Category: Photo Challenges

Entries into blogging community photo challenges and contests.

They should call it “Iris”

Flora Photo Challenges 5 Comments
Purple bearded iris

I think that May is misnamed.

Around here, a better name is “Iris”. Because the iris are blooming in their glory right now. Proving my point: here are just a few bearded ones from walking the pups this week.

Purple and white bearded iris, lit by the morning sun and processed using Topaz Studio 2.
Would you call it variegated or dappled?
Is mauve a purple or a pink?
A mauve beauty with a charming peachy beard.
This is one from my own front yard.
Fifty shades of purple.

I had some fun with Topaz Studio on these. Bearded iris is so beautiful it looks gorgeous with so many different digital art processes. Each of these uses different settings in Topaz Studio 2.

This post is a little late for Brashley Photography’s Floral Friday, but it’s also suitable for Cee’s Flower of the Day: Bearded Iris and Life in Colour: Purple by Travel Words.

On the Life in Colour challenge there has been discussion about the difference between purple and violet. In my experience, the difference between purple and violet often depends on the light, the iris in my yard appears blue-violet at certain times of the day. Different processing plays up the blue (violet is typically seen as more blue than traditional purple).

A Sony RX10Miv took all of these photos (with me attached). I used Raw Therapee, Topaz Studio 2 and the GIMP for processing. For some tips about using Raw Therapee and the GIMP see my page: The photo processing tools on my belt.

Mossy bridge

Pacific Northwest Photo Challenges 2 Comments
Old mossy bridge on the East Historic Columbia River Highway.
Black and white digital photo of a mossy bridge near Latourell Falls on the East Historic Columbia River Highway.

This mossy bridge is by Latourell Falls in the Columbia Gorge. We found it following the old US Highway 30, a.k.a., East Historic Columbia River Highway. I stopped the car at the falls because the filtered sunlight on the moss caught my eye. I’m not sure why I decided to experiment with black and white, since the scene was closer to monochrome in green. But the lines of the old bridge, probably a CCC project during the depression, suit black and white.

The original photo of the mossy bridge shows the moss better than the black and white, on the other hand the black and white emphasizes the elegant lines of the old bridge.

Original color photo

I took this picture with my Sony RX10iv camera, settings were: f13, ISO 100, 1/25s, 18.92mm focal length. I used the GIMP’s Desaturate filter in the Colors menu and a vignette to create the black and white. For a little information about using open source software to create black and white images check out this post: Black and white digital photo processing: Part 1.

For Brashley Photography’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Alive and Trekking’s Which Way photo challenges.

Camellia in black and white: “Pink Perfection”

Flora Photo Challenges 1 Comment
A camellia, originally pale pink, converted to black-and-white using Raw Therapee.
“Pink Perfection” in Black-and-White

The name of this camellia is “pink perfection”, but I think it looks good in black and white, especially with the dusting of snow on the leaves. This pale beauty starts to bloom around the beginning of the year and lasts through March. Winter came late this year and the only significant snowfall occurred after the flowers were starting to bloom. I caught this as the snow was starting. Soon afterwards it got thick and we trotted for home.

I took this with my Sony RX10iv camera. Basic settings: F4, 1/80s, focal length 52.8mm (35mm equivalent: 144mm). I converted it into black-and-white using Raw Therapee then cropped and added a vignette in the GIMP. Click here for information about using Raw Therapee’s Black-and-White tool.

Posted for Brashley Photography’s Mid-week Monochrome.

In the original color image there was a bit of discoloration, converting to black and white disguises these.
Original image.

For a flower that bruises and discolors there is an advantage to black and white: it hides some of these imperfections. This pale pink flower shows bruising very easily. For this particular camellia, in black and white you can focus on the shapes and textures without the distraction of the imperfections.

© 2024 K.S. McCormick

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