Peonies

   for peony blossom viewing /  a pale kimono is good / and chinese tea

~ Buson

Imagine easing up a driveway next to a retaining wall garden that is home to a luxury of peonies. You step out of the car– they've been waiting for you– almost at eye level. No bending necessary, as they strike one pose after another.

 

 

These peonies are thriving in Wanda Avery's garden. Of course they are exotic and special, but amazingly she told us that they all came from Costco. The next day, Wanda came for brunch at Jan's laden with the lovelies. Jan has a large (at least gallon size) crystal rose bowl that this photographer happily filled with the other Queen of Flowers.

PHOTOGRAPHERS

I wanted to give the image above a weathered look. Two of Kim Klassen's textures did the trick.

Mirror, mirror-- whenever there is one, this photographer always has to show her camera mug (left). It's easy to avoid though-- line yourself up with the subject and scoot down or . . .

A GOOD TRICK

We almost had enough peonies to fill the vase, however there was a hole in the middle near the lip of the vase. Happily, a peony from Jan's front garden filled the hole. But the peony stands out since it's the only one like it, and the stamens photographed almost black. To bring out the stamens and make the fleur look a little similar to the others, I did a trick Myron Wellan taught me, which I can't remember the name of, so I'll call it

DODGING AND BURNING WITHOUT DODGING AND BURNING

This enables photoshoppers to lighten or darken an area without changing the image.

1. In the layers palette- choose new layer.
2. In the mode drop-down menu- choose overlay.
3. Click- Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% gray)
4. In the tool palette- set the foreground & background colors to black and white.
5. Choose a soft brush and paint the area with white to lighten, and black to darken.
6. Opacity and Flow percentages will regulate the intensity.

THANKS WANDA AND JAN !

PS- Here's a link to all my photography how-to posts.