Milkweed Propellor - Excessive Sharpen for Texture Effect

Love walking in my neighborhood to look for images. Was out and about at noon and saw this milkweed propellor.  Not always the best time for taking photos due to excessive highlights. It was windy.  Pushed the sharpen to about 400 to get a texture effect.  Reminds we of a dancer twirling around.  Taken with Camera+ macro. Edited in PSE 11.

Macro Chinese Dogwood Fruit - Reynolda Garden, W-S, NC

This image should have been posted September 2nd, 2o15. 
 I took the left  image at Reynolda Garden in Winston-Salem on Saturday. However,  one of my neighbors has 2 of these Chinese dogwood trees.  Botanical name Kornus kousa.  The right image was taken this spring with the iPhone 5C native app. --no editing.   It blooms later than the flowering dogwood we are familiar seeing in NC in spring.  The left image is the fruit which appears late summer and into the fall. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden website these berries are exceptionally large (about 1.25 inches) and are edible (inner custard-like consistency) off the plant. Birds also love the fruit.  Elliptic-ovate, pointed, dark green leaves (to 4” long) turn orange-red to scarlet in autumn. The left image taken with Camera+ app, HDR, macro setting.   Edited with PSE 11: cropped, increased midtones, sharpened. 

Mushroom Macro - Neighborhood DD

One of my neighbors had some mushrooms in her yard.  I chose this small one and tried for a macro image.  The image on the left is actually as the camera saw in color with Camera+ app.  I did not notice the highlight on the top right area.  I increased the shadows, shaprened in PSE 11.  The right image I used hue and saturation to get a more vintage look and also sharpened more.  The highlight looks a little less evident than the image on the left.

Sweet Pea Macro - Neighborhood

Sweet peas seem to like to grow along roadsides.  I captured this image while I was walking in the neighborhood.  It was in the shade but I think the colors tuned out great without an edits except applying a vignette in PSE 11.  I cropped and then did some cloning to get rid of leaves with disfigurement which I thought was  a distraction for the macro image.  Taken with Camera+ app.  HDR mode.

Red Clover CU - Neighborhood

The late afternoon sun was highlighting this red clover and it was calling my name to take a close up image.  Too bad there was not a bee on it. Camera+ HDR Macro mode.with Square Format. I increased highlights, sharpened, cloned areas of foliage to eliminate some tiny white specks, and applied vignette in PSE 11.

By some red clover (Trifolium pratense) is considered a weed in your lawn, but it is knowm to have some medicinal benefits. It is a berbaceous species of a flowering plant in the bean family, Fabaceae. It is native to Europe, Western Asia and Northwest Africa, but planted and naturalized in many other regions.   For more info see en.wikipedia.org

Small Hen and Chick Succlent - Macro Center

Today I went to the Yanceyville Farmer's Curb Market.  One of the vendors was selling small succulent plants. I have always liked the texture or structure of the leaves of this "Hen & Chick"** plant.  I chose a cultivar with pink tones to the outer leaves.  The vendor said it will grow rapidly if I plant in a bigger pot with sandy soil.  I only wanted to capture the center.  Used square mode in Native Camera app with HDR.  Minimal editing in PSE 11.  Right image I decided to try for an altered image with the posterize filter which is my of my favorites.  I am sure I will be taking more images as this plant grows.  It is supposed to winter over.  However, succulents are great container plants.  It could be brought inside to enjoy in the winter.  
**See link for more info:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_and_chicks

Passion Flower Blossom Using Different Backgrounds & Window Lighting - No Foliage (Macro)

My neighbor has a Passion Flower blooming.  The foliage had some insect holes and did not make for a good photo image.  So I decided to use the flower which just opened yesterday morning on different backgrounds and use my bay window (faces North) as lighting for some close ups.  The right image in a vase over white card stock and the left card stock not black enough.  So, I used a black turtleneck top.   Taken with Camera+ HDR mode & macro slider.  Both images first used "clarify" which increases saturation and sharpness in the Camera+ app.  Then took into PSE for further editing midtones and sharpening. Is this altered art because no natural foliage?  May try some views from the side which are also interesting.   For more info about this flower:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora

Peace Lily (Macro) - RDU Airport Lobby

This image I wanted to post on July 6th but delayed due to other commitments.  I took this image when I was taking Ginger to RDU airport on Saturday.  It had window lighting and was a sunny day. Used Camera+, HDR, and macro setting.  The original composition was rectangle, but I felt that it should be sqaare. I increased the highlights and sharpened in PSE 11 which made the stigma more detailed.  This would have be a good shot for an Instagram image and I could still post as such. I could probably use as sympathy card with Text "With Sympathy" or "Thinking of You".  

Lichen Colony in the Neighborhood - Macro

This image should have been posted on July lst but had
 family in from out of  town and my time was spent with 
them not the computer.  
I was walking in the neighborhood a few days ago and saw this
lichen colony on one of my neighbor's trees. Tried to take in Macro
mode with Camera+ & HDR mode.  It was a convex surface...so the lower right corner is not sharp. This image may remind you of peeled paint.  This lichen colony has an interesting pattern and texture.
Post processing I used PSE 11. I did increase the shadows, midtones, sharpen slightly and then used a color variation to decrease the red and increase the green.  I have seen other varieties of lichens on rocks and on walks in the woods. There are even botanists that specialize in lichens.

Crepe Myrtle Blossoms Macro - Stamens

 More crepe myrtle blossoms. Yesterday, I was trying for macro still life.  The owner gave me some blossoms and decided to use window lighting and try to get better view of the stamens.  At least I did not have sun shining on my LED screen,  the wind was not blowing and I could stabilize my shot with restingmy arm against a chair.  Cropped the left imaged for better composition, sharpened.  Right image I increased midtones, sharpened in PSE 11. Both images look more pink than purple/ I probably could have experimented more with WB. At least these images you can get a better view of the frilly petals and the left image almost looks like a painting related to shallow depth of field.  

Purple Cabbage Head and Smaller Section - Macro

Decided to take some images of a red cabbage for textrure.I used outdoor lighting.  The turquoise background was a piece of 12" x 12" cardstock.   The one on the right is the head sliced vertically.  The image on the left is a section using macro mode in Camera+ app.  Both images I used lighten and darken sliders, and slight sharpening in PSE 11.   If you use filters can create different textures, tints, or colors for a more altered art appearance.  Now the cabbage going to be used to make German cooked red cabbage with some apples and craisins.  Yum!

Borage Buds and Blossoms - June 2015

On June 2nd I posted an image of some Borage buds and surrounding leaves.  The borage is now blooming. It was better lighting then late evening when I took the other image.  So there are 3 images. Another of the buds before bloom. One of a single borage blossom,  and one of  a cluster of several blossoms with a little foliage.  Used Camera+ to capture the images.
For the single borage blossom, I used the macro slider.   This blossom difficult to phtograph.  Any breeze aan blur the photos.  You can see in the upper right photo that these blossoms also droop. This was in my neighbor's yard and she was talking to me.  Post processing done in PSE 11: Slight cropping, light and dark adjusted with sliders as well as
mid-tones, minimal sharpening.  Applied vignette, but tried to make it very subtle.  My neighbor gave me some seeds to plant.  I think this is great detail of the plant with my iPhone 6 hand held.

Purple Pansy - Macro Mode with Camera +

I liked the light shining on this colorful pansy. Used Camera  + app to take the image. I cropped it slightly for better compostion.  Adjusted some midtones and highlights with sliders. Vignette applied. Image was sharpened slightly. Post editing done in PSE 11. It was necessary to use some cloning in PSE 11 to get rid of some stray artifacts I did not notice when I was  taking the image. It would make a pretty note card

Savory Herb of the Year 2015 - Macro & CU Images

I 
This week is the annual Herb Sale for the Herb Society of America - NC Unit.  They wanted some photos for a display board since savory is "Herb of the Year 2015". My winter savory (Satureja montana) has come back. On the right I took a macro image with the Camera+app with overcast skies. We were having a light rain.  The left image is a sprig close up that I took with overhead halogen lighting (over my cooktop stove).  The sheet of cardstock I used was actually white but the camera saw it differently. I used minimal editing using PSE 11--slight sharpening, increasing lightness/darkness. .  
Winter savory is a perennial.  Summery savory (Satureja hortensis) is an annual.  Both have a peppery flavor if you taste the raw leaf.  At one time when pepper was expensive, it was used as a substitute flavoring.   I have made herbal vinegars and plan to try using in some for mini biscuits or savory recipes as well as other Mediterranean herb mixtures. May post some of those images for culinary uses of savory tomorrow.  

Viola Close-up with Ollieclip 21x Lens

Not a lot of choices for blooms in NC in the winter time.   I bought some pansies in Dec. Only one of
the 12 plants had a bloom 3/8/2015..  I put on my 21x macro (OllieClip 4-in-1) lens for my iPhone 5s to take a picture of this viola.  It was about 1 inch in diameter.   Because of the shallow depth of field and not everything being in the same plane, it is difficult to get everything in focus.  I wanted to see the texture of the petals and it took a lot of patience to get this shot.   I will show you the before and after.  I cropped,  cloned and sharpened the image.  I may have played with midtones a bit for a richer color.  Edited in PSE 11

Solar Light Ollieclip 21x Macro Lens

This photo was taken during a neighborhood walk this summer.  This was a round fancy solar light  taken during the day.with native 5s camera. I used my Ollieclip 21x Macro lens.  I am hoping to capture more texture and abstract images this year.  No tripod was used.  Editing done in PSE 11  to increase saturation. There was minimal cropping to get the composition I liked.  

Preparation for the Challenge

In May 2014 I took an iPhonology Course.   I have been really surprised at the types of images I have been able to take with the iPhone 5S and various other Android devices I own.   Today I got an email from the iPhonology School suggesting that I accept the Challenge to take an iPhone photo each day  for 365 days in 2015. I can elect to post to Social Media sites if I chose.  I plan to do that but I also thought I would start this blog to serve as a virtual journal of my progress with this challenge.
.
This way I can add comments about how I might had found the image, specific location, if I used any special props, or what post imaging apps I might have used.   This was one of the images I submitted for critique when I was enrolled in the school.  It reminded me of firecrackers.   The Mimosa blooms in June in NC.  This is a close up using HDR setting with native camera, no tripod, and some cropping, increased saturation,  I ised Photoshop Elements 11 as my Post Imaging program as am not adapt at in camera apps.  

I definitely want to try taking pictures of different venues and using more apps.