Before and After

Spring is here. Sun is here. New growth is everywhere. But only a few early spring flowers are blooming. I have only two kinds of flowers are blooming in my yard. I became desperate and went to Trader Joe to look for cutting or potting flowers. Thinking of all the flowers I will have soon, I was only willing to spend $3.99. Photographers need to be able to shoot anything and everything under all circumstances, I thought.

In two days, I have been taking these flowers in and out of the house. They are one of the most common flowers you can find. Even if I have good light, good angle of view, they will still come out, common. How do I make them looking better and people would even want to take a look? I did not count the numbers of the pictures I have deleted, but I seem to like this one.

Early morning with a little bit of sunlight. Somehow I ended up with a dark background. White flower on dark background sounds good, but not quite what I wanted, so I added a second flower to give it a little twist.  It is this added second color prompted me to think about a purple texture. With three textures added and some adjustments, I was happy to see the transformation.

Our tulip magnolias tree just started budding last week and is now in full blossoms. They are up high. Even standing on a stepper, I am still too short. Instead of macro, I have to use a telephoto lens. It is great that the tree is full of buds, hundreds of them, but not easy to get a shot with a focal point.

Just like Scrub Jay, Hummingbirds are frequent visitors, but it is a challenge trying to get a decent shot of them. An impatient photographer like me, I should not be shooting birds, but I love birds for the reason that I cannot even explain myself.  My original shoot includes a black railing close to the bird. While trying to remove it, I thought why not just adding some texture. Hummingbirds look much cuter in distance and I like the image softer...

Original picture was taken in a cloudy day. Pot was hot. Tea was warm. Charming fragrance of my own naturally-dried potpourri was being released in the air. But the image looks cold. My camera did not do it justice, or, I should say, I did a poor job. The After image has finally illustrated how I actually felt at that moment, the truth. I am gradually and most certainly, understanding the importance of post processing.