Saturday, March 28, 2009

A Few Sage Moments

About three weeks ago, on my last day spent in Big Bear, the clouds in the sky were spectacular. I drove to my favorite spot on the east end of the lake and set up my tripod in wait of the hoped for gorgeous sunset. It was a little early still so I put my new macro lens on my D80 and walked around the area snapping pictures of the brush that grew all along the shore in this area. Now I am terribly ignorant when it comes to plant life and I haven't been able to identify this stuff from books or the internet. So if anyone should look at these photos and recognize it for what it is, please let me know. It's like sage brush but has a decidedly rusty red color. What I do know is that this very simple weeds catches the sun beautifully and is a delight to photograph.
This photo was taken at the northeast end of the Big Bear Valley near Baldwin Lake.

I took this shot a couple days after the big snow storm in February.

These are the images I shot while waiting for the sun to go down.
Believe me, this plant is not actually pink. It's just the sun playing it's light tricks.
The blue in the background is snow.

It's the same plants is each of these photos.
Just the background or the direction I'm shooting has changed.



Okay, so once I'd had enough of pink, I decided to play a little with Photoshop.
This tone was an accident but I liked what I saw, so I left it.
Now if only I could remember what I did, in case I want to try it again.

And, of course, I always have to see what it looks like in monochrome.
The soft sepia tint adds a little pizazz...Don't you think?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That first photo is a real beauty! There's so much there that I like.

I don't know what that brush is, but we have something that looks similar. It must be at least a relative of sage.

Petra said...

beautiful shots, I love the lilacs and blues

Maryjane-The Beehive Cottage said...

Suzanne, your photos are stunning! They should be in a magazine, oh they have! LOL! Loving those dog pictures of your little/big guys and the Big Bear pics are beautiful! Don's parents had a cabin in Fawnskin for 20's and we loved it up there....memories! Tell Carlos hello!

Hugs,
Maryjane

Anonymous said...

I wish I owned photoshop....sigh....