Ruth Bancroft Garden – Monochrome Madness Challenge

Most of you have been seeing my recent posts from Ruth Bancroft Garden.  Ahh…the lush green, the bright blooms….it was a feast for the eyes as I’ve been calling it.  The textures and patterns were really beautiful also, so I thought I’d take one of the images and use it for these week’s challenge.  I wish I could tell you what the name of this plant is, but unfortunately I didn’t have a map with me.  They did offer a map when I got there, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to read it without my glasses and that becomes a pain when taking pictures…on/off, on/off…no thanks, lol.

This plant did catch my eye because of the strong patterns and the little “hair-like” things that were all over it.  It was converted primarily with an infrared filter via Nik Color Efex and then I ran it through Nik SEP2.  It was okay in green and white, the original colors, but I liked it a lot better after the conversion.

You can see the entire challenge later today on Leanne Cole’s Blog.  Please do check it out as there are so many talented photographers there!

 

 

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Laura the Lionhearted – Monochrome Madness

This week’s Monochrome Madness has me posting a picture of a lion.  I’d love to say I was on a safari in Africa and dodged the charge of a rhino or fought a monkey to keep my banana, but the truth of the matter is that this was taken at the San Francisco Zoo, lol.

My goal was to make it seem like I didn’t take it at the zoo, so I won’t stop you from envisioning me in a pith hat, camping out in the wilderness, hiding behind some brush with an ultra-long lens.  Yes, I boldly stood in front of a lion pen at the zoo and DARED to focus on this beautiful beast!  I know, I’m so bold and brave…one might say I am “lionhearted”.  🙂

The image was taken in color and converted to B&W via Nik SEP2 with a bit of dodging and burning on the final image.  RAWR!  Doesn’t he look handsome?

You can find the entire challenge on Leanne Cole’s blog later today where there are sure to be lots of amazing images!

 

Sepia Dream

It’s that time again!  Monochrome Madness is in the air.  This week’s submission was taken from a flower on our new back deck.  I converted it to black and white via Nik SEP2 and did some work on it in Photoshop.  One thing I’m playing around with lately is overlaying textures.  I used one for this image and I think it subtly enhances it.

Our Monochrome Madness gallery will be shown on Leanne Cole’s blog in a few hours, so please check it out when you can.  There are always such amazing entries!  Her blog can be found here.   http://leannecolephotography.com/.