NW Images & Altered Art

 The "Lenten Rose" or Hellebores are now in bloom in Greensboro. There are a lot of different cultivars available.  I have some white ones that just started blooming but some of the purple ones are my favorites  I took these images @ GSO Arboretum. The image on the left has light green colors and show various stages of bloom.  The image on the right I wanted to be more creative. I also took the image from a different angle.  Most hellebore blossoms are hanging down.  Not sure if I gave this one some assist to be at eye level and upright for the macro shot.  The background was blurred out orignally due to shallow depth of field.    So I did some postprocessing with several filters in PSE 15.  It gave a bokeh effect to the image by increasing the saturation.  I also wanted to make the seed pods more visible and cropped the image tight and increased the sharpnes. . 

While walking the dog, noticed that my neighbor, Kevin Dowling, had a few crocus and a lot of "Stinkin Hellebores"(Helleborus foetidus) in bloom.  Images taken with my Sony DSL-R camera with 50 mm prime lens. Minimal Editing with PSE 15. Both images I applied a vingette.  For more info on Helleborus foetidus:  https://www.finegardening.com/plant/stinking-hellebore-helleborus-foetidus

These are some blossoms that can easily be seen at a distance from the highway on W. Wendover Ave.  I managed to walk around in the GSO Arboretum to get these blossoms close up.  I was lucky to be there when the temps were in the 60s as 2 days later the blossoms were not photogenic. These are members of the Prunus species.  The image on the left is an apricot blossom while the image on the right is an variety of an ornamental plum.  These always bloom about a month before the Cherry Blossoms in our zone.  I took these images with my DSL-R 50mm prime lens for my Sony.  It was a bright sunny day which was good because it was very windy.   Minimal Post Processing with PSE 15.     Ornamental plum trees belong to the  Prunus  genus, which also includes flowering varieties of  almond , apricot, cherry, nectarine and peach. Known collectively as stone fruits, these trees produce little or no eating-quality fruit but ...

 Witch Hazel is blooming at the GSO Arboretum.  The yellow image is the native cultivar.  The Arboretum has at least 2 orange petal cultivars in bloom in February.  Macro images taken with my Sony DSL-R 50 mm prime lens.  Minimal post processing with PSE 15.  For more infornation see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hazel

It is only mid February in Greensboro, NC.  We are beginning to see signs of spring.  I went to the Arboretum this week with my DSL-R Sony camera. I captured some images of daffodils in bloom. I used my designated 50mm macro lens.  Minimal post processing in PSE 15.  Daffodils are special because my Father grew them.  They were sometimes taken to the grocery store- sold for Spring/Easter season.