Purple Berries

Not very fall-like, but I captured these berries not too long ago. I was totally drawn to the vivid purple color.



Purple and green is one of my favorite color combinations, and always reminds me of a bathing suit I bought in my early teens. A one piece, with purple and green diagonal stripes, purchased from the Spiegel Catalog through the mail - one of the first mail order purchases for me. I remember feeling quite out of my comfort zone with that color combination - perhaps it was a departure from the style of that time. But so I digress.

The trees here have reached their peak and I need to get out there with my camera before it's all gone!

Edited to add: The plant photographed is a Callicarpa or Beautyberry, a shrub found mainly in the South.

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Christmas Eve

The snow is falling softly, covering the landscape.



May Your Days Be Merry and Bright



And May All Your Christmases be White



Merry Christmas!

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Color in the Snow

I found the ornament in my neighbor's yard. I'm sure one of her boys (or my son) brought it out there for "some reason".



And more color and frost.

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Early Hoar Frost

I woke up this morning to sparkly hoar frost. Unfortunately, I had to be on the road and at church by 7am, really too early to take any photos. I feared by the time I was done with morning activities the frost would be gone.

So I turned on some outdoor lights and did the best I could with the available light.


As luck would have it, the cold temperatures and cloudy conditions allowed the frost to stay around through the morning.

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Snow Covered

We woke up to over 6" of snow this morning, and it was still coming down. Normally, our snow storms are accompanied by strong winds, but not today. The fluffy snow stuck to everything and it was so pretty!

[It helps that it's Saturday and I don't have to drive anywhere - I can enjoy the soft white stuff from the comfort of home]

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Sprig of Berries

You can find beautiful things, even in the most common places - I photographed this branch at work. Yup, I work in a chemical plant, but even the most industrial complexes will plant trees and flowers along the main entrance. That's where I found the tree filled with the most perfect berries. I added a texture using the overlay blending mode at 70%. I downloaded the texture from ShadowHouse Creations, an awesome resource for textures, brushes and overlays.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius

I hope you find beauty in your every day surroundings.

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SOOC Saturday - Rain's Impact

Much needed rain fell last night and I was up early enough to catch its impact on a couple of the neighborhood trees.



I think the daily practice of exercising the camera forces one to be more observant. Otherwise, I might have walked past without noticing the drops of water on the berries, glistening in the sun.

And once I had the camera in hand, I went looking for something different, I think I got it here.


Today's captures are SOOC. Because it's the weekend and I have tons to get done! Hope you have a wonderful Saturday.

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POTD - Berries from Summer [sweet]

Finally, I took pictures that fit into this week's 2Peas photography theme of "sweet".

Blueberries that we picked last July, frozen, but still a sweet treat, especially in winter:


Now thawed and combined with vanilla yogurt - so yummy!


Hope your day is filled with sweetness!

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POTD - Three Sets of Berries

My neighbor's tree with the lovely red berries caught my eye yesterday during my Saturday run (I notice all sorts of things to photograph while running - it helps to pass the miles). I shot most of them with the same settings (70mm, aperture priority - F2.8, ISO200), then played around with the various captures to get three different results.

Basically SOOC, just cropped from horizontal to vertical:


Applied a vignette, then lightened with a Levels adjustment. The lighting is so different from the first picture - the blue sky casts a coolness over the scene.


This one gets a vintage treatment with a hue / saturation layer. This isn't quite my "normal style", so it was fun to create.


Which one do you like?

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