The Gazing Ball

[Maureen Allen]

Cheryl and I gazing at the gazing ball at Kanapaha Gardens in Gainesville last evening. We had a blast running around the gardens before dark and stumbling around after dark during the Moonlight Walk

[Dennis Bishop]

This was certainly a creative idea. And having two of you there makes a good composition. The background was distracting to me so I thought I'd see what would happen if I defocused it with Alien Skin's Bokeh.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Maureen, I had a blast! I'm glad you posted yours - mine doesn't compare to this one. Thanks Dennis for the repost - Alien Skin does a great job (oh, no, just when I thought I was through buying things for a while)

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . Alien Skin does a great job (oh, no, just when I thought I was through buying things for a while)

I'll sometimes just do a Gaussian blur instead of using the Bokeh software. However, with a scene like this that has all those small highlights in the background, Bokeh can be used to get those nice circles as well as softening the region where it's applied.

[Maureen Allen]

Dennis, thanks for your suggestion and for taking the time to rework the image. I had initially blurred the background on this, but decided it didn't work for me. I prefer the image include the view of the gardens both in front and behind us. Just a matter of personal preference, I think.

[denise ippolito]

Maureen, Thanks for sharing this! It looks like you two were having too much fun! I like Dennis' version but understand your thoughts and vision.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Maureen, thanks for posting this fun and creative image of you and Cheryl. I lean a little more toward the version with the blurred background, but both versions work as they are.

[Mitch Carucci]

I like the original un-blurred version with the garden.

[Nancy Bell]

Very cool idea & execution. I like both versions equally.