52Frames Nature Weekly Photo Challenge

The subject for the 52Frames photo challenge this week was “nature.”  I really like putting together composite photos and this week was no exception. I didn’t have anything specific in mind. So when we took a morning walk in the neighborhood park I just started to take photos of leaves and trees. I thought I liked the image of the sun peaking through bare tree trunks and branches, but then added a bit of painting to it. My husband didn’t care for it at all. That is never a good sign because the idea is to find an image that we both like. There was a lovely American Beech Tree with golden leaves that held promise. Then I remembered a deer photo we took a couple of months back. The main image needs to have been taken during the week of the challenge; and bits for a composite can be taken from elsewhere and/or taken during the same week. Since we didn’t see any deer this week I opted for a past image. So the black cages around the saplings were painted in and the house parts behind the trees were eliminated. The deer was isolated and placed under the canopy and some shade was added to make it look like it belonged there. Then it was cropped to move the trunk off center. A couple of the leaf pictures were okay, but we ended up uploading the composite. As our friend says, it doesn’t seem right any more to just take a photo. You need to create a composite. It’s always a fun project. 

52Frames Nature

It was another weekly photo challenge. This time the subject was nature. The US Botanic Garden finally opened last week after being closed since January 6 because it is part of the Capitol complex. It was always one of my favorite places to visit when we lived on Capitol Hill, and remains one of my favorites since we moved to northern Virginia three years ago. And what better area to find something nature related? So it was with a great deal of anticipation when we walked in to the interior gardens. We started in the very humid area, then in to the dessert section. After that the jungle area with an overhead walkway. The flowering section really wasn’t anything to write about as it is too early in the season. Orchids have started to look mundane to me! When we walked in to the main lobby area the fountains looked as lovely as ever. They were surrounded by coffee bean plants. Outside there were a lot of tulips of all different shades and sizes. But what caught my attention again this week was the pair of ducks in the outside gardens that caught my attention last week. I happened to catch them coming out from under the bridge. You’d never know you were in the middle of Washington DC. I had used another photo of these same ducks as last week entry for the emotion challenge. Somehow, they looked better than all the flowers - and they just win your heart. 

52Frames Nature

The 52Frames photo challenge last week was nature. After a couple weeks of more technical contests like fast and slow shutter, this was a nice reprieve. So I thought we could probably find something about nature on the national mall rather than in the neighborhood park. Between the Capitol reflecting pond and the Enid Haupt Gardens by the Smithsonian Castle, something would be found. And I was right. Nature doesn’t need to be in the woods or wide open spaces only. It can be located in the concrete jungle as well. And we love to drive in to the city at least once a week so this is the perfect opportunity. The funny thing is is that my husband and I rarely - if ever - agree on which image should be submitted. So I post them on Instagram and my Facebook business page to see which ones get the most impressions or activity. Usually it is never a photo either of us would pick. This week is no different and I had a lot of options. The top three ended up being the pigeons by the Capitol reflecting pool, the tulips at the castle, and the duck by the pool at the castle. He was actually posing for me. I really liked the duck, and my husband preferred the bright green leaf in the pool. So I think I’ll go with the lowly pigeons since it is a bit quirky. Since my camera is an iPhone I will never get the fantastic images the professionals create, but I like them all the same.