White Amaryllis

I took this picture early in the day, before I decided the flash was just screwing everything up.

Viewed on the camera screen, I thought this was awful. There was no context! The flash had brightened the white flowers and killed the entire background! When I saw it on my computer screen, however, I liked it a lot more. I think it looks neat the way the flowers almost seem to be floating in nothingness.

I did clone out a little bit of stem at the bottom and played a little with the brightness and sharpness. But nothing too severe. I like the droplets of water on the petals, too. :)

Fall colours

This one I played with a little bit in post-processing.

This scene and therefore the image already had great colours. Late fall gave the gorgeous reds and oranges, and the sun was setting, leaving the pinks on the left. The water was quite still, giving a very beautiful reflection. So, what did I do to this?

First, I cropped it. I actually cut out most of the sunset, because that isn't what I wanted to focus on. Then I added some "warmth" to the picture. It gave the sky a slightly odd cast, but I think it made the rest of the colours pop even more. Third, I increased the saturation a bit, again, just to bring out those gorgeous colours even more.

I love this picture.

Leafy Waterfall

I go back and forth a lot on whether I like this one or not!

I do like the contrast between the large, colourful leaves that are sharply in focus and the muted rocks and waterfall in the background that are softly blurred. Maybe it's just the angle I'm not sure of. Anyway, minimal post-processing here. I cropped out some distractions to either side and did a very slight smidge of sharpening.

Blue Poinsettias

This is not as sharp as I would like, but it's still a fun and pretty picture.

I should maybe have darkened this one a bit. Hmm... Anyway, I did change the horizon so that I could get a nicer crop, cropped it heavily, and tried to sharpen it a little bit. It's hard to see, but the blue leaves also have sparkles on them! :) (Yes, the snow is very fake. This was an indoor display.)

Data Management: The Mundane Side of Photography

A very nice article about storing all those photos.

http://www.scottdavenportphoto.com/blog/2013/12/19/data-management-the-mundane-side-of-photography

Littlest Rainbow

FYI it is very hard for a camera to focus on a rainbow! Apparently the sensors can't figure out what/where/why.

Beautiful Girl

My Cleo is a little exhausted by all the paparazzi!

I love everything about this picture. Taken with my macro lens, I love the DOF.

Merry Christmas!

30 Day Challenge: Take 2

Looking back through old blog posts, it would appear I never actually shared the original 30 day challenge list. So here it is. On to the new!

I have wanted to take another stab at this challenge. I enjoyed it for the most part, but there were items that didn't suit my interests and other things I thought were missing. Therefore, I'm editing the original list to better reflect my own photography goals and interests! I will begin on January 1.

The one thing I'm struggling with is the order. I'm currently leaning towards being a little flexible with the actual order these are done in, since many need a specific location or can't be dictated. (I can't force a bird to appear on the appropriate day, as much as I would like to! And I'm not going searching for one if it's 30 below.)

Here's my challenge. Let me know if you're going to join me!

Holiday Lights

Mickey, Minny, Snoopy, and all the rest are wishing you a very happy holiday!