Spring

Blossoms

Blossomsw

It seems like overnight we went from winter to spring. I had to wait a couple of days to get out without rain but the blossoms were fresh and lovely thanks to all that moisture. I used the short telephoto on the mirrorless for this shot because it has a closer focusing distance than the long and because I needed to be able to maneuver to get the best composition which the tripod would have inhibited. In post processing I ran it through Nik Color Efex Pro to add detail and a vignette to help highlight the blossoms.

Last week I went on strike because the weather had been so cold and gloomy I didn’t even get out to photograph. This week spring is asserting itself again. So I went into my backyard to look for signs of spring. Photographing my blooming forsythia was a challenge but I also found the leaves on my hydrangea bush starting to unfurl. Crocuses and daffodils are blooming all around but this shot really spoke to me of the unfolding of spring.

Iris

Iris4

Hurray, the Irises are in bloom. This one had a bland beige background so I had to come up with a new one for it but it helped to define the image so I like the new look. I also did some burning and dodging and added detail and saturation. This image was shot with my 180mm macro lens with an extension tube.

California Poppy

Poppy2

Sometimes I wonder why I keep going out to photograph poppies. I have so many gorgeous ones in my files already. But this one is gorgeous too so I guess you can’t have too many. I used the 180 mm Macro lens on the Canon 7D Mark II for this one. It was so windy last weekend I hardly had a chance to get it out. But there was a little bit of calm in the morning and I’m glad I took advantage of it.

Post processing was minimal. Just adjusted the exposure a little, denoised a little, and sharpened a little.

Avocet

Avocet1

I went to California looking for wildflowers, which I found, but it was so windy it was hard to get any closeups and it was cloudy so the landscapes were dull. I finally retreated to the wildlife refuge where I found birds aplenty including a pair of American Avocets. Sadly I did not realize until I got home that my depth of field was too shallow to get them both in focus at the same time. So I settled on this individual portrait.

Daffodil

Daffodil1

So nice to see the daffodils blooming everywhere. I found this one in front of the nature center at North Mountain Park in Ashland. I love the pop of color added by the grape hyacinths!

I probably should have shot to include the whole stem but image this fat old woman with a tripod on her knees trying to see through the viewfinder at an odd angle and worried about getting run over. You do what you can. I still think it is a pleasing image.

In post I adjusted the exposure a little, added detail and just a little saturation and darkened the corners to give the daffodil center stage.

Dreaming of Spring

DreamingofSpring

I’ve been suffering from a bad case of the winter blues mixed with serious cabin fever. I though since I went to Cuba in December I didn’t need to plan a warm winter trip for January. I was wrong. Won’t make that mistake again.

Anyway, I’m plugging away at Photoshop artistry and started playing with these orchard blossom pictures and came up with this composition I call Dreaming of Spring. It went through a lot of steps of blending and filter gallery and Topaz Impression and the addition of an artistic border but I’m pretty happy with the final result.