You might not recognize these, but they some of the wildflowers/weeds growing in the dirt pile from across the street!
Botanical
Leaves from our nandina plant:
2 Boys, 1 Grandma, and 1 Desert Poppy
When the grandboys were here, I decided I wanted to pick some wild desert poppies I had noticed blooming down the street in a vacant lot. Caitlin, Miles, and I braved the heat wave and walked to the bottom of the hill where we could see a few in bloom. As we walked through the weeds, zillions of burrs attached to our clothes and shoes, so I ended up with just one poppy. When we got home, I brought out the lightbox and spent a few minutes taking photos with the camera on the tripod. The boys were intrigued, so I had each take photos with the iPhone.
Miles was interested in editing his photo, so that evening, I introduced him to Snapseed! He especially liked the “glamorous glow” (glamour glow) adjustment, after trying all sorts of filters. He didn’t like the tiny rips in the petals, so he made me promise to fix them in Photoshop on my computer, which I did.
Here is his photo, edited by Miles with Snapseed (with rips fixed by Gramma):
Good focus, wouldn’t you say? And I like that glamour glow!
Henry wanted a turn as well and managed to take about 10 photos with one long click- all with perfect focus! I took the liberty of editing this one in Photoshop with On 1 and Impression software.
And here’s the one taken by Gramma- a side view with texture added:
Twists and Turns
I spotted this tree by a hotel where we were staying in Phoenix and was fascinated by the twisty branches. Although I would normally edit a paloverde in color to emphasize the green bark, I thought a black and white treatment better showed off the gnarled quality of the branches.
Sunshine and Shadow
The Grand Canyon
Layers of Colour
Don’t you think colour looks better than color? One of my favorite quotes is “Keep calm and fake a British accent,” so this is in that spirit (nothing to do with Brexit. . .).
The above is from last week’s trip to the Grand Canyon. The hazy sky desaturated the colors, which I brought back with Lightroom’s Dehaze brush and some other adjustments. THEN I added a very slight adjustment with Topaz Glow, which is such a cool little plug-in- it does things I don’t know how to do otherwise. Very fun! The frame is from On1 Effects.
The Dark Side
I’ve been experimenting with some new (to me) Photoshop techniques which are a departure from my usual style- if I indeed have a style. No textures, more obvious textures, frames, and now this:
What? A black background? Drama? Not my usual thing, but I like the effect on this photo.
And now this:
Holy Cow! If you use Photoshop, you probably recognize the Topaz Glow filter (a new purchase), which I used almost full strength on this photo. A little over the top- but FUN!
Made for Climbing
After we picked up our friends, Joan and Rudy at the airport in Mesa a couple weeks ago, we had an al fresco diner dinner under the trees at Joe’s Farm Grill in Gilbert-what a delightful place! We fell in love with the HUGE trees that seemed to be made for climbing- in fact, NO CLIMBING signs were everywhere.
Wouldn’t you love to sit in the fork of this tree?
Bed Head
Another apache plume for today- I love their inherent messiness!
Windblown
These apache plume seed heads weren’t really blowing in the wind, but they look that way to me.
Shades of Gray
Another day, another thistle- this time dressed up in shades of gray. . .
Fun with Thistles
Purple thistles abound in our area! We have a lot of weeds and native plants in the strips along the roads and sidewalks and in fields near our house, and this time of year is great for finding them in bloom. And every year I photograph thistles.
I added textures to these thistle photos and then took them into On1 for frames, stepping outside the box a bit when I chose these cool emulsion borders.
Weedy Wabi-Sabi-ness
Perfect imperfection and impermanence!
Lost and Found
I was at the right place at the right time last week and was able to bring home this sweet bird nest that had fallen out of a tree at a friend’s house. Sadly, little egg shells were nearby. I intended to spend all of Mother’s Day morning in my garage studio photographing the nest (and beautiful Mother’s Day flowers from my daughter) using different lenses and backgrounds. However, rain and hail put a stop to the project after an hour.
Here are a couple lensbaby shots of the nest. More to come!
Boojum Craziness
I have a new favorite desert plant- the boojum tree. It is actually not an Arizona native, but it was planted at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It’s related to the ocotillo, another favorite of mine- but it is CRAZY looking!
It’s REALLY tall! I would say this specimen is 15-20 feet high.
Below is a young one.
And another view of the trunk. . .
melinda anderson photography 