Ron's magnificent roses are faring poorly. When he was alive I could count on seeing 20 to 30 thriving blossoms. But this photo (taken 3 days ago) was the only one that looked healthy...
Brussels Sprouts - I never imagined taking a photo of them.
But 3 mornings ago the rising sun had cleared the houses to the ESE and sent a narrow ray over our low inner fence past the trunk of our large Jacaranda, through a small window, across the dining area, and onto the counter by the kitchen sink where it lit up some Brussels sprouts still in a bag in the otherwise dark kitchen.
This could happen only around this time of year because of the sun's position, and would last only only a minute or two.
I quickly pulled the sprouts out of the bag, grabbed my camera, and took a series of photos using burst mode. Then it was into Photoshop for a number of adjustment layers (each with its own layer mask to apply the effect only where it was needed): exposure until the sprouts looked right, the a number of Brightness & Contrast layers to eliminate glaring bright areas on the white counter top and bright reflections on the metal edge of the sink.
Then a few more adjustments (mainly tweaking the colors and saturation here and there. Next was deciding on a crop (and flipping the image horizontally) for the best composition I could get, and some sharpening of a few areas.
Here, returning to my go to style, are 2 crops of the last of 4 florals taken early in the week in the parking lot of my local mall.
1) I like how the barely discernible dark green leaves sort of lead the eye to the flower...
2) Here those leaves seem even more effective at directing the eye. But I sense that the crop is overly extreme, tucking the blossom too much in the corner...
Not wanting to wait until the very last moment, I dropped my ballot off at the local post office yesterday.
I find it increasingily easier to identify those candidates to eliminate from consideration than to find ones who I feel comfortable voting for. For example there are 8 candidates for our City Council and we can vote for a maximum of 3. I came up with the same 5 questions (including party affiliation, what each would do to protect the enviroonment, aand their position on high-density housing). I intended to get their contact info from their Candidate Statements in the Voter Information Guide mailed to every registered voter. But one of the candidates didn't even bother to submit a Candidate Statement, several others didn't provide email addresses or phone numbers. So there were just 4 or 5 to whom I could address my questions. One candidate actually responded quickly, answering all my questions. Another sent me a robo-reply thanking me for volunteering to help her campaign (which I did not do) and ignoring my questions. So I voted for only one.
The same general pattern held for County and State candidates.
Very disappointing.
IMO this will be the most consequential election = especially at the State and National levels - ever.
I sure hope for no violence this time.
OK, on to photography.
Yesterday's walks provided 4 floral shots that I felt decent enough to share. I'll post them one day at a time.
Here's the first, taken in the parking lot of my local mall...
See - I can sometimes produce images that aren't overly dark.
Another productive day.
I started by getting the oil changed on my car. My daughter may drive it for a while since I won't be able to drive for a while after my hip surgery.
Then it was to the grocery store. I am packing the refrigerator, freezer, and cupboards. I feel like a FOOD HOARDER!. I know that I can actually shop on line and the grocery store will deliver it to the house or better yet, my husband can drive to the "PICK UP SPOT", and easy peezy, it will be done. Boy, what a convenience even though I have never used this service.
Yesterday, I posted this photo in FLICKR's Macro Monday thread. The topic was ONE WORD, so I looked around the house and came up with this. It is not too late, and maybe you might want to join me either here or on FLICKR or both. Macro Mondays has a lot of rules regarding the size of the item you are photographing. This tiny logo of the girl with the umbrella is only 1/2" tall. It is located on the BACK of the MORTON salt container.
There is a lot of history behind this little gal including the phrase, "When it rains, it pours". She made her debut in 1914 when the metal spout was introduced to the product.
This time of year the ivy on the fence around our inner front yard starts to become dormant. Eventually the leaves turn brown, but before that happens they sometimes exhibit a nice palette of colors, from green to orange to red.
