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.                                               

?Ceremonial Doll hanging on a Crepe Myrtle Shrub

A few days ago I found something a little differnt in a driveby while on an errand. No person availabler to ask about the significance. Did someone die or get killed? I don't think it has been there since Halloween as I have been this way recently. Dress was not tattered and face of doll no weathered look either. I am calling it a ceremonial doll. I am posting one with a head shot and one with the full lenth dress. It was hanging from a leafless crepe myrtle shrub. It was overcast which goes with giving somber feeling to the image. I played around with some filters to lighten and sharpen. Vignette applied on the full length dress version.

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. .

Pavolova - New Zealand Dessert H.S.A. Culinary

Pavolova is a famous dessert in New Zealand. Our H.S.A. member, Caryl Talcott, made this for our culinary group 2 weeks ago. She was originally from New Zealand. Had to use overhead ceiling lighting and used HDR mode. Minimal editing, i.e. cropping, sharpening. It was delicious. It is difficult to see the meringue crust. I have made a fruit pizza which can be a cookie crust or thin cake crust. I like to decorate with edible flowers --violas are great this time of year. Kiwi is a major fruit in NZ as are bananas. Bon Appe'tit!!

Globe Thistle - Fake Sun Flare

I found some globe thistles at a grocery store and got permission to photograph them. I did not feel that gave me license to re-arrange...and so I shot with the celleophane wrapper in place. I knew I would not have time to take pictures at home due to time constraints. It was overhead lighting and the flare actually looks like it could be a hazy sun peaking behind them. (A serendipity moment I did not see until I looked at the monitor.) There was another flare at top that I used healing brush to remove. I cropped, sharpened, changed the midtones, and added vignette in PSE 11. Since this was a close up with shallow depth of field, the most forward globe is out of focus. I will have to pay attention to that more in the future and check my image closer before leaving the scene.
HDR mode was enabled.  

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