Thursday, 29 March 2012

Adobe Lightroom is awesome!



"The question is not what you look at, but what you see"
                                                                                                                                                                                         - Henry D. Thoreau











The last few days, I've been seeing sunlight, colour and petals...these Ranunculas are amazing, I bought them at a garden centre recently and they're slowly coming into flower, I have them in a pot and bring them in at night as we're still having some frosts but in the warm sunny days, their petals are opening slowly and changing more each day...you guessed it, more Ranuncula images will be posted soon...


Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Think pink!



Pink is one of my favourite colours, so when I saw it was the theme for Kim's link up...




A collaboration with my own 'Barley' and Kim's 'Faved' textures



Now I have more time I can finally get back to taking more photo's and playing around with different techniques...it feels good to be moving forward and getting back to the actual creativity, I've been missing it!

I'd love it if you stopped by to see what I've been up to, I've lots of inspiration, new tutorials and new pictures in my portfolio which I'm hoping to be able to print at some point in the future but not yet...

Friday, 23 March 2012

It's all in the details...








I love these Grape Hyacinths, the details, pattern and colour, gorgeous! I really noticed them last spring as I was crawling about (as usual!) amongst the spring flowers taking macro shots...I noticed a lot of spring flowers are perfect for macro, such tiny details that are easily missed...I remember that after my first proper flower photo shoot of the season last year I ached soo much! Most spring flowers are so low to the ground! Not unlike that first bout of spring gardening that reminds you of each and every muscle that exists...I remember I took about 600 shots and I was on my knees for a lot of them, that's a lot of upping and downing! So worth it though :)


Tuesday, 20 March 2012

A season past



These Hydrangea petals still look so beautiful even though they're tattered and worn. I love the muted tones and the lacy details that the winter weather has made on them...I do love Hydrangeas at all of their stages, the colours in the summer and autumn are amazing, so varied and beautiful...a 'good value for money' plant if you have one in your garden!




My 'Sorbet' texture



To see how I got this soft painterly effect, check out my tutorial here...I've got a few new tutorials up now and wanted to share this one today for Tuesday tips and pics. My new website will be going live in the next few days...very exciting and very busy! I'll be sharing lots of new things including new galleries which I hope you'll find inspiring :)

Friday, 16 March 2012

Green...



Nature, meadows, enchanted woodlands and deep pools...this is what I think of when I think about the word green, one of the prompts over at Bonnie's today...



with my 'enchanted' texture




...also, frogs, lizards and peas... :)  all things I like.



Monday, 12 March 2012

Springtime!










At last, some mild and still gentle spring weather! A beautiful afternoon was had by us wandering through a meadow of daffodils, crocus and sunlight! It felt good to soak it all up, drink it in and generally be thankful to be outside amongst flowers again...sigh!




Thursday, 8 March 2012

Hidden Gems









...these were hidden away under a shaded hedge, I didn't notice them at first, then they caught my eye as we drove past...stop the car! After some crawling about this is what I got...so glad I had my trusty point and shoot in my bag :) fancy cameras are all very well (I love mine) but there's certainly something to be said about the portability of my Lumix TZ7.






Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Happy Heart




'happy heart' texture by Kim Klassen
linking with texture tuesday





Playing with textures gives me a happy heart! I'm very much into teal at the moment...I keep wearing it and using it in my texture making...I was pleased to get a painterly effect on this image by altering the colours with an adjustment layer, blurring the background and adding the texture under all the adjustment layers, so it gave a subtle, opaque effect with the whole mixture adding a teal colour...happy...happy heart :) 





Saturday, 3 March 2012

Simplicity


Deb of Deb Duty told us that she finds daisies one of her favourite flowers, and posted a lovely picture of a gerbera...I totally agree, daisies have a simplicity that captures purity and beauty. Whenever I see any kind of daisy, they cheer me up, so I thought I'd share this one with you today...hope it cheers you up too!





I used my own 'sacred' texture




It's been a long week, now I'm home from work and my partner's cooking me dinner, such luxury :) the forecast gives rain all day tomorrow so I probably won't be getting any pics taken...I hope you're having a great weekend and the sun shines for you tomorrow :)




Thursday, 1 March 2012

Abstracts in nature



I love looking at the patterns and shapes found deep inside nature, the small yet beautifully intricate patterns that are so amazing. This is why I love macro photography, getting up close to see things we don't see upon first glance.