KKH Photos Is 5 Years Old!

It was in May of 2008 that I began selling my images online; it hardly seems like 5 years have passed.

Today instead of the regular picture of the week post; I’ve got a deal for you.

I have randomly selected 5 floral photos for celebrating!
[let's hear ya say that 10 times really fast... 5 floral photos... 5 floral photos... 5 floral photos...]

These random photos are, for a limited time only, featured at KKHPhotos.com as $5.00 downloads. These personal use downloads are usually priced at $22.00.

Row Of Daisies With Reflections On White

To find these $5.00 downloads just go to KKHPhotos.com and look for “$5 Downloads!” in the menu on the left side of your screen; or follow this link.

Thank you for all your support over the past 5 years; here’s to hoping that the next 5 years will be even better!

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The images from the public galleries over at KKHPhotos.com are available as prints in a wide assortment of sizes, canvas gallery wraps, standout displays,  fotoflōts, photo greeting cards, and postage stamps. They are also available in a wide range of gift items; aluminum bookmarks, coasters, tempered glass cutting boards, keychains, magnets, mousepads, and much more! You can even do your own thing with my photos when you purchase them as digital download stock photos for personal or web use.

Let Zenfolio host your photos. Use referral code CV6-ZGB-B5M to save 10%.

Follow me!~Facebook.com/KKHPhotos ~Twitter.com/KKHPhotos ~Pinterest.com/KKHPhotos

Creating A Rainbow Daisy With PSE 5.0

Earlier this week I dug out an old photo of a yellow daisy and had a little fun with it!

I thought “I wonder what this daisy would look like if it were rainbow-colored?”.

So I colored it!

First I simply selected a few petals for each color using the lasso tool and copied them to new layers; one layer for each color.

Then I played with the hue/saturation tool on each of these layers to change the color of the petals from their original yellow to shades of red, orange, green, blue, and purple. I left the layer for the yellow petals alone; except for to remove the background from it.

I painted over the original background layer with a nice dark black to make the colors pop.

Once I was happy with the way it was looking I flattened the image. You  might want to play a bit with the blending mode of each layer for a new look but for this image it really wasn’t necessary.

I then copied the flattened image to two more layers; on the first one I added the sponge filter while on the top layer I added the water-color filter.

Now you could stop here but when have you ever known me to leave well enough alone?

I went on to play with the blending modes on these “painted” layers and then finally played with the lighting effects to finish it off.

It really did go just about that fast!

and now I have a fun new springtime image for KKHPhotos.com and I’m sure it will appear on more than a few Zazzle products as well.

What kind of fun digital art have you created lately?? Please share in the comments!

Photo Challenge – How Does Your Garden Grow? – August 2012

It has been a while since we took a look at my little container garden so I think you will be pleased to hear that several plants have survived the heat. Yes it’s a much smaller collection of containers than it was in the spring but it is still growing and some are even still blooming!

I spent some time yesterday cutting back the dead, dried up, crispy, brown bits and it looks much better today. I’ve removed a few more pots and rearranged again. I think soon I might try to pick up a few fall flowers to tuck in there.

The African Daisies went through a rough time with the heat but they seem to be holding on and even have a couple of buds. I think if they can make it just a little while longer they will come back nicely this fall.

It’s kind of funny… the new little garden mums I picked up this year have long since dried up and blown away while the old mum from 2011 has grown back nicely. I think it might just bloom before the fall is gone.

The tiny Lavender Lady, the Coreopsis, and the little Carnations have perked up some after having all the brown leaves trimmed away and getting a  nice rain the other day. They might just hang in there a while longer.

The poor Dusty Miller hasn’t grown much at all. *note to self: put dusty miller in a much bigger pot next time. The Geraniums that I thought would grow through anything are just barely hanging on and have not grown much at all. I’m thinking they might just like a larger pot next time too.

The Pentas plant is very happy in its spot near the bush. Although not blooming as much right now it is still blooming and growing nicely there in the shade.

And those Portulacas are thriving in the heat! Tons of little blooms everyday; they seem to thrive on neglect too and looked great when I got home from my last trip.

 

All in all I’d say it’s been a fairly successful little container garden this year (especially for my first real attempt at it) and Im already finding lots of great ideas for next spring! Check out my Pnterest page if you’d like to see some of the fun ideas I’ve found and am thinking about trying out there sometime.

 

52 Project 2012 ~ One

Quick and simple shot for the number one this week…

One Red Rose

Photo Challenge – How Does Your Garden Grow? – June 2012

We’re having a heat wave ~ a tropical heat wave…

Ok; so it’s not so tropical but it is a heat wave. We’ve stayed in the triple digits all week and it looks like we’ve got another week of the same heading our way. It was so  hot out the other day that I think I could hear my flowers getting crispy as I was taking these photos.

I spent a little time on my container garden this week and pulled all the containers out of the bed so I could pull the bind weed that had come up through the double layer of weed cloth and through the thick layer of gravel. Nasty stuff that bind weed.

I also removed the pots that contained the early spring flowers; long since dried up and turned brown. After the clean out I rearranged the remaining pots and have tried to keep them watered although the sun seems determined to dry them up. At least the east bed gets shade in the afternoon so maybe some of these will survive a while longer.

I have learned that the Dusty Miller needed a bigger deeper pot than what I had it in so I’ve moved that; hopefully it will do better now. If it can hang on in this heat. I also noticed that the pot of African Daisies that was elevated on the little table was doing better than the same pot that was sitting on the ground; I have moved both pots up onto the little tables.

The two Spike plants seem to be doing alright; I did have to cut back a few dried up brown leaves but mostly they are hanging in there. The little garden man is growing quit the hair do!

My little Lavender Lady is growing ever so slowly but still looking healthy; I wonder how long it will take before she blooms?

All of the plants have much fewer and much smaller blooms on them right now; I’ve been told that if they make it through the heat they will bloom brighter and larger and fuller again in the fall. I do hope so! I plan to get some of the same flowers again next summer. The one plant that I know for sure I will get again next summer is the Portulacas! Both the gold and pink ones are thriving in this heat and have the prettiest little blooms; they almost look like a tiny rose. Even the two pots that sit on the south porch with very little shade are growing like wildfire.

I hope you are all staying cool in your part of the world! And that you have a chance to stop and smell the flowers along the way.

Have a great day everyone!