Garden Walkway with Azaleas

Garden Walkway with Azaleas
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

This is a digitally modified image of a photo I took recently at Long Hill Gardens in Beverly. We sometimes go to Long Hill with the dogs, for the exercise, and the flowers. You feel peaceful there after just five minutes, no matter how hectic or difficult the rest of the day has been. It's not easy to walk dogs and take photographs at the same time, so sometimes the results are not ideal. But I liked the azaleas and blue forget-me-nots , so I took a quick picture with my new phonecam. The resulting photo had potential, but also some problems. The foreground was fine, but some of the color in the background was washed out, making it hard to see the railings. Basic adjustments didn't seem to work. So I opened the image in Painter IX and used digital pastel to restore color where it was needed. Then I did a little digital pruning of an azalea branch that was blocking the view of part of the railing. Now the image looks more peaceful, and matches the way it feels to be in this beautiful garden.