Category: Nature

Day 82 – Zinnia

Zinnia

I stopped by North Mountain park again today. It is a little surprising how much things change from week to week. The Morning Glories and Sunflowers are starting to fade but the Zinnia’s and Marigolds are still going strong. The milkweed pods are also bursting forth. They are fun to photograph but are not a flower so you won’t get to see them here. For this one I decided to get out the big girl camera for a change. Shot with the Canon 7D  and a 180mm macro lens on a tripod. Once again I tweaked the exposure, added a high pass filter and a texture. This was another one where I thought, “Oh, it doesn’t need a texture” but once I got it on there and did the eye Dr. test (No. 1 or No. 2) I had to go with number 2.

Day 80 – Yellow Rose

Rose

Quick and dirty today but at least I remembered. This is from my flower walk yesterday. I positioned myself so that the sky would be in the background. I was using the Sweet 50 on the M3. Probably could have done with a little more in focus but I do like the shadows from the backlighting. In processing I just added a high pass filter, adjusted the exposure a little and added a texture which I masked out over the flower.

Day 79 – California Poppy

Poppy2GOK

I came home from a meeting this morning to find no power so the only thing to do was take the camera out for a walk. I was surprised to find a clump of California Poppies in bloom. I think sometimes plants get confused in the fall when the light is about the same as it is when they should be blooming in the spring. I shot this with the Lensbaby Sweet 50 on the Canon M3. I then took it into Photoshop and spot healed a lot of pollen and blemishes from the flower. I added a high pass filter and a texture and then just for good measure I took it into Topaz Impression and gave it a Georgia O’Keefe treatment which turned out to be a bit much so I dialed it back to about 50% transparency and now I think I have a winner.

Day 78 – Sunflower

Sunflower

I found this boquet of Sunflowers at Fred Meyer this morning. They were a bit past prime but only $5.00 for the bunch so I decided to take them home a play in the studio. It is kind of nice to be able to photograph without wind or bees in the wrong place or sunflowers that are taller than me. This one was shot with the M3 and one of the lensbabies… the Sweet 50 I think. I used both and forgot to make a note of when I switched. On this one I opened the shadows and added a high pass filter and a texture. I think there was one spot that needed healing as well.

Day 77 – Red Dahlia

RedDahlia

Well, it finally happened. It’s been a stressful week all the way around and I got so wrapped up in other things and other activities that I completely spaced out posting an image yesterday. So my options are to go a day longer or post two images today. Since I’m ready for this to be over and the flowers are getting harder to find I’m going to post two today. One from the archives and one from a new shoot which I haven’t done yet as I am still playing catch up on a few other things that have fallen off the table this week. But I will get around to it this afternoon and those of you that have subscribed to my blog will get two images tomorrow. This one was captured at Shore Acres State Park back in August. They have the dahlias so well protected from the visitors that I had to use a telephoto lens on the 7D to get this shot. I added a high pass filter and a texture. Oh, yes, I also photoshopped out a distracting stem on the left.

Day 76 – Echinacea

Echinecea

For today I decided to go back into the files to see if there were any worthy images that got passed over. I found this one from early August in North Mountain Park. The cone flowers are so photogenic when they are at peak. Right now they are all looking pretty bedraggled. This was shot with one of the Lensbaby lenses on the 7D. I just added a high pass filter and touched up some pollen with the spot healing brush. I tried a couple of filters but finally decided this one stands well on it’s own.

Day 74 – Marigold

Marigold

It’s a good thing I got lots of good pictures at  North Mountain Park yesterday because my life just got crazy busy, at least if feels that way after little or no activity since I got back from vacation. But I shall persevere and carry the camera around in case I see any interesting flowers.  This one was also shot with the Sol45 on the M3. High pass filter and one texture added.

Day 73 – Cosmo with Bee

CosmowBee

The thing about these Lensbaby lenses I’ve been using is it is really, really hard to find that sweet spot of focus and you have to try several shots and hope you got one right. But when you nail it, as I did (completely by accident) on this image it is almost jaw droppingly sharp. And the bee showed up at just the right time too. This was taken at North Mountain Park with the Sol 45 on the Canon M3. I added a high pass filter and a texture in post processing.

Day 72 – Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia

Along with the Chrysanthemum, I picked up a Rudbeckia at the nursery. I had purchased on earlier in the summer which looked fine until I planted it. Then it died. I’m beginning to wonder if my soil is tainted so many things just crash after I plant them. I may just put this one in a pot for it’s own good. This was taken with the Sol 45 and I just added a high pass filter, a texture and a vignette.