In Orange County it’s easy early on any sunny morning to forget what season it is. Many flowers will continue to bloom through December and some will even in January and February.
In 2006 we traveled to Florida for a friend’s wedding. We stayed with my brother, John who lives on the lake. He took us out in his boat and toward the end of the ride, I caught these birds crossing the sunset.
click in slideshow for fullscreen option
I visited a nursery with Diane and Susie in October. They never fail to have great plants at fairly reasonable (for the Bay Area) prices. They’re located on highway 92 just about a mile north of PCH. We spent over an hour there perusing. Toward the end of our visit, we noticed all the variety of plants in the shade section. I wanted it all but most wouldn’t fare well in our high desert back yard without some serious modifications (I think I’d need climate control!) and maintenance.
The final touches before the wedding. I have to admit this was just random experimenting with layers, level adjustments, color adjustments, high pass filters, surface blur and even a little glow effect on one layer.
This is especially for my sister, Millie who is stuck in Kalispell, MT. The only green there is the conifers and that’s just plain monotone green on white or gray. Orange County enjoys appreciable green all year long and we sometimes forget that most of the country is good and tired of gray and white by the first week of January. I’ll try to include frequent photography from here in Orange County for them here.
Remember click left of center to view fullscreen.
A dish of straight pink candy canes at a bridal shower offers an opportunity to experiment with lighting and layers in photoshop. I used several layers including a high pass filter, highlight and shadow adjustments, levels adjustments and an outer glow. The glow is most evident in the black and white. Final color levels were done in iPhoto.
I had no idea what awaited me when I casually took my camera along for a hike up a hill near my home. My intention was to take a shot or two if I saw anything interesting. While Orange County is known for beautiful sunsets on the coast, my home inland in the Murrieta area usually has the same sunset repeated most days of summer but this late July day had a surprise waiting for anyone who was there to catch it.
Kendall borrowed her mommy’s red hat for a while. I had to take a few photos.
[flagallery gid=1 name="Gallery"]
Location: Muckenthaler, Fullerton CA – Orange County – June 2009
Fall colors in Orange County often differ from most in the US and last longer too.
