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.
   

Witch Hazel - A Winter Bloom @ GSO Arboretum

At the Greensboro Arboretum yesterday I found a witch hazel shrub in bloom.  Not native and the petals/blooms were a lot smaller.  It was difficult with the witnd blowing to capture a sharp image.  I added contrast & sharpened contrast to image on Left.  The Eight image I used an invert filter in PSE 11.  I want to go back and try again - even a overcast day..  I did get better images with a Nikon P600 camera which has more megapixels and much easier to stabilize  for branches not close to the camera by using the zoom. If I go back may, also want to try for macro images with my Olliecip 4 in 1 macro lenses.