Flowers in my Garden

It wasn’t that long ago in life that I had zero interest in gardening. My family had always had large gardens full of fruit, veg, and flowers. I’m sure as a small child I would have helped here and there, and do recall planting the odd tree, but I guess once ‘teenagedom’ hit, the appeal of gardens also wained somewhat. Now, years later, I am by no means any form of botanist, but do strangely enjoy the odd potter in the garden.

Our current residence was fairly bare when we shifted in, and determined to do something with it I built a range of planters and boxes for mostly vegetables, but also some small fruit trees and flowers. This summer has been pretty nice to date (excluding today’s intermittent dark clouds and strong winds), and the whole garden has taken off amazingly.

Coming home from work, the light was quite nice to get the full colour of the flowers in our back garden, so I put on the Sigma 30mm onto the Nex and took a few shots, the above being today’s pick.

In post processing I adjusted the levels a little, slightly pushed the sharpness and cropped.

As we approach the weekend, it looks like I will be off to see a group playing music somewhere. All going well I’ll take along my camera and see if I can capture any band shots. Still Friday to go yet!

January 17, 2013 0

Macro Daisy – Pro HDR

Searching the App store for interesting photo apps I came across ‘Pro HDR Camera’. Unlike a lot of mobile apps, Pro HDR does actually capture three seperate exposures to form a genuine HDR image.

Although I must confess I dont do much HDR at all, there is a lot of great photog’s out there who do, and if stuck without a suitable camera, this is a nice little app to have up your sleaves for the cost of a can of coke.

Taking a short stroll through Smiths Bush, it delivered great results from what would normally have either more blown out, or underexposed images – especially on a mobile phone, which tend to have low dynamic ranges.

At home none if the images I shot appealed to post up. Whilst great testers for the app, image content wise they didnt much speak to me. So – I clipped in my macro lens and visited the back lawn. I have not seen much macro HDR, so the daisy is my casual snap at it.

Im tempted to go back to Afterfocus again tomorrow. Its been my top vote so far. I did also play with Instagram today, but the prompting to share or where to share put me off it straight away im afraid.

Catch you tomorrow!

November 8, 2012 0

Sun Searcher

I think whenever one is struggling to find an interesting shot, its always good to switch to macro and explore the smaller world a little. ‘Cant see the wood for the trees’ is not quite the right expression I am looking for – but sometimes stopping, sitting and looking a little closer opens up a whole new world…’Stop to smell the flowers’?

Today’s shot, ‘Sun Searcher’ came about from a walk I took the other day. It had been a long day, and searching for inspiration felt a little like it was hiding. Taking a short stop I noticed a line of buttercups on the crest of a small grass mound. Almost approaching sunset, the light was getting quite low – the golden hour. I took a few shots and settled on the above for today.

Using Gimp in post processing, I added a cross-processed filter and then adjusted the levels more to my liking. Something about cross-processing always adds a bit more of a ‘memory’ effect to images. Its quite popular with a range of modern smart-phones (and digi cameras) at present – a sort of instant retro I guess.

October 25, 2012 2

Above the Grass

Down here in Auckland New Zealand we are still experiencing the changeable nature of spring. One minute it is sunny, the next rain. Temperature wise its mildish. NZ Band Crowded House once sung the song ‘four seasons in one day’. It really can apply here! Its all a signal that summer is on the way though…I think…

Shot on my Sony Nex 5N @54mm, ‘Above the Grass’ is a simple capture of these beautiful little flowers standing out in the green grass field.

Aside from resizing, I didn’t do any post processing work on this image. I love the simple soft and peaceful summer like feeling it creates.

October 5, 2012 2

The Honeymaker

The weather was great down in New Plymouth after a clear flight. I love window seats when flying over land. Unfortunatly I had not switched my phone to flight mode, so I didnt grsb any in flight shots. Upon reaching our destination I did some relaxing in the sun and caught this little guy gathering shopping to make honey.
I also got some shots off on the fed1, so will see how my sunny 16 judgements go.

July 20, 2012 0

Bees Eye View

As short stroll with fading light and not much of interest perspective wise caused me to start looking smaller at the closeup/Macro options with the GRD the other day. With a breeze constantly waving through it was quite difficult to keep in focus so close up to the flowers. When I caught this image I liked the soft dreamy nature the image projected – perhaps this is a ‘Bees Eye View’ as they fly in!?

Captured on the Ricoh GRD IV and resized in Gimp.

July 16, 2012 0

Little Pink Flowers

By the time I stepped out the office today the sun had gone down and the area was surrounded by rain and thunder. I might head into the city for some rainy evening shots at some stage as we enter winter, but for today, especially being a Monday, I had a look over recent photos I could post up. Todays image, ‘Little Pink Flowers’ also came from yesterdays walk. I’m not sure what the name of this tree was, but the flowers are about the size of your little fingernail. Not much else to say about todays image, I’m drawn to the soft blend of color as the branches sweep out into the sunlight.

May 14, 2012 2

Friday unwind

Some weeks it seems like Friday has taken a long time to arrive. This week felt a bit like one of those. With a questionable weather forecast for the weekend ahead, I made sure I had time to go for a bit of a wander after work to get some fresh air, unwind and get a few shots in before sunset. The light was particularly nice this evening and I managed to get a number of images to choose from for todays post. I settled on this macro shot of a small wild flower staring out across the grass at the ocean below the cliff top. I think the image reflected my mood to unwind, forget the working week and begin to relax for the next few days ahead. Taken on my ricoh with rounded boarder and a slight brightness adjustment in post processing. Have a great Friday!

May 11, 2012 0