I meant to publish some pictures I took this summer, but I felt that all this greenery might bring on a longing for warmer days so I thought I'd make them match the actual season. This is a dead simple manipulation suitable for beginners provided you have an image editing software. As usual, if you do not use Paint Shop Pro, you'll need to figure out the equivalent tools.
Materials
a summer landscape photo
Instructions
1. Open a copy of the image you wish to manipulate.
NOTE: To improve the effect, I've slightly decreased saturation and luminosity then changed the overall colour temperature using the Automatic Colour Balance dialog, correcting colour cast and choosing a warmer tone. This type of setting is the same as tone mapping except it changes colour temperature (to colder or warmer tones) globally instead of selectively. The output is less accurate however it is useful to balance out all the colours as they would normally look like in the autumn light.
For the above variation featuring tamarisk, after tone mapping, I used the HSL (Hue-Saturation-Luminosity) dialog to decrease hue to -5 and saturation to -8.
It is, of course, possible to get even more realistic and stunning effects using external filters (such as Color Efex Pro), but these are usually not free and not compatible with all operating systems or graphic applications. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Now, you may not be able to make it rain or shine in real life, but in your pictures you definitely can.
Originally, I had translated the lyrics of this song for a Muse site called Space Dementia to support a French community project around featured themes on EklaBlog — last month's theme was animals. However, for some reason, it never got published. Okay, so that's just one more for Muse in the Yorke-Bellamy competition as both lyricists certainly do inspire me a lot! A note about the chosen video: this is not the official clip, but the winning entry to a competition launched by the band. Pretty good, isn't it? What do you think ?
Ey@el
Animal You’re an animal Don’t take anything less
Out of control You’re out of control Strike those in distress
Analyse Advertise Expand Bend more rules Buy yourself an island
Animals We’re animals Buy when blood is on the street
Out of control We’re out of control Crush those who beg at your feet
Analyse Franchise Spread out Kill the competition And buy yourself an ocean
Amortise Downsize Lay off Kill yourself Come on and do us all a favour
Worry not, I didn't fall asleep with my head in the ice box nor did I forget to close the fridge door! It's just that ages ago (back to the last Ice Age some might say), I was given an all-white teddy bear to celebrate my coming to earth — I rejoice in having best withstood the passing of time than the poor thing did. That is to say it's only a fun reminder of yesterday's article.
By conversing so often with Brume (a fellow blogger whose username means mist), I had to write an article on her somehow. But which mist are we talking about? Well, here we'll only talk about enhancing your pictures with natural effects by adding some fog and/or soft glow. As always, I have used Paint Shop Pro X, but this tutorial can easily be adapted to any image editing software.
Materials
a landscape photo
Instructions
1. Open a copy of the image you wish to manipulate.
2. Add a new layer and draw an irregularly shaped strip in the central part of the picture using the freehand selection toolwith the following settings:
Feather = 45 Anti-alias activated
3. Flood fill with white than select none.
4. Now move the fog strip wherever you wish then lower the layer's opacity according to the desired effect (I lowed it to 68%).
NOTE: To make it look more real, I changed colour temperature to cooler tones (6780 K) and added up a bit of cyan to mid-tones, thus increasing the morning mist effect. Finally, to give a flawless finish, I slightly reduced colour saturation.
For the above variation, I used two different selections as shown on screen capture. The ground selection is to reflect the light. The layer opacity has been reduced by 20%. As for the mist itself, a feather of 60% has been used to draw the selection with a 42% layer opacity. Colours have also been altered. First by mapping hue 0 to 198 and hue 36 to 203 and decreasing saturation to minus 40%. Since sky saturation was still too blue, I used the Magic Wand tool to select it and further reduced its saturation to minus 40%.
On this last sample, I only added soft glow which is particularly well suited to black and white pictures. As you can see on the left capture, I drew three selections. The first (magenta-purple) has the layer blend mode set to Dodge with 12% opacity. The second overlapping (cyan-purple) uses the same layer blend mode with 53% opacity. Finally, the last one (green) uses Lighten blend mode with 55% opacity.
As you can see, you need to adapt settings to each picture and your desired effect. Feel free to use as many layers as needed and experiment with blend modes to achieve optimal rendering. I have focused on “realistic” photo manipulation, but this technique may be used to produce “supernatural” or surreal effects. As always, the only limit is your own imagination.
I know how much some of you guys do love “crepes”, but I can't always serve the same old originals made in Oxford again and again lest it might go stale — particularly when many still don't get why I add pancakes to each of my graphic designs featuring Radiohead — don't lose heart my friends, the light will eventually shine on you at some point... So, I suddenly remembered that bunch of French clowns my bro had made me discover aeons ago (and unknowingly we had both bought each other their album as a Christmas gift) — this hilarious but talented cover band specialising in spoofing great rock'n'roll anthems. Well, never mind their rather saucy, often poo-and-pee kind of humour, they're such a lark!
“There's music playing from the flat next door, but you can only hear the heady notes. That's what the Rolling Bidochons concept is all about,” explains Thierry “Titi” Wolf aka Johnny Ripoux (Rotten in French slang) aka John Lénine (Lenin), the Voice of the Party.
The crazy buggers started tackling the repertoire of the Sex Pistols, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles (“We got sued by Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and the Lennon boys, but we won. The law states that: "Any work that has been disclosed may be parodied".”), and fellow countrymen Téléphone. They reformed a decade later to record an album of disco classic covers. In between albums, they also took liberties with Radiohead's "Creep" ("Cuite" which means “cooked”), but the result falling somewhat below expectations, I opted for this spoof of Nirvana's "Rape Me" instead.
Hope you have much fun watching this rather well-made video clip which also delightfully mocks up the X-Files cult TV series. The Truth is not Here. Briefly: in a world where pizzas rule, agents Bolder and Skilly of the Pizza Bureau of Indigestion have found a band attempting to prove the existence of a pancake conspiracy. The government sends agents to stop them in their tracks and thus keep the secret undisclosed to the public.
Crêperie
Creperie, cheap creperie Creperie, I prefer creperies
I'm sick of pizzas — Caper & Anchovy I'm sick of pizzas — Mozzarella I'm sick of pizzas — Marinara I'm sick of pizzas
Creperie, tonight it will be a nice change From your hellish food, oh please
I'm sick of pizzas — Isabella I'm sick of pizzas — Roma Special I'm sick of pizzas — Margherita I'm sick of pizzas
'Cause of you, I lost my mates Who can't take your space food I'm very fond of your freezer But one pizz' a day makes me sick
Creperie, cheap creperie Creperie, I prefer creperies
I'm sick of pizzas delivered at home I'm sick of pizzas always served cold I'm sick of pizzas, tonight I can't have it I'm sick of pizzas
Creperie, creperie, creperie...
Titi Wolf, 1996
Chinese whispers: "Mole Holes"
What about spoofing the spoofers? You never know someone might decide to spoof my spoof of a spoof. These lyrics were inspired by a post by a fellow blogger entitled "I'm sick of spies" (in French) which immediately triggered the jukebox inside my head. I would hear Nirvana's music and the Bidochons sing “I'm sick of spies, I'm sick of spies...” over and over again with similar visions as the above clip. The words came easily and I wrote them down without much thought. Now I'm so proud of this baloney of mine, I thought I ought to share it with you!
Moles, moles — so noxious Moles, moles — so despairing
I'm sick of spies — so pathetic I'm sick of spies at bay I'm sick of spies at home I'm sick of spies
No moles, I'm gonna blow'em No more, the hell with'em
I'm sick of spies — Obama I'm sick of spies — CIA I'm sick of spies — NSA I'm sick of spies
'Cause of them, I'm hiding in a hole For they're lurking everywhere You might think I'm paranoid Well, I'm fuckin' freaking out
Moles, moles — so noxious Moles, moles — so despairing
I'm sick of spies tracking me I'm sick of spies, help me I'm sick of spies, oh my I'm sick of spies
For those of you who couldn't get up to enjoy the total eclipse of the super blood moon last night, here's a glimpse of what you've missed. I'm a bit disappointed, though, that it wasn't any redder, that my camera couldn't zoom any further (not intended as a telescope), and mostly that it was so cold.
In line with those “symptoms” I wrote about yesterday, in her latest article entitled "Transition" (available in French only), Laura Marie claims this last eclipse scales new heights in the great energy wave of awareness that overcame us this month — the initial outbreak took place at the end of 2012 heralding not “the apocalypse of the end of the world unlike in Hollywood's continual attempts to condition the human spirit to manifest disasters in his reality nor the future of the Earth, but rather the sign of the end of the world as we knew it until now: submersed in the gloom of ignorance and unawareness. As when confronted with emerging consciousness, the powers that be can no longer maintain their supremacy.”
In particular, she explains something that some may still regard as cloudy precepts, but which to me is now an undeniable reality: “We are coming to recognize the immediate consequences of our thoughts, either positive or negative. The new energy on Earth helps us manifest everything going on in our minds even faster than ever before. Any time we focus on a negative thought, we immediately see its negative reality becoming manifest in the physical world. Any time we focus on a positive thought, we immediately feel the physical change within our bodies and what is being created before our very eyes in our outer reality. Only those who are still soundly entrapped within their pure old 3D mental beliefs cannot realise yet that they are creating every single moment of their reality.”
I don't know whether more crimes will be committed on this harvest full moon, but one thing for sure, tonight at 2:48 GMT, we shall definitely witness an extremely rare astronomical phenomenon: a super red moon combined with a total lunar eclipse that will not happen again until 2033 (the last one took place in 1982). And as if that wasn't enough, astrology-wise, this event involves both karmic axes represented by the lunar nodes and the dark moon.
When the “equator” Sol has made his way, And measures time to equal night and day; O'er all earth's regions shine his genial rays; Her poles' extreme may see his radiant face.
The Old Farmer's Almanach (1809)
Super Blood Moon
As we all know, contrary to legends and folklore, the moon doesn't shine. It looks so because it is reflecting light from the sun. Unlike the “Blue Moon” phenomenon which has nothing to do with a change of colour, there are few situations that can cause the moon to turn red, hence its poetic given name of “Blood Moon”.
The most common is when the moon is low in the sky, just after moonrise or before it's about to set below the horizon. The second can be caused by some particles in the air such as those you get after a forest fire or a volcanic eruption. The third actual and more dramatic reason is when the moon is eclipsed by the earth (passes into its shadow). Only the red part of sunlight will pass through the earth's atmosphere and get reflected off of the moon giving it its bloody rusty-red colour.
On this occasion, the moon appears to be about 14% bigger than usual because it is at perigee (at closest distance from earth on its elliptical orbit) — the autumnal equinox happened five days ago. Please note that astronomers prefer using the term “perigee-syzygy” over that of “super moon”.
A tetrad of total eclipses
Tonight's lunar eclipse is the last of a tetrad comprised of four total eclipses happening in a row at six-month intervals. The first three occurred on 15th April 2014, 8th October 2014, and 4th April 2015.
Italian Astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli calculated that the occurrence of such tetrads varies over centuries. Some 300 year intervals have several lunar tetrads, while other 300 year intervals do not have any. For example, the years between 1852 and 1908 did not have any tetrads, whereas the next 3 centuries will have 17 tetrads. (Source)
This phenomenon is expected to last 5 hours and 10 minutes and should be visible from most parts of the globe where it will be dark (too bad for Australia and the Pacific zone).
It will start entering the penumbra at 00:10 UTC/GMT. As it penetrates the veil of darkness, the lunar disc should gradually be losing its healthy glow to assume a greyish hue. It will take about 56 minutes to get fully draped into semi-darkness. It should start passing through the Earth's shadow at 01:06 UTC/GMT. This will be the beginning of the partial phase. As its still illuminated part dims to a thin crescent, the moon will take on a dull but subtle shade of grey. (Source)
One more end of times prophecy
Some people believe that the tetrad has special significance because the eclipses coincide with important Jewish festivals (Passover in April and the Feast of Tabernacle in September-October). They suggest it may be connected to the biblical prophecy mentioned in the book of Revelations (6:12): “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.”
The idea of a “blood moon” serving as an omen of the coming of the end times comes from the Book of Joel, where it is written “the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”
Around 2008, [American pastor Mark] Biltz began predicting that the Second Coming of Jesus would occur in the fall of 2015 with the seven years of the great tribulation beginning in the fall of 2008. He said he had “discovered” an astronomical pattern that predicted the next tetrad would coincide with the end times. When the prediction failed, he pulled the article from his website, but continued to teach on the “significance” of the tetrad. (Source)
Another pastor, John Hagee later seized on Biltz' prediction to write Four Blood Moons, which became a best seller upon release in the spring of 2014, thus attracting mainstream media attention.
Karmic full moon
Full moon in the dirty sky, That's all we can hope for: Full moon over dirty hearts.
Astrology-wise, this over-amplified, magnified super full moon will occur at 4 degrees on the Aries-Libra axis also conjuncting the axes of the Dragon (lunar nodes) and of the Dark Moon (all fictional points on the orbital ellipse of the moon around the Earth). Regardless of any end of times prophecy, there is no doubt that some karmic release is about to happen somehow.
This eclipsed full moon highlights aspects of our lives that must be dissolved. It should also help us integrate and receive the unknown as we're letting go of the past. (Source)
I don't know about you, but I have personally started to acutely feel its effects at an emotional level. For the past week, I've had many vivid dreams and my intuitive perceptions are at their highest. Not to mention my mind which seems to take in both details and overviews with incredible ease and at unprecedented levels (hope it stays that way!). Probably because this full moon coincides with a lunar return on my birth moon (to its exact degree in Aries), forming harmonious aspects with my karmic axes (almost exact degrees as well), and soon to be followed by my annual solar return. Beware, upheavals ahead: don't piss me out tonight lest I should turn into a werewolf!
FR
