Fridge Tree Blossom - Arteffect App

Right image.  I took a photo of  a fringe tree blossom close up. I did some minor editing in PSE 11. Then added an Art Effect app. I cropped as thought square format looked better. Posted to instagram and Facebook.

http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2013/04/28/fringe-tree-the-best-native-nobody-grows/

Azaleas in the Neighorhood - orange & yellow blossoms

 More azalea images from my neighborhood.  These 2 images have more a cluster of blossoms like the rhododendron than the azalea.  You do not see these colors that frequently in neighborhood gardens. Virgnia did have the "Flame Azalea" (Rhododendron calendulaceum) as  wildflower of the year in 2000. However, I feel these could be hybrid varieties. These azaleas bloom later than some of the other azaleas.  It had been so windy that I was having difficult trying to capture images of flowers/blossoms. So on Tuesday it was cloudy and I wanted to capture some images before the rain moved in and affected the blossoms.  The yellow one I purposely wanted to see if you could see more detail in the petals by shooting upward and letting the light shine through. Because there was cloud cover, it helped with greater saturation of the colors of the orange one.   Both images taken with my DSL-R camera and a 50 mm Sony macro prime lens.  No tripod was used. Minor editing with PSE 11.  Images were posted in an album on my FB page.  http://vnps.org/wildflowers-of-the-year/2000-flame-azalea-rhododendron-calendulaceum/

Azaleas as spring blooms in the Piedmont

The azaleas and dogwoods have been blooming in the Piedmont area of NC for about 2 weeks.   The image on the left is of my neighors house on a cloudy day. She has a lot of colors of azalea blooms in her front yard. If you look closely, you should be able to see a white dogwood tree just starting to bloom in front ofher house. Some of these azaleas will bloom later.  One of the medium pink blossoms looks more like a rose bud than an azalea when it first opens.  It has double petals.  The image on the right was taken in a residental park, i.e. Fisher Park.  The day I was walking on the paths there were many artists trying to paint the landscape.  It was bright sun and I tried to decrease the exposure when taking with the iPhone 6.  No major editing for either of this images.   I want to try to use my Sony DSLR or Nikon P & S cameras to take some macro images of azaleas/rhodadendron.

White Dogwood CU and backlight branches with blue sky

Still trying to capture some images of spring as the leaves and flowers continue to show their glory.  I have tried taking images of dogwoods.  They come in various colors and sizes. This one was rather large flower and petals about same shape.   I took hits using a beige piece of felt using lighting from my kitchen window as it has been very windy lately. Not happy that the lighting was not even.  If I lighten it loses texture. For the image on the left. I increased the highlights and texture in PSE 11,  My attempt at backlighting with the iPhone 6 did not give enough of the texture or even shape of the blossoms.  It was not like I could shoot at f22 or higher to have everyghing in focus. Trying to use the sharpen in PSE 11 only would pixilate.  I liked the texture of the bark and the semi-silhouette effect the image on the right  as not all the leaves not completely out yet.

The legend of the Dogwood: At the time of Christ's crucifixion the dogwood was as strong as the oak of the forest. Because of this it was chosen as the timber for the cross. After the event and Christ's suffering, the dogwood  never got big enough for use as a cross.  The blossoms are in the shape of the cross (photo depicts because of the position of the photo)  The center of the outer edges of the petals denote nailprints -- brown with rust and stained with red--and in the center will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember.

.

Using Photoshop Express Collage Feature

The winds are still present and it is now April.  March did not go out like a lamb.   It is really difficult to capture photographc images when winds are greater than 7 mph.  A tripod won't really help.  If you increase ISO significantly, then you get grain.  So flowers and blossoms may have to be a still life with different colored backgrounds and window lighting.  I tried experimenting with some apps.  Photoshop Express is available for iPad, iPhone.  You now have the ability to make collages from your images.   The image on the right I tried this with some recent flower and herb images.  I could select the format to change the featured photo.  In this case I wanted it to be the cilantro plant/seeds image. As far as I can discern,  it is an iOS app only.  You can save the image to camera roll as well share on some social media sites like FB and Instagram. You have choices to change the size but I did not do that.    All your images need edited prior to making the collage. The image on the left is a cherry blossom CU.  I added red food die to the water in which the stem was placed for at least 12 hrs.  The veins of the blossom now has more prominent looking veins in the petals and around the edges.  Contrast was increased a bit to show more texture. This would be a great way to show the original image and then additional "altered images" with different apps.  More experimenting is definitely needed.  
.