Tag: digital

In a Sea of Flowers

In a Sea of Flowers

Not an especially well-taken photograph. I have a tendency to shoot quickly without holding still. As a result, a lot of my quickie shots are a bit blurry. Nonetheless, they do catch a mood that pleases me, such as a sea of flowers and a lovely tree. Our botanical garden is always a delight to visit.

X100V.

At the Edge of the Garden

The Edge of the Garden

The botanical garden is just gorgeous right now! It’s had its spring cleaning done, and all the undergrowth has been cleared away. Between the trees is simply leaves, new plantings, and trees budding out and in bloom. I went there yesterday in search of the bulbs, primarily the narcissus, but they were past their season. Ah, well! There was still plenty more to see.

The rocks you see above for a long time were overgrown and not tended. Now they have been cleaned up and I think later on the Matilija poppies will show up. I noticed a lot of new growth where I know they grow, so that will be a sight to see. These rocks are on the edge of the garden, with a fence separating them from the nearby condos and the hill beyond, which I really should climb one day!

I brought the X100V along with me, and no dogs as the last time I did I went flying down a hill, camera in hand. We all survived, but as there are other dogs here and squirrels to chase, it seemed prudent to come alone – this way I could look and wander a bit.

An Orchid and Its History

Orchid

I took this photo back in 2011. I had bought my first DSLR, a Nikon 7000, after using a friend’s D70 for over a year. Back then I was not only learning to take pictures, managing ISO, exposure, aperture, etc., but also learning editing software. Lightroom was at version 3 I think, not the CC or Classic of today. Since then I have played with a number of different post editing programs, but in reality don’t use any of them to the maximum potential. Do I want to?

Certainly I am better at editing than I was 12 years ago. Then HDR was sort of “the thing” and I pushed things a lot, and often with rather dreadful results. Before having my cataracts removed, I also starting pushing colors as my vision declined. Now I still look at color as a very important part of photography, but of late I am looking more at contrast, complementary colors, and the sorts of things you look at in painting.

Pictures are still what I look at more than anything, whether photos, paintings, drawings, or just the world around me. The visual is always what intrigues me. Some people are sensitive to sound or scent or taste, and I wish I had the ability to experience them as deeply as I do the visual. I wonder what synesthesia would be like – does it enhance or confuse?

Anyway, back to editing. Below is the above orchid edited in 2011 in black and white.

And below is a new BW edit of the same . . .

Interesting how times and experience change us . . .