Callaway Gardens

[sparker1]

Located in the Georgia hill country SW of Atlanta, Callaway Gardens is a beautiful and popular resort. This time of year is good because so many different shrubs and trees are blooming. Many varieties of azalea, dogwood, redbud, crabapple, quince, cherry, etc, etc put on a wonderful display. In addition, they have a butterfly house, vegetable garden, golf courses, lodges, lakes, cabins, etc, etc. it's a great place to visit.

Here is a closeup of a native azalea and a wider view of Azalea Bowl.

[Michaelmjc]

The last one looks almost blurry or soemthing. My eyes are goin crazy when I look at it. The first one is very nice.

[MarkoPolo]

Wow, beautiful shots Stan. I have a distant memory of my parents early color movies of Calaway Gardens taken way back in the late 1930's. I've never been there, but you photos stirred a fond old memory. Thanks for sharing.

[mdaddyrabbit]

The first shot, what were the specs on the shot and also did you use a tripod? That is a good looking shot!

[sparker1]

Thanks, everyone.

Mike, no idea what's getting to your eyes. Possibly age? LOL

Mark, I'm glad this brought back good memories. It is such a beautiful place, I'm sure your parents enjoyed their visit there.

mdaddyrabbit, I used a tripod a lot that day, but probably not on that shot. It was with the kit lens at 55 mm, f 5.6 at 1/250 sec., so tripod wasn't necessary.

[alfa1six4]

Callaway Gardens is a great place to shoot! I'm fortunate enough to only live about 30 min from there. I'm going back in a week or so to check out the Butterfly Center. Last time I was there it was still closed for renovations.

Looks like you caught the Azalea's in full bloom!

[sparker1]

Gary, some azaleas were past peak, some were at peak and some were getting close. I suppose Callaway planned it that way. The butterfly house was disappointing. so soon after renovation, the plantings aren't mature, and the number of butterflies seemed smaller than ideal.

[stoneylonesome]

Nice shots. I looks like a wonderful place to spend a lazy day just walking about. :) :)

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

I like the second one, but the water is ugly! It's throwing everything off. Put it in photoshop, and make that water a beautiful crystal clear blue. Then it'd be a fantastic shot.

[sparker1]

You are so right, Robert. That was the dirtiest pond I've ever seen that wasn't called a septic tank. They really should correct that. In the meantime, I've taken your suggestion to heart and tried to improve it. Not perfect, but better.

I added a shot from a different view of the same pond (Altered).

[alfa1six4]

I like the second one, but the water is ugly! It's throwing everything off. Put it in photoshop, and make that water a beautiful crystal clear blue. Then it'd be a fantastic shot.


Probably due to the wonderful Georgia red clay that turns the water into something terrible looking. Most ponds are like that around here. Pretty nasty looking, I agree.

Stan, thanks for the tip about the butterfly center, maybe I'll take a pass for a little while.

[Wazza]

Very nice work. Nicely composed, and lots of various colours in the whole shot. :)

I don't think it's really blurred, maybe just a bit soft, which sharpening can fix. (Easily happens with the resize to the small 800pixels. :))


Anyway, I hate shooting a nice scene like you have, and then have the water look yucky in it.

Hope you don't mind,

http://wazz*****scity.com/20d/0055-2.jpg
Still pleased to see all your great work mate. :D

(I'm sitting at home doing nothing, totally bored on a public holiday.)

[sparker1]

Great job on the pond, Wazza. I tried "Replace Color" for the first time, but wound up cloning and blurring. Obviously not a good approach. What method did you use? BTW, thanks for your comments and effort to fix the pond.

[weemannie]

Great shots
What a lovely spot.

[Wazza]

A quick way I did, was use the Magic Wand. Tolerance to about 20, and click, and hold shift, and click click click, to select everything in the lake. Or close to anyway. Then I did a variation, added some blue and some cyan, and a touch of saturation. Only a wee bit of both, or then it becomes unnatural looking. Then overall, Ctrl U to change Hue and Saturation of the overall image a wee bit, and then finally Unsharp Mask at 200%, 0.2 & 0. (twice).

There's probably quicker more legit ways of doing it, but it's all self taught on PS7.
Still loving the shots. :D