Quad Cities
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Some bling in four different sizes for Macro Mondays and "Smaller and smaller". Real diamonds are born under pressure, but these Swarovski rhinestones were born from dust. We are in macro world, after all, which means: magnified dust. After a first rather frustrating round of doing some focus stacking and still finding the diamond-shaped Swarovski crystals, which I had so carefully cleaned with a fresh microfibre cloth beforehand, covered in dust, I had what you might call a sudden "de-dusting" inspiration: wet wipes for glasses. You know, those single-packed wipes that you shouldn't use all too often because they might damage the glasses' coating. And honestly, wet wipes for glasses never work without a good amount of repolishing with a microfibre cloth, because all they ever do is smudge the glasses further. But used on these small and smaller glass stones? It was worth a try, and it kind of worked. I'm not saying that the wet wipes removed every single speck of dust, but the crystals were much cleaner than I'd ever managed to get them with a dry microfibre cloth :)
The different sizes of the crystals are: 1,7/1,4/0,6/0,3 cm (0,6/0,5/0,2/0,1 inches) in diameter. I've placed the crystals on a glossy black tile and illuminated them with a soft photo LED light from above, white light from the left, yellow light from the right, and a handheld flashlight set on "spotlight" handheld from the front. The final image is an in-camera focus stacking JPG which I've further processed in Lightroom (clarity) and Color Efex (filters "Brilliance and Warmth", "Reflector Efex Gold", and "Skylight"). I did some final
de-dusting with the healing and copy brushes in PS.
Happy Macro Monday, Everyone!
I like adventures, exploring the world is one of the biggest.
Picture was taken at: Jambo!
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Coral%20Cape/18/106/22
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWfY9GRe7SI
Thanks for your favs, comments and awards.
*hugs* Ash
Numerous quad tracks can be seen running over the hill here that vanish in the morning cloud. This is rough sheep faming country near Fruid. A lovely morning in the hills.
Derby's centre for the arts, this is the corner of the building ... lots of visual arts going on, as well as the international photographic Format Festival directed by Louise Clements and supported by many significant photographers from all over the world. Still waiting for my invite :D
see formatfestival.com for more info...
Quite a bit difficult to beat this hand. A quartet of matching H3 GPs bring two autoracks back home with them as they ease their way into Northtown.
Pacific National liveried quad 82 Class' come out of the gloom to run the coal through Greta Station, New South Wales, Australia.
8258 leading with 8204 (Ann Paul - Wagga Wagga), 8253 and 8233 making up the capable foursome.
The Classic Space Bubble Quad was a fast and fun way to travel across the moon. Its big tyres and independent suspension could easily cope with the deepest craters or roughest moon rocks. The bubble canopy afforded unrivalled visibility, though nobody ever worked out where the door was...
See all of the photos and a video in this album.
KCS 2971 leads CPKC's KD70 near the Water Works on Davenport's east side after returning from a run up the Eldridge Branch. They will cool their heels here for a little bit while 252 heads north with a KCS ACe just out of view to the right.
KCS road power is a common sight on the former CP side of the railroad now. However, the local power is still quite segregated. 2971 is one of the first KCS geep to hold down a regular assignment up here. When I returned a week later, KCS 2847 also appeared. It's only a matter of time before the geeps get as mixed as the road power and this is just the beginning of a lot of change to come. So enjoy those multiple unit KCS locals while you can, because the solo ECO's invasion is coming.
CN train L50881-20, the local that serves the large Quad Graphics printing plant at Lomira, Wisconsin, just south of Fond du Lac, heads back north towards town after finishing up its work just after sunset.
Power for the local today is a pair of veteran CN SD40-2s, CN 5266 and 5268 built in 1975.
CP train 226 was passing through the Quad Cities behind Southern Pacific AC4400CW 310 in 1997.
Soon Canadian Pacific would sell off this property to the I&M Rail Link, who would sell it to the Iowa Chicago and Eastern, which was in turn taken over by the Canadian Pacific, bringing it all go full circle.
DME 4006 leads a northbound local underneath the Iowa Interstate on its way to Le Claire and Clinton.
8129, 8170, 8250 and 8183 haul their load of flour up the Cullerin Range as train 8936 to Nowra via Robertson.
2021-01-10 Pacific National 8129-8170-8250-8183 Cullerin bottom 8936
Able to move each wing independently most dragonflies are energetic flyers, hunting, feeding, and mating in the air. But the scarlet skimmer frequently perches near a water source. This beautiful female skimmer found a lofty vantage point to survey the surrounding wetland. She will eat copious amounts of mosquitoes, flies, midges, and other flying insects every day. One of the first insects to inhabit the planet, fossilized dragonflies have been dated to 300 million years ago.