As summer draws to a close, our yard is full of flowers- and BEES! I’m glad about the bees, but I don’t always want to have them in my flower shots. I decided to post this one however- I thought this little guy was particularly photogenic with its round little body and glowy wings in the middle of the cosmos.
Every summer, I take photos of these prickly poppies, and I usually am not happy with them. This one was shot at the end of a walk at Watson Lake just as it was thundering and clouding over. A few raindrops were coming down, and the clouds softened the usually harsh noon light, which brought out the details of the petals.
Warning- these prickly leaves are sharp, which is why I’ve never succeeded in picking one of these poppies. Next time- heavy garden gloves and clippers!
If you seen eryngium, you might hesitate to call it a flower. It looks like a thistle, but is supposed to be an herb, common name sea holly. Although I took many shots, the one I like best is this multiple exposure with a bit of intentional camera movement on one layer.
This butterfly has been fluttering by the windows that look out on our back yard, but it never seemed to land. Today, I caught a glimpse of it through the front window and saw it land on a bush at the edge of our property. I grabbed my camera and spent about 10 minutes watching and photographing it with my zoom lens- my first butterfly photo of the summer!
I’m continuing to have fun with the native plants and weeds growing in front of our house. I love how the lightbox brings out the details, and how photoshop layers can create magic with this image.
Above is another version of my lightbox photo of Apache plumes and Russian sage- an inversion (not to get techy…) in Photoshop using LAB Color. Fun to do, although I tend to prefer the white background.
We have a beautiful Russian sage (the purple flowers) at the end of our driveway- and another down by the street that grows wild. Also in front of the house we have some Apache plume- the weedy mop top. This made a very Arizona composition on my lightbox- fun!
A nosegay for you with flowers from our yard!
Just two of our roses…
Although I have taken a lot of photos, I haven’t been posting for some reason. The iris image above is an in-camera multiple exposure shot with intentional camera movement from a couple months ago. It is similar to one I have posted already, but I’ve just gotten around to editing this one.
My father always referred to flowers or plants that appeared out of nowhere “volunteers.” Is that the right word? Anyway, a couple years ago I noticed a prickly pear leaf growing out of the ground behind our rose bushes. We left it alone, and this year it developed several leaves and a couple dozen buds. I worried that they would open while we were gone for the week, but they waited until our return. Over the last few days, we’ve been enjoying the blossoms “volunteering” to add color and beauty to our garden.
We spent last week in Phoenix in my cousin’s beautiful timeshare. One of the highlights was a trip to the Desert Botanical Garden which we had not visited in several years. It was the Chihuly exhibit (which we have seen twice previously), so I mostly found myself photographing flowers!
Our photo group “final” was last week, one of the two topics being “Impressionism”. Since our irises are in bloom, I chose to create an impressionist image. I used intentional camera movement layered with a standard shot and some brushwork and a texture to give it a painterly quality. I’m delighted to have a camera, warm weather, and flowers in bloom as an excuse to sit in the backyard for hours at a time.
It finally looks and feels like springtime around here! Trees have leafed out, flowers are being planted, and the barbecue is going- it’s wonderful time of year!
Our photo club had a wonderful presentation on high key photography last week- what it is, how to shoot, and how to edit a high key photo. Although I didn’t follow directions exactly, I enjoyed creating this peony image with a high key look.
melinda anderson photography 