Is it summer already?

[AlwaysOnAuto]

We're in the middle of a winter time heat wave here in So Cal. It was 91*F at 2:30PM this afternoon in our backyard, and it's the middle of March? What's up with that?
I got the urge to shoot some flower pictures so here you go. All SOOC, no sharpening or any funny business PP. Admittedly shot in a hurry 'cuz it was sooooo hot outside, but, I wanted to share the colors with all of you still snowbound or in the throws of winter. So here goes.









All hand held using my Nex-7 w/Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5.

Comments welcome.
Hope you enjoy the colors, spring is just around the corner.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[bnnrcn]

Lovely colors and flowers Alan #1 is my fav, I not only like the colors and the flower but also like the light in that one.

[IzzieK]

Alan...#1 is so dangerously beautiful that I like to touch my screen to see if it is real..and #3 -- the stark colours of this variety is actually stunning. All good shots.

And in response to your title question -- we might have a bit of summer this coming Tuesday as it will be around the 80°F...hopefully, more.

[Marie Hass]

Lovely pictures!

Did you visit a greenhouse?

The purple ones (2 and 4) are Osteospermum (African Daisies). #3 is a Marigold. #1 is harder to identify. It could be a Non-stop Begonia? Or a Peony? Hard to identify without foliage.

Marie

[NorthernFocus]

Let's see...that's 87 degrees warmer than at my house
Nice set of photos.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

[QUOTE=Marie Hass;498670]Lovely pictures!

Did you visit a greenhouse?



No, I didn't visit a greenhouse, mine is white.

Sorry, bad pun.

These are all right in my own backyard thanks mostly to my wife.

Thank you all for the comments. I must admit that these were taken rather hastily and I was worried about the breeze causing problems, but I guess it worked out OK.

[rpcrowe]

Why and what? Hi Allan what happened to our winter? Flowers of every type are blooming all around us.

I just wondered why you would not have added some sharpening to your images and wonder what you mean by "funny business PP"

Did you shoot in RAW or JPEG?

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks for the touch of spring, beautiful flowers.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Why and what? Hi Allan what happened to our winter? Flowers of every type are blooming all around us.

I just wondered why you would not have added some sharpening to your images and wonder what you mean by "funny business PP"

Did you shoot in RAW or JPEG?

Richard
I shoot both RAW and JPEG with both my cameras, Nikon D7k and Nex-7. I don't add sharpening since I'm a real novice when it comes to that sort of thing. I like to try to get the best out of camera picture that I can. It keeps it interesting that way, at least for me. By funny business I mean all the 'other stuff' you can do with the photo software. Playing with exposure, saturation, etc etc. I'm not a pro and am really more a rank amateur when it comes to that sort of stuff. I do find it a challenge to get the best OOC image I can though.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks Barbara, our yard has looked like this for most of the winter, unfortunately. We really could use a lot more rain.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Dan, I really feel for you. 87 degrees difference is almost too much to comprehend.

[Wavelength]

They are refreshingly beautiful

[Kaye Leggett]

I love the first one especially

[Marie Hass]

Alan,

I was not going to get jealous if you told me that you visited a greenhouse. (Because I have done that).

But since you told me your wife grew these luscious flowers, I now have flower envy! She has quite the green thumb. I''ll bet your gardens are lovely.

I keep telliing myself that spring is right around the corner. After our big snow last week, we now have torrential rains.

Marie

[AlwaysOnAuto]

We could use some of those rains!

I'd post a picture of our yard, but I'm embarrassed by the state of the grass, which I'm responsible for tending. With the drought we don't water the grass so it's a little on the neglected looking side of things. We do water the flowers though and they really do add to the environment. I'm afraid with the onset of summer we'll be put on water restrictions that will cause us to curtail that watering too though.