Flowers
Bold and Beautiful (monochrome)
Sometimes I like taking a favorite color photo and removing the color – making it monochrome – to see how the change affects the image. There are times when the B&W version is better…and times when it is not. This is a monochrome version of Bold and Beautiful. You can look and both and decide which you like better – color or B&W. I like aspects of both and would call this one a toss up.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Popular Spot
Flowers are blooming and the bees are buzzing. This proved to be a popular spot in the meadow. Honey bees and bumble bees were frequenting this clump of purple spiderswort. It was early morning – maybe 6:30 (notice the dew still on the plants) – and they were already hard at it.
To get this shot, I put my camera on a tripod and simply focused on a colorful, well lit clump of flowers and waited. When a bee would enter into the scene, I would start clicking. The bees you see here are exactly how I photographed them…but they were never in the shot together. Since the focus and framing never changed, it was easy to combine the various bees from separate images into one.
To get a better view of the image details, click on it and a larger version will open in another tab.
Bold and Beautiful
These bold, big-as-all-outdoors flowers remind me of purple cone flowers. I’m not sure they are cone flowers because the petals don’t slope downward. I’m not an expert, I just appreciate the beauty.
These beauties were photographed in the center of the circular entrance to the Kraft Building at the Green Lake Conference Center, Green Lake, Wisconsin.
To see a larger version, click on the photo.
Garden Party
I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
Rick Nelson
These are the some of the regulars who frequent the birdbath and feeders in our yard. The yellow ones are male American Goldfinches. The other three are House Finches – the males having the red coloring.
In the interest of full disclosure – I never got more than three of them to belly up to the bar at one time, so a little Pops Digital magic was needed to fill up the spaces.
To get a better view, click on the image and you’ll see a larger version.
Unassuming Charm
“Thou unassuming Commonplace Of Nature.” ~ William Wordsworth
This has been a banner year for daisies in our yard. They seem to be popping up everywhere. It’s also been a good year for the orange hawk weed you see in the background.
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On A Pedestal
This is a great time to crawl through the garden looking for bees and bugs. This guy was about his business – working the garden, buzzing from flower to flower.
View a larger image of this photo by click on it.
Poppy Progression
Poppies are some of my favorites. The colors are always vibrant, the multi-layer petals are interesting and the center provides a natural focal point.
This photo shows the poppies in three stages – the pre-bloom bud, the bud just beginning to burst forth, and full, glorious bloom.
If you have a large monitor, you may be able to view a larger version of this photo by clicking on it. To see other, previously posted poppy images, click HERE.
Beauty Fades
By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower. ~ Rabindranath Tagore
This is one of the first poppies to bloom and fade in our spring garden. I applied a texture to the image. To me, it didn’t seem right to gaze upon its unfiltered demise.
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Spring’s Serenade (textured effect)
I’ve been fiddling with my images lately. (You might have noticed yesterday’s post – Morning Friends)
This image was originally posted last April (see Spring’s Serenade). When I first posted it I shared it with some friends and mentioned I thought it would be a perfect image for a textured effect. Well, I finally got around to trying one on.
It changes the feel of the bright, vivid original image. You should look at both and see which you prefer.
If you have a large monitor, you can view a larger version of this image by clicking on it.
A Flower in Medusa’s Hair
This is a poppy from our home flowerbed. The poppy buds in the background remind me of snakes.
Medusa is the character in classic Greek mythology whose hair was turned into snakes.
You can view a larger version of this image by clicking on it.