Flowers from the local Garden Center in St. Mary's County

I enjoyed photographing more flowers at The Greenery in Hollywood MD and Meadow Farms in Leonardtown when I was looking for an anniversary gift for my husband.  They both have quite a variety of lovely flowers this time of year to enhance your garden.  There were many flowers to pick from both perennials and annuals.  I especially liked the white gardenias bushes (that smell heavenly) and the red zinnias at the Greenery.  I think the last flower may be a red dahlia, but I'm not sure.  If you know,  please comment.

Photographing Spring flowers

I've spent some time recently photographing spring flowers using a micro (macro) 60 mm Nikon lens and 2 small flashes on a ring around the lens (a special Nikon flash system).  The azaleas, dogwoods and tulips were in bloom.  A tip for photographing flowers is that uneven numbers of blooms look particularly nice.  I often like dark or blurred backgrounds and the flower's center and foreground should be in focus.  Azaleas were difficult because they tend to bloom in pairs not triplets.  Red flowers tend to get overexposed with a digital camera, so I underexpose them a little in RAW format and check them on my camera viewing screen often.  I particularly like backlit flowers and flower shots taken from unusual angles, like underneath.  To learn a little more about flower photography, check out this article by the New York Institute of Photography.

More Winning Photos at SMCCC

We had a fairly difficult new photo judge last week for April’s St. Mary’s County Camera Club competition.  At the last minute, he tossed out one of my favorite dog photos, but kept my Eastern Screech Owl for Advanced Digital First prize and my photo of an Old Boat at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for third prize.  I liked the reflection of the autumn trees in the boat photo and the big eyes of the owl, the way its’ ears waved in the wind in front of the bokeh(BOH KAY or BOH KA) background (out of focus blur that sometimes looks like circles).  The 8 or 9 inch owl kept closing his eyes from the wind making it challenging to photograph.

Next month’s competition theme is St. Mary’s County.  Maybe I should have kept the photo for next month, but I have some others I can use.

Calm Reflections Photography's photostream

Calm Reflections Photography's photostream on Flickr.

I just started a new Flickr Photostream with some of mybest photos. Please have a look and write a comment or two.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75311362@N08/

I had great fun visiting all of my favorite travel spots and marking them as favorites. Most of them are absolutely gorgeous. A free vacation! You can see them under Favorites too.

Crazy Weather and Confused Flowers

Last I checked, we don't live near Jackson Hole Wyoming, where temperatures change 30-40 degrees daily. But in Maryland the other week, we had snow on Monday and warm sunshine by Thursday. Crazy! These photos were taken 4 days apart on March 5th (snow) and 8th (sun). My winter iris tends to bloom in early and late winter. I had lots of winter iris this year with mild temperatures. By late February, the daffodils were blooming at the same time as the winter iris, very early for daffys.

Texture Fun

I had fun last weekend playing with textures.  I chose a photo I like of an old sink.  First, I borrowed a free copy of a texture called Softened Faux by "Skeletal Mess" from Flickr, placed it over the sink photo with a little blending, then HDR'd the single photo.  I thought it was kinda neat.

Then to use the photo for a Camera Club competition on textures, I chose to do something similar with only my own photos.  I took a photo of a crumpled sheet of paper and superimposed it over the sink. 

Very interesting for a first attempt.  The texture didn't win, but I will probably use the photo again.

Original photo

Photo with crumpled paper texture

                                   Photo with Softened Faux and HDR

Misty Wood received a First Prize in January's Advanced SMCCC Competition

I love my photo of a man with a cane walking in the wood's on a foggy day.  I saw a streak of light coming through the trees and knew I had to take the shot. 

You could make up lots of stories about this photo.  It was really about the determination to keep on walking and having the energy to get to the end of the trail in spite of having difficulty walking.  The fog created an interesting mood to the photo, like he was walking toward the unknown.

A quick photo tip is to use a touch of red or yellow to make a photo really pop.  (like a red umbrella, T shirt or jacket) Since there was so much green in this photo, the bright blue jacket really seemed to  help lead your eye to the subject and the fog created an uncluttered background, while the trees made a nice frame around the subject.

Yes, you may have seen this photo before on August 21, 2011 blog.