Apple Blossom Time

 

We have several crabapple and apple trees on our property, and every year when they bloom I shoot photos to post on Facebook, and elsewhere. I decided to do something a bit different this spring. I have seen images of trees and bushes that were combined from many photos shot 360° around an individual tree/shrub. I can't do that with my trees. There are too many obstacles and not enough open space. Also, the images I have seen were made on overcast days with even lighting. It was a bright sunny late afternoon when I finished mowing the lawn.

I tried a series of 4-5 images in an arc on one side of a couple of our trees. One was a very large crabapple, at least 30' across and just as high. I didn't like the result. The other was a small crabapple that we planted about 3 years ago. That's the one above. I don't know the details of how others got the results they wanted. This is what I did.

After importing the images into Lightroom, I highlighted each group and chose Edit>Open as layers in Photoshop. I then turned off the upper layers except for the bottom two. I reduced the opacity of the upper visible layer to 50% and used the Move tool to align the trunks in the layers. I also set the layer mode to Lighten. Then I turned on each layer above and did the same until all were visible. As the final step, I pressed Shift+Ctrl+lt+E to create a top layer that combined the lower layers.

The result still wasn't all I had in mind, so after saving the file in TIFF format, I went back to LR which is my preferred tool for editing that does not involve layers. I adjusted the brightness using the exposure, highlight & shadow sliders. The background didn't have the 'mystical' look that I wanted so I created a background mask (feathered) and turned both Texture & Clarity all the way down. The top of the tree was too light, so I brushed a mask over it (again feathered), reduced the highlight and shadow sliders but increased the whites slider until the base of the histogram touched the right-hand side.  

I'm happy with the result and I may try it again something it I encounter an appropriate subject.

Daily Photo - Day 24

Hiking the Stone Valley Trail again this morning I came on this group of pines with their graceful branches and luscious greens. There is a touch of autumn showing through from a tree behind the pines. I have mixed feelings about that. Autumn is my favorite season for hiking and landscape photography but it means winter is coming too. I'm not crazy about winter, never have been and I like it less the older I get.

Daily Photo - Day 18

Just one today. I shot more but they were not related and wouldn't have made a good group. I hiked along country roads today. It had rained hard last night and I didn't want to get wet again like I did on the Sugar Island hike. Hiking/walking along the road is harder than hiking in the woods though. In the woods, I feel like I am inside a field of natural energy that the forest shares with me to keep me going. Road hiking is draining.

The photo is a willow in the ditch on the opposite side of the road from me. Like me, it has its struggles but I liked its shape, even the broken limbs. I like trees in general but especially those that are surviving in spite of less than ideal situations. I liked the feathery quality of the leaves, the lines of the trunk and the broken limbs. I applied a pseudo-infrared effect to emphasize the tonal relationships. Beauty is not always the result of perfection in form. Sometimes it is in the spirit that shines through struggle.