Close up of Chrysanthemums in My Neigborhood

Mums just say "fall is here".  Found two nice colors to photograph while walking in the neighborhood. They were in pots. Taken with Nikon P600.  Tried to adjust bright sunlight by decreasing exposure. Minimal editing in HP photo editing program. 

Wild Chrysanthemum taxa are herbaceous perennial plants or subshrubs. They have alternately arranged leaves divided into leaflets with toothed or occasionally smooth edges. The compound inflorescence is an array of several flower heads, or sometimes a solitary head. The head has a base covered in layers of phyllaries. The simple row of ray florets are white, yellow or red; many horticultural specimens have been bred to bear many rows of ray florets in a great variety of colors. The disc florets of wild taxa are yellow. The fruit is a ribbed achene.^[7] Chrysanthemums, also known as ‘mums’, are one of the prettiest varieties of perennials that start blooming early in the fall. This is also known as favorite flower for the month of November.^[8]  The flowers can have different meanings in different cultures, i.e. some like Italy mums placed on tombs signifying death.

Fall Leaf Colors Beggining 10/15/2016

Just starting to get some change of leaf color in the Piedmont area of NC.      I tried to capture a few images when I was out and about in Greensboro the past 2 days.  The left image was taken at a Walmart parking lot.  The right image at Rankin School parking lot.  Some of the maples and oaks have great red, orange and yellow colors.  Peak color will not be for about 2 more weeks. Image captured with Nikon P600 about 4 PM in afternoon.  Love the blue Carolina sky.  Did not use any photo filters with the camera  Editing done with HP media photo editing tool--saturation was increased  

Napkin Notecards with Different Lighting

I belong to a crafters group of the NC Unit of H.S.A.  On Monday we completed some napkin cards that we will be selling at the Unit Meeting this month.  I took a picture of the one I made with embellishments that has hot peppers which capsicum is Herb of the Year 2016.  The other is of some hummingbirds Modgepodged to white cardstock and ready to be cut into 2 note cards. Both images were taken with an iPhone. The left image I used outdoor lighting in shaded area which is more the white color it should be. The image on the right I used indoor incandescent lighting and it has a yellowish cast.  These were edited in a photo editing program that came with my HP computer. 

Birthday Desserts - #75 BD

For my special 75th birthday I made individual triffles for dessert since it was just Jack and I. My friend, Pat, had given me some lemon pound cake.  So, I made lemon pudding and I had some blueberries, then topped with Cool Whip and chopped pecans. I got the chicken roll ups at The Fresh Market to make Chicken Cordon Bleu-favorite. That is so much easier to just brown the chicken and make the wine sauce.  I got this recipe from a nurse friend when I worked at The Toledo Hospital.  I like mine better than some I have had at restaurants which are deep-fat fried and taste greasy and sauce ??   Did not take a picture of this as previously had done a photo of it.  We had Greek salad, Au gratin potatoes from a box, and fresh cooked asparagus. Then another day we went to Tasso Indian Restaurant in Burlington, NC,  so we could do their lunch buffet.  Jack was not impressed but I wanted to go someplace that I don't really make that type of ethnic food.  The lighting was poor, so I did not really take a photos.  Right image: for supper that night I served Jack and I a Black Tuxedo Cake dessert which I had purchased at The Fresh Market.

Small Landscape Waterfalls- Sarah Duke Gardens, Durham, NC

In September my photo friend, Pat, and I went to Sarah Duke Gardens in Durham.  There is a new small landscaping waterfall and I tried to use a slower speed with Camera+ app to make the water less sharp.  I think I need a lot more practice, but an iPhone is not like a DSL-R.  I really don't like that effect that much because in reality the water does not really look silky.  It was an overcast day and so there is nice color saturation.  I took the photo in the square mode, but only did some cropping for better composition.   

Birthday Roses 9/28/2016 CU and Bouquet

Wednesday was my 75th BD.  Jack got me these roses and I wanted to take pictures of the bouquet. I purposely used the square mode.  The left image is of the bouquet shooting from the top down on a background of navy polyester with window lighting. The right image I used the macro mode in Camera+ appt  to take a picture of one rose center and surrounding roses in the bouquet. Looking at the camera info I cannot not tell if HDR mode was on or not. I did see the shutter speed was 1/30 sec and the focus was pattern mode.  Lighting was a little difficult to be OK for both images because of the highlights with the areas of white or lighter pik.  These images were taken with an iPhone 5C Camera+ app. The left image. Post editing done in PSE 11.  I applied the paint bucket to get an even color of the background and applied a vignette filter   It would have required more time for me to set up on a tripod and try to bracket the exposures to try to do a true HDR and combine the images later.