Tag: Brookside Gardens

Tulips – Part 1

I shot this series of images when the tulips were in full bloom. The series was shot between Brookside Gardens in Maryland and Meadowlark Gardens in Virginia.

When I was taking these image I didn’t have a filter that fit my lens. I would have used a 3 stop neutral density to cut down on some of the light since I shot them just before midday. You can fix some of it in Photoshop but it’s never going to look as good if you had a filter.

None of these were shot with a macro lense. I just used my Sigma 24-105 on the Nikon D5500 and went wild. I was still learning how to use the camera so I there were a few misses but for the most part the images came out decent.

Editing wise I just did the Lightroom to Photoshop workflow. I always add my contrast in via a curves adjustment and do local work with dodging and burning as needed.

Enjoy.

Spring Tree – Part 3

This series was shot at two locations on back-to-back days. They were taken at Brookside Gardens and Meadowlark Gardens. I was playing with the Nikon D5500 and had my Sigma 24-105 on the camera.

I am on travel this week as I start the final part of my journey as I move to Thailand. With all the travel I have done all the editing in one shot. I am preloading all the posts for the week so I can focus on getting to Thailand.

Editing for every images was just my Lightroom and Photoshop workflow and nothing more.

Enjoy!

Spring Trees – Part 2

This series was shot at two locations on back-to-back days. They were taken at Brookside Gardens and Meadowlark Gardens. I was playing with the Nikon D5500 and had my Sigma 24-105 on the camera.

I am on travel this week as I start the final part of my journey as I move to Thailand. With all the travel I have done all the editing in one shot. I am preloading all the posts for the week so I can focus on getting to Thailand.

Editing for every images was just my Lightroom and Photoshop workflow and nothing more.

Enjoy!

Spring Trees – Part 1

This series was shot at two locations on back-to-back days. They were taken at Brookside Gardens and Meadowlark Gardens. I was playing with the Nikon D5500 and had my Sigma 24-105 on the camera.

I am on travel this week as I start the final part of my journey as I move to Thailand. With all the travel I have done all the editing in one shot. I am preloading all the posts for the week so I can focus on getting to Thailand.

Editing for every images was just my Lightroom and Photoshop workflow and nothing more.

Enjoy!

Splashes of Color

Shot this in April at Brookside Gardens on a visit there. I went there with a new camera and to shoot something else but ended up doing a few series over a few days.

I indicated I was shooting a bunch of stuff. So when it came to edit I just went ahead and picked out some images that show splashes of color. These just broke up the predominate color hence the title.

I have no idea what any these plants are. I was just walking around taking photos and doing my thing. Mainly working with the Nikon D5500 to learn how to use the camera. Which I am coming to enjoy as a camera. It’s light and a lot of fun to shoot with and you get excellent picture quality out of it.

Editing these was straight in Lightroom with camera profiles. Then using gradients to change the focus. Once in Photoshop I added overall tone and contrast. Then it was just dodging and burning.

Enjoy.

In The Shadows Of Trees

Took this at Brookside Gardens in April when things were just starting to get their leaves and flowers were blooming.

I was shooting with my Nikon D5500 and no tripod. One of the things I have tried to train myself to do is not to rely on my tripod. If there is enough light I really don’t need it. I just tended to use it even though at times it was more of a hinder than a help.

Nothing fancy with editing these images. I used gradients to change the light then into Photoshop for a curves adjustment for tone and contrast. Then is was some dodging and burning for local contrast.

Enjoy.

In The Tree

Spring Gazebo

This was shot at Brookside Gardens. There are a few of these gazebos around the gardens but they are never used. If you are looking for a quiet place then I suggest using one as they are never busy.

This was shot last year when I first got my Nikon D810. I like to play the game of randomly clicking on my photo library and see what comes up. I have so many images that I never processed that this can lead me to hidden gems. It’s fun to see what comes up in the randomness. Sometimes you end up with something good and other times it’s complete crap.

I have been hesitant to work on my newer stuff just because I like to keep a back catalogue to work off of. I have been shooting stuff but I like to keep a cushion just in case. I am hoping in the next two weeks when I head to Florida I’ll have some time to do some more landscape stuff as I will be there for a bit of time. Then I’ll start working on the stuff I have shot more recently.

This is a HDR image that I created off of one image. I just loaded it into Aurora 2017 and then played with sliders until I was happy. Then it was into Photoshop to do some gradients and some dodging and burning to get local contrast. Once I was happy hit save and called it done.

Enjoy.

Spring Gazebo

Nature Squared – Part 2

Here is the second installment of nature squared. This was also shot in Brookside Gardens but on the lake part for lack of better description.

This set is going to be a bit different. The previous set was more landscape based and there are elements of that in this set. This one is more abstract in the way I shot it. The theme is there in that it’s all nature but the it’s not going to be as in your face and obvious.

Just like the previous set some of these were shot in portrait mode and then sized down to fit a square. Others were just cropped down to hide stuff I didn’t want seen or just to fit the theme I was working with.

I did nothing different editing wise. Just my usual workflow so if you want to see look back two days for that post. Like the previous images it was shot on a Sony RX10.

Enjoy.

nature squarednature squarednature squarednature squarednature squarednature squared

The Gate

I believe this is a Korean style gate/arch. I don’t know 100% but there are lots of Korean memorials throughout Brookside Gardens so it would be logical that is is Korean.

I really like Asian architecture and style. I’m content wandering through a Buddhist Temple in Thailand. Even if you have seen one temple you have seen them all there is always a bit of a surprise. You will stumble across Chinese temples that are part of the Buddhist one but are separate. You will see Hindi stuff mixed in so there is always variety if you look around.

While I have only spent time in Korea on layovers one of these years I’ll venture over there. The same with Japan and a few other spots. There is a chance I’ll be in Cambodia late this year or early next. Still working out the details of that!

Nothing fancy with the editing. Camera profile applied which I can’t stress enough to use. Then just some gradients to pull your focus. Then into Photoshop for curves adjustment. Then local dodging and burning. Hit save and done.

Enjoy.

Korean Gate

Nature Squared – Part 1

I was intending to go back to the series I was attempting to edit last week. Instead I ended up with 3 different series but I think it worked out ok.

These images are from Brookside Gardens shot last year in the fall. I had missed the peak leaves time with my travel to Vegas but I still managed to get some leaves. I was really testing my Sony RX10 that I had purchased. I was just wandering around shooting whatever struck my fancy.

The series will be split into two connected but separate themes. It will make sense once I publish the second half later this week. The reason is the park is split into 2 distinct areas so it changes up the images slightly and to have a cohesive set it was better to split them.

When I went to edit these it just made sense to go with a square crop. Part of this was to remove stuff I didn’t want in the frame and part of it was for the theme. Most were shot landscape but some were shot portrait so the squares don’t always come out perfectly the same.

Editing wise it was apply the camera defaults and then into Photoshop. I went towards lower key and higher contrast on these images. It makes the colors pop more. When I was done with exposure and contrast I just went about doing local dodging and burning as needed. Sharpened them and called them done.

Enjoy.

Nature SquaredNature SquaredNature SquaredNature SquaredNature Squared