Playing with annulas and new lens :)

Apparently my pictures are too freaking big to post 5 at the time

Alyssum and Siberian Iris

Of course, if I could spell it would be even better :)

Bec---Your pictures are beautiful!!!!

Funny! Sallyg just commented on the ""Favorite Spring Bulbs" Thread that because she uses high def.
on her pictures she posts--she can only post about 2 or 3 at a time. Is that your issue as well?
They sure look beautiful!

I just bought a new camera. It was a discontinued "Nikon Cool Pix 4100". Good enough for me!!!!
Just $86!!!!! WOW! So far I have been using an el-cheapo Polaroid digital that only cost $79 5 yrs.ago.
I have been on many trips and all that, using it. Everything works OK---BUT--as we all tend to do--
we take a lot of pictures of out flowers and gardens--and my Polaroid is crappy at reds and blues.

Jill alerted me to this Nikon on sale on line at Best Buy.com--but I went to my nearest Best Buy, right here at
White Mars,h and bought the same one. They even matched the on-line price!

I have yet to even, seriously, look at it! I am in denial when it comes to reading a manual or how to
operate something.....It is one of my life's dysfunctions......NOT a directions or Manual reader.....
SOO--I stay semi-stupid!!!! At least in this area....

I have looked at it and tried to see what it takes to charge the battery--and gave up in about 10 minutes....
I feel so helpless and hopeless in these areas. It all comes down to my ADD. Don't get it in 5 minutes---
I don't want to bother.....................BUT! I have to.......More stress on my mind.

My daughter will be able to guide me through some of this. Then--i will be on "Auto" mode--and happily so.

AND--I hope my future pictures will look better.......Gita

Nothing wrong with this one though.....:o) Baltimore's Inner harbor...The tourist mecca...

Bec: What camera and lens are you using?

The one I have been using for about 5 yrs. now is a Polaroid digital camera. Sold for $79 at HD
several years ago. Can't say I hate it. It has served me well for all these years.
I know it has its shortcomings.....Blues and reds all come out faded. Zoom is so-so....
How can I take good pictures of flowers with the colors being compromised???

Never mind the old one--that was a real cheap one--but served me well.

My new camera--which I have not used yet--is a Nikon Cool Pix 410. Clearanced at $86.
Could not refuse the deal! Been meaning to buy myself a new camera for 2 years!

Don't have much to tell you about it yet...Haven't spent the time to get to "know it" yet.

Gita

Happy - it's a Canon Ti1 - Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP A/M 1:1 Macro - my regular lens is Tamron AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro...next, I'm looking at an ultra-wide superzoom

Fabulous photos.

Yes, Bec fabulous freakin fotos!
I had that problem, posts bombing, and assumed too it was my big high res shots...

I use a basic digital, and Auto and 'flower' mode serve me very well. For those really special close shots...I wait for Bec, Chantell, or Karen to take them...

Bec, your photos are looking GREAT!
Nice job with that new lens!
I have not invested in a macro lens yet.
Do you use any photo-editing software, such as Picasa?
If so, at the very bottom of the page when you have a photo opened,
There is a tab that says "Export"...
Click that to re-size your photos.
It will not change the size of your original photo...
It will simply make you a smaller copy in a new folder (I call mine "Resize"),
And they are much easier to load on websites, etc.
I use the 800 pixel size most often...
It makes the overall size of the upload go down from 5-8MB to 100-300KB.

Hope you are doing well!
Karen

excellent tip Karen, have to look for that in my Canon utilities software.

Happy Birthday Karen!

Hope your day and new year is fine and in focus lol. Seriously good to hear from you. Hope to see some of your fabulous pics again soon. Come to Holy and Rics swap!

coleup thanks for noticing that!!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1254707/

Thanks for the tip Karen! Happy Birthday!
I hardly ever use editing software - I'm a 'au naturel' picture taker, what you see is what you get - only if I'm sending to someone etc

Thanks all...
I really wanted to come to Ric and Holly's but I can't!

Bec, all the "Export" tab will do is resize for you... won't change anything else about the image.
Just makes it easier to load when the file is not so large.

I use Adobe Photoshop Elements, and I assume it has the same/similar features, so I'll look for that next time I open it :)

The downside is I think the resizing degrades the resolution -- but that isn't necessarily a big deal for casual photo sharing.

GORGEOUS!

Ya when you downsize to export the pics, it won't effect your originals just the copies that you've exported

I took some pictures with my new Nikon camera today.
Have not had time to upload any to see the quality.

Maybe on Monday????? I still have not read the manual or looked at the primer CD.
Shame on me!!!!
Gita

Beautiful pics Bec,
Karen I was hoping you could come to the swap. Happy Birthday.

Yes Bec, I have Elements also, and I use it for all of my heavy editing.
But Picasa is so much easier for cropping and resizing a photo...
And it's free!

flowAjen... that is correct... it will not affect your original.

Yes you do have resolution degrading... but again, for ease of uploading, it makes a huge difference!
Some websites also have size limits for photo sharing.

Thaks Holly... I really did want to!

Sorry to have interrupted your photo thread Bec....
Your photos are gorgeous!

LOL - it's ok, I appreciate the info!

Woooowhooooo.....NICE Bec!!! Really nice!!! We'll have to talk macro...maybe on the way up to PA!!!

Karen - you have both Picasa and Photoshop on your computer? Some how I remember back in the day - they didn't play nice when both on computer...course that was many moons ago...things may have changed. I've got either 9 or 10 (Photoshop) on the laptop and have to admit being slightly intimidated. I had an old version to begin with that I'd been using and got that quite a few years back. It may be time for a class. Bec and I have talked about that...right Bec?

Ok if I share your thread with you? No fancy new lens - these are with the cell phone camera...really takes decent macros... These were while camping this weekend...

Those are great Chantell! I love the frog! Great detail!

I do have both Picasa and PS Elements. I have Elements 7 (I think), and I probably use only about 15% of what it's capable of! LOL! I continue to use Picasa because it is just so much easier for initial cropping and resizing!

I have said many times that I would love to take a class on Photoshop. I am a visual learner... especially with computer stuff, and I could pick it up so much faster watching someone else do it than trying to follow the books!

Holy carp Chantell, aren't cell phone cameras amazing these days?!?
Did y'all see me waving today? I passed thru your necka the woods--up 29 from North Carolina, to 66 on the way home, anyway...A long wave perhaps. I was thinking of the VA DGers I know!
And hey Bec, DH and I watched Lilyhammer on Netflix. Surely you have seen it.

Couldn't resist sharing this site of what one woman does with a photo of grape hyacinths and a little photo shop! Nice way of seeing beyond what's in front of or eyes...

http://sacred-circle-mandalas.blogspot.com/2007/03/bluest-blue-mandala-i-ever-have-seen.html

Oh I like that. I have always loved how you can bend pictures with some of those neat photo shop programs.

There is/was a Thread I once, on DG, I followed where someone (can't remember her name)
Did all this kind of stuff. They were all trying to do amazing things and tutoring each other
as to what they did.....

What you showed is just one photoshopping "trick".
I sent her my most beautiful photo of a Rose I ever took--and she turned it into a "fractal".....
That seemed to be pretty 'elementary".......

Hope I can find it. YES! From her name on the photo--it was "jubilada"....
I suppose you could search by her name and find the Thread they were all messing around with pictures.
It was done in 2010.

coleup--you are good at finding things---go for it! Give us a link here....
I guess I could also go back to "Posts Gitagal has made" and find it....

Will try! Gita

edited to add the link.
This page was on Nov. 2010. It was like--part #32!
So you can save this and look at all the other parts at your leisure.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1145177/

This message was edited May 8, 2012 1:48 PM

I remember those threads they did these globes pictures. Really pretty and interesting.

Wow... That is interesting.
But the original photo is gorgeous too Gita!

And Gita, you do pretty amazing things with a camera and your "eye" for design with out using photoshop!


Here is a pic of Gitas that she sent with a BDay wish.

Yeah I like Gitas coleus leaf arrangement much better than the rose thing.

That sure is pretty and so imaginative.

Back when I did that--I had cut off all the pretty leaves from my Coleus, as I was going to pull them up.
It was late fall and time to do that.
Since I was going to tear them up in little pieces and dry them all to add to my big tote of dried flowers...
It seemed a shame to destroy all the beautiful leaves.

So--I decided to make the "'arrangement" (on this picture) before I smithereened them.
I SOOOO liked all the colors! Laid them all out on a red terry towel---Voila! Art!!!...:o)

Thanks for liking it!! Gita

LOVE these pics!!! Gorgeous colors!

More macro training - I'm slowly getting the hang of the lens...

The lens is fully automatic, so no need for any manual focusing...:-)

Beautiful Bec! Great job!

Lovely!! We want to see more of your training result ;o)