Sunday, January 1, 2012

They Came From Outer Space!

I was walking out in the desert in 29 Palms last night, out behind my house, just before sunset.  It was a beautiful night with the rocks of Joshua Tree lit up by the late afternoon desert sun.  Suddenly I heard a strange, high pitched humming sound... not loud, but like nothing I had ever heard before.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught what seemed to be a quick flash of light.  Thankfully I had my iPhone with me, which I quickly grabbed and captured this unbelievable photo (underline unbelievable!).  There were multicolored circular objects moving across the sky at incredible speeds!  Maybe those folks in Roswell aren't so crazy after all??!  I ran in the house to get my shotgun and tell my wife.  When we came back outside, they were gone!!


OK, back to reality.  Here's the true story.  My sister over at Lap Dog Knits and I heard about a neighborhood in Fullerton that does something really unique for the holiday:  they hang hundreds of lighted globes from parkway trees.  We decided it would make a great photo challenge, so last night we took our cameras and tripods over and clicked away!
Here's a good shot of the lighted tree globes.  It looked liked this for blocks
and blocks... very cool!
The globes appear to be floating around a tree wrapped with Christmas
lights in this shot.
Lap Dog Knits hard at work!
Lap Dog Knits showed me how to get some great bokeh... by the way, do
you pronounce it bo-kay, or bo-ka?"


Here's a close-up of a mystery globe.  If you look closely, it looks like a bunch of clear plastic cups with lights inside.  The lights flash different colors, so it creates quite an effect as you see hundreds of globes lighting up and changing colors.  Many are really high in the trees (15 - 20 feet).
Macro shot of outdoor ornament.

Frosty!
So, what happens when you move your camera while photographing a mystery globe?  Here's what:

 Kind of a cool effect.  I think it adds to the whole science fiction kitsch theme for this post!  Now that I think about it, the mystery globes do kind of look like eyeballs!


Linking to Macro Monday.  Check out this site for some really great macro photography.  Also, check out Lap Dog Knits ... I'm guessing she will soon be posting some great "mystery globe" shots!  Happy New Year!

30 comments:

  1. I think I like your first story better! ;)

    Great shots, though.

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  2. I like those shots when you couldn't hold the camera still.

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  3. These are all good...it's hard to say which I like the most.

    It was fun, I'm posting my "sci-fi" tomorrow with you hard at work with the camera.

    good time last night - others were toasting the night away, we were clicking our way into the new year

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  4. Wow, those photo's are AMAZING! You had me going with the story in the beginning, hehe
    From Alissa@look.find.inspire

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  5. Indeed...an excellent light show. I think I like the one above "lap dog knits" best. And I say boo kah. LOL

    My link for today: RAINDROPS on ROSES - a few of my favorite things!

    Happy New Year...

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  6. very cool. nice use of plastic cups! :)

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  7. Very clever... and love the story!!
    Great lights. Happy New Year!

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  8. Your last photo looks like there are some colorful music notes coming from your sister's elbow. How did you create that effect?

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  9. These are so cool and completely beautiful! Thank you for sharing them!

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  10. Beautiful lights! Your photos are fantastic! Nice job!

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  11. Loved your post!
    Easy to see how flying saucer photos could be manipulated. :)
    Cool shots and I like the 'light painting'.
    Great Christmas tree bokeh behind your sister.

    Thanks for visiting.

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  12. What a fun post. Loved it. - That would be a really neat thing to see. - Happy New Year!

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  13. Thanks for sharing! Some of these photos are indeed other-worldly!

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  14. Pretty,pretty photos - I'm a sucker for Christmas lights anyway. Very creative on the first photo :) Happy New Year!

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  15. Hi there - nice set of pictures, even if the reality is a bit more down to earth than the story!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  16. My husband would totally believe the ufos being real in your photo. I didn't raise him. :)

    What a grand idea these globes are -- some people have so much time on their hands -- which is great for us photography types!

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  17. very cool shots! a neighbor has one of those hanging in their yard, and i wondered if it was purchased or a craft project.

    thanks for dropping by my "next of the woods"! (as al roker is so fond of saying.)

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  18. What a cool post. From the sci-fi beginning (neat PS work) to the artsy end. It must have been a totally fun photo shoot of all these creative lighted globes. Night photography brings up an entirely new set of challenges, doesn't it? :-) Here's how we pronounce bokeh. Happy new year... happy shooting and sharing!

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  19. Interesting post. Experimenting with lights at night is marvelous. And experimenting with the blur or bokeh is exciting. You did fine.

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  20. Thank you for stopping in and leaving a comment. These shots could sure fool a person.

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  21. ha, those aliens always land in the desert! pretty lights!

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  22. You sure do have fun with your camera! I like them all, my fav is the macro shot of outdoor ornament.

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  23. They DO look like eyeballs! And for the record, I go with bo-ka. Always trying to make it happen too.

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  24. I've never seen anything like that before. Wonderful.

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  25. The lighted globes are very cool! I can see that you had lot of fun playing around with the light (as well as our minds!). Recently, I took some similar photos of lights by moving my camera around and got some fun effects.

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  26. The lighted globes are very cool! I can see that you had lot of fun playing around with the light (as well as our minds!). Recently, I took some similar photos of lights by moving my camera around and got some fun effects.

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