For anyone who wonders what the tell-tale signs are that a llama is about to spit a mouthful of straw and spittle, ears back and head reared back are the things to look out for – as here.

Nikon D60 with 18-55mm lens at ISO400 1/125 second at f5.6

It snowed yesterday and the trees were laden with the lightest of fresh snow

Apropos of nothing, I watched a program on the television recently where a man showed that as often as not, water needs a seed for it to turn to ice when it is cooled below zero degrees centigrade (32˚ Fahrenheit).

It completely undermines one of those basic facts that I always believed to be true. It was an eye opener not just because of what I learned to un-learn about water, but because it has taught me that there may be many things I may need to unlearn.

Back to the photo. It is now an ecard at Quillcards for distinctive ecards, and it makes a pretty picture to send to a friend or family, whether as a birthday card or just to say hello.

 

The rose on the right is a duplicate of the one on the left. I used Displacement Map in Photoshop to alter it.

Go to Distort > Displacement Map, and it will ask you for an image to use as a displacement map. Which means you need an image to use for that purpose. I recommend something that has ‘dramatic’ lines to it, such as the black and white image below. I made the image totally in Photoshop by drawing black lines and then copying and re-copying sections of it across the image.

 

 

And the following shots of Big Ben show what using that displacement map can produce.

 

 

And now, abracadabera: