Spring time poppies here in the Arizona desert this spring. We were blessed with lots of rain this year, so our desert floor came to life with lots of colors from our wildflowers. I found this patch of poppies up on a bank, so I was able to get down low and shoot up quite easily and capture the underside of the flowers with the sky in the background.
It is always nice, at least in my opinion to see the glow around cacti when the sun strikes the spines just right. The cactus in the foreground is a Cholla Cactus, which is one of the best, if not the best, in my area for catching that light. I stopped down my aperture to f20 to get the star effect and waited for the sun to get positioned just right for this image. I bumped us the warm tones with white balance in Lightroom. I also used Topaz Clarity to increase contrast and Topaz Detail to bring out a little bit more details. I also did a little some dodging and burning in Photoshop to lighten highlights and darken the shadows some.
35mm, f20, 1/50 sec, ISO 100.
You may see a larger version of this image here in Flickr.
For me, the purity and simplicity of a yellow daisy against a white background is a pleasure to enjoy viewing. Hope you enjoy also. The pedal sticking up is what attracted me to this particular blossom.
Sunset at Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona. I was getting a little creative with the colors using cross processing in Lightroom on this one.
A beautiful Arizona desert sunset, silhouettes, colors and all. Photographed west of Phoenix.
A Gazania flower floating in darkness. This image was created by layering the flower over a black layer in Photoshop and then masking out the background of the flower revealing the black layer underneath.
A beautiful stroll enjoying the colors fall in Illinois.
Just a lovely daisy photographed with a black background giving the appearance of darkness.
A sunset west of Phoenix, Arizona. I really loved how the sun and clouds gave a diagonal line and an arch in the sky. That was not a Photoshop creation, but the way the sky looked that night.
Bible verse:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
An African Daisy to brighten up ones day.
Ken Mickel Photography 