Some great tips for achieving that soft light blue colour

Some great tips for achieving that soft light blue colour

Cloud on a bee beach

 

Colour lightens our life and adds such a beautiful dimension to all we see.

How clever is our God to come up with a concept like colour. Through our eyes we absorb the beauty of creation in an array of colours. Each sunset, each green grassy slope, each red harsh desert, the ocean, greens to deep blues… one certainly could write pages of descriptions, endless and timeless.

We need light to see these colours, darkness cannot comprehend or display any colour at all.

 

One of the most tranquil and calming colours apparently is light blue.

Soft and gentle, cool and clear. From snowy mountains captured in the South Island of New Zealand to brilliant coastal sights captured in South Australia.

Light blue is good for your health and your soul. As we view this soft colour endorphines are released and we are calmed and soothed. Being a cool colour it also has a cleansing and refreshing effect on us.

Tips to get that soft light blue colour.

*Editing your photos becomes a must, as the blue of the sky or the ocean is quite a vivid blue and very often is not that soft gentle shade we want. I generally desaturate my images and try and tone down the brightness of the blue. I often raise the exposure a little as well.

* You may try adding a haze of white over your blue sky to soften it. I use photoshop for this.

* Snowy scenes are often perfect for that light blue shade. The sky in the early morning around the mountains can look quite spectacular. Once again try the desaturation slider if the blue is too intense.

* Try photgraphing on a cloudy day and try different settings. Experimentation is a great way to perfect your art.

* In South Australia there are some magnificent salt lakes that are that exact soft light blue shade. So if you are fortunate enough to live near some salt lakes, try your hand at photographing those.

* Dial the shutter speed down a bit so your images are a fraction lighter. Take a look and make the necessary changes.

Good luck and have fun.

 

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Yacht sailing by
sand dunes
Moon
Yachts at sea cliff
Snow in the cool of the evening
Misty mountains at dawn
Snowy mountains NZ
Frozen grass
girl in desert sands
Sand dunes
Blue wave
Alone on a hill
Spponbills flying

A strange and eerie place to visit

A strange and eerie place to visit

I am very excited to share this blog because it is a  moment I will never forget.

Whilst out fishing one day, we discovered at the back of Althorpe Island, a tiny inlet. (called Salmon Inlet.) As we drove the boat in closer the water colour turned from sea blue into a magnificent deep oceanic green. Very beautiful, very majestical, and quite strange. We journeyed in as close as we could and dropped anchor under a cloudless sky and glistening sun. The steep cliffs rising straight up out of the green depths were dark, rocky, and cold. The saturated green colour of the ocean kept changing as the sun moved over the sky. A bird or two appeared and then disappeared. The silence only broken by the occasional cry from these seabirds.

Even though it was winter I could not resist a swim. Freezing!!! I certainly did not stay in for long, perhaps not a swim just a dip! But as short as the swim was I wanted to jump in and experience this magical spot to the fullest. To immerse myself in the beauty of nature. To feel this dark green effervescent water on my skin.

After my swim we had lunch and simply basked in the peaceful, and arresting vista.
It’s a feeling, a longing, an ethereal presence that comes ever so gently when you discover something so unique and special, like this amazing place.

Do you know what I mean?

Beautiful beach at sunset
Sparkling turquoise beach
West Cape at sunset
A sunset of soft orange and a yacht
pink bedroom
my armoire
Lounge room
Walking along the shoreline
Waiting for the surf to come up
Galahs in the evening light
Althorpe Island in the distance

I wonder at the creativity of God. Depths that cannot be touched and heights that cannot be accessed by our human brain.

When things go wrong on the journey..an adventure down to Echoes

When things go wrong on the journey..an adventure down to Echoes

Beautiful beach

Beautiful Echoes beach with cliffs so high. The image above was taken many years ago with my old Pentax camera. One of my children lies under the umbrella, surfboards and clothes lying on the ground. Days we shall never forget.

In our early years when camping, surfing and holidaying at Marion Bay, we frequented a beautiful isolated beach. The beach was called Echoes, because of the sound the waves made as they whispered and echoed up against the gigantic cliffs this beach is surrounded by. It fast became one of our favorite spots due to its isolation and the good surf.

Recently the governing bodies, whoever they maybe, decided the descent to this beach was too dangerous and so the 3km road to the beach and the beach itself are closed  and consequently completely overgrown now.

One bright and sunny day we decided we would walk the distance and visit this most spectacular and beautiful beach for old time sake. 

Armed with packs, cameras and food etc, we set off. All good the first hour, but on arrival at the cliffs edge we noted how the old track we had used, was definitely in a much worse condition than before. 

Then as fate would turn on us, my vision went fuzzy and blurry, I was getting a migraine. Usually these gave me a headache, followed by vomiting and feeling very ill. Well we sat on the top of the cliff and waited till I could see again. I took some pain relievers. 

I was not giving up, no sickness would stop me from visiting my old beloved beach. 

So down we scrambled, fell, jumped, hopped, toppled, until we finally made the beach. My legs were like jelly, so I lay down on the golden sand and slept for about 30 mins.

When I awoke my husband had been swimming and so we both idled away the afternoon swimming, listening to the echoes and chatting and resting. 

I would need all my energy to climb back up that cliff.

I did consider how silly we had been and this was probably quite a dangerous undertaking.

As we lay there looking out to sea a small boating vessel passed by, they stopped and peered in at us and we distinctly heard them say. “How on earth did those people get to that beach?”

If I could have yelled back, I may have said, “Sometimes people are silly and insist on taking the track less travelled!”

Most of the afternoon I did keep pondering how on earth we were going to get back up the cliff, especially in my weakened state.

Three o’clock and departure time finally arrived.

We stood back and planned out our route, I gritted my teeth and I used all of my strength to slowly crawl my way back up the cliff. We helped each other over difficult spots and clung to branches or anything secure as we ascended. Exhausted we reached the top and took a drink and rest, however we still had a long walk back. 

As we walked along and time went by I seemed to gather new strength and felt amused at our exploratory activities, maybe as we are getting older we should not take such risks….oh what the heck…”Man who sit and do nothing, experience no excitement in life!”

Cliffs Echoes beach

The image above is of the cliffs that we climbed down and then up again!!

The beach house, a dream coming true.

The beach house, a dream coming true.

In the last few years we have found ourselves on an endless quest in search of a place to live, a place that belongs to our heart and gives us peace, happiness and quiet. We believe we may have found this perfect spot, a place beside the ocean, a place with memories a place that is quiet……

The love one has for the ocean is beyond all boundaries and can often be traced back to childhood. Long days spent lying on sunny sands and cool nights awaiting sleep while listening to the sound of the crashing waves on worn grey pebbles.The fisherman is indeed married to the sea and the surfer has inexplicable longings to master the relentless, whitecapped wave. The ocean never leaves or forsakes its lovers, it permeates deep into their soul, where water meets water. And the sky meets the horizon, and the sandy land is impressionable upon its inhabitants.

Our family have been holidaying in Yorke Peninsula for over thirty years. On the very first visit, in Casurina camping ground, we encountered a rustic, rugged, and dramatic environment, which tested our bodies and camping abilities to the extreme.Things have not changed much from that time. The huge waves, the rugged surfer, the strange but friendly emus, the orange kangaroos, the enormous cliffs, the lonely uninhabited islands, the shipwrecked coastline, the sultry fisherman, all of this has made for a holiday destination which captivates the heart of the adventurer, the explorer, the sun soaker, the swimmer, the surfer and any other who enjoys the saturating experiences of nature.
All and everything in its finality that we have learnt, is that whilst we are packing to drive back to our homes, our hearts are full and yet silently empty. We cannot speak, words would destroy the beauty of our holiday experiences, and any sound is a sign that we are departing this strange but very magnificent place.
The one point of hope is that we will return, for now/today we have made a claim to a small portion of sandy land and our dream is to build a tiny holiday home to bring all those old memories back to life again!

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