Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Change on Garden Images

It's a good idea to always check your work on more than one browser. I work with Firefox but do have Explorer installed too. They don't read a site quite the same way. I noticed that the two bottom images were overflowing on the front page in Explorer. Too large to be side by side. The idea of Garden Images is to present clear photos to go with the details. Not easy to do in a small size, but something needed to change. I tried resizing smaller, that didn't look right. Removing two looked better.

Now only the newest addition will appear on the front page. When viewed on their own page, the photos are well aligned. So if you were visiting while I was testing, sorry.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Nonstop Mocca Scarlet begonia

Begonias

Just added Non Stop Mocca Scarlet in the Perennials.
A link to a seed source is included with the details.

Took the shot in natural light to keep the colour true.
This is a really nice deep red begonia.

Begonias: Cultivation, Identification, and Natural History

Saturday, October 17, 2009

A Jalbum I like from another member

Perfect photos of a kingfisher with a nice smooth bokeh. This member is from The Netherlands.
http://kiez.jalbum.net/ijsvogels/

Shared via AddThis

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

New Jalbum

Surfing for inspiration for a new album I found something called Jalbum. You can download the software for free. The albums are customizable and you get to upload on a community type site. My first album is Nature. It includes critters and landscapes. Since I've just joined myself, I don't have favourites yet.

If you decide to join, let me know so I can check out yours.

P.S: The Jalbum is no longer available.
All photos are now on Photoshelter

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

English rose card

I often invite family and friends to visit my Virtual Garden. Busy schedules, bad weather and poor timing makes it impossible to see everything in bloom. But not everyone is connected to the web.

I use small postcards as bookmarks. One of them is 'Rosa Bifera Macrocarpa" from Botanical Blooms. It gave me the idea of creating a card version of the Wenlock English Rose on my site. On the front is a photo of the rose, and on the back is a trimmed down version of the details part.

The cards can also be used as reference with enough white space left over for notes. Now when I offer a book as a gift, I can slip one of these inside with a personal note to the recipient.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Wenlock English Rose

English Roses

I pride myself for nailing shots in camera, most of the time.
For the Wenlock (See photo) I tried early morning, cloudy days, just before sunset.
None of them turned out exactly like I wanted.
If you check the photo of this rose in the Botanica roses you can see that this rose presents a challenge.
The colour either glows or is too dark.
The photo used on the David Austin Roses site is a bit too dark and doesn't bring out the shade's subtle changes.

Fortunately,this rose blooms often throughout the season.
This gave me a chance to try different methods.
But even this shot wasn't quite right.
I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 7for editing and with the photo filters, I was able to reduce the glow.
But you need to see it up close to appreciate the colour.

Too bad I can't enter this photo in the David Austin's US Garden Rose competition Its not open to residents living north of the border.

If you want to add this lovely rose to your own collection they can be ordered online from Hortico
You can check out their Shipping cost and detailpage to find out if they ship to your area.

The English Roses: Classic Favorites and New Selections

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Life Goals Poster

Zazzle Store

Going over some of my previous designs on Zazzle (now closed) I realized it was time to make a few changes.
The photo I used for the Life Goals poster was way too dark.
I still have the same pelargonium and yesterday I took a few shots outdoors.
Nothing beats natural light. Plus I had the benefit of having autumn colours for the background.
The results are much better.

Selling Online 2.0: Migrating from eBay to Amazon, craigslist, and Your Own E-Commerce Website

 P.S: The Zazzle store is now closed.