Crop & Stop

Ok, this is going to be fun!

Now some people might think I'm a total nerd but I had such a blast sitting here playing with photos I took this past Thursday at Bridge Gardens. I usually just clean my photos up a bit, rarely do I play with any special effects. My favorite tool is crop, it's just too cool to be able to take a photo and make it something totally different by eliminating something and highlighting something else.

For instance, this first shot is a mass of Echinacea (one of my favorite flowers for photography). The color variations in this planting takes my breath away.



My first crop attempt was a simple horizontal one, it brings more cones into view and some nice bees too.


A vertical crop can be extremely exciting. I've made a number of bookmarks out of vertical shots like these. I know I had a post about it somewhere but just can't seem to find it...duh, I just remembered I have a search box.

If you want to see how I make bookmarks out of garden photos just go to my other blog Old Country Gardens and type in bookmark in the search box.


Echinops ritro is another great flower for photographs. I shot a few of them while standing in front of this clump.


Here's a crop from one of those photos...I'm so in love with this that I made it my screen saver! I think that's the rear view of that bee but doesn't it look like it's smiling?


Other plants are harder to photograph. This teasel was a toughie and cropping it made all the difference in the world.


Sometimes while cropping you find something totally unexpected. Years ago I took a photo in the Carolinas of a really cool looking insect. Although I didn't notice the insects while I was taking this photo, I found them while playing with my crop feature. Anybody know what these are?


Ornamental pepper blooms are lovely, I had to get down on my hands and knees and shoot upwards here.


Finally, I just had to add another Echinacea (cone flower). They are just so magical much fun to photograph! If you want to see more photos that I took at Bridge Gardens you'll find them at Old Country Gardens.

Today is sunny and HOT so no photos today...think I'll go jump in the pool instead.

SPLASH*************