We found this gnarly old willow on the banks of the Thames River in London. London, Ontario, that is. There were several other old willows in the park striking grotesque postures.

I took this picture an afternoon last year. Dark and cloudy conditions in the evening made it very difficult to get a sharp picture, considering I relied on three magnification filters to get this close, significantly reducing the amount of light that reached the lens. Some post-capture sharpening makes the quality acceptable.

The rosebush outside our door is a conveniently located subject.

Took this picture in the garden with a +2 close-up filter on my 50mm. Any suggestions what this flower might be are appreciated.

In the English gardens of the conservatory in the Assiniboine Park.

I caught these pussy willows (Norwegian: gåsunger, which translates as goslings) down by the Welland Canal with my 50mm.

Once I had tweaked the first picture, applying the same effect to other, similar pictures was easy (though not all turned out).

I posted a picture back in May called The Great Greening. This is another picture from the same series, but I’ve played quite a bit with the colours. I spent hours playing with black clipping, curves, exposure, temperature, split toning and vignettes, all the while checking with Jenna (does this look nice? I lose objectivity when I work for too long on my own pictures). Most of the effect was achieved by applying a yellow filter to the highlights and a blue filter to the shadows. Hope you like it.

…and I don’t know what they’re called. But they’re pretty.

Umm, not much more to say about this picture. Perhaps not the best framed picture of all times, but it’s so vibrant!