Iris Simplified

Topaz Simplify is probably my favorite filter. With this photo, I used a double dose. Simplify has numerous presets which you can modify with sliders (and I often do) but this one uses two different presets in layers with the blending of the upper one set to "Luminance" and opacity reduced to 60%. I rather like the effect. Click on the image to see it larger.

Flowers - I Love Flowers

Orange Hawkweed

Every year about this time I go out and wander the back 40 (it's really only about 6 acres) and photograph whatever I find that inspires me. When I finish the tour the flower beds in the yard (I am an amateur gardener) and photograph my successes there. The wildflowers are gifts. The only credit I get for their presence is that, unlike my neighbors, I don't brush hog the field every June and I allow the flowers to grow and go to seed.

After an hour or two or three of rambling about the field and yard reveling in the floral  beauty, kneeling, lying on the ground, fussing with the tripod to get the best angle on each bloom, I come into the house, download the 50-100 files, cull the exposures that don't satisfy me and adjust them to share my "beauty break" with others. This is yesterday's 90-minute break from the news cycle and whatever personal concerns that would otherwise have occupied my mind, a nature meditation of sorts. Enjoy, linger and take your own break as you view them. If you click on a photo, you get a larger view.

Common Pinks 

Red Clover 

Japanese Iris 

Pink Peony 

Japanese Iris - Two Colors 

Iris Closeup 

Peony and Opening Bud 

 Potentilla - Yellow Cinquefoil

Miniature Lilac - Late Blooming 

Columbine - A "Volunteer"in my Flower Bed 

 Chives in Bloom

I hope that was as nice a break for you as it was for me. All were made with a Canon EOS M3. I used a 24mm macro lens on a few. Most were made with extension tubes and either the 18-55mm zoom or the 55-200mm zoom. Editing was done in Adobe's Lightroom.

Please remember that all the photos are copyrighted. If you wish to share them, share the link to this page

Philadelphia Flower Show

We went on a bus tour Thursday to the Philadelphia Flower show. From a photographer's perspective it was a bit disappointing. The lighting in the exhibit area was on the harsh side, bright lights against a black ceiling, not at all diffused like natural light in a garden would be. Ironically the lighting in the vendors area was much better (more even) but I took no photos there. Some vendors had "No Photos" signs posted and I didn't ask the others. The photo above was up high, part of a larger display of arrangements. The background is black because it is the ceiling. I managed to find a viewpoint that didn't include any of the lights behind the arrangement.

I liked the pattern in this cacti and made a closeup of it from above. The trick with this photo was keep my shadow off the cacti while shooting from above.

The arrangement below was quite spectacular and made me think of the Mad Hatter's tea party. He and the Hare should be sitting in those chairs. And where is the chair for Alice?

For the last photo today here is a detail of a garden sculpture made from copper pipe and fittings. Overall it was about 5-6' tall in the shape of an egg. Given the price of copper these days I'd hesitate to put that in my garden. Someone would be likely to cart it off to sell for scrap. If you look closely you can see someone peering through from the other side (upper right).

I have two other sets of photos I'll post over the next couple of days, one of the National Park area and some general shots of downtown Philadelphia. As always the photos are here for you to enjoy but they are copyrighted so please play nice and respect my work, don't re-post it elsewhere. If you want to share them with your friends use the Facebook sharing link (upper left of this page) or copy and paste the URL in an email to them so that they can see them here.

Blooms in Winter

Diane bought an Amaryllis for her windowsill at work and it bloomed this week, three blossoms and a fourth bud. We're having a very wintry patch of weather, first snow and now sub-zero cold. A bit of color on the windowsill is a pleasant reminder that this weather is temporary.

Fall Winding Down

Our leaves are mostly down now. I've mowed over the ones in the yard once to chew them up but I'll have to do it again if the rain only stops long enough for things to dry out. With the passing of the autumn color my photo excursions are fewer until we start getting some snow. There's still subject matter available but fewer things look their best in the period between the leaves falling and the start of winter.

I have spent the last few days on a Christmas project which I can't divulge in the blog because the intended recipients are among my regular readers, at least I hope they are.

The photo here is a plant that I got from a friend's garden several years back. It didn't come up at all the 1st year after I transplanted it and I thought I had lost it. I did lose the other transplant (a different flower) that I got from Siew Hwee but this one did come up the 2nd year after I transplanted it. It comes up rather late in August and doesn't bloom until September. It seems to be quite hardy and early frosts do not affect the blooms which continue until the temperatures dip to about 20ºF. Unfortunately I don't know its name but it poses for me very nicely when most other flowers have gone by.

Addendum: I also posted this photo to the forums on Nature Photographer's Network and David Schwaegler ID'd it as a Japanese Anemone.