NW Images & Altered Art

Magnolias bloom in the South in May.  There are a few varieties but this is the traditional one.  They are used a lot for summer weddings. I do not have a tree in my yard.   This one taken at my neighbor's yard.  You have to make sure no bugs and I did see a tick.  It is difficult to get a nice sepal picture,  Taken with iPhone 6S and minor editing in PSE 15.   Both of these images would make a nice greeting card. Will post to face book and instagram.   Probably try some apps for an more artistic or painterly look.

 Strawberries came in season the end of April.  I get pre-picked ones from Rudd Farm.  I love making the Frisch Big Boy Strawberry Pie.  I have also doubled the water and made a thinner mixture to serve over pancakes.  It can also be used for blueberries by using grape jello and blue food coloring.  images were taken with my iPhone 6S.  Minor editing in PSE 15. 

This year at the NC Unit Herb Sale I got some Sweet Woodruff. The image on the left is the herb, Galium odoratum.  I planted the plant in the ground  which I left ID tag and have some wine infused with the leaves in the bottle. I  wanted to make a still life photo using a dark burgandy lid for the background.  Because a close up depth of field very shallpw & I did not want to set up tripod to use higher aperture.  The image on the right  I put woodruff in a bottle that had white zinfindel wine.  The Germans have a tradition of making this "Mai Wine" on the lst day of May.  I don't make a sugar syrup & did not add champagne or strawberries.  Used backlighting from the fridge to show a close up of the woodruff sprigs for this herbal infusion.  Bon Appe'tit!!

 I have several rose bushes in my garden.  However, I am not very attentive to their care like a good gardener would be.  The rose on the left is a Julia Child variety which I purchased because I like to cook.  The rose on the right is a heritage rose: "Banshee".  I got a cutting at an H.S.A. district meeting in Bethlehem, PA. It has a darker pink color when it first starts to bloom.Both varieties only bloom once in May.    Images taken with iPhone 6S.  Minor editing with PSE 15. 

Image on left is a Fringe Tree/Shrub (Chionanthus virgini.cus).   It blooms in the spring.  I love the texture of this plant. I did  adjust highlights & shadows. For the image on the right I used the invert filter in PSE 15 to make this abstract design. Because the original colors were green and white, this changed to purple and black.  Looks like something a painter might have painted but only took a few minutes with a press of the mouse to change.  Will use this for camera club presentation in May: "Inspired by Trees & Shrubs" as well post to Facebook or Instagram. 

The image on the left was taken at the March Meeting of H.S.A.  It is Greek Pinwheels and the platter was decorated with violas from my garden.  They are edible. The image on the right was at the March culinary luncheon.  I forget what spices we were featuring. Both of these  images were taken with indoor lighting and did not use a flash. 

 I was walking in the neighbor hood in March and saw what I thought was a tulip in my neighbor's yard, but on closer inspection I noticed it was actually a Poppy Anemone which I had never seen before.  I did apply a vignette to make the image stand out.   The image on the right is of some dogwoods in bloom in April but I did not really do any editing of this image.  It was an overcast day. 

 Have started to take images of trees in winter (March) that have no leaves.  This really makes it difficult to identify.the tree.  One of the best places for trees is the Greensboro Arboretum.  The image on the left is the orginal.  I may have sharpened a little.  Then used PSE to increase saturation for the image on the right. Showed this image at TOPS camera club in April 2019.