Another Succulent in My Backyard

Canon 7D, EF-S18-55mm, 30mm, f/4.0, 1/250, ISO 100

This gorgeous succulent flower was in my backyard this morning. I just had to take a photograph. I like the way the light is hitting the top of the flower and shining through. Bringing this in to Photoshop,  I did up the saturation  so you could easily see the blues and greens and the reds around the edges of the outside petals. I don’t know what it is called. It grows long stems (look to the left of the flower) with flowers on top. There are no leaves, but I don’t know of any succulents that have leaves! I hope you enjoy it.

421/354

P.S. Lily is 5 months old today!

Using My +2 Macro Filter

Canon 20D, Raw, f/5.0, 1/1000, 58mm, ISO 200, +2 Macro Filter

I was looking for something to photograph today. I wanted some inspiration. I got it looking in my backyard at the Christmas Cactus. What changes it made in 2 days! I wanted to use the +2 macro filter with a very shallow depth of field. I am happy with the results.  I upped the green saturation a little and the contrast. I like what that did. I also like the angle of the sun lighting the leaves.

382/365

Is This A Succulent Jade Plant?

I am a little unsure of what this plant is. It is a succulent Willie has growing in a pot in our backyard. I am sure he got a little piece somewhere and stuck it in some dirt. Aren’t the colors beautiful? I broke out my Lensbaby with the +4 macro lens, put the camera on the tripod and the plant on the ground (a little hard on the back!). My sweet spot is still not quite where I want it to be, but it came very close on this photo. Willie looked at it from across the room and said, “It’s out of focus!” I pointed to where it is in focus and he came closer to look at it. He said. “ok.”  (Sidebar: When my mother was a little girl, she would get her mouth washed out with soap if she said “ok.”). I love the colors – they go from pale green to yellow to blue, purple and red. What more could one ask for?

Can someone tell me what the name of this plant is…?

Willie had me help him set up his own weblog today. It took us a while to come up with a name he liked that was available and then to select a theme. As soon as he has a post I will put up a link so you can check out his work. This is my first post I have written on my new PC. I have found that Vista is not that different from XP. It is just going to take me a while to get organized. Willie is feeling better today. I am sure he will be fine by tomorrow. We are planning to go to San Pedro on Friday to take some photos and maybe walk the dogs around. I am sure it will be a nice day. Until tomorrow…

315/365

A Very Abstract Photograph

I know what this is because I took the photo today, but I am a little confused at the outcome. I was playing around with my Lensbaby today, and I must say I am really enjoying it. I am still trying to find where that focal point is but I am beginning to think it has something to do with me wearing glasses and not being able to see well enough without them. That distance between my glasses and the viewfinder is just too much for this type of lens. I need to learn where the focal point is in relation to where it appears to be to me. Could get confusing!

Another Lensbaby attempt…

I guess this image is open to interpretation and I will not tell you what it actually is. Unless you would like to attempt a guess at it. I will give a prize (I don’t know what yet) to the first person who guesses what it is! I think someone will be able to (has to be exact)! Anyway, to change the subject, I was looking around Twitter today and found a link to this site, basically relating to how we  spend our time and what we do with it. I liked it and thought it was something most of us could take advantage of and learn from. Let me know what you think:  http://www.lyved.com/success/a-simple-exercise-that-tells-you-all-you-need-to-know/ It is a good challenge.  Anyone willing to go for it?

290/365

Back in My Backyard

I am somewhat embarrassed by my last two posts – well the dogs are cute, but that food, ugh! I really need to work on my food photography if I am going to attempt that again! I decided to go back to my yard and do some exploring. It has been a while since I photographed anything out there. I put my +4 macro filter on my camera, gave it a wide aperture and this is what I came up with. I totally shoot in raw with the Manual setting on my camera. I like to set my own aperture then do a little bracketing with the exposure to see what looks good. I hope you like this image.

Texture, shadows and a little color…

It is a beautiful day outside today. I can hear a lot of birds chirping as I am typing this. They must be enjoying the weather also. The dogs spent the morning outside lounging around. They are in the house now and Willie and I are getting ready to have lunch. I told him, “Let me finish this post first, I’m almost done!” I am sure you probably have people waiting at times for you to finish a post! I have some errands and shopping to do today, then back to the website! Have a good Tuesday.

259/365

Early Morning Sunshine

I liked the shadows the early morning sun was throwing on this aloe plant, plus a very pretty dew drop! I used my +4 close-up filter so there is not much depth of field at all. I focused on the dew. I was trying to concentrate on the rule of thirds also. I took this in my backyard with the dogs running around and Willie on poop patrol. It was a fun morning!

Aloe plant with great healing lotion inside…

Willie has taken real good care of this plant, like he has with all our others. It was about 3″ at first and now it is over 2 feet tall! How long? I don’t remember but it has been a few years! We are looking forward to dinner tonight with Larry and Shelley. We are meeting at a local Italian restaurant. It will be nice to sit and talk for a while. It seems like it has been a long time since we’ve done that! The weather is still cool here but at least the sun is out! Have a good week-end!

213/365

More and More Bells!

This plant, whatever it is, is getting so big and becoming weighted down with all the pretty pink bells! I took a photo of it last month but I wanted to share another one with you. I put the white board behind it so there would be no distractions and to show off the shadows that it helped create. I used my wide angle lens but ended up coming in close on it.

I love the little bell’s shadows…

Not only are the little pink flowers pretty, but the leaf structure is very pretty also. They form flowers themselves along with a varied color range. It is a beautiful day here this Friday morning and the week-end will be no different. Check out all the snow up at GVL via the webcam. I am sure there will be a lot of people up at the mountains skiing and snowboarding this week-end. I have class tomorrow morning and then maybe we will go up to the mountains!

171/365

In My Backyard

I guess the month would not be complete without a photo of something from my backyard here in Huntington Beach. I have been watching this plant and waiting for some flowers to bloom so I could take a photograph of it. They look like little orange bells dangling and they are so very pretty. I asked Willie where the plant came from and he said he grew it from a small clipping he “found” somewhere. It has grown quite tall. I wonder what it is that it would bloom this time of year?

Pretty little bells…

We woke up to rain this morning. The weather changes so fast around here! It looks like there could be some new snow up in the mountains by this week-end too. It feels like a day to stay in and maybe do some cooking. There is a chocolate cake recipe I have been wanting to try and also a split pea soup recipe. This will only happen if I have all of the ingredients! If anyone out there knows that this succulent is, please let me know!

143/365

My Beautiful New String of Pearls

This is the newest addition to our patio – a very nice and healthy string of pearls (senecio rowleyanus).  Doesn’t the sunlight look pretty shining on it? It is a succulent so it will do well in our backyard. It is hanging next to the donkey tails. To me it looks like a string of peas! Willie takes such good care of all of our plants in the back yard. I got this old cast iron fountain to put in the yard along with a solar powered pump. I am hoping we can get it up and running this week. Of course, I will share it with you!

Is it a string of pearls or a string of peas…?

There have been a lot of fires around Southern California the last 4-5 days. There was one on Saturday here in Orange County. We called some friends to make sure they were ok. I think the fires are winding down now since the wind has died down. But it is still very hot here! Donnan is doing quite well – he was running around outside today with Kyla so we had to bring him in. I think it was a little too much!

76/365