Lori's Blog : Take: 1 Crazy Chick, 1 Crèche, 1 Crystal, 1 Camera and Coruscation and what do you get?

OK - we will eventually get to that title up there - but first I must tell you that I pretty much lied about that One Camera thing.

I would like you to meet the family:

My two tripods are both Manfrotto's and their 'Tripod-Thingy-That-Goes-On-The-Bottom-Of-Your-Camera" are EXACTLY the same - thus I can keep one on each of my big DLSR's and use which ever tripod I want!

Very cool, yes?

I sense out there in the ether that y'all are all oh, so very underwhelmed by my tripods - BUT I LOVE THEM! And trust me - you NEED a good tripod. The larger one up there has a gun handle grip that lets you move in all directions without all those nasty screws - ever so much nicer than all those dang screws!

I KNOW - YAWN ....

But I LOVE THEM!!!

The smaller Manfrotto is very light and will fit in my backpack - which is a plus ... but if you have a need for an even SMALLER tripod - check out those cuties in the back:

Simply adorable, I know and the two largest of the "Wee Bitty Tripod Family" - with a bit of supervision will actually support my big DLSR's.

I SO KNOW YOU CARE ...

Before we hit the evening of no sleep - I did take a few photos during the day.

This post will finish out 2012!

THANK HEAVENS!!!

OH!

Crap - I have one more - but it is a cutie THEN I will be done with 2012.

The photos in this post are from Monday - the last day of the year and I decided it was the day to play with my lenses thus I used all my cameras - BUT!

See - here is the sneaky loophole: I used each and every one of the only ONE AT A TIME!

One Camera!

Oh, my yes, I am JUST THAT CLEVER ...

Soooo before it got dark and I was too lazy to get up from my desk I took some spectacular photos of one of my new Swarovski Crystal Snowflakes and what I am now calling my "Angel Pile":

There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this world that captures light like a crystal:

The Angels are crowded and bickering - I need to decide which stay and which go into the trunks for the year - decisions, decisions, decisions ...

As it got dark - I noticed something over at Gary's computer - it had the prettiest reflection!

And since it took A HUGE EFFORT, notice WHO IS NOT IN THE REFLECTION (taking the photo)?

OOOOH!!!

Oh so very pretty!

Yes?

No?

You don't care?

Whatever - Onto Crèches, Crystals, Cameras, and Coruscation (Don't know what it means? Took me FOREVER to find a 'C' word for what I was doing - and SO COOL it fits exactly!!! ... Go look it up ...).

I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how much I absolutely adore it. Sadly during this photo shoot - I knocked over the palm tree (this is why it is not in all the following shots - just some) and it broke into pieces.

I literally sobbed and sobbed my eyes out (did I just admit to that?). It took me two days to figure out that maybe I could purchase a replacement from the place I bought it from ... and I could!

I have not been as excited to learn this since - well I actually have absolutely no idea, but I was VERY EXCITED ....

We are now back to having a perfect Nativity - Palm Tree and all!

So - I decided to play. The theme for the evening was:

Refraction and Shadows

I started with the Angel since I am rather enamoured with her:

I guess I really mean the Angel and her 'star':

Ooooh! So pretty! HOW DID YOU DO THAT? You ask?

I might let you know a wee bit later - I have a few more:

Sparklies again! And a HUGE clue as to what I am doing - can you spot it?

Take one Angel, One CRYSTAL Snowflake and shine a light through it and what do you get?

Angels, Shadows and SPARKLIES!!!

Another shot of my 'Helper':

OK, and since I KNOW you didn't go look it up:

Coruscate:

cor·us·cate

verb (used without object), cor·us·cat·ed, cor·us·cat·ing.

To emit vivid flashes of light; sparkle; scintillate; gleam.

A very fancy schmancy word for flashlight, don't you think?

~~~~~~~~~~

Moving on ....

I have one Nativity Sparklies and ... um eight Nativity Shadows -

what to do?

What to do?

Should I put the Sparklies first?

In the middle?

At the end?

Do you care?

OK - in the order they are in my folder (ah, I lied - I'm gonna put the sparklies first ...):

I give you

Rainbow Nativity:

Arched Light Nativity:

Ummmm, I'm at a loss for a name ...

Shadowed Nativity:

Shadowed Family:

The Three Wise Men:

Ummm, The Three Wise Men Part Deux:

Man - I really should NOT have put these in order ...

A brief note about the three ALMOST IDENTICAL photos up there (what was I thinking?) ... Note the blue - I liked it and since the Nativity was white and there was very little color in the photo to begin with, I could change the color of the background using the "Hue and Saturation" tool - just thought I would share ...

Nativity WITH the Palm Tree: