Infatuation of the Digital Kind

My adult life has pretty much been ruled by a series of obsessions: interior design/antiqueing in the early to mid 90's, dieting/beauty/fashion in the late 90's and early part of the last decade, gardening ruled supreme from then until 2008 when I began my infatuation with digital photography in the garden and discovered POD( Print on Demand). Given my nature I fear for what is happening to my garden and pot ghetto. With the unusually cold weather I'm not even taking any new pictures ~ my backside is glued at every opportunity to my desk chair working willy nilly on everything I can think of trying to design in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. Since I have no training in graphic design this is a constant adventure of discovery.

I find the greatest pleasure in creating even the simplest things such as these dots...



I'm experimenting with layered images. This was created from images of Swamp Sunflower and a mum & aster combo.



I spent tons of time creating cards for my nieces for Christmas with their names- each one unique. Since a greeting card is 5x7 my thoughts were that they could be framed for their rooms.



In the holiday rush I missed out on sharing a few late autumn images. This dogwood tree is just off my front porch allowing for some great perspectives.



I like the soft focus of this oak leaf that was carried into my lawn by the wind.



I was thinking of creating something with this image~ quintessential North Carolina ~ Loblolly Pines and Carolina blue skies:)



Here's hoping we can all stay warm and enjoy the opportunites that winter

does bring.

Fun with Garden Photos

I enjoy working with garden photos as much as I enjoy gardening. When I was going thru this week's photo files for blogworthy images I couldn't help but have some fun with them. This particular method of digital enhancement is currently my favorite and I would welcome opinions on it from fellow Garden Bloggers.

This is Japanese Beautyberry which has just taken on its full purple berry color this week. I did not cut this bush back at all from last season and it's ahead of my other one even though it gets less sun. The first photo has been adjusted for brightness/contrast only with a touch of sharpening.





This is my Arbor Day Foundation (noid) Crape Myrtle that is just beginning to bloom well. It's always a late bloomer. Same adjustments were made to the first photo.




I admit to not having spent alot of time grooming plants this year so you probably won't see many wide landscape shots posted here but I liked the way this turned out~ no weeding or tweaking required:)