Happy 4th of July!

As a nature photographer who also has enjoys photographing flags, I thought I'd  post some of my American Flag themed composites to celebrate the 4th of July. I often like to take flag photos and convert them into textures which can then serve as backgrounds which can help "rescue" other images that have faults - I can then extract a critical part of the "flawed" image and salvage it with a flag background.

The US Flag flying at the entrance to Fort Sumpter National Monument - This year marks the 150th anniversary (sesquicentennial) of the shelling of the fort that began the US Civil War.

The Statue of Liberty against a textured flag that I took which flies in the plaza around her pedestal. The sky was a mottled grey cloudy mess that day, so the flag served as a much better background.

President George Washington's statue which stands in front of Federal Hall in New York City. Federal Hall is where Washington took his first Oath of Office as President in 1789. The background of the original image was littered with tourists so I extracted the statue and placed him before a flag I textured as if it were a mural on a brick wall.

This composite came about because the background behind the two captive eagles was very distracting and blown out. I used two layers, a forest silhouette and a textured flag and placed the eagles on their perch in the foreground to create a theme of American Wilderness.

Thanks for sharing your time here today, I hope you have an enjoyable Fourth!

And Justice was Served....

To honor the work of the brave soldiers who helped bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.

No more needs to be said.

Click in the images to see either in their original gallery

Visit Wordless Wednesday for more non-verbose offerings....

Photo of the Year 2010 (Part 1)

Welcome to the final days of 2010! I have just gone through the statistics from the past year and compiled a list of the top 4 photos on www.Blue Lion Photos from January 1st until today, December 30th. Tonight I shall reveal the 3rd & 4th place finishers. Tomorrow I shall reveal the runner up for 2010 and on New Year's Day 2011, I will share the Photo of the Year for 2010.

The 4th place finisher is one of my US Flag composites that I first created in February for President's Day. It is called "Eagle Pride" and has been a popular choice for folks wanting to give a gift to young men they know who are earning their Eagle scout honor in the Boy Scouts of America.

Click in the image to see it in the original gallery

The 3rd place finisher is probably the photo I have talked about more than any other one I have taken. I titled this one "Three of a Kind". These three bunnies were found on the campus of the school where I teach during a construction project. Students brought them to me and another teacher with a great degree of concern. Later that day Mama rabbit was located and the whole family was relocated to an East Texas ranch. This is a popular choice as a card and sells well at craft fairs as it has a wide appeal and high "cute" factor.  

Click in the image to see it in the original gallery

Stay tuned for the runner up which I will post tomorrow!

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