Black Eyed Susan

Early morning shot of a flower trying to hold on for one more day.

Catsear

This is the Santa's beard of the Dandelion family. So white and fluffy. it is actually named Catsear because it looks like the fur lining of a felines ear.

Another Vivid Sweet Clover

With so many earth tones taking over the ground it stood out all the more.

Decay In Action

The earth tones of decay are sharply contrasted by the reds of the stems on this Oak tree, not to mention by the green background.

Two tone Maple Leaf

Absolutely stunning two tone color on the leaves of this shrub. I was lucky to come along while it was still clinging to the plant.

Attaining Pop Using Highlight Hue

Here is another one of those instances where I had an interesting image and wanted to work to make it a little more than that. The easiest way was to use highlight hue to change the background color to something that blended better with the red of Persimmon leaf . The green would be a natural summertime color and goes well with red.

Wild Carrot Seed Redux

A couple of months ago I took some photos of Wild Carrot Seed. Last week I had the opportunity to take some more but with much, much better results. When I had taken the first set of pictures, some of the seed heads were still green, some dried, but the rest of the shrubbery and plant life around them was still green.

This time the background was pretty much all mixed muted late fall browns and faded greens. It made for super shots. The lighting was just right on an overcast day and the wind was holding off. These two images are some of the only pictures I have taken that I thought really benefited from a full lens vignette.

Wild Blue Wonder

These electric blue wonders are simply beautiful. They also grow pretty close to the ground, so the wind doesn't phase them much, and you can get a steady shot. They stand out because Wild Chicory are one of the last flowers to bloom in late October.

Purple Clover

Sometimes a flower calls out to you to have it's picture taken just because everything else around it is dying and it really stands out. This little fellow was one of those times. purple and green are two great colors to work with in a photo because they respond so well to having the Vibrance adjusted.

Red Dogwood

The Red Dogwood is spectacular in fall when the leaves turn crimson to try and help hide the berries from the birds. These shrubs are pretty plentiful in Verdun , especially along the waterfront. Not much editing was needed on this image.

Harvest Moon Rising In The Sunset

This is the shot that I went out on Thanksgiving Monday to capture. I had hoped that it would be a little darker and the moon would stand out more by the time it came up, but you can only be in control of so many things. The setting sun lent the beautiful orange/ gold hue to the photo.

Sunset Over the Water

This shot came about when i switched lenses, but left the camera settings the same forgetting that the 18 - 55 mm lens still had a polarizing filter on that darkened the shot considerably, but also brought out the color on the horizon. This shot is from the Verdun waterfront looking down towards heron island.

Flying South

Cottonwood Leaves in the Sun

The setting sun on a warm day provided the perfect backdrop for these Cottonwood leaves. A little bit of crop was all that was necessary to share this image.

A Leaf Hitting the Water

This is another photo from the Thanksgiving Monday shoot. I followed this Birch leaf as it fell and snapped off a few shots as it hit the water. it is crazy that such a small thing can cause ripples like that on a moving river. Pretty much all the same levels were tweaked as on the previous duck photo.

Thanksgiving Monday

Thanksgiving Monday was a beautiful day this year, with temperatures hitting the high teens. I went down near the fishing dock in Verdun around 4:30 pm to find a place to get the tripod set up to get a shot of the Harvest Moon rising over Nun's Island.
There were lots of people out enjoying the sunshine. Cyclists, dog walkers, kite flyers and even one guy playing a djembe very badly. But not bad enough to scare away the ducks. They know where their bread is buttered, and lots of people means kids, and kids mean they are getting fed.


The sun was going down but I had time to kill waiting for the moon, so I was taking tons of pictures of leaves in the water and ducks. This picture was under exposed, but I liked the reflection of the duck in the water, so I went to work.

First off, I knew there was no way i was lightening up the picture, so a silhouette made the most sense. I brought the exposure down some, nudged the blacks up and added my usual Recovery and Clarity. Then I sharpened it a tiny bit to define the edges of the duck and drove the luminance up in noise reduction to smooth out the water. I finished off with a crop to center and here's the finished image.

Asters In The Afternoon Sun

The thing I like about this image is the shadows of the overlapping petals. I can't believe all the colors are this vivid in October. And nice enough outside to still do photo safaris.

The Last Drops Of Summer

We have had a really mild start to October this year in Montreal. Temperatures have been reaching the mid twenties for the last four or five days. We are still waiting on our first frost and the flowers are hanging on. The house flies, mosquitos, hornets and bees are hanging on as well. This industrious bee was skipping from Aster to Aster, drunk as a skunk on nectar.

Bur Marigold

I find dieing flowers very interesting. I love how the bright colors and soft, inviting blooms of summer turn into armored citadels, brown and grey, ready to take flight and for the battle to survive the winter. This Bur Marigold was in fine form when I happened upon it on a lovely October afternoon. The shot was a little off center and one side of the bloom was missing it's petals, so I decided to crop it like this, not for size, but for content.

Leaves Silhouettte

When I took this shot I knew it was iffy because of the bright background. But it was worth a try and all it would cost me is time. And it was pretty interesting subject matter to me, so even though it didn't turn out great, it was still worthy of fiddling.




In editing, I did all my regular recovery, clarity, vibrance and exposure adjustments, then the cropping. Better, but no wow factor. The background still needed something. So I decided to go dark and do the leaves in silhouette. Blacks up, exposure down. I was drumming my fingers. Still not there. I then thought about Split Toning and changing the hue of the background. As I was sliding through the spectrum these turquoise blue/green tones spoke to me. Never be afraid to put time into a photograph you weren't initially impressed with if you like the subject matter.

Autumn Leaves

I found this branch interesting because it contained all the colors of the leaf rainbow in the same place and in order. After making all the color adjustments I wanted in Lightroom, I cropped it to emphasize the branch.



So I decided that the image deserved a caption like 'color life cycle' or 'evolution of color'. But I knew that most people view a photo as they read - from left to right, top to bottom and wanted the green on the left hand border. So I went hunting for a way to flip the photo in Lightroom. I ended up finding an online manual for the program, and found the function in the Photo menu at the top. Finished product.

Reed Detail

This is a close up shot of a reed blowing in the wind. There is some blurring due to the movement, but I still like the composition of the image. The contrast against the green is much better than in the last post, so there was no need to adjust the color in Lightroom.

Down By The River

I know I talk a lot about taking Nalin for a walk down by the river, or on the waterfront, but I realized that I had never taken a photo of the actual route we take on these walks. So here is a typical lazy afternoon stroll through our eyes.

Reeds In The wind

When i took this photo i was hoping the contrast between the green in the foreground and the yellow leaves of the tree in the background would be more noticeable. In part, it was a little over exposed. Off to Lightroom we go.




After the regular adjustments to recovery, clarity and contrast, I took the exposure down some and hit it with a little vibrancy. The reeds still weren't popping against the background, so i started to play with the hue sliders, specifically the yellow, orange and green to see if taking away anything would mute the yellow tree in the background. What actually happened was that by taking away a lot of the orange from the photo, the reeds turned darker color instead of the muted gold. Works for me.

The Rebel Leaf

This bush made me laugh when I saw it. All the leaves on the whole plant were drooping and green, except for one strong dissenter who had to further point out his individuality by turning red. Some leaves just need to be the center of attention.

Tree Sculptures

One thing my area of town is really good at is tree sculptures, flower beds and gardens. From the main town bed on Champlain to the planters in front of the Auditorium to the hanging pots on Wellington, they make a huge difference in the summer months. These shrub pops are part of the town bed. Amazing colors and textures.