One Last Moment in the Sun

I set this in front of a window with Venetian blinds.  I placed it against a black background.  I cracked the blinds open until a small shaft of sunlight illuminated the top part of the tendrils.

This is an orange trumpet flower which had dropped off its vine to be scooped up by my patient hands.  I carefully cut the bloom open to reveal a world destined to disappear, unconcerned that its beauty would pass anonymously.  Instead, it gained one last moment in the sun.

Nikon D90 with Tamron 90.  1/4s at f/16, ISO200, Portrait Mode.  In Lightroom, desaturated, increased black for the background, increased contrast and clarity, increased fill light, brightened light and dark tones, decreased shadow tones, adjusted green hues, cropped, sharpened and done.

Friday Bright

I like how the Dailyclick uses white backgrounds in her flower shots.  I’ve done that a few times with limited success.  This was taken last year about this time.  

Nikon D50 with Tamron 90.  1/250s at f/4, ISO400.  In Lightroom, I cropped, increased vibrance, adjusted light levels and sharpened.

I am glad the weekend is here.  I need a little extra rest.

Inside the Iris

This is an Iris.  Again, last Sunday morning the rain was not going to stop me from shooting.  This is a great example of why.   The colors are far more saturated then if the sun had been broiling down.  Add to that the natural interest created by the droplets of water and I really was in that special zone I only achieve in photography.  Or spreadsheets; but luckily, this is a photoblog.

This shot was after the Easter Egg hunt and I used the D90 and Sigma 24-70.  It was taken about 10:30, so I did not use the flash but shot in the gray,  natural light.  1/25s at f/11, ISO200, Landscape mode, camera on tripod.

In Lightroom, I processed this image two ways, this is the cropped version.  Besides the crop, I added saturation to the purple and magenta and increased  vibrance, contrast and clarity.  I made the background darker by increasing black and increased the light tones.   

 Earlier in the day, I used flashed and the image looked almost like something from a Jacque Cousteau documentary but in the natural light, the purples and magentas came alive.  So, I cropped around the orange beard (Google, I had no idea what it was called) and the bottom petal called the fall. 

Imperfection

Nothing in this world is imperfect except what we fail to see as perfect.

Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 at 70mm.  1/200s at f/4, ISO200, shot in Landscape.  In Lightroom, adjusted levels and tones to make the image a little brighter and adjusted luminence on the purples and magentas.  Decreased clarity to soften the image.  

Wildflowers by the Pond

Saturday was a gray day.   Many of the more famous wildflowers were past their prime.  I walked around and made my way to the old bench in need of repair from the winter.  Ahhhh, solitude and wildflowers.  These are mostly bluebonnets and primroses. 

Nikon D90 with Tokina 12-24 at 12mm.  1/100s at f/11 and ISO800; camera in Landscape mode.  In Lightroom, increased vibrance to bring out the flowers and colors.  I increased contrast, added clarity and some fill light.  The sky was a uniform gray, so not much I could do about that.  It was cool and humid, very comfortable for walking about.