A Photo a Week: Pretty in Pink

Good morning from a beautiful spring morning in Hastings.

Well New Zealand is still celebrating today after winning the Rugby World Cup yesterday morning.  Life is good for this rugby mad country.  But, to be honest I am relieved it is all over.  This last week has been rather tense.  It got to the stage that I refused to watch the news, or read online newspapers.  Everything was about a parrots predictions, about hoodoos, jinxes and bad luck etc to wind everyone up even further. It is only a game.

Last week Nancy with her A Photo a Week Challenge has asked us for our pretty in pink photos.  Well, where do I start.  I have lots of pink flowers starting with these snapdragons.  I know the colour is more of a cerise than a real pink.  Actually now that I have been painting I am becoming more aware of colour tones.  I have done some portraits (which I will post later on) and thought I have got the perfect shade for the shadows.  Yet when it got a bit darker in the late afternoon that colour turned to a nasty shade of green.  So next day I couldn’t wait to paint over it.

But these roses are a beautiful pink shade.

One day I headed out for a walk even though it was drizzling.  But a great day for some macro photography which I showed last Saturday.  Anyway there is a fence that is just covered in these gorgeous roses.  The smell is divine.  It was so hard to stop taking more photos.

Such a delicate pink colour. And I think everyone can tell that roses are my favourite flowers.

https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/a-photo-a-week-challenge-pretty-in-pink/

NATURALLY PINK

A Photo a Week Challenge: Pretty In Pink

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Floral Friday: Snapdragons

I found these snapdragaons growing wild at my parents property.

Edited with Snapseed and Photoshop Express on my iPad.  I wanted a warm vintage look about these flowers.

Floral Friday: Azaelas add a little colour

http://nowathome.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/floral-friday-milk-bush/

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Gorgeous spring colours

 

Good morning from another beautiful spring morning in Hastings.

It has been so warm and windless the last couple of days and it makes going for a walk a pleasure.  Spring has well and truly arrived and the gardens are really starting to show of.  The senses are been inundated with the sweet smell of new blossoms as well as the vibrant colours which is so lovely after a grey winter.  I am now just discovering what a beautiful flower the peony is.  There are a couple of gardens that are just a mass of colour.  They make a fantastic show.

 

What can spoil a lovely walk is not having enough battery juice in the camera or too small a memory card.  Everywhere I looked there was something to take.  I left at around 10 am but by midday the light was getting too harsh, leading to hard shadows so maybe it was just as well that the battery had died.

 

I did try and use the strong sun to silhouette the flowers a little to get different textures on the flowers themselves, or as in the second photo to highlight the hairiness of the plant.

I also worked on my focusing skills.

 

Then there are the hazards.  The bees are out in force.  I have to stand right back and try and zoom in on flowers when the bees are around as I am allergic to them but they epitomise what spring is about.

It is a real pleasure to go out and see the perfusion of colours and signs of life, and with my favourite music helping me along it is a great way of relieving stress.  A way of living in the moment and trying to capture the memories on a memory card.

Cheers and have a nice day.

Raewyn

 

Satisfaction of life

 

Good morning from a lovely sunny Hastings.

I love going out for walks just to see how beautiful the world is through my camera lens.  I love to see the bright colours of the flowers and to smell them and really appreciate the beauty around us.  It is a wonderful way to relieve stress.  I put my favourite songs on and just go for it.  A couple of hours later I arrive home uplifted by some of the beautiful sights I have seen and hopefully have on my memory card.  I am getting well known along the routes I go as I stop and take photos of colourful gardens.  I have had the owners come out and talk to me which is a little bit embarrassing but generally people are really nice about it.  It is the men who get quite uptight that I am standing on the footpath zooming in on some flowers, but the women have been really nice.

I have an idea in my mind usually when I am taking the photos as to how I would like to show up the beauty.  Not always successful but the success rate is improving.  This is a lovely garden just full of snapdragons.  All the embellishments were taken there as well.  Firstly I had the background image of the garden itself.

 

I had some trouble with the opacity of the background when it came time to add the text.  In the end I just deleted the layer and started again.  I right clicked on the small lock icon on the right in the layers panel and then I found the opacity button.

Because I didn’t want to lose the embellishment arrangement and text I saved it and added it to the image.

I find it is less stressful to save as I go to avoid the problem of starting all over again.  Learnt that the hard way.

I have also learnt about adding a three dimensional look to the embellishments by adding shadows.  It is amazing the difference it makes when the shadows are added.  My daughter said it wasn’t necessary but then watched as I added some shadows and then she said it does matter.  I still get amazed at the transformations from flat images to a more three dimensional look.  I have been studying the Dummies Guide to Photoshop Elements 10 just to learn my way around the different functions and brushes.  Here are the individual embellishments.

 

Here is what I mean about the shadows.  Here is the ivy I did the other day.

 

 

 

Now you can see the difference it makes with the shadowing.  It is rather dramatic to see the transformation.  That is what I love about photography and editing.  It is very addictive.

Cheers and have a nice day,

Raewyn