![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eidolon_birdI grew up in the midwest and the south. I don't remember much of the experience, but occasional family vacations later in my life left images of oppressive summer skies lodged in my head. Some days the air seemed too thick to breathe - thick enough to swim in, perhaps. And the skies. Not blue, but white, the color drained away by moisture hanging heavy in the air. Thus one of the few things I love about the desert is the achingly beautiful sky. Layer upon layer of color at sunrise and sunset, giant thunderheads that build and build before sending rain and lightning crashing down during monsoon season, and over-saturated blue skies almost every day.
It is that blue, and the eye blinding cadmium-yellow of the palo verde blossoms, that I have been eying recently. Of course, work got in the way. Then my mother decided to spontaneously go blind this weekend (she is getting better, we think). After that followed a few unseasonably cloudy days. Now the flowers are dying, a bed of yellow-orange petals lying thick on the rocks below. Despite flower-death and hazy skies, I decided I was damned well going to take pictures anyway. Dozens of useless shots later and I finally have some photos worth sharing.
I don't have too terribly much to say about this image. I was shooting and editing with a sort of minimalist wallpaper in mind. I ended up using a composite of two images as neither one was quite focused the way I wanted (damned breeze!). Flickr oh so wonderfully resized the image for me, so let me know if you are interested in the original 1680x1050 size.
This one turned out odd to me. I was trying to capture the sun back-lighting the flowers with the deep blue sky in the background, but instead it almost appears to be a diffused lighting coming from in front of the flowers and the sky is washed out. Back to learning how to properly use the camera with me.
More palo verde flowers, this time with 40% more image editing! I took a large batch of pictures, came inside to skim through things and ultimately decided I was unhappy with 99% of what I had. Back outside I went, only to discover the clouds had moved in destroying both my beautiful blue sky and the lighting. I had to spend a bit of time fiddling with levels to make this look like something other than the overly washed-out pile of fail it started out as. And now I want a new book-marker. With a little yellow (and red!) tassel.
Speaking of image editing...
Get a camera close enough to a palo verde flower and it begins to look more than a little bit like a hibiscus. Enough so that people who can't be arsed to read a description will invite you to post your picture at their hibiscus-only photoclub. Yay?
All sorts of level and color editing went in to this one, as well as a few blur=>overlay layers. And silly text. Can't have a pseudo-postcard without tacky text.
And that is all for this round of photos. I honestly can't remember the last time I decided to take photos on a whim. I sorta miss it. A lot.
It is that blue, and the eye blinding cadmium-yellow of the palo verde blossoms, that I have been eying recently. Of course, work got in the way. Then my mother decided to spontaneously go blind this weekend (she is getting better, we think). After that followed a few unseasonably cloudy days. Now the flowers are dying, a bed of yellow-orange petals lying thick on the rocks below. Despite flower-death and hazy skies, I decided I was damned well going to take pictures anyway. Dozens of useless shots later and I finally have some photos worth sharing.
I don't have too terribly much to say about this image. I was shooting and editing with a sort of minimalist wallpaper in mind. I ended up using a composite of two images as neither one was quite focused the way I wanted (damned breeze!). Flickr oh so wonderfully resized the image for me, so let me know if you are interested in the original 1680x1050 size.
This one turned out odd to me. I was trying to capture the sun back-lighting the flowers with the deep blue sky in the background, but instead it almost appears to be a diffused lighting coming from in front of the flowers and the sky is washed out. Back to learning how to properly use the camera with me.
More palo verde flowers, this time with 40% more image editing! I took a large batch of pictures, came inside to skim through things and ultimately decided I was unhappy with 99% of what I had. Back outside I went, only to discover the clouds had moved in destroying both my beautiful blue sky and the lighting. I had to spend a bit of time fiddling with levels to make this look like something other than the overly washed-out pile of fail it started out as. And now I want a new book-marker. With a little yellow (and red!) tassel.
Speaking of image editing...
Get a camera close enough to a palo verde flower and it begins to look more than a little bit like a hibiscus. Enough so that people who can't be arsed to read a description will invite you to post your picture at their hibiscus-only photoclub. Yay?
All sorts of level and color editing went in to this one, as well as a few blur=>overlay layers. And silly text. Can't have a pseudo-postcard without tacky text.
And that is all for this round of photos. I honestly can't remember the last time I decided to take photos on a whim. I sorta miss it. A lot.
