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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Light, flowers, RAW!

Alright, once again I'm way overdue for a post. So here it is. I took some pictures of the spring that was appearing around me. In case anyone was wondering, we here in Seattle also got some snow in late March! Preposterous. Winter won't leave, but spring was determined and I captured her while she was here briefly.



 
 While snapping flower pics, I saw this wonderfully delicate dead leaf in the grass. She had survived since fall and I had to acknowledge the effort.

 
I love the curly swirls, especially when they are backed by the light from a setting sun.




Every year, the giant purple plum tree blooms in our yard, but it only stays in full bloom for a few days. The scent of its flowers is the best in the world and I wish it could be bottled as a perfume. I'd wear it. You can imagine that I stood in the garden for quite some time just breathing like a weirdo.

 


 


 




  I also took some pictures in RAW format. While they take up more space on your SD card and end up being pretty big after editing, I did notice a difference in detail, clarity, color... basically they were better. However, when I went to view them on my computer, I only could see them when I opened them in Photoshop (Elements). I also had to download a plugin to open them (Camera RAW 6.3 from Adobe). A bit frustrating, but I think shooting RAW is worth it if there are some awesome detailed pics you are trying to capture. The following flower pics were shot in RAW while the sun was setting.

 


 


 


 





This year my parents and I went to a sunrise Easter service, because a clear sunny morning is fairly rare in Seattle on Easter. The following are some pics of the fountain waterfall in the park after the service just as the sun was coming up.

 


 
I actually added a gradient map to this picture - the sky had few clouds as you can see, and it was mostly white and blue with some faint yellow. The gradient brought out the skyline to me.




One last spring adventure! I went to Yakima with my boyfriend and his dad to visit family last weekend. Here are the pics from that lovely sunny trip.

 
 The cousins have an awesome old black lab, Hal. I basically hung out with her as much as I could :)


 


 


 


 
 A little Orton effect on this one.


Hope you liked my somewhat random post! Now that the weather is getting nicer (occasionally), I'll be outside taking more pics. I discovered a love for the prime light times around sunrise and sunset - those really are the best times to take pictures. Get up early sometimes or stay out late with your camera; you'll be rewarded!