WORLDWIDE PHOTO WEEK: 408 - Flowering

#1 -- Ornamental pear trees in bloom.


#2 --Fairly pretty blossoms.

More great flowers to look upon! For those that have no flowers, enjoy the treat!

Stina.. the first look like blackberries to me.. nice and prickly! .. The second shot is beautiful!
So nice when we can control the subject (cut it off and take it home )

Lovely shot Andy! Looks like plums are in your future...

OldCrow! Love the rows of ornamental pears, but I'm sorry that there will be no fruit!
The close up flowers are stunning.. very nice light on them!

Wonderful work so far everyone!
..and Grizz1 Enjoy

Here's my comment for all. Beautiful and well done. Such color, light, and beauty.
What a pretty week this is.

Ricardo222 wrote in post #16786735
As for making the colours "pop"...sometimes its hard to make it happen, but I find that as I generally shoot a little under exposed to get really good colour saturation, when I bring the images into PS, my first port of call is the good old levels control.

My PP program is a very simple one that came with the Mac. It has something called "Levels," but this only has adjustments for black, white, and midtone slider. A handicap? Yes, but the lack of PP options is good training for getting things almost right in the camera.

Vetteography wrote in post #16787743
There have been some seriously nice shots this week, and this one is outstanding!

I was sitting here trying to figure out why I like this one so much and it occurred to me that the buds in the background look like popcorn kernals, just as they start to open in the oil, right before they explode.

What's exceptional is, it looks very three-dimensional. The flower's internal organs stand out.

Vetteography wrote in post #16787743
There have been some seriously nice shots this week, and this one is outstanding!

I was sitting here trying to figure out why I like this one so much and it occurred to me that the buds in the background look like popcorn kernals, just as they start to open in the oil, right before they explode.

Thanks! What stood out to me were the buds compared to the flower.

OldCrow wrote in post #16787842
#1 -- Ornamental pear trees in bloom.


#2 --Fairly pretty blossoms.

A really lovely row of trees and the blossoms are beautiful.

joayne wrote in post #16787918
Stina.. the first look like blackberries to me.. nice and prickly! .. The second shot is beautiful!
So nice when we can control the subject (cut it off and take it home )

I had a feeling, we have a ton of raspberries below the gate on our property but these looked a little different.
Thanks, it was a little easier to take that subject home, the bush is in my parking lot and it was a bit too windy to get a clear picture.

KT29 wrote in post #16787964
Here's my comment for all. Beautiful and well done. Such color, light, and beauty.
What a pretty week this is.

OhLook wrote in post #16787966
My PP program is a very simple one that came with the Mac. It has something called "Levels," but this only has adjustments for black, white, and midtone slider. A handicap? Yes, but the lack of PP options is good training for getting things almost right in the camera.

What's exceptional is, it looks very three-dimensional. The flower's internal organs stand out.

Thanks, OhLook. You can download the DPP software that came with your G15 or upload it from the Canon website if you decide you want more control. I took a couple pictures right after Joayne announced this weeks theme on my G15. Here is a really quick edit (slow at work today), I usually edit in LR but I edited this one on DPP (I'm not very good at it). I played with the tone curve adjustment (RGB & Green), bumped the contrast by 1 and changed my white balance. The DPP works well because it was made for your camera and settings.

OldCrow wrote in post #16787842
#1 -- Ornamental pear trees in bloom.


#2 --Fairly pretty blossoms.

Love that avenue of pear blossoms, Old Crow!
And the blossoms themselves are beautifully captured.

EastBayGirl wrote in post #16788138

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Wow...that really jumps out at us!

Ricardo222 wrote in post #16788499
Wow...that really jumps out at us!

Is that in a good way or is it too much? If it's too much, I am always appreciative of constructive criticism.

EastBayGirl wrote in post #16788554
Is that in a good way or is it too much? If it's too much, I am always appreciative of constructive criticism.

No, no...it's great! Difficult to separate yellow and green so well. I think it's very effective.
Possibly a little nore detail could have been retained in the yellow by pulling the highlight slider back a fraction (if you are using Camera Raw or Lightroom). I seem to have trouble with bright red flowers...the sensor requires very particular exposure to capture all the detail.

I think you did a great job there, Stina!

And more wonderful contributions and all so well done.

I thought, since we have a good number of beautiful flower shots I would try a tree in blossom. I tried a close up of part of the tree so as to show the blossoms but it didn't work, as you can see in the first shot. I tried to shoot that last year and failed also, albeit with a different lens. How do you shoot a tree in blossom from close by? Because obviously only a small zone is in focus and most of the blossoms become a blur. I honestly don't know how to do that. Focus stacking maybe?
Anyway, here are two attempts that I like.

The objects in the sky are art. They're butterflies, so I thought it fitting to include them, even though from this angle it's difficult to tell what they are.

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EastBayGirl wrote in post #16788554
Is that in a good way or is it too much? If it's too much, I am always appreciative of constructive criticism.

I was looking at my work monitor before...on the monitor I use for photo editing the detail in your yellow flowers looks way better...I should have thought of that!

Levina...lovely butterflies...I bet their caterpillars are spectacular!

Here's another autumn bloom...

Thanks for the feedback, Ricardo. I used DPP to show OhLook the difference it can make when using the software. I can't remember the last time I used it since getting LR and I was never great at it. Heck...I'm not great with LR either.

Thanks, Levina. I love the colors on yours. The soft pink against your blue sky is beautiful and those butterfly pieces are really cool. I'm pretty sure stacking is the way to go, especially using a macro lens. I may have to learn how to use PSE one day so I can try that. Nice job using that 14mm, makes me want to use my 10-22.

Ricardo222 wrote in post #16788650
Here's another autumn bloom...

Lovely!

Apparently the whole world is in bloom!

I've done a couple of indoor shots, but we have wind and blowing sand today
Neither good for outdoor photography! I just hope when it stops, there will still be
some flowers left.. Lots of cactus in bloom right now and I was hoping to share, as
they are a bit different.

joayne wrote in post #16788776
Apparently the whole world is in bloom!

I've done a couple of indoor shots, but we have wind and blowing sand today
Neither good for outdoor photography! I just hope when it stops, there will still be
some flowers left.. Lots of cactus in bloom right now and I was hoping to share, as
they are a bit different.

Well, not exactly the whole world. Hope your cactus blooms survive the sand and wind Joayne.