Bubbles in Fountain at Gateway Gardens 5-27-2015

There was a modern statue with a fountain at  at Gateway Gardens, GSO, NC.  These bubbles in the water were fascinating and thought it might be a great pattern or texture.  These are not exactly the same image but taken at the saeme place...but bubbles are ever changing..  The one on the left I did a "smart fix" in PSE 11.  The right one  I used Camera + post editing.: clarify, the tint lab with green color and to me it looks like a lot of jade gems.  The bubble facets are more distnct in the right image.   .  

Clematis Fronds/Whirls - Gateway Gardens, GSO, NC 5/28/2015

I am always looking for patterns or texture when I am out and about taking photos.  These fronds/whirls are after the clematis blooms. It is not the same plant as the one posted yesterday and no blooms present.  This one was in Gateway Gardens in Greensboro.  It was climbing up a fence. It had golden colored leaves and the image shows more of a golden color of the fronds than my eyes saw.  It looked more beige.  I did enhance with midtones but not to extreme because would have been too golden. Taken with Camera+ HDR mode. Minor editing in PSE.

Clematis with Different Variations

My neighbor had these clematis blooming.  It is weird how the one in the forefront is a different variety than those in the background.  If a cultivar maybe reverting to one of the previous cultivars.  I waited till evening--maybe too late to capture the image because would have been blown out with the sun.  I had to do some cropping and editing -so more digital noise and cannot always remove with a denoise filter.  Did some cloning of artifacts.  Taken with Camera + .  Editing with PSE 11.

Rosemary for Remembrance - Red, White & Blue for Veteran's Day

Monday was Memorial Day.  I took a picture of this red, white & blue bow secured to my Rosemary plant in a pot.  Rituals of remembrance for the dead are known to have involved rosemary in a variety of cultures. In Europe and Asia, rosemary has been planted at grave sites and sometimes used as mediums to communicate with ancestors. Rosemary wreaths are associated with Remembrance day. The backdrop was a beige cloth I  used over my banister on the deck.   Every day veterans and those serviceman who have serveour country, or those currently enlisted should be honored for giving us our freedom. Image shot with Camera +. Editing and text message done in PSE11.  

Mediterranean Style House - Hamilton Lakes Development

This Mediterranean style house was on a tour May 16th.  The iPhone with a small sensorand has trouble with distortion.   I did not do any correction of this image. Used Camera+ HDR mode.  It might be one  to use an  app that would help to correct this.  I sure did not see that distortion when I looked through the view finder and at the LED screen.
There are leading lines to the front door.from the way the lawn was moved  This showsed up since light coming from the left. & behind me.      

Magnolia Macro Sepals and Blossom Conversion to B & W

Magnolias are in bloom in NC.  Have tried different times of day and different poses.  The image on the left was actually one I picked and used a dark green cloth to lie the magolia blossom on it.  This allowed me to pull away the front petal so I would have a macro shot of the sepals.  Tbe petals are
really a soft texture. The image on the right was orginally taken in color.  PSE 11 used post processing.  I cropped, used clone tool to remove some dust artifacts, convereted to
B & W - then increased the contrast more after the B & W conversion as I wanted more black tones.
May have done too much.

Pizza Food Truck -Greensboro Hamilton Lakes House Tour

Food trucks are all the rage these days.   I went to the Preservation Greesnboro House Tour last weekend.  This Pizza Truck was at the first house. In a public place you cannot always choose your background and you may or may not want to include people in the scene. I don't like the red car  back in the street and the rod in the foreground.  I just saw Emil Pakarklis talk about Touch Retouch app but have not had time to work with it on an image of mine.  This could be a test.  If it works, may be able to post under comments.  When my sister comes to visit we want to do First Friday in Greensboro and there may be more opportunities then to get street scene images.   Minimal editing in PSE 11, cropping, darkening roof which had highlights really blown out.
It is not like a cell phone is going to give you the "blinkie" warnings.  .  

Cat Resting on Comforter at Friend's House

Yesterday had lunch at a friend's house. Her cat was resting on a comforter on the floor. I don't have that many images of animals.
This cat was cooperative and just rested there even though I was a stranger.  Black and pastels two different types of light for the camera
to see.  Unable to get the "catch light" in the eyes as light coming from behind the cat. It was not like I could tell the cat to poise differently. It wasn't long until she was licking her fur.  Did lighten and crop in PSE 11 so I could see the texture of the fur. Probably should have gotten lower and had her at my eye level. I did take with another P & S camera too.  

Cacti Close Up with Backlighting - P.J. Ciener Botanical Garden, Kernersville, NC

Was at P.J. Ciener Botanical Garden in Kernersville, NC, last Sat. to help with vendor booth for Herb Society of America.- NC.Unit.  I took a few images with the iPhone about 9:30 a.m.  They have several different succulents throughout the garden.  I always liked this one with the spikes and when I can get light shining from the back.  When you are in a public garden, you can not always remove debris or watering hoses, etc.  I liked that the shadows showed leading lines.  I do not have the app "Touch-Retouch" which is supposed to remove unwanted objects.  I am sure the image would have been better with a designated macro lens.  I did use Camera+ HDR mode. Post processing used PSE 11. I cropped, increased shadows, sharpened and decreased blue which gave a more yellow glow to the image.  The needles of the cacti would have been sharper had I used a tripod.

Pale Yellow Poppy with Honeybee and Ant - Sarah Duke Garden 5/10/2015

Another poppy from Sarah Duke garden.  This image I was more intereted in capturing the bee and ant.  So I did not get the entire blossom. With the digital delay it is almost a certainty that I will get a butt picture instead of the eyes looking at me or the insects will quickly flee the flower. I increased the shadows and sharpened slightly in PSE 11.  .

Fringe Tree Blossoms Close Up -also B & W conversion

Lately there has been a lot of hype about having a Fringe Tree in your yard and it is considered a native plant as well as an herb.  I like the petals of the blossoms as a close up and may use later for a texture background when I start doing more artisticdigital images.  The one on the left is the orginal in color.  The one on the right I converted to B & W "vivid" in PSE 11 but did additional contrast to make the leaves more black.  Will definitely be one I keep the images in my texture folder.

Squirrel Bird Feeder on Neighborhood Walk

On my neighborhood walk with dog saw this squrrel bird feeder.which did not have any bird seed.   Taken with Camera+ app - HDR mode.

Post Processing, cropped, increased shadows, sharpened slightly in PSE11.  

Swiss Chard Center Red Veins - P.J. Ciener Garden 5/16/2015

Swiss Chard at P.J.Ciener Botanical Garden, Kernersville, NC.
Liked the colors of this plant and the red veins.that made a center spoke.
It was about 10:30 A.M. EDST.  I used Camera+ HDR mode.  I should have focused more on exposure setting in camera.   Post processing I increased shadows, sharpened and slight vignetting in PSE 11.

Civil War Memorial Soldier - Green Hill Cemetery, GSO, NC

I went to Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro last week to look for some statues that I had seen in a slide show presentation for the Piedmont Herb Society. You can actually take a tour 2x/year. That focus was more on all the trees in the cemetery that are now being labeled  by a horticulturist.   This statue is a memorial to all the Civil War soldiers that lost their lives.  I went about noon which is not the best lighting for highlights and shadows.  The iPhone does like sun and if I used the Camera+ app can change the exposure. HDR mode. At least thie sky was not blown out.  It is not real evident, but I did not see the grey car to the right that kind of blends into the fence. It was not evident on the LED screen. I was too busy looking at the angle I wanted for the statue placement and the trees in the background. It would have been difficult to see with my LED screen, but it showed up when I was in PSE.  I only cropped for better composition, sharpened slightly and increased the midtones.  

Purple/Pink Rhododenron & Native Rhododendron 5/10/2015.

At Sarah Duke on Sunday, I wanted to capture more than just a couple ghododendron blossoms.  The image on the legt was shot in the shaded area near the cafe. I thought the tree bark added some other texture to the imatge. Because it had rained earlier there was increased saturation  Shot in HDR mode.  The native azaelas (right image)  in the Blowmquist Garden were not as good as I had hoped.  Shot with Camera + app   Post editing in PSE11.  Adjusted sliders for shadows, highlights and mid-tone  Slight sharpening.

Children Feeding Duke at Sarah Duke Garden 5/10/2015

At Sarah Duke Garden I saw this bridge over a stream that had some ironwork that looked interesting.  There were some ducks in the area. One decided to go into the stream. Two young children were trying to feed the ducks some bread. Wanted to try to get them in the image to
"tell a story".  Plus it was something beside the flower pictures I had been taking in the garden.  Unfortunately I could not get an angle that would avoid the highlights in the stream and then the lighting in the upper third of the landscape is lighter.  If you zoom in on the photo you will see movement of their hands. P.S. Never did take a picture of the bridge.  Minor postprosessing of lightness & darkenss, sharpening in PSE 11.

A Garden Angel Statue at Dawn Barry's Garden 5/13/2015

Went to my friend's house to see what she had blooming in her garden   It was 10 a.m.and the lighting was not good.for the plants I might be interested in photographing. I chose a small statue in a shaded area.  I have included the original image on the right. There was a fine line in trying to correct tieh lighting. Post processing. I used PSE 11. I cropped the left side of the image as it had a bare plant support and a small area of a red bench in the left upper corner.  I increased the shadows and mid-tones, sharpened only slightly as the statue had a porous surfacel. I thought she looked a little too green/yellow.  So, I enhanced the blue tones and tried a vignette which I have not perfected.

Walkway to Cafe in Terrace at Sarah Duke Garden, Durham, NC 5/10/2015

The Terrace Garden is very popular area at Sarah Duke Gardens.  The Gazebo at the top is used for wedding gown pictures, prom pictures or graduation pictures as this garden adjacent to Duke University.
I know from visiting the garden before that the Mother's Day weekend the peonies are blooming and they have unsual cultivars, i.e. not the same ones you are going to see in the neighbor's garden.  This is the time for Allium, Foxglove, pinks, Corn Poppies, a few iris and azaelas still in bloom.  This is image of a walkway has a Cafe at the end. It had rained earlier in the morning which gave good saturation of colors.  HDR mode.  I had to straighten and applied sharpening in PSE 11.

Pink Peony CU Center with Raindrops 5/10/2015

Sunday I went to Sarah Duke Gardens, Durham, NC, as a treat to myself for Mother's Day.  It is only about 50 min. from Greensboro on a good day. We left at 7:30 A.M.hoping for some early morning sun on the flowers in the "Annual Terrace Garden".  Well, it was overcast and trying to rain but we were determined to go to the garden "rain or shine". We did stop at Trader Joe's in Chapel Hill first hoping the sun would shine. There were many cultivars of peonies in bloom.  I wanted to get a picture of just the center close up.  I used the Camera+ app and the macro mode.  HDR modeon Post processing done in PSE 11 used highlight and mid-tone sliders, slight sharpening.  Stay tuned for more images from the garden.

Jack Portrait Taken in his Lounge Chair

Computer that I like to post to my blog was down on Monday.   Here is a picture of Jack.  I had been using his iPhone 5c as there were issues with the Camera+ not wanting to take a photo.  So, after I got that fixed, I decided to try a picture of him in his lounge chair.  This was a "grab
 the moment" shot.  No time for posing or telling him to smile, put his glasses up higher on his nose.  HDR mode on. The original background had the wall and bookcases behind him.  I did not like this.  So, I used the healing brush and paint brush to make a different background.  I also cropped to make more a portrait.  Post processing done in PSE 11. Maybe I should have used color splash to change the color of his shirt.

A Yellow Rose from My Garden for Mother's Day

For about 2 weeks I have had several roses blooming in my garden. I decided to take an image of a yellow Julia Child florabunda rose.  I first tried with grass as the background but did not think that was enough negative space.  Then I tried a purple tee shirt and a black turtle neck placed over the grass. The rose was about 6 inches above the ground.  I positioned myself at an angle for the stem & leaves..It was overcast about 10 a.m. I used Camera+, HDR mode, square format.  Post editing I used PSE with slight cropping, sharpening, increasing highlights & mid-tones slightly.  I also had to use eye dropper to pick up black color and brush the background with brush and paint bucket to get rid of the dog hair and artifacts on the black turtleneck.  Also removed some foilage in the lower right corner which I did not think helped the image.  I had added the text before the final use of the paint bucket and so edges of the text have some black flecks around the edges.  I was not willing to spend the time to remove the text and re-do but it should have been the final step. I plan to send an electronic greeting to friends/relatives who are Mothers.  

Asphalt Cracks for Testure and Patterns - Mosaic Like

 I am always looking for textures and patterns on my neighborhood walks. This image was taken after it had rained of some patterns in the asphalt on the street. That made them show up darkere. I did zoom in when taking the image.  The left image I did a smart fix with exposure with PSE 11.
The right image I chose a sketch filter (notepaper) in PSE 11. I used sliders to get rid of a lot of the specks and to increase the releif.  Then I chose a color with color picker and changed some of the larger blocks with the paint bucket.  Then I chose the texturizer texture filter.   No sharpening was used in either image.  

Iris Foliage Backlit

Was at St. Francis Episcopal Church when I took Jack to his weekly meeting.  I was trying to take advantage of different lighting.  It was about 9:30 A.M. E.S.T.  I wanted to capture the light shining through the left image.The light was more intense at the base of the leaves.  If I moved to eliminate the hedge in the background, would not have gotten the lighting I wanted. I did increase shadows and midtones in PSE 11. Slight cropping of iris image on right. It was bright sun fpr a clump of iris nearby.

Weigela Close Up - May 2015

Weigelia now in bloom.  This shrub was in a neighbor's yard.   It was late evening.  HDR mode.  Sometimes difficult to get the blooms in focus because not all in the focal same plane.  Minimal editing in PSE 11.
I think I used Camera + app because I wanted to use macro setting and focus and exposure can be controlled separately.   .

Dogwood Blossoms: Chinese & White Regular Compared

The regular dogwoods bloom early April in my neighborhood.  I previously posted some examples of the red blossoms that have the petal shapes of the regular dogwood.   It is the lst week in May and the Chinese  dogwoods have started to bloom.  They have a more pointed leaf.  The regular dogwood photo has minor editing.  The Chinese dogwood I cropped slightly increased the shadows, added a saturated film filter which made the center more noticeable.  Both were taken with HDR mode.  Editing was done in PSE 11.  The blossoms for the Chinese dogwoods can have a light green tinge and never get as pure white as the regular dogwood. Both images were taken after 6 pm EDST.  I really like the lighting on the regular dogwood but did not notice it that much when I actually caaptured the image.  

Cinco de Mayo - Margarita Time 5-5-2015

Today was Cinco de Mayo Day.  Decided to fix Taco Salad as the main meal and had some tortillas with melted cheese for appetizer with a Margarita.  I  could not find my Margarita glasses, so "on the rocks" glass was used.  I took the image outside using the porch banister and the background was the front lawn grass.  I used natural lighting and so the front of the banister had a dark area which I used to put some text.to commemorate the occasion.  Because of condensation, crushed ice, and  margarita mix the drink was not clear. Some salt missing from the rim as I had been sipping before I captured the image.   For dessert made a chocolate sauce and dipped fresh N.C. strawberries in it.  Yum!!

Fresh from Rudd Farm NC Strawberries 05-04-2015

Practicing food photography again.  Have a long way to go with lighting etc. I bought strawberries at Rudd Farm this a.m.   Made a strawberry glaze sauce which is an adaptation of the Frish's Strawberry Pie recipe with more liquid to make thinner sauce.  I used overhead lighting from the Halogen lights on my stove and used a beige drop cloth for the background.  With the overhead lighting there was glare on the plate with the waffles and I tried to clone to reduce this effect.  I also, used the healing brush to get rid of a wrinkle in the upper left corner of the fabric for the carton of strawberries.  The waffee plate has like a vignette due to the overhead lighting.amd more dense on the R side.  The strawberries in the quart container have some glare from the glaze as well as lighting highlights.  I may try to take the strawberies in the carton another time with natural outdoor lighting. Did not have a plain neutral color plate for the strawberries.  May have to go shopping at garage sales or thrift stores for some cheap plates and bowls if I am going to do food images.

Pink Rhodadendron at St. Francis Episcopal Church

Took Jack to his MS meeting on Wed.  There were Rhodadenrons blooming in front of St. Francis Episcopal Church.  They had pink, red, & white ones.  Took a shot of several blooms plus tried to take one CU.  Not sure the focus as sharp as I would have liked for the CU but it was a windy day-edited in PSE 11.

Sound Booth and Bull Pens @ Rodeo in Archdale NC - Original Instagram App

Went to a rodeo today in Archdale, NC. There was no admission charge --good thing as I did leave early because I got bored..  Saw more of High Point and Archdale than I intended because I got lost. GPS would not recognize the street & number.  Got there just in time for the beginning of the ceremonies.  I also took my Nikon P 600 becuase it has a zoom lens.

.This was probably the closest I will ever get to seeing a real live rodeo.  The riders on the bulls did not stay on very long. One was injured from the fall to the ground.  The calf roping was done by some young cowgirls and mixed ages cowboys.  The bulls were mean and you had to stay away from the fence to take photos.
I took the left image with Instagram app.but I cannot tell you what filter I applied. Then shared the image without any further editing.   I later downloaded it to PSE.  The  right image I changed the brightness and contrast plus sharpened slightly.

Winter Savory Spring and Mini Muffins with Herbal Cheese Spread

Winter savory is herb of the year 2015. Wanted to try to take a picture of some mini cheese muffins and spread.  This was a difficult photo to take.  I used outdoor lighting.  The muffins and spread are on a white paper plate that has a white doily. I shot HDR and square mode.  The spread was difficult to get textue as highlights an issue.  It is not like an iPhone has "blinkie" lights like the DSLR cameras.  Needed to position the stainless knife in a position to not have relection.  The backdrop color was a purple T-shirt but this has more of a blue-violet hue than the actual purple color..  I put a sprig of dried savory on the plate to remember what herb I used.  Any editing was done in PSE 11.
























































































































































































































































































































































































I have been trying to take more pictures of food.   It is challenging since I do not have studio lighting and have to use natural lighting or lighting above my stovetop.  It may be halogen.  For the H.S.A. herb sale I was asked to take some images of Savory plant or food that could be used for a display board.  I took a side view of a sprig of the winter savory on a white background but it looks beige/yellow.  I am going to take Emil Parkarkis iPhone Editing Course  with apps and hope to learn how to use masking which would help to darken the foreground. and cream cheese spread in the image with the mini muffins which were taken in the shade on an outdoor table with a purple tee shirt (not blue) early evening.  I had to position myself so that the stainless steel  knife did not have highlights.  I used PSE 11 to do post processing.  The original image of the mini muffins was too light to be able to really be able to fix the highlights.  HDR mode was on for both images.  .