Ness's 44th Birthday - Aug14

Regular viewers/readers of my posts realise that we commemorate my late sister's birthday every year by letting off some balloons at either a park, lookout point or beautiful spot.

Venessa ("Ness") would have turned 44 on August 28th. Today was a lovely day and we let the balloons off at Mt Coot-tha lookout point which is around 10-12 km west of the Brisbane CBD.

Although I seem to have had every flu under the sun this year (currently battling a stomach virus) I wouldn't miss this for the world.

This was also Jonathan's first balloon commemoration and he seemed to get into it (refusing to let go of the balloons, most of the time!).

Anyway, here are a selection of shots.

2014 Monthly Project: Aug-14 (A Wider World)

Last month I utilised my macro lens for close ups. Another lens I like to play with is my Canon wide angled lens. This is useful for interior/architecture shots as it allows a wider view inside the frame.

It is not to be used for portraits though as it stretches the face and in some circumstances, can produce an almost comical effect. Also with interior shots, at the widest focal length, the angles and lines can suffer from distortion.

The shots below are from ones I took this morning of myself (warning: scary self portrait!) and the dogs. I also took some inside shots including one of our walk in pantry - with a normal lens this would be impossible to capture in one frame.

I was also at friend's birthday bbq for two of their children and snapped their youngest, Fred, in wide angles.

Additionally I have played with a few Photoshop Effects including HDR and Cross Processing.

Enjoy!