Summer flowers

Home Depot is a great place to buy, say, a broom, plastic trash bags, and paper towels. So while Chris is getting all that stuff gathered up, I'm over in the garden section with my iPhone, looking for potential photos.

The friendly folks there don't mind my taking pictures, which makes the shooting much more relaxed. (I've been known to have a friend cough loudly to disguise shutter clicks. I'm not proud of it. And hope to never do it again.)

What's also nice is that the flowers aren't on the ground; they're up higher so you can shoot AT them or from slightly above with little trouble.

Here are the three I came home with, flowers that tell me it's the heart of summer. Get 'em while it's hot!

Oh, and the mystery bird that's nesting outside the front door has one hatched chick in the nest. Hatched today! Two more eggs to go. Just wish I knew exactly what kind of bird it is ... I was thinking wren, but not certain right now.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

A bit of delicacy

We have a Japanese snowbell tree (Styrax japonicus) in the front yard which recently came into full bloom. Thinking I absolutely need a new Lensbaby, but knowing I don’t want to spend any money right now on more gear (which I would probably tire of soon anyway), I wondered how I could take really soft, ethereal photos of these delicate flowers.

I’ve got a good macro lens — Canon 100mm f/2.8. So I combined it with a 12mm Kenko extension tube to see what would happen. And here are my first attempts.

I like the out-of-focus background, the softness, the pale green colors. But maybe there’s not quite enough in focus, so today, if there are any flowers left after the winds we had yesterday afternoon and evening, I’ll give it another go with a slightly smaller aperture for more depth of field.

The pictures are pretty though, aren’t they? Something different for me as a change of pace. And yes, I do find it weird that I love photographing industrial grungy things, yet take great pleasure in this sort of photography as well.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Flowering trees in the Skagit Valley

Tuesday we all went over to the Skagit Valley to check out the tulips. Well, they're running a few weeks late this year, but there were lots of flowering trees as well as fields of brilliant yellow daffodils.

I concentrated on the trees, looking for lovely flowers and soft backgrounds. Shallow depth of field softened the backgrounds even more, and a bit of post-processing in Photoshop gave me the look I was hoping for.

A lot of times I take photographs with no preconceptions in mind. Not this time! I knew exactly how I wanted these flowers to look when I was done. Ta da!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

A flurry of flowers

Earlier this summer I revisited a lot of my old flower photos, wondering what I could do to shake things up a bit. I ended up liking these three, to which I added a bit of a painterly effect and some toning to mute and somewhat blur the results.

So here I have a photo of what I believe are apple blossoms, then a waterlily photographed on Maui (thank you, Jan), and linaria (or toadflax), which is a lovely weed I had growing in our yard in Oregon.

Since I'm in Nova Scotia right now, perhaps photographing a flower as we speak, I prepped this post to appear while I am gone. Be forewarned. There will be more flowers appearing in a few days.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Summer flowers

We're in the heart of summer here on Whidbey Island, and everything seems to be in full bloom right now.

However.

Leaves are beginning to slowly drift down from a few trees in the yard. Gentle reminders floating in the air, reminding us not to get too complacent. Autumn is nigh.

Technical stuff: Cellphone shots of flowers at Bayview Nursery in Langley, where colorful grasses made a lovely background. And the yellow ones were blooming in a flowerbed on a street in downtown Langley. Shallow depth of field and a painterly touch give the images an overall soft look, yet with a bit of sharpness so my eyes don't go crazy looking for something to focus on. 

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. 

Summer pinks

Walking around Whidbey Island these days is fun -- flowers growing everywhere. These four come from Langley, the perfect place to be early in the morning, before the crowds arrive, when it's quiet and, apparently, PINK!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Summer flowers

It's summer here on the island and man, there are flowers everywhere! We've got hydrangeas blooming in the front yard. In downtown Coupeville there are geraniums in window boxes. And down a little walkway, also in Coupeville, I found a vase of flowers sitting on a table.

I began in photography by shooting flowers. I'll probably end up with flowers as well -- so hard to resist. So beautiful. So apolitical. Even the orange ones.

 ©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Hypericum flowers

Walking around Langley yesterday I spotted these lovely little Hypericum flowers in a shady courtyard. Small pleasures.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Color, food, and laughter

Our friends Rich and CJ are here visiting for a week and what I'm especially loving is all the laughter. Photography is sneaking in there, as are some fine meals, but the laughter is what is feeding my soul.

Yesterday we ventured out and found some brilliant colors in Greenbank. I was shooting with my iPhone and then created these two painterly images using some Topaz filters. Fun stuff. Lightweight, but fun. And pretty. And yeah, the colors were really this brilliant.

The pansies were floating in water in an orange glass birdbath. How could we pass them by? And the Oriental poppy? Just one in a big patch of them.

Wishing you friendship, good food, and lots of laughter this Memorial Day weekend.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

It's still spring . . .

In my mind, spring officially ends June first. Spring = March, April, and May. June first is the beginning of summer to me, when things heat up and the fresh green-ness of spring dissipates, bringing solid colors, substantial fruits and vegetables, leaving the delicacy of new growth and flowers behind.

Only a couple of weeks left, but I cling to the springtime vibe by playing with painterly techniques, finding flower photos from years past and giving them a different treatment. New eyes. New techniques. New skills. New growth. And it's fun.

Of these three pictures, only the tree is current; the other two flowers -- a daisy and a Japanese anemone -- were photographed years ago, reappearing today in a slightly new wardrobe. What all three have in common is the slight tip, the tilt, the curve, that little fillip that gives the flowers, the tree, a bit of personality, a bit of movement, a bit of direction.

There's a time and place for solidity, structure, linearity. Spring just ain't that time.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Now and then. 2016 versus 2003.

I bought my first digital SLR in 2003. A Canon D60. Six megapixel sensor. I was clueless about the processing, the various settings within the camera, everything. The camera itself was similar to my Canon film cameras regarding ISO, shutter speeds, apertures, all that. So using the camera didn’t involve much of a learning curve. It was the dpi settings, the JPG vs. RAW, the downloading, the post-processing software, etc. that I had to deal with.

I shoot RAW for everything today; this was a simple JPG image.

I liked this shot in 2003. I still like it today. The “bones” are good. But when I compare my most recent version to my original, I see how far I’ve come. What’s better today?

What’s good about the old photo is the composition. I like the movement I created, directing your eye from left to right in a large arc. It’s the fallen petal on the right that really helps, kind of like a period at the end of a sentence. The flowers are pretty. And the light, mid-afternoon light coming in from windows, is also pretty.

What I don’t like is the darkness in the background, the green wall, the texture in the wall, nor the heavy line of demarcation between the furniture and the wall. For light-colored, delicate flowers, I was too heavy-handed with the rest.

What did I do to change my original picture? I used a variety of Topaz filters and effects as well as Photoshop techniques to soften the image, to tone the image, to create a lighter and brighter overall look. The furniture the vase is sitting on is now lighter and it glows. The wall is no longer green. And look at where the furniture meets the wall — the “horizon line” — see how softly those two elements meet? I find that much more appealing.

The reddish/cinnamon-colored vase has been toned way down. The flowers still have color, but they, too, have been toned so that they have a more unified look. The focus is softer, but the flower centers still come through relatively sharply. The look is painterly, yet with a definite “photograph” vibe.

From a pretty photograph taken in 2003 with a more professional, more appealing look in 2016, this 13-year difference proves just one thing: I’m obviously a very slow learner!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Something old, something new (part 2)

Another in my "painterly flowers" series. The process has been fun and I'm liking the results. Doesn't get much better than that!

Shot in 2009, re-worked in 2016.

 ©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Something old, something new

Once again, rummaging through old photographs and seeing them with new eyes, new skills, new ideas, new experiments.

I found this clematis photo, taken in April of 2009 at the Oregon Coast Garden Center. (Loved that place. So sorry to see it close a few years ago.)

I knew I wanted my original photograph less vibrant, paler pink than it was originally, and so began experimenting with layers, masks, toning, painterly effects, etc. I wanted it painterly, but not too painterly, if that makes any sense.

I'm pleased, this morning, with the result.

April and May, my two favorite months in the Pacific Northwest. Followed closely by September and October. Wishing you cool breezes, fresh air, and lovely flowers.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Paint Chip Inspiration: "Crushed Seed"

If this is your first visit and you've not seen this "Paint Chip Inspiration" feature, let me repeat what I wrote last week:

This idea is not unique to me. It comes from Rachel Berger here: http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=11257

She selected a paint chip out of a bag, one a day for 100 days, and wrote a short response to that color/that color's name. BRILLIANT! So I thought, I like color. I can write. I can doodle. I have paint chips. And I can scan. So here I am with my first sixth paint chip. . .

If the printing is too small, here's what it says:

CRUSHED SEED
The word "seed" in this paint chip makes me think of the California poppy seeds I scattered around our deck this year, how they bloomed and then re-seeded themselves. Hoping for a good bloom next year. Which reminds me of the most remarkable thing I saw from an airplane window a number of years ago. I traveled from Portland to San Diego in April. Looking out the window I saw a swath of orange that looked like a bag of Cheetos had been spilled on the land. It was the Antelope Valley at the height of the poppy bloom. Although I'd been there numerous times leading photo walks and photo picnics, never had I seen the aerial scope of the place. A view I will never forget.

©Carol Leigh
9/30/13

If seahorses were flowers . . .

The past few weeks our "Lucifer" crocosmia have been in full bloom. The flowers die away from the middle of the stalk out to the tip, so what you're seeing here is the last of the flowers on these stalks. I liked the way they curved and bent, so I placed them just so and shot. To me they look like botanical seahorses!

This is one of the lessons/assignments in my upcoming "Developing Your Creative Edge" online photo class. The lessons are fun, easy (yet challenging), and you don't need flash. The class begins Friday, September 27, 2013, and lasts for six weeks. Each week I post a lesson and you have two+ weeks to get it done and submit it for comments and critiques. Registration fee: $85. Questions? E-mail me at carol at carolleigh dot net.

It's a good day to . . .

. . . enjoy the sunshine!

It's been a very pretty spring on the Oregon coast. The rhododendrons were huge and puffy and colorful, and then they were gone. Poof! But California poppies are popping, lupine is imminent, and tall opium poppies are on the verge of showing their purple and red colors. It's summer now (which normally lasts two or three weeks around here), and it's time to enjoy the light, the colors, the warmth.

Wishing YOU light, color, and warmth.

P.S. I've got a gallery of these sorts of flower images here: http://carol-leigh.artistwebsites.com/art/all/flowers+-+outrageous+colors/all

©Carol Leigh

Sherman Gardens

I enjoyed visiting old haunts such as Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar, CA. I used to go there all the time to practice my photography. One of my first photo sales (to Leanin' Tree greeting card company) was a photo of clivia, shot at the gardens. My smaller framed photos of roses and fuchsias were featured in the garden's gift shop for awhile.

The gardens are still the same (except for the restaurant that has taken the place of the little tea garden). The rock garden is more extensive and intriguing (filled with succulents). Iceland poppies still grow around the fountain, where this day all the bees were attracted to just the yellow poppies. And the little hothouse was still packed with humidity-loving ferns and bromeliads. The koi seemed much bigger (well, they've had at least 25 years to grow!).

And admission is still just $3. Way too little for such a special place.

©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #6

These are the last of the summer flowers that remain into early fall. Photographed at Half Moon Bay, California. ©Carol Leigh

Walk Around the Block . . .

Photos found during my frequent forays around the block...

The three birdhouses we've had outside for the past 10 years are slowly falling apart, but I still like how they look. The hydrangeas are becoming raggedy, but this clump still glows in the early morning light.

The blackberries up the street continue to blossom, the berries rapidly ripening, the last of the season. A rock rose in a neighbor's yard looks pretty good; our rock roses froze two years ago and haven't quite made it back yet.

And finally another weed. Actually, it's the same weed you saw a few days ago, this time photographed on a different day, under different light, with a different camera/lens combo.

Fall is quietly arriving here on the Oregon coast, after about four weeks of summer . . .

©Carol Leigh

National Farmers' Market Week, Day 3

Farmers' markets aren't just about fruits and vegetables. I found this lovely grouping of fresh flowers at a farmers' market in Astoria, Oregon. ©Carol Leigh