Here’s the solstice. It seems like only a few days ago I complained about how fast May had passed and now we’re within reach of July 4th. It’s a rainy start to the season as we’ve been receiving light rain, a drizzle actually, through the night and it’ll continue for the next several hours (3:45 at this moment).
I’ll close out Spring with a colorful Red Maple image and open Summer with a redo of an old Grass Pink image reprocessed.
I’ve shot similar before and continue to do so. Eventually all the red will disappear into a strong Summer green, but the tinges are subtle and attractive. The dewy sheen is a nice addition.
I decided to reprocess an older Grass Pink image since I wasn’t going to be able to visit my usual patch of them here in Amherst. It’s possible I’ll get to photograph some at Hawley Bog soon, but for now decided to hit the archives. By accident I applied a white vignette (as opposed to black) and decided to stay with that effect.
I think I may pursue this as a series of wildflower images.
I don’t really have a Boston accent. 🙂
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
What a saturated red in that young leaf, and it’s not mottled and splotched the way an autumn leaf so often is.
Did you consider adding a dark border around the light vignetting?
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No. But I’ll look at that suggestion.I like the fade with out an obvious abrupt edge.
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The white vignette is nice….I don’t know this flower at all, what a beauty it is! Archives are good places! 😉 (And the leaves are great too!). Happy Summah, Steve!
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It’s range stops well short of yours, Lynn. It has a pollination strategy similar to Mountain Laurel.
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That’s interesting about the pollination…you know, LOTS of flowers’ ranges stop well short of our area. 🙂
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And of ours as well. 🙂
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The symmetry of the red maple appears to me. The white vignette was a very happy accident. I love it.
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Sometimes accidents are for the best, I guess. It was a fun discovery. The maple was a pretty natural composition.
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Yes, I believe they are. The maple composition is pretty natural, but then, you had to see it.
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In all honesty, I will have to admit both were accidents. In the case of the maple leaves, I had just finished shooting some mountain laurels and as I walked to the car said to myself…”Hey, look at that”.
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I understand, but you saw what many might’ve missed.
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Both are really nice, Steve. Love the reds of the leaves, and the symmetry as Michael mentioned. I’m not usually a fan of white vignettes, but it certainly does work in this case. I like your idea of creating a series of wildflower images.
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Thanks, Todd. I wasn’t a fan of vignettes much at all until recently. I use both TK’s actions and Nik filters and once I started using those, judiciously usually, I became enamored.
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Well, here’s a coincidence. I brought home photos of a cluster of young, red leaves yesterday, and have my grass pink photos from the previous two weeks: it’s a great connection between our two worlds.
After finding so many orchids on previous trips, I was surprised to find not a hint of them yesterday. Apparently our week of sizzling temperatures convinced them it was time to hang it up for the season. They already were on the way out when I found them; I never got to see a stem with more than a flower and a bud, or maybe two flowers. I’ll have to wait until next year to see a flower-filled stem like this.
I was glad to see the color of your orchids, which I’d call lavender rather than pink. Most that I found were this color, or very close. I kept wondering why they were called “grass pinks,” since they don’t look at all pink to me.
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Ha! I’ve thought that it would be nice to do some photography together and now it appears we have, albeit two thousand or so miles apart.
Many orchids need a lot of moisture in the ground so your heat and lack of water, if so, would explain their rapid demise. Orchid blooms usually last a bit longer than most other flowers.
I’d guess “Grass Pinks” rolls off the tongue easier than “Grass Lavenders”. Some folks just group a whole bunch of similar colors into one.
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I very much like your Red Maple leaf image. Would you permit me to feature it in a post on my blog Exploring Colour. I’d credit you by name as well as link back. Please let me know.. thanks!
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Hi, Liz. Thanks for checking out my blog. I looked at yours and you may post my image. I appreciate your interest.
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