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Wednesday, 27 May 2026

May 27, 2026 - Grabbag of photos.

 

A simple collage consisting of photographs of flowers I had taken over the years, crocuses, daffodils and roses to name but a few. This post is dynamic photos will be added to it as the summer season begins. Full-size copies of the photos are also available in this post.

It is Wednesday and I have the day off. I promised myself that after lunch I am heading out, just to see what I can see and find what I can find. So the following is going to be the result of that :-) . Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

This post will literally lengthen over the course of this week. For now however at 8:09 AM this Wednsday morning I think I will start off with a few older photographs that for no particular reason I like and I hope you will enjoy as well.

Clicking on any photo will download a full high resolution version. 

This image features a vibrant spring garden bed containing purple crocuses and yellow daffodils.

Spring purple crocuses and yellow daffodils. (2002)

This photo was taken on March 23, 2002 as I was passing by someone's yard and the way the light struck the flowers just caught my eye. 
 
Japanese Pieris (Pieris japonica) (2002)
Download version enlarged to 6480 x 4320 pixels. PNG file

I remember, it was it down for in Vancouver and I still had to take the time to catch this photo. My Home St., West seventh in Vancouver. I don't remember much else but I remember this photo clearly.☔


Japanese Horse Chestnut tree (2026)
Download version enlarged to 5472 x 3648 pixels. PNG file 

Somehow, with the lamppost at the side of the image this chestnut tree looked even taller. I'm always amazed by how the ordinary things you see every day and look extraordinary if you just look at them the correct way. One of my goals this year is to take a lot more photographs of the things around us. People are always looking for the extraordinary things in life, the dramatic, the outrageous, but what I find interesting are those things that their only here for a short time. Then mother nature changes things up.

These are vibrant red roses, potentially a variety like 'Dublin Bay' or 'Canadian Shield', flourishing in a garden.In the background, very softly focused, large powerline towers can be seen. I thought this juxtaposition of nature and modern industry really made the roses stand out.
Elegant Roses (2026)
Download full size version 5472 x 3648 pixels. PNG file

 As usual, I caught sight of these roses completely by accident while wandering by a neighbourhood garden. Not only are the flowers spectacular, the juxtaposition of the powerline towers in the background really caught my eye. Just goes to show that in the middle of our technological world you can still find mother nature showing off her best.

A field full of beautiful buttercup flowers on a summers day. In the background you can see large healthy green trees against a beautiful blue sky with a wisp of cloud. The flowers are beautiful shining yellow which seemingly go on forever.
A field full of buttercups! (2026)
Download full size version 5472 x 3648 pixels. PNG file

This picture was taken today out in Surrey. Something about it just screams a joyful summer. What more could you want a field full of buttercup flowers and beautiful trees in the background?😎

 

The scene features a vibrant mixture of wildflowers in front of a wooden fence:The prominent small yellow flowers are likely meadow buttercups (Ranunculus acris) or a similar Ranunculus species.The taller, purple flowers resemble Dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis).The overall composition consists of a dense wildflower meadow that supports biodiversity by attracting insects like bees and butterflies.
Vibrant mixture of wildflowers. (2026)
Download full size version 5472 x 3648 pixels. PNG file

 This is just the tiniest patch of wildflowers. I couldn't think of a way to describe it, so I ran it through AI and the AI thought it was an entire field complete with butterflies. That gave me an idea, this would be perfect if one could make all wall sized mural or even wallpaper, if the colours could be preserved. How a picture is framed really does affect one's perception. If I had moved half a meter in either direction the scene would've been broken. More pictures will be added to this post over the coming weekend, "so stay tuned" as people used to say.

A rhododendron bush just blooming in mid spring. The large deep green leaves provide a beautiful contrast to the vivid flower which runs the gamut between deep red and point. On the same plant other younger blooms are just beginning to unfold. Close in the background is a wooden fence which further provides a marvellous contrast. The wood on the fence is slightly weathered, the original paint has faded somewhat into a neutral colour.
Rhododendrons on the patio. (2026)
Download full size version 5472 x 3648 pixels. PNG file

One of the first rhododendrons to bloom on the patio. What a marvellous way to start the spring and summer seasons. The colours are so vivid, and yet so subtle. This is one of those photos where the standard JPG or 8 bit-colour PNG file format really can't do the image justice. You need a 16-bit format and a good monitor. However I have done my contest to bring out the colours for you.

The image shows a vibrant cluster of blooming Hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla), also commonly known as bigleaf hydrangeas or French hydrangeas?? Key Visual FeaturesThe Flowers - The plant features large, rounded flower heads composed of four-petaled sepals. They display a striking, rich gradient transition from bright magenta-pink on the edges to deep violet-blue in the centers.The Foliage - The flowers are framed by large, broad, dark green leaves with distinctly serrated (toothed) edges.The Lighting - The scene is captured in natural daylight, with strong sunlight casting distinct shadows across the lower leaves, creating a high-contrast, textured look.
Hydrangeas (2023)
Download full size version 5472 x 3648 pixels. PNG file


 Can't tell you where I was when I took this photo. Nevertheless it is one of my favourites. Something about the shadows and the vivid colours with the deep green leaves really resonates with me.

Two brilliant red tulips in a yard. The grass is slightly wild and unkempt. The background appears to be a hedge of various greenery. The image is slightly darkened as though the photo was taken on a rainy day making the tulips stand out in contrast to the rest of the image
Tulips (2022)
Download full size version 5472 x 3648 pixels. PNG file
 

Okay, this picture drives me crazy, the shades of colour in the original photograph simply cannot be rendered accurately by the.jpg file format, and since my supper only outputs the PNG image using the same colour limitation I'm going to try something. Click this link to download the image in a TIFF file which does retain all the original colours. Be aware however that this file is much larger about 125 MB. If enough people request it I will start providing full download images in this file format.

NB:If you do try to download the large Tiff image of the tulips you may receive an error that the Google viewer cannot properly display the image and another error when you try to download it. Both of these errors are due to the size of the file but will not stop you from downloading the photo.
 

 

 A little bit of background on most of the new photos (2026) on this post. These images were created from what is called a "raw file format" which means that the camera does not do any post processing what you see is what you get. But this also means that the colour range is much higher than can be displayed on a normal monitor or standard PNG file. However even with this limitation, I find the images to look richer. One other side effect of this format is that sometimes visual distortion may appear because the camera does not correct for the limitations of the built in the lens and I have done my best to correct for this see the picture below for an uncorrected example. I think I have it very close but not perfect.

Most of the photos on this post are generated from the raw camera image. This means that there are more colours and better detail in the resulting PNG photo. However this introduces distortion which must be corrected for. This is an example of the image before correction occurs. The image has noticeable parabolic distortion with black vignetting on all four sides. Normally, all distortion is removed by the camera automatically. Doing this by hand however ultimately result in a better image.
.Example of an uncorrected raw photo.

 The above the image is not the same photo. It does however illustrate the extreme distortion that modern cameras correct for automatically. However, it contains over 17 million colours. Compared to the normal 1.6 million colours found in a JPG phot or some PNG files. Doing the correction by hand rather than letting the camera do all the work frequently results in a much better photo when converting to PNG. Now you know how the small lens in that compact camera can get the photos it does… It's not the lens it's the camera performing some magic for you behind the scenes. 

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Location: Surrey, BC, Canada
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