Hollyhock Watercolour.....

This little cluster of Hollyhocks growing up through the pea gravel at the corner of our house seemed like something that might have some possibilities for a picture to me. The gray background is provided by a car parked a foot or so behind the blossoms. It was a rather gloomy evening, with no sun, so I got the LED's out and in a couple of minutes, took a few shots of them. The watercolour effect was from having the camera set to Watercolour Mode, and the canvas and frame effects were from my Corel editing software. Come to think of it, I just might do an 8 x 10 print of this one for some small space around the house. Hope you enjoy it a little also.....

Roses of Sharon at Dusk.....

This is another image from my foray into the back yard at dusk last evening. The lighting was provided by a couple of my LED's on light stands. Again, not a work of art, but I enjoy the contrast that this set up provided, as it is a bit of a deviation from the normal daylight shot. It is also my first efforts at processing an image in Adobe Lightroom 5, and I seem to be rather late to the party on that. For whatever reason, I never got around to trying Lightroom before, so I figured it is about time to learn something new, and get with the program.....it will take a while to get comfortable with the software, as I have also been dabbling with Capture One Pro 9 for my RAW editing. It allows me to shoot tethered to the computer, but my better half thinks I am already tethered to the computer enough as it is.....Hope you enjoy this little fun image a bit.

Clematis by Wren House.....

'Tis a hot one in Windsor today. In this kind of heat, you only get a couple of hours in the evening before dark to get anything done outside. For the most part, the heat might be somewhat bearable, but when you add on the humidity, 33C feels like around 45C, then you run a risk of heat stroke if you exert yourself too much. It is easier to stay inside with the A/C running, but the whole Summer is slipping by, and I have so much I wanted to get done. Anyway, last evening, I braved the mosquitoes, and spent an hour in the back yard taking a few shots of whatever was on offer. This little shot of my wife's white Clematis is climbing up the fence beside a little bird house that a couple of weeks ago, was home to a little House Wren family. For what ever reason, probably the heat, they seem to have vacated their residence, for somewhere else. This little image is far from a work of art, as is most of my endeavours, but I liked the mood of it anyway. Hope you will enjoy it a little.....

Coleus Abstract.....

It has been several days now since I last picked up my camera, but today, I found a few minutes to take a couple of random shots of different things. This little Coleus plant was one of the images that I chose to play around with tonight. The Illustration mode was set on my camera, and then when I downloaded it into my Corel Software, I used another filter or two, to arrive at this abstract effect. While the plant has a lot of natural texture, the filters applied in the camera and software afterward seems to enhance the texture. It works for me, but my in house art advisor seems to think otherwise. The nice thing about photography and art as well is that it is all very subjective, and as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It really is not a big deal......it is just a picture after all. Cheers!

First Rose of Summer 2020.....

As I add this little image to my blog, J.S.Bach:Prelude in C Major is playing on the TV. It is past midnight, and for a very brief moment, I turned on the late night news, and had to quickly turn it off again. I just cannot abide the news broadcasts anymore. The constant barrage of Covid-19 and the chaos that seems to be everywhere in the world now, is just smothering to the senses to say the least. So I find myself watching mostly Stingray Music, Nature channel. For the most part, focusing my mind on the flowers in our garden, and listening to the relaxing sounds of birds and bubbling streams in the background while some Classical music is playing, is for me a much more worthwhile way to get from morning to night in this world that has taken a very ugly turn lately. This is my first offering of flowers for this year, and it is actually a test shot for my new/used Minolta 80 - 200mm HS APO G lens that I have lusted for since about 1993, but was never able to afford. Finally, I found one for sale at about 1/4 the original price, and it is in pristine condition. It looks like it was never used. So far, I am quite pleased with it, but will become more comfortable with it over time. Next test will be a bit of portraiture hopefully.....if I can find someone willing. But it will likely wait until such time as we can comfortably associate with others.....Cheers!

Google Eyes.....

When my wife first pointed to this little anomaly lurking in her plant, I thought it would go away in a day or so. Apparently not. It looks like some sort of unknown alien bug with lemon coloured and shaped eyes. So, I couldn't help myself, and set up the camera to get a shot. I used my 18~135mm lens with a #3, and a #2 close up filters attached. I was able to get in fairly close, and this is the resulting image. The thought that Google is watching us constantly every minute of the day, crossed my mind, no doubt as a result of the googly eyes.....sorry, I think this Covid19 thingy is getting to me.....Cheers!

Basket of Peaches.....

The "munchies" drew me to the kitchen this evening, and sitting on the counter top was this basket of peaches that had been gifted to us by a family friend. They seemed to be hollering at me to take a picture of them. So without much delay, I proceeded to set up a little table top setting , and do just that. After a few shots of just the peaches, I added a few Boysenberries beside the basket. For the most part, I have been trying my best to keep things as simple as possible, but it still needed some other element, as there was a large empty space at the top with nothing happening there. So, I decided to raid a lovely bouquet of flowers that my wife had received for Mother's Day from the kids, and added them to the mix. The arrangement was lit with 2 LED lights and a white reflector card to fill in the foreground shadows a bit. Hope some of you enjoy it a little....Cheers, and stay well.....