Sunday Sea Urchin Series/study

The temp hit 118 today! I rescued the above Cactus flower from the shade

before it wilted. Three other blooms didn't fare as well.

I  normally photograph the Sea Urchins in the

 garden; I prefer natural light.

I had plans for the day but the flowers "spoke to me." 

I tend to listen when photographs 

need to be made! 

The wilted flowers, above, are just as glorious as the full 

blooms are. I felt that they were every bit as much a gift

as the perfect flower was.

Macros of the wilted flowers.

While I have taken hundreds of photos of the

Sea Urchin flowers, aka Echinopsis, I rarely 

take macros of them. 

Studying the flowers from different angles  . . .

abstracting the flowers with a macro lens on

the iPhone . . 

New perspective!

I used only one app on the iPad to edit all of the images.

iColorama.

I ended up concentrating on macros rather 

than full frame photos.

I probably could have taken more than a dozen photographs

but in the end a challenge to create twelve forced me to 

think about each photo  . . .

Digital photography makes it easy to make numerous 

photos and then choose the best. I come from an era when film

slowed down the process, something I don't often do anymore. 

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in

an ordinary place . . . I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do

with the way you see them." Elliott Erwitt

Wonderfulicious Wednesday

A challenging week made better by transforming photos!

Date Palms are an abundant crop in the Coachella Valley: I don't know

what the HOA was thinking when they planted Date Palm trees

in front yards. These aren't taken care of properly, sadly. 

Right now the dates look more like olives. Of course I had

to run the image through a few Apps.

I haven't done any macro photos in awhile; the perfect

subject is a yellow

Hibiscus from the garden
And then both a yellow and
red hibiscus . . .

Palm tree Vignette before pruning. 

iColorama, Mextures, and Stackables were used.

One of the lessons in Susan Tuttle's course is Self-portraits.

I'm fond of the painterly effect of this one.

Sill-life study of three miniature roses not much

 larger than a quarter along with a

pewter goblet that was mom's. 

Womderfulicious Wednesday!

Wonderfulicious Wednesday

Wednesday is nearly over . . . 

Washingtonian Fan Palms are plentiful here in Coachella Valley.

This is the time of year that they're heavily pruned back; I love the way the

light hits the plumes.

Garden Vignette - Desert Landscape.

Photograph taken from the front yard and transformed using

a myriad of apps.

Back in the day . . . I worked in B/W only and spent hours in

a darkroom. I even played with Pinhole Cameras, but these days 

I'm enthralled with apps that make easy and superb Pinhole Camera images!

Because  the Sea Urchin Cactus have bloomed longer this year 

I've been able to try a variety of camera settings in Hipstamatic. 

I'm beginning to love B/W photography again.

Three still-life images based on the Susan Tuttle 

course I'm taking. 

And finally, Plumeria in the garden.

Photo-transformation. 

Wonderfulicious Wednesday and June!

More Photo Explorations.

 Windswept Photo-transformation created from 4 images and

apps. The barn is another of my Dad's birdhouses superimposed into a scene

photographed from a car back in the 90's; I was the passenger. 

The tree was extracted from a background. The birds-on-the-wire are an

app. iColorama painterly effect.

 

I  have a few metal sculptures created by a former husband. Talented.

I tried to superimpose the Victorian house into a landscape  . ..  nope, didn't work.

Brainstormed and at 2am an idea struck. 

The background texture was created by layering a lot of

textures in iColorama and Stackables then superimposed with the Victorian house. 

Deco Sketch for the lines, Reflect for the reflection and some fog added. 

The birds are from my collection of photos.

Cerseus blooms! If I don't get up early enough I miss the night bloomers!

The one above was in the process of closing up after spending the night in

full bloom. 

A record 14 blooms over 5 days!

Painterly effect for these 2.

Missed the full blooms, but

these greeted me early one morning.

Painterly effect.

Found Twig.

Tree series.

Another version of the delicate flower atop of a

prickly Barrel Cactus.