Pink Peony CU with Some Purple Petals - Sensor Captured Late Evening

The sensors on your iPhone are small compared to the DSL-R canera,  You cannot take images in RAW which means you cannot accurately correct the white balance post processing.  Sometimes you can try in PSE 11 under color variations, but does not usually work to my satisfaction. Late evening images have a tendency to have a blue cast to them.  I saw this peony in bloom and liked the pink color.  On the LED screen I could not accurately read the change in the color of the petals.  Therefore, when I looked at the image on the computer big screen, some of the petals now had a purple cast as will as the leaves a more blue cast.  I like the image anyway even though it was not as I saw it.   I may have another image I took of this same flower or one similar in sunlight.  Shot in the square foremat.  No post editing.    

Margie & Stray Kitty on Cherry Lane Walk

When my sister visted me in April we were walking in the neighborhood and met up with a very friendly kitty.  I convinced my sister that we needed to take an image because at the time we were talking to my brother, Frank We could send an unedited image right away. It was dusk and so there is a blue cast to the photo.  You can't shoot RAW with an iPhone and correct the WB later. I cropped it, cloned out some utility pole wires, enhanced the image exposure, and even used the healing brush to decreas a line in her forehead. Posted it to Facebook on 4 /27. Portraiture is not my thing...but this was a way to capture "one moment in time".A flash would have been too harsh. She took a picture of me with the kitty but the kitty was squirming and not looking at the camera.  

Tulip Tree Blossoms with Zoom in Camera+

I was walking in my neighborhood, and saw some tulip blossoms. I only had my iPhone with me and do not have a designated telephoto lens for it.  I tried to use the zoom feature in Camera+ which is really opitical zoom and difficult to get giood images without a tripod. It is not like I can stop down to f24.

 The blossoms were in bright sun about 2:30 PM. EDST.   These blossoms were not a eye level and so I had to shoot upward to get the composition I wanted.  At least the sky was a bright blue peaking through the branches, i.e.  "Carolina Blue".   The image on the left is "as taken".  It is difficult to get the zoom and then try to get the correct exposure.  The image on the right has adjustments in highlights and midtones, sharpening with a slight vignette applied. with PSE 11.

Spring Leaves of Chinese Chicquapen - Greenhill Cemetery

I like to use the Carolina blue sky for a background color for the leaves in the fall and spring. Sunday I went to the tree walk at the Greenhill Cemetery.  The tree identification information was given by Doug Goldman, PhD Botanist with the FDA based in Greensboro, NC.   It was a bright sunny day about 2 PM EDST.
I had some difficulty reading the LED screen to know if the images were in focus.  I picked 2 different images of a tree I think is a Chinese Chicquapen  Images were taken with my P600 Nikon Compact Camera.  The left image is of the leaves and fronds with the blue sky.  The right image was a close up of the leaves and fronds. PSE Elements was used to edit the images-brightness, contrast, highlights and some minimal sharpening.

Spring Blooms in Our Neighborhood

Spring is a great time to walk in my neighborhood. Azaleas are still blooming as different cultivars bloom later. This CU of the pink azalea has double petals. These blossoms look a lot like a rosebud before it is fully opened. I do admit to staging the composition.  The image on the right is a lily of the valley. I will admit to this being a grab shot.  It was in the neighbor's yard with the afternoon sun highlighting the blooms about 6 pm.  Mine do not have buds yet.  These usually bloom in May but everything seems to be blooming about 2 weeks early this spring. The blossoms can be difficult to photograph if the wind is blowing.   Hope to get a better close up to post later.

Clematis Blooming CU and Rebirth Image for May

Was outside in the yard after the rain this a.m. Saw that my clematis vine had some blooms which is early.  I usually see these more the first week in May.  The image on the left I needed an image for "rebirth" for the TOPs critique in May.  That is why buds were included in the image. Taken with iPhone 6 which will give a shallow depth of field for CU or macro images.  Not all petals or foliage in the same plane.Edited highlights, sharpened and applied a vignette with PSE 11.  The right image I wanted to get the sepals in sharp focus, but again the one petal closer to camera which did not show up all that well on the LED screen.  An iPhone will not give you "blinkies" when highlights too light or too dark with shadows.  

Mud Texture & Patterns - plus color variation invert

I am always looking for images that demonstrate texture or what I would call "patterns of nature"  This was some mud after it had dried on my driveway rendering the resulting patterns. Taken with iPhone 6 but edited to increase texture, by increasing midtones, highlights, sharpening etc.a lot (almost max) in PSE 11.  It was taken in color but because beige colored mud, not that evident in the left image.  I wanted to see what happened if I changed the color variation to purple and then inverted.  You can see the mud is now green and concave instead of convex with white outlines instead of black or dark brown.  

.

Coral Azalea - Cherry Lane, GSO, NC

Azaleas are blooming early for the Triad this year.  These images were taken on Easter Sunday after it had rained.   Taken with iPhone 6, Camera + app.  Minor editing with PSE11.  Because overcast more color saturation present.  I had hoped to attend the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, NC, this year but had to cancel.  This festival includes Home & Garden Tours.   I did get to the Azalea Gardens in Raleigh at WRAL -- near NC state campus.