8 posts tagged “flowers”

I love playing with Photoshop - mainly helping my students, but sometimes I get to play on my own stuff.  Here are some photos I've done recently.  First is a version of this sailing photo with added gradients and blends.

Sunset sail

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autumnleaves3

The next three are all variations of some pink flowers that I liked.  Again all sorts of things have been done to the original.  I really ought to write down what I do, because I forget what I did to end up with the finished effect.  Actually, they are never really finished, I just run out of time.  The first is a gentled down version - nice and soft.

pinkflowers1

Next a really purple version with some neon glow.

pinkflowers6

And now a different version with the purple toned down a lot and the flowers turned white.

pinkflowers5

Now three portrait shots, the first two rendered as sketches.  The first one had to be cut out from a very busy background before much could be done.  I should have feathered the edge of the cut-out and I think he's wearing a little too much lipstick! But I do like the overall effect very much.

Josh

The next is a straight-forward sketch effect from what was already a good photo. I have various versions in different colours and can't really decide what colour is best.  I love the pose - it's so full of youthful confidence.

Rupert 2

Finally what is probably my all time favourite portrait shot - partly because of the result and partly because of the journey to get there.  The original was crooked and needed straightening; there was red-eye from the flash, a few facial blemishes, and the rest of the picture was distracting.  Cleaned up and cropped, with a bit of glamour added courtesy of layers and blends, I think the result is stunning with the flash reflected off the glass behind the model.  Perhaps I should have enhanced the eye colour a little; maybe changed the shirt colour?  I'd never be finished - there are more pictures to play with!

Rupert 1

Writing this has made me want to try some more.  I have lots of surfing photos I took last summer in San Diego (well Encinitas actually), for example, which would benefit from enhancing contrast and colour both of sea and sky.  And I take lots of train photos which aren't very interesting to non-train people and could do with some dramatic touches.  Trouble is I need more creative imagination; may be I can pick some up from the art I'm teaching at school these days.

On Saturday we went for a walk up Crickley Hill, a popular dog-walking spot on the Cotswold escarpment.  There are lots of beech trees - some of them quite old, up to 250 years - so we were scuffing through all the fallen leaves.  There are also great views across the Severn valley to the welsh hills, although this time the air was not clear so the hills were mainly obscured in the distance.  There were however plenty of trees with plenty of berries and flowers and so on.

Today we just walked down the lane, just across the road from where we live. I don't usually bother taking a camera, but I did today and there were certainly plenty of things to take pictures of.

I was surprised by the variety of red and black berries just in the hedgerow - and the abundance of the fruit.  I don't know where all the birds are but there is a feast waiting for them!  I love the way photography makes me see more, looking at shape and colour, and just noticing more of what is around me.  There is so much treasure hidden from the speeding motorist - or even the preoccupied walker (just look at the bark on that tree trunk).  Here's a challenge: open your eyes and see what you're missing on your doorstep!  Here are a few more shots from my garden that I took when I got back from my walk:

These were taken with my Sony DSC-H9 on 10th June.

So I'm just back from a few days down in Cornwall.  Went to see my mum who is in an old peoples' home and to get her old house ready for selling.  She looked very thin - literally skin and bone - and even more confused than ever.  The house is full of the accumulated junk (and good stuff) of the last 30 years and more.  There is so much stuff it is difficult to separate the junk from the really good stuff and mostly I'm left wondering why mum collected all these things.  For example, set after set of silver cutlery - never used.  Cigarette cards and stamps - probably valuable. packets of towels - brand new, never opened - lots of them.  About a dozen penknives.  30 odd pairs of scissors.  230 mugs.  Box after box of puzzles of all kinds.  It just goes on and on.  It's very sad.

Anyway, here's some photos, first of my mum, then Cornish flowers, and finally the view across the road from the cafe where I was having a chocolate brownie and a latte.

I took these photos mainly just to test out my new digital camera, a Sony DSC-H9 which has a 15x optical lens and 8 megapixels. It also has a 1cm super macro so I thought I would try it out on some of the flowers in my garden.  I've now had the camera a week or so and like it - except for one thing, battery life.  Quoted life is 280 pictures but I managed only about 200.  With my old Minolta Dimage Z5 at South Cerney the other day I took 497 photos on one set of AA batteries.  So I need to get to the shop and buy a spare battery and charger - plus more cards.  It takes a Memory Card Pro Duo (which is a pain) but with the excellent video the camera takes (640x480 at 30fps with live focus and zoom) I need more cards so I can take plenty of video when I go to Uganda next month.  

Pittville

I can't believe it. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so we went to Pittville Park in town and there were boats on the lake, the blossom was out on the trees, lots of flowers, the skaters had stripped their shirts off, the ice cream man was doing good business - just right for lots of photos.  But I forgot my camera!  First time for ages I've been somewhere without a camera.  I am just so annoyed with myself, so this post will have to make do with old photos.  I could have taken some pictures with my phone but I'm having trouble with transferring them to my laptop, and they wouldn't have been very good quality anyway. 

Incidentally, went shopping after the park (bought some shirts) but also I had a look at the Nikon D40X (body only) but with 2 lenses we're talking £750.  But the shop said Tesco supermarket are selling the Canon 400D at only £399 undercutting everyone else - so maybe it'll be a Canon rather than a Nikon.  I can't make up my mind.