August is the time to find Rose of Sharon in bloom and this unknown cultivar of a hibiscus that is low growing like a ground cover instead of a tall shrub. The coral hibiscus was taken in my neigborhood with DSL-R 50 mm macro lens. The Rose of Sharon was taken with my iPhone 6S at PJ Ciener Garden in Kernersville. 
I needed to smash my electronic tablet because I did not want data on it for others to use. After I was done weilding a hammer to the screen I noticed patterns and texture. The tablet had a B&W screen. I took the image with my iPhone 6S. I cropped a section I liked and in the Windows 10 photo editing program applied a filter to get the blue & turquoise coloration which I then increased, clarity, color saturation, brightness, and sharpness to get the abstract photo on the right. One could use various other post processing apps to change colors and effects. I showed both images at TOPs. These altered images could be used for a notecards. 
More World Photography photos of children playing the the fountains at LeBauer Park, Greensboro, NC. The image on the left was still with daylight late evening. There was fog present with the jet streams. The photo on the right I needed to use on camera flash to stop the action.
Saturday, August 19th, was World Photography Day. I went to downtown Greensboro, NC, to capture a few images. I am not able to travel much at this time.
Thursday, August 17th, was our anniversary. We went to lunch at Ciao Restaurant in Whitsett, NC. Their menu is pizza and Italian foods. We had brushetta as an appetizer. See image on left. Those were huge pieces of bread with the chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, chopped basil on crusty Italian bread. Jack had a blue moon beer and I had a glass of sangria which was not sickening sweet. We had a garden salad, Jack ordered shrimp marinara over linguini and I had arribatta topping over linguini. Serving size was huge and so we have leftovers. For dessert I had purchased a black tuxedo loaf cake at the Fresh Market on Lawndale Ave, GSO, so we could enjoy for several days. I took that photo using a cardboard box which I draped a turquoise material.
This was a succulant plant I saw in a pot at PJ Ciener Garden. Taking a side view just would not do it justice. I love the colors and patterns you can capture of succulent and air plants. Nature seems to have given them their own unique designs. I do not know the name of this plant. A side view of it in a pot just would not have done this plant justice. I wanted to shoot from the top down to get the spoke pattern of the leaves and then there were the white tendrils or ?? that gave added interest. The sun highlighed the center area. I took the image with the iPhone 6S. I do admit to increasing the saturation and contrast in the Camera+ app which gave more depth to the image. When I take an image I know it could be changed in post processing if I want increased saturation and contrast. I do not know the name of this succulent. It had a single stalk about 12 inches long coming out a stalk. This image won top 3 for Photo Nuts image entries in the Month of August. 
Yesterday I went to the P.J. Ciener Botanical Garden in Kernersville, NC. I was amazed at all the different cultivars of zinias they had spaced in beds in the parking lot. The imate on the left I took an over all image of a small section of them. The right image is a close up with my iPhone 6S taken with Camera+ app. Minimal editing. Hope to go back with my macro 50mm lens on the DSL-R and try to take some macro texture images with the new Olliclip lenses for the iPhone. 
I purchased the Olloclip Macro Pro Lenses. The magnification is 7x, 14x, 21x and can be used with the iPhone 6S native camera as well as with other camera apps. I walked in my neighborhood trying to catch a few images with the 7x lens I had to discard a lot of images that were out of focus. With macro photography the depth of field is very shallow. These are a few that turned out OK. I did not use a tripod and will use one in the future, especially for higher magnifications. The image on the left is the top of a Cardinal flower which was in bloom. I like this different angle of the top which blooms last. A green leaf from an Old Confederate Rose was the blurred out background. The image on the right is a miniature marigold. I liked the colors and the patterns of the petals and sepals of the flower. The lens was probably about 3/4" from the subject. The only editing I did in camera for my iPhone 6S was cropping. 
The first week of July my family rented a Condo at Kure Beach. I made my sister get up @5:30 a.m. so we could take pictures of the sunrise. The image on the right is the sun just starting to rise. I used the Kure Beach pier in the foreground to give more interest since people were fishing or walking on it. I had wished for a Pelican to be there, but never able to capture a good image of one or a flock. The image on the left is actually after the sun had risen. We drove down to Fort Fisher State Park and here there are numerous large rocks along the beach which I captured in the foreground. I submitted this image to Photo Nuts and it was one of the Top 10 for the month of July. I also showed it as a monthly image for TOPS camera club. Taken with Nikon P 600. I did not use a tripod. 
