Beech Tree Leaves Still Hanging on in Winter

One of the trees that retains a lot of their leaves in the winter time is the beech tree.. The image on the right I took a of some leaves with the dull sky as a background which the camera read as white. You can see the leaf vein patterns. In the fall when they first have color they are a medium yellow but now various shades of tan. I did increase the saturation a bit  in post processing to make the veins more prominant agains the sky.  Then I saw a stand of trees that looked interesting on a street I drive a lot. The roadway in the picture I did make straight.   Still it is a better picture with the gulch than just a straight shot of a stand of beech trees.  Of course it would have been nice if a person with a red jacket happened to be walking in the gulch with a black dog.  Well, you can't have everything.  iPhone 6, Camera +,  edit PSE 11.

Savory Herb of the Year 2015 - Macro & CU Images

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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.  

Gazebo - Greensboro Arboretum (Winter - 3/9/15)

 While I was at the Arboretum, I decided to capture an image of the gazebo.  In the summertime this is a venue ised for weddings.   It was overcast and I did not change exposure. HDR mode was on but I felt the image was too dark when I really looked at it on my monitor. In PSE 11,  I decided to play with the highlights, midtones, shadows sliders and increased the shapening.  It is nice that the foliage was not out yet.  I should try taking this image in the different seasons.  Who knows if we will have more snow this year. Now it looks more like an illustration or a different HDR. With the square format, this would be a good photo to try to send in Instagram.

Unknown ? Shrub - Greensboro Arboretum 3/9/2015

Despite the winter weather, I did find some different images at the Greensboro Arboretum in March.  I have no idea why this shrub has red branches sticking out of a trunk that has been cut off.  There were no labels present. I took the image with Camera Plus and edited it in the same app.  I used clarify and it made the branches a more vibrant red.   It will be interesting to see what happens this spring and summer.   

Witch Hazel Shrub inBloom - Greensboro Arboretum 3/9/2015

Winter is a great time to capture images of a witch hazel shrub in bloom.  It took several trips to the Greensboro Arboretum to capture an image to post.   There are numerous cultivars, this one was labeled "Sunset". There is a native one. It was overcast and so I had to change the hue to more yellow. I did price the cost for a 5 gallon one at New Garden Nursery. It would cost me like $65. It was shot in HDR mode.  This image was not cropped.  I increased the midtones and shadows and sharpened --maybe a little too much but the petals are part of the uniqueness of the bloom.  I would like to try some macro shots when the sun is shining.  They even had one with red petals but none of those images were in focus.  See previous post for a one with smaller petals.
   

Wind Chimes Sculpture in Winter - GSO Arboretum.

Today I was at the Greensboro Arboretum looking for spring flowers or something I could use for my  challenge image.  This is a wind chime sculpture that has been in place for some time.  Recently they have added a ring walkway around  it. Usually there is green foliage in the background but I like the bare trees and blue sky.  I did take in HDR mode so sky is more blue.  I used the Camera + app to take the picture and to edit.  I cropped and used clarity.  It is not as noticeable on this small scale but there is a piece of wood leaning against one of the center posts.  On the small LED screen difficult to see.  I am not very good about remembering to enlarge the image to check for clutter/debris.  Then it shows up on the monitor and it is too late to remove and retake the image. At a public park removal can be an issue.      

Winter Texter - Foliage CU + Artistic Cutout Filter

Another texture taken of some winter plant foliage (close up) in a container. I do not recognize this plant. I thought it would make a great background when I get into doing digital collages.Original does not have as much depth.


 I cropped, adjusted midtones & highlights, sharpened and then applied artistic cutout filter in PSE 11. Other filters also showed interesting effects. 

Holly Berries with Snow & Ice

Today's photo was taken later in the afternoon after our snow last Thurs.  Not many branches on the Ilex (not a native holly culivar) had snow still remaining. Minor editing with native camera app. Vignette applied in PSE 11. If it snows again maybe I can try for a macro shot with my Ollie Clip 4 in 1 macro lens.  

Snow Covered Trees and Randy's Shed

Another picture from the snow on Thursday night. It is actually in my neighbor's backyard. Edited in native camera app -- cropped & used chrome filter, but sharpened in PSE 11.Too bad no children, deer, etc. around at the time but it still shows snow covered trees in the early a.m.. By afternoon a lot of the snow had fallen from the branches.

Gate with Snow on Rose Bushes 2/226/2015

The left photo is a pencil sketch done in PSE 11. The original B & W HDR image was first given a blue color in Photoshop Express app filter "winter"  within the iPhone 5s as depicted in right image. This gives the image a cool feeling and typical of the lighting you may see very early morning.  This meant I did not have to get up at 6:30 a.m to capture this lighting. I got out about 8:30 a.m. EST.  I straightened, cropped, increased the midtones and sharpened in PSE 11.  Greensboro got about 5-6" of snow Wed. night.  Will be trimming those rose bushes this spring.                                               

Snow @ Night - Maple Tree, Neighbor's house

OK we have some real snow that is sticking to the branches. It started about 9:30 pm. It is after midnight. Wanted to test my iPhone for some night photography. So, posting an image of my maple tree under the street lamp and my neighbor's house. We probably have an inch. Predicting 7-9 inches.  Taken near Rankin St., GSO, NC. No editing.  Sent directly from my iPhone.  For the tree there was enough lighting but for Karen's house increased the brightness with the exposure which shows digital noise in the sky.

Planning to be out tomorrow to capture more snow images in the neighborhood.  Depending on status

of snow/ice, may try some other cameras besides the iPhone.  

Snow on Camillia Leaves in February

Yesterday we had about an inch of snow in the Triad. I just didn't see much that would make a great landscape photo. Furthermore, lots of wrecks with road conditions and native NC residents do not know how to handle driving in snow and ice well. So, I took a picture of my camellia foliage which had snow clinging to the leaves. This was taken later in the afternoon. I left in HDR mode which makes more black and higher contrast, but used the Noir filter in the "native camera app" to make B & W when I actually shot the image. I thought it did a pretty good job and I may be able to use for texture at a latter time when I get into trying to do collages. I cropped and found filter in Pixlromatic that might work for a Christmas card background with an image of my grandchildren.. Some of their filters are too way out with bokeh and I would not use blue and yellow as that is U of M colors and I am an OSU buckeye. Did not see and Scarlet and Grey. .

Ice Formation - Tadda B & W

Another ice image. This time I used Tadaa within iPhone to post process.
On my iPhone 5s screen it looked like the image was more backlit. Looks different on the computer monitor. I liked the swirls and pattern in the ice when I shot the image. This looks more 3D with the depth. Original image had blue/yellow cast. I increased the clarity and converted using a B & W filter. In a way it reminded me of an ultrasound of an ? alien. Never saw that much hair. LOL

Ice Pattern 1 - Variations with Post Processing in PSE 11

I managed to capture a few ice designs on my iPhone the last few days...brrh!!   Difficult to push the buttons with gloves in place. The intention was to try playing with some post -processing adjustments. The darker blue less distinct pattern is the original image without editing.  It was late eveing and very slippery to attempt the shot--thus the blue cast which I did not really see when I captured the image.


The right image was a lot of different filters in PSE 11 and you might not be able to tell it originally was texture from ice patterns.  It ended up looking black and white. It took about 6 different filters/adjustments to obtain this effect.   Step 1.  Adjust Brightness and Contrest.  Step 2.   Lighten/Darken Shadows.  Step 4. Sharpen  Step 4. Change to B & W.  Step 5. Pencil Sketch Effect - Line Drawing. 6. Low Key



The image lower left I just changed light/dark sliders and did a moderate amount of sharpening to get the texture and lighter color I wanted. 

Winter Shrub with Pink Flowers (Evergreen?) Plus B & W Version

I never promised that every photo I posted would be good. "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder". Meaning just because I like it does not mean everyone else is going to like it. So, I am giving my self an A for creativity but a D to my iPhone 5s and my capturing of the image I wanted. When it snowed I decided to go back to the plant I saw on Sat. and take a bucket of snow and trowel with me (preplanning). I took some images which looked OK in my LED screen I thought? Not everything in the image is in the same plane and I actually got too close to the flower to be tack sharp. Some crystals of ice are in focus and have been sharpened. I did have to crop the image and still have an area of snow blown out in the lower Left corner. I have no idea what this plant may be. The needles suggest it is a low growing everygreen shrub. It was maybe 4 inches high and 8 inches in diameter. I also tried to see how it would look in black and white which shows that the flowers may have been frozen since more translucent.  

Beech Leaves - Winter; Texture Pencil Drawing

I promised a beech tree photo with leaves.  Of course, I had to play around with some apps as well.  I signed up for Bob Weil's iPhoneography Art Composition online course but will not work with it until next week. It is supposed to help me create amazing art. The leaves were not taken in the fall, but at same time my "Inspired by Nature" images were taken.  I was trying to capture some blue sky and lighting that would show the veins of the leaves.  I did some sharpening and increased the saturation.  Then I used PSE 11 to give texture effect.  I sharpened to the max and then used pencil drawing.  I experimented a lot and may have forgotten to include all the final steps.  

Milkweed Pod Opened - Winter

Another image from the Legacy garden in winter.  I liked the lighting on this milkweed pod that had burst open.  Did some minor editing in PSE 11.  Sharpening and changing the color to decrease some of the blue hue.  I think it is time to put on my macro 4 in 1 ollie clip lens. I got a new app that has a lot of filters and will let you put a black background around the flower.   It is called Exposure.  Tomorrow will probably post a yucca foliage with altered art rendition too.   Will remind you of the 60s.  

"Angelina" sedum - Winter foilage

Last week at the Legacy Garden@ the Guilford Co. Ag. Center,  I found this plant with very colorful foliage for the winter months. I said I was going to try some different venues than flower & flora but they keep calling my camera for a closer look. My friend, Elaine, got a Master Gardener to help ID the plant. I really want one of these for my garden but sounds like this plant may be hard to come by.  It is a Sedum called Angelina".  I did minimal editing.  I may try some other apps later.  The LED screen was in bright sun and I did not notice the leaf at the top  but I would not have wanted to crop the image closer.  If I have a chance this winter, it would be a great picture with a little snow and the foilage peeping up above it. This web site has some interesting info about plants. http://awaytogarden.com/a-plant-id-order-sedum-angelina/ 

River birch brances & bark - winter

Another dreary day in GSO. I took this image last week when there was actually some sun shining. Winter is an opportunity to capture a different perspective of tree branches and some texture of the bark. The close up of the bark is in the lower section of the trunk. It is compact, but in the upper branches the bark can be seen peeling away. I like looking for textures and patterns. Minimal editing - no creative effects. The HDR mode was on, so the sky was more blue than the naked eye saw. The bark could later be enhanced with other filter effects in apps or PSE11.

Winshield frost - backyard landscape

There was frost on the car windshields this a.m. Tried taking a shot from inside the car. This is the backyard which I shot from inside the front windshield. Did not want the ice crystals to be in focus. The sun was too low to shoot for a starburst high in the trees. Ended up getting part of the van in left of picture.. I liked the silhouette effect of the tree brances--sharpened a bit.  By the time the sun high enough, the window no longer had ice crystals. The ice crystals created a filter effect.  I tried the back window too but it had the heater wires and with the slant of the windows could not get a composition I wanted.   Hope I have more opportunities to get a better shot this winter