Flowers and fruit trees

My rose columbine is probably my favorite flower.  It is compact for a columbine.  And there are plenty of flowers in this beautiful mauve color. Mauve. Do people even use that word anymore?  I just remember towels and wallpaper with mauve on it in the 80's.

My chives handled the transplant okay and the blooms are so pretty.  I might have to grow more of it and add it to other parts of my garden.  There is plenty of room!

Yellow columbine

A few tulips and purple alliums are hanging on.  

And I have one last daffodil. Must be the coldest part of the yard.

Globe Master allium - smaller than last year. hmmm 

The purple columbine is taking off.  I love it. 

And my little helped in the garden.  He is watering the Braeburn Apple tree.

And then the Gala Apple Tree.

Yesterday I shared a photo from the South East corner of my lot where my 16x40 foot garden is.  This photo is from the South West corner of the lot. 

And the peach tree is looking good.  I'm going to have to cut a bunch of branches off the top and the left side next spring.  I just didn't want to kill it. And as you can see, I must have done just the right amount of pruning. I am going to add some bushes, perennials, and the river rock around this tree. 

You know one of the things that has impressed me with this valley coming from the view that I grew up in a military home, is that most people here have fruit trees, grape vines, and vegetable gardens.  Those who don't grow a few veggies mixed in with their flower beds.  But for the most part people here grow and store a lot of their own food.  It's been a great lesson on PROVIDENT LIVING.

Bright Day Light flower photos

As you can tell I am fascinated with my Nikon D7000 because it handles the highlights better than anything I've ever used.  Digital has been challenged by highlights.  So here it is in bright sun at 1pm.  Can you believe it?

Well and this thing is amazing.  My neighbor dug it out of her yard 2 springs ago and begged me to take it. Its very prolific. We got a few flowers last year.  But this is insane.  I can't wait to see them all in full bloom.  It's going to be spectacular.  Of course because they are so white, I will photograph them at dusk or on a cloudy day to capture more detail.

And here is a peek inside of some of my tulips out back.  Yes, it's June and I have tulips.  It snowed Monday.  What can I say? The thing that makes these tulips really look good is the f2.8.  It's fun to see them and see the background but be able to focus on the tulips.

And the alliums are starting to appear.  This is one from the small grouping.

And this is one of the larger alliums.  His Majesty is its name, I believe. I can't wait to see these in full bloom and I promise to share as long as the wind doesn't tear them off their stems tomorrow.

Again, straight out of the camera only because I forgot to pump up the vibrance with the jpeg raw slider. 

Tulips - yep, more tulips

But aren't these gorgeous?  I love the variety of colors.  That's what you get when you buy the bulk bag of red tulips from Lowes. There are even yellow tulips in the bunch.  And very few red actually.  But I love how it turned out.  And I love this photo.  The color and the texture of the flower.  Click on them to see them larger. 

Oh and remember yesterday's post? Those tulips looked better in the brighter side light.  These look better in the sweet light or the light left over after the sun went behind the mountain. These were taken at 7:12 p.m.  f2.8, 1/160, ISO 200 with my Nikon D7000- oh and I used aperture priority. Can I tell you how much I love this camera? It's seriously my favorite so far and I've owned $5,000 cameras. 

Photographing Tulips - Light Matters

Light matters when photographing tulips.  These are my tulips.  And I always get asked what they are because they have several layers.  They are a type of parrot tulip.  I wish I could remember exactly but that'll give you a head start when you hit the garden center this fall. I started with 6.  Most other tulips get smaller with age but not these. Oh and Tulips need a lot of water in the fall or you'll get smaller blooms or just leaves.

My camera is a D7000 and I used my 50mm f1.8 lens.  My settings remained the same except that a few times I tried 1.8 but went back to 2.8.  These first few were taken at f 2.8, 1/200 second, ISO 200 in Fine Jpeg mode. In the photo above I darkened the blue saturation using the jpeg raw slider and that's it.  The rest I did nothing to.  Straight out of the camera.

These first few photos were taken at 6:55 p.m.  so the direction of light was from the side.  The mountains blocked the sun soon after this.  I thought I'd let you compare the photos. 

You can click on the photos to see them larger, just remember to come back and finish reading this quick lesson. As you can see the light shining through the petals and leaves is gorgeous. 

Now this photo was take at 7:11pm.  Can you see the difference? The sun just barely went behind the mountain. Still some direction of light.  Not the same contrast.  It's still pretty but it's lacking something.  Never assume that the sweet light that is great for some portraits is great for all types of photography.  Enjoy experimenting with light.  You'll be surprised what you find. 

Photographing your Spring Flower Garden

Can you see the slight vignette I added to this photo?  No? Take a look at the photo below - it's the 'before' photo.  Increasing the highlight, vibrance, and adding a vignette was all that this photo needed to truly reflect the light and color I saw with my own eyes just before dusk Saturday night.  The gorgeous flowers really stand out against the rocks.  I like to call this practical application. It's not always about creating a work of art.  The flowers already are the work of art. This is the first year that they have bloomed like this and they've been here 4 years. I had to record it for my scrapbook. Learn how to enhance your photos in my Photo First Aid class.  

It's the middle of May and my tulips are just starting to bloom on the warmer side of the house.  Craziness. And this little plant that I've seen at the greenhouse but it's a start that my mother in law pulled out and gave me shall go unnamed because I didn't pay attention.  I have learned more plant names since graduating from college than I did in two plant ID classes that I took while in college.  It's different when you want to know what you are planting so that you can get more or make suggestions. So I better get to the greenhouse and figure out the name this year because I'd actually like to know.