Spring Trees and Flora, After the Rain

There are two things I find absolutely joyous about the spring season. The first is that vibrant, translucent green when leaves and flora have first emerged for the season. The second is seeing that lush, green growth just after a spring rain. Add a touch of fog and you have a world of visual pleasures no movie can match! All three elements were in concert this morning, making it the ideal time to photograph the landscapes of one of my favorite local parks.

I walked about in the park with my lightweight Canon Rebel XS, and kit 18-55mm EF-S IS lens. This is a time when I really appreciate having IS (image stabilization) in my camera/lens. Not having to carry a tripod allows me to enjoy my walk-about as much as my photography. I kept the camera on 400 ISO to insure that the average speed of my hand-held shooting in IS mode was kept above 1/30th second for maximum sharpness. What fun it was! The park was virtually empty, and the combination of beautiful light and quiet made for a delightful morning.

I converted the raw images to final .jpeg files using SilkyPix 3.0E. I used the default “Landscape Taste” color palette to bring out the lush green in my photos, and sharpened resized the final image in Photoshop. SilkyPix makes it very easy to restore the beautiful colors I remember into my digital captures. Photo by Donald Peterson.

Rain is a rare treat in the Sonoran Desert environs of Phoenix, Arizona. In fact, its rarity makes it a form of entertainment. Grab a chair, open the balcony, and bring some snacks. And when it occurs, the rare thunderstorm is better to watch than any movie! When we get a bit more than the usual rain here, it quickly becomes evident in the landscape of South Mountain Park / Preserve. This normally dry mountain park gets a paper-thin layer of green that may last for a few days at most, and quickly fade. It may not be much, but I really appreciate it when it happens, like in this early spring photo. In the desert. you learn to appreciate whatever growth that occurs.