Pretty Pictures - The Set

So, I found the rest of the set from my post Pretty Flowers, and here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Blogger's picture uploader and the interface for putting pictures in here FAILS. Let's see if this looks as bad as it is.

EDIT: Yep, that's pretty bad.
EDIT: Ok, they're fixed. Apparently dragging one pixel too far sends them flying across the screen....
EDIT: Why do they look so bad again???????? I quit...I'll fix it later.
EDIT: They're fixed now.......

Here's the rest of the set, in my picasa album

Enjoy!

Even More Flowers

This post contains more flowers, so let's get right to it.

I took this picture in early June of this year, with my Fujifilm Finepix S2800HD. Super-macro mode of course; that camera is amazing at super-macro.

They look like they're miniature satellites.....All turned towards the sun to collect as much energy as they can before nightfall. Seriously, one of the things that always amazes me about plants is how they can move to collect sunlight. They're pretty impressive.

Anyways, once again with this picture I've upped the Contrast and played with the color a little bit, you can check out the original here.

Always Winter

This next photo is one of my favorites....so much so that I actually printed it out, and it stayed on my desk for a few months. This is an icicle hanging from my roof, clearly with the sunrise behind it.

I believe I took this picture in early January of this year....

So, I've discovered lots of different effects and adjustments in the course of my experimenting with photography. I think the most effective one that I've used (in my opinion) is just simple Contrast. I increased the contrast a little before uploading this picture, and I think I've greatly improved it.... What do you think? Is it too extreme? Does lots of contrast make artsy photos? In this particular situation I'm going to defend my case by saying that the extra contrast brings out both the color in the sky, and the depth in the icicles. The original is the one I had printed out on my desk, and I loved the picture that way, but now I really like the added contrast.

Below are three versions of the picture, the original, the post, and the one I thought I wanted to post, but changed my mind because the colors were too extreme.

Extreme

Original

Medium

The difference is much more subtle when they're lined up next to each other....whatever, you get the point.

Addressing some of the comments I've received, I use both a GFM 10MP digital point-and-shoot camera and a Fujifilm Finepix S2800HD (14MP, also a point and shoot). Now of course I would love to have a DSLR someday, but I think that you can make some great art with just a point-and-shoot. I've discovered that my previous background in the fine arts--in particular having a good eye for composition--is way more important than having fancy equipment.

In conclusion,
Good photography = aesthetically pleasing subject + good composition + lots of extra contrast?