Christmas Lighting @ Dusk on Rankin - Neighborhood

Tried to capture some Christmas outdoor lighting display at dusk the other night. This one was a little late for ambient light, but it also hid some of the house and other yard structures. I need more practice with taking photos at night or low lighting situations. This is definitely out of my comfort zone. I was walking in my neighborhood with the iPhonein my pociket.  No, I did not have a tripod or a stabilizing object.  iPhone 6, native camera, edit: PSE 11 which included some healing brush and cloning to a bench and other yard artifacts.

Italian Anise Cookies with Holly Sprig

Time for Holiday baking to begin.   Thurs. our Herb Study Group had a cookie exchange. I made Italian Anise Cookies.  I took this image with 3 cookies placed on a white paper plate with a small dollie as both items were matte  using a piece of navy blue polyester fabric. The paper plate avoided glare like china/dinnerware usually gives off.   iPhone 6, edited with PSE 11. Taken about 5 PM and starting to get dusk. So, I changed color variation to decrease blue and lighten from the original which I felt  had a blue tone. I used the healing brush to delete white artifacts on the navy blue material . I found a native holly sprig along a roadside and clipped a piece to include in the photo.  I may stamp a sentiment like Merry Christmas to place on the plate..  Then I could use for a greeting card.  Recipe from www.food.com.

December 14th.   Just could not get the image to be light enough and still see the doily pattern.   So, I decided to take another image with a red fleece material as the background.  Also went outside earlier in the afternoon.  I actually shot the right image with the camera in Instagram.   Did not apply any filters.  Immediately posted to Facebook page as well as Instagram.  

Glitter Ornament CU @ Wal-Mart

Christmas time is a good motif  to look for representation of the season or decorations.   I was shopping at Wal-mart and came across this glitter ball ornament.  I took it off the hanger and placed it on a grey colored shelf surface.  It was difficult to avoid tags as you cannot pull off price tags or labels.  Taken with native iPhone 6 in square format. Used Touch -Retouch app to get remove a gold string,  Edited in PSE 11.  There was glitter on the surface of the shelf, which I tried to clone out a bit but not perfect. Reminds me more of Mardi Gras colors.