Author: dalecooper57

dalecooper57 may or may not necessarily be my real name, although I couldn't swear to it. An aging hippy living in Devon, I do all this stuff (and I do mean everything - blog, animation, music, photography, the lot) on my lovely smartphone because I started like that, and now I'm too stubborn to get a computer. I don't have a theme, because I don't see why I'd want to talk about the same thing all the time, so why only write about one thing? So if you like eclecticism, humour, nonsense, opinionated ranting, and occasionally educational stuff, you've come to the right place. Any and all feedback is welcome, both positive and negative, on the content, style and overall look of the blog. You keep following me, I'll keep telling you stuff, ok? Cheers, dalecooper57

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Motion.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography9 Comments

Two days of rainy weather and a thunderstorm, with one short afternoon of sunshine, that’s what passes for an English summer weekend, apparently. So I took my pictures for The Cosmic Photo Challenge indoors.

Today we’re looking at; Motion.

I tried a few more long exposure experiments; there’s a moving shot with a clear and blurred image in the same frame and a quick burst of lightning for good measure. Each of these was captured in a single shot.

*edit: ok, it is the third time this has happened, so I’m blaming WordPress for the scheduling glitch, as this post was definitely set to post tomorrow morning.

What moving pictures did you find for us..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Cosmic Photo prompt.

On By dalecooper57In photographyLeave a comment

It’s another wet and grey Friday, but never fear, The Cosmic Photo Challenge is here to inspire you for the weekend ahead.

This week we’re going to be trying to capture; Motion.

So, there’s blurring, action shots, long exposures, all sorts of fun techniques are open for exploration in Monday’s show and tell.

Have a great weekend and cross your fingers for some decent weather.

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Contrasts.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography12 Comments

Hello there, it’s Monday again and what better way to start the week than with The Cosmic Photo Challenge?

Today we are concentrating on; Contrasts.

I spent much of my weekend in the garden, so here are some shots from there; contrasting natural colours with inverted and monochrome edits.

Now let’s see how your weekend’s homework is looking today…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Cosmic Photo prompt.

On By dalecooper57In photographyLeave a comment

Good evening, here’s your Cosmic Photo Challenge prompt for the week; Contrasts.

That’s it, see you on Monday, have a great weekend.

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Sunrise/sunset

On By dalecooper57In photography11 Comments

For this week on The Cosmic Photo Challenge, we’re looking at the; Sunrise/sunset.

It was, of course, overcast all weekend, but here is a selection from the start and end of some recent, more cooperative days.

Also, an event that happened at sunset on Saturday, even though there wasn’t any sign of the sun; the crows in the rapidly expanding rookery in the tall trees behind our garden, all took off at the same time.

Did you have any more luck catching the sun waking up or going to sleep..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Cosmic Photo prompt.

On By dalecooper57In photographyLeave a comment

Good morning, congratulations on making it to the end of another week, your prize is a prompt for The Cosmic Photo Challenge.

I’m taking a risk that the Cosmic weather jinx doesn’t intervene and I’m making this week’s theme; Sunrise/Sunset.

Choose one, choose both, it’s entirely up to you, depending on whether you are a morning or evening person.

Have a great weekend, I’ll see y’all on Monday.

*edit: due to a new work schedule and a very long day driving today, I have been under the impression it was Friday all day, so you all have an extra day’s snapping this week.

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Art for art’s sake.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography7 Comments

Good morning, welcome to The Cosmic Photo Challenge, on a day we’re all about; Art for art’s sake.

I was hoping to take some pictures in the museum at the weekend but it was closed, so I took a walk around town to see what random art I could find.

As it turned out, along with a great mural, I saw some very odd sculptures in a shop window, so I relocated them to the empty pannier market and made my own virtual exhibition.

But the strangest art project by far was my experiments with an AI video generator I found online, called Dream Machine.

The machine takes a single still photo and animates it in line with whatever written prompt you provide it to dream about.

Here are the three photos I gave it to play with…

…and these are the results, along with the words which prompted them:

“The Twin Peaks reunion wasn’t going quite as well as everyone hoped.”
“A giant, pink, carnivorous alien flower reaches down from the sky and searches for food.”
“David Lynch was impressed with how many new friends he made after adopting John Justice Wheeler’s style of striped knitwear.”

What artistic treasures did you unearth at the weekend?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Cosmic Photo prompt.

On By dalecooper57In photographyLeave a comment

Hello everyone, here’s your prompt for The Cosmic Photo Challenge, on the day that the English “summer” reverted to type with the traditional torrential rain.

It is, of course, up to you whether you venture outside to capture this week’s images, but I’m playing it safe by picking something I can do indoors. So we’ll go with a regular theme which always produces particularly interesting results; Art for art’s sake.

Fingers crossed the sun returns tomorrow, but whatever the weather, have a great weekend and I’ll catch y’all on Monday.

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: A focal point.

On By dalecooper57In nature photography, photography15 Comments

This week on The Cosmic Photo Challenge we’re looking for something to draw the eye, with the prompt; A focal point.

I chose a mixture of striking individual subjects and the “vanishing points” of perspective found on roads, rivers and bridges.

What did you focus on over the weekend?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Cosmic Photo prompt.

On By dalecooper57In photographyLeave a comment

Another week gone and another prompt on The Cosmic Photo Challenge is here to inspire your weekend.

Today I’d like you to think about; A focal point.

Capture something striking to draw the eye, maybe a distant figure to pique our interest, a light in the darkness, whatever you can find to make the focus of our attention.

Have a great weekend and I’ll be back to compare notes on Monday.

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.