Friday, May 9, 2014

Color...a little or a lot

Greetings, friends!

I'm joining Donna again this week at a Personal Photo Challenge...
...and she has left it w-i-d-e open!

The theme is COLOR and this was kind of a tough one for me.
After going through my photos, this is what I came up with...
...and it's about as original as it gets for me. 

For the most part, my photos are quite colorful but so are everyone else's, right?
So it got me to thinking...how much color do I want in my photo?

Actually, there are times when I like to remove some of the color to feature a specific part.


For this edit, I used the Focal  B&W effect in Picasa 3.
I also use Picmonkey quite a bit but I personally think Picasa 3 is much more user-friendly.
You start out with your fully colored photo, add the above effect,
 and adjust the area where you want to keep the color.
I really love the look of this...it puts all of the focus on the flower alone.


Sometimes, all that's needed is a soft pastel...
... like these lovely little baby blue flowers that have nearly overtaken my yard this spring.
I'm not complaining though...when you live in the woods, grass doesn't grow well...
...but I'm glad other things do!
The sun was also filtering through the tree, creating the variations of green.
The only editing was softening it up a bit using the Soft Focus effect in Picasa 3.


I'm breaking the rules here to show you the close-up.
And yes, I was lying on my belly on the ground.

But then there are those other times...



...when you want bold, vivid and bright color...
...like when it's STRAWBERRY SEASON...
...like NOW!!!

No editing needed here!

Have a bright and COLORFUL Mother's Day weekend!

22 comments:

  1. Hi Debby, I love strawberry season. Your colorful shots are great. Have a wonderful weekend!

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  2. The focus on the flower in your first photo is wonderful.
    The woodland flowers are beautiful, kindly dropped off by our feathered friends I daresay to wish you a Happy Spring!
    The strawberries simply explode with color!
    I will try out Picasa 3 this weekend - thank you for the tip!
    It's our Mothers Day on Sunday too - best wishes for your day Debby!

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  3. Oh I love the photos of the pale blue flowers in your yard. It's really beautiful with the lighting and the soft focus. The single flower and the beautiful red strawberries are wonderful too. Happy Mother's Day weekend to you.

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  4. Oh I love how you interpreted this challenge...you're a very artsy, creative gal! It's impossible to choose one above the other...I love them all.

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  5. I knew I'd find some beautiful "color" shots at your place, Debbie! You were clever to remove color in the flower photo. The light is wonderful in the shot of the tiny blue flowers. And ~wow~ those strawberries. Yep, that color is quite appealing in more ways than one! :)

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  6. Amei ao foco da primeira foto e quero comer os morangos! A floresta é de conto de fadas! As flores são as proprias fadas! Parabéns!
    Um abraço!
    Loved the focus of the first picture and want to eat strawberries! The forest is a fairy tale! The flowers themselves are fairies! Congratulations!
    Hugs!

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  7. I think Donna said to use close ups if we wanted. Beautiful photos--the first one is amazing! But I like them all!

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  8. You made some wonderful choices for the challenge! I love those baby blue flowers...they look surreal! And the strawberries look real on my computer....I'm eating one right now! heehee! Happy weekend my friend! Hugs!

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  9. HOLY COW...these are awesome photos to share for the challenge. This is such a fun party....one of my favorites. :)

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  10. There is a simplicity here that I really like! Well done.

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  11. The effect you used in the first photo really is nice, enhancing only the flower in colour. The strawberries are a delicious deep red.

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  12. I've never tried editing part of a photo, but I like the effect of just the colored flower. Strawberries are beautiful and colorful any time, but especially now. Makes me want to make some freezer jam! Fun photos.

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  13. I could bite into your red strawberries. Ours will be a month a so yet and I'm getting impatient. Your wildflower lawn under the lovely filtered light looks like a fairy kingdom. Beautifully photographed.

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  14. I'm totally jealous of your 'lawn', The daffodil is really nice too- love that photo edit- might have to check it out myself- thanks for sharing!

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  15. A pretty series. What a peaceful sight all those little blue flowers must be.

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  16. All beautiful shots!! Where I live (eastern Canada) those darling little blue flowers are known as "Bluets" (botanical name Houstonia caerulea). Your strawberries look mouth-wateringly luscious. I like your careful editing on the first photo....

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  17. Great photos and effects Debby. Thanks for all the tips. I will try them.
    Audrey Z. @ Timeless Treasures

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  18. Wonderful photos and editing, Debby. Love the blue flowers, and those strawberries look delicious!

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  19. What a pretty selection of images. The wildflowers are lovely! Thanks for sharing the tips. Wishing you a HAPPY Mother's day and week ahead!

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  20. Yep, the theme was wide open, so you had a LOT of latitude on subject matter! These are just lovely. I really like that first one with the localized color. The composition really lends itself to the technique. We'll have localized color as a challenge theme later on sometime. The second and third photos are so dreamy that I think a little woodland fairy is going to pop right in the frame for a photo bomb, hahaha! Color can be delicate and pastel, so thank you for featuring that approach. And red is always a winner for color contrast, as demonstrated in your last photo. Great job!

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  21. those tiny flowers look like small bluet. we get them here in early spring. love them. :)

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  22. I like all of these photo treatments, but the softness on those blue flowers is especially effective.

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Thank you for stopping by today! Your sweet comments are such an encouragement to me.

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