to the edge of the patio and realize it is sprinkling rain. She doesn’t like to do business in the rain so she will just hop up on the love seat and wait it out.
Just Crop It!
We have a butterfly bush in our back yard and this year it has been a very busy bush. Recently I stepped into the yard to snap a few images.
I managed to get a close-up of this beauty. I am not a butterfly expert so I have no clue what this one is called. Photographically, this in not a great image. The purple bloom of the bush is competing with the butterfly for your attention. A little more blurred background would help.
This image is SOTC (Straight Out of The Camera) and no edits have been made. It just looks like a routine snapshot. What happens if we look for a better image within the image.
Yes, this is the same image! I just cropped it very close, almost macro and then enhanced the color a little. I was fortunate the focus was good from the beginning because this photo was hand held, no tripod involved. In photographer talk this is what is called “fill the frame”. This is only one reason I love photography. There are so many creative options in the editing phase.
Monday’s Music Moves Me
This week at 4M is free choice week. I think I will venture into Southern Gospel. I am sure some of these artists will be new to you, because they are new to me. First up is Zane and Donna King. Scripture tells us that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. In other words our life circumstances are not an indication of our relationship with God. The good new is that God is with us when things are going great, but He is also our God in the hard times.
Mercy Me is a contemporary Christian group that has been together over 25 years. I love this new arrangement of one of their classics.
The Isaacs are one of my very favorite gospel/bluegrass groups. As this world wanders through the various phases of this Covid pandemic, it can seem like we are wandering in a wilderness that will never end. There is One who will guide us through this journey and never leave us. Here is their new release, The Wilderness.
In this troubled world there is one truth. God is faithful to His children. He keeps every one of His promises. Have a blessed week.
Driller's Place 
Miss Lucy is beautiful. She’s just a joy. I can tell.
Love the flowers and especially the butterflies. Wow.
Always enjoy your music pics. Never heard of Zane and Donna King. Very nice.
Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week, my friend. 🙂
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The butterfly bush is the best thing we have planted in the flower bed since we bought the house.
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Is that a swallowtail? I am not a butterfly person either.
I love the film the frame concept. I love looking at photos and seeing the different ideas that people have.
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I probably have as much fun in post processing as I do capturing the images.
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Lucy, Lucy, rain never hurt anyone, go ahead and to out in it 🙂 Love the butterflies. The fill the frame is amazing with all the crisp detail.
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She has a raincoat that she will wear and go out in the rain.
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Lucy is such a pretty girl. You can tell Lucy is a girl. She just doesn’t want to mess up her pretty fur by getting it wet. 🙂 I love to play with photographs using various photo-editing techniques. I’m not a butterfly expert but I think the first one is a black swallowtail. I did a quick check with DuckDuckGo and I believe that’s right. The one in your photo might be a female according to an image someone posted. You turned your second ordinary image into a more interesting picture by tightening up the frame to focus on the butterfly instead of everything else. I do that some times, too. Your southern gospel music choices are nice to lift the soul and remind us God is always with us. We always need those reminders even if we know this already. Thanks for being apart of the 4M dance party, my friend. Have a boogietastic week!
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I almost always shoot a little wide in order too give me some room to work when I get to post processing.
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Your first butterfly is a type of swallowtail. The orange one I can’t be sure about – many orange butterflies look similar, and I am far (very far) from a good butterfly ID’er. Your Lucy always makes me smile. For your song selections, all were new to me except for MercyMe. My favorite was the last; I enjoy the musicality of that type of Southern gospel.
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That last song is a real praise number.
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I always like it when you post photos of Lucy
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Lucy is a bit of a clown and I try to capture some of that personality.
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Me again, I have to wait until everybody else is out the house before I play your songs. I had never heard of the Isaacs but that song the Wilderness is just what I needed. Everybody is on edge these days it seems and this song is perfect.
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The Isaacs are basically a bluegrass gospel family. I have been a fan for over a decade and this new song is really special.
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Your pictures are fabulous, and i enjoyed the music very much. You helped me get my praise on this evening!
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There is no bad time to get your praise on.
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Great pics and great songs, Thanks for sharing both.
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Glad you enjoyed your visit this week.
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The colors of the black and blue butterfly are amazing! Happy youfound God’s support in the last two years:)
Emille (Jesh)
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