Black & W Challenge - 4 of 7 Day Challenge

My daughter, Ginger, challenged me to take B & W images for 7 days.  No people.  No Explanations. I have posted 4 of the images.  Some were taken with the iPhone 6S and others with the Nikon P600.   Minimal editing in PSE 15 or edits in Phone native camera. Downsized to post on Facebook. No artistic apps were used.
The image on the left at the top is not a person but part of my neighbor's Halloween display.  On Halloween he uses dry ice and back lighting to give an eerie to the displace which also includes grave markers, the "headless horseman", skeletons, and an inflatable cat.  Love that I could capture my dog without her thinking the camera was food. Top right image is a macro of milkweed seeds.  The lower right is an image of varigated yucca plantlooking down the center. 

Pink Sasanqua Camellias CU - Tangier Garden, GSO

 One of my favorite flowers to photograph are camellias. When I lived in Ohio, you could only see them in a conservatory.  Since I moved to NC I can see them outside in the fall& winter, starting in October-December (Sasanqua) or December-February (Japonica),  I actually have a red and pink one of the Japonica.  Images taken with iPhone 6S and edited in PSE 15.  Images were cropped and the backgrounds were improved with healing brush or a paint brush. These images were taken at the Tangier Family Garden in Greensboro, NC.

Garden Gate Winery, Mocksville, NC

Went with friend to wineries in the Mocksville, NC, area last Sat.  My friend Pat Chamings picked a gallon of the Muscadine grapes at Golden Gate Vineyards.  They had 2 varieties: black and a yellow green.  In addition to making wine, these grapes can be made into juice. Taken with iPhone 6.  Minimal editing in PSE 15.  I really liked the statue on the property.  The wineries have expanded in North Carolina. It is said that the lattitude here is the same as successful wineries in France and California.  A few like Childress Winery in Lexington do have a restaurant. 

Milkweed Seedpod with Nymph Milkweed Insects

I was walking in the neighborhood and saw the milkweed plant had popped open the big seed pod.  There were a lot of orange insects crawling about.  Taken with iPhone 6s.  Posted on my FB page and also on Photo Nuts FB page.  Minimal editing in PSE 11.

Abstract Lighting at Lowe's for the Holidays

I was shopping a Lowe's about a week ago.  They had fall decorations for Halloween or the holiday on display.  There are LED lights which can be used to light up the outside of your house.  They had a display with these lights in a cardboard box and I tried to capture movement with my iPhone.  Not possible to set a high speed to freeze the motion.   Theoretically either of these could be used for halloween.  I like these images because they would be considered abstract. The imge on the left has a vignette appled to make sure the corners were really black.   

Fall Splendor -- Autumn Clematis & Magnolia Seedpod

The Fall Equinox occurred on 9/21 but did not have time to post.  Fall foilage, blossoms and seed pods have been seen in my neighborhood. Leaves will soon be changing to Autumn colors.  The photo on the left is of an **Autumn Clematis.  This is very difficult to photograph if there is any wind and the blossoms are not all in the same plane.  So if you use a shallow depth of field in a close up photo, not everything will be in sharp focus.  I purposely took this photo in late afternoon to get the "golden hour colors" with side lighting to show more texture.   The image on the right is of a magnolia seed pod.  A slight vignette was applied to this photo to make seedpod more  prominent. 
**The Autumn Clematis (Virginia Bower) was picked as one of the Top 10 images in FB  Photo Nuts Group for the month of Sept.