Stop and smell the roses?

OK, I know these aren’t roses, I’m not that botanically challenged.  I don’t know what they are really called, I just know they are pretty.  Driving home late tonight I rediscovered the need to slow down and enjoy the beautiful scenery that may be right in front of you.  As I drove up the road, this is what I initially saw.

Pretty, but nothing to stop the car for at my initial glance

As I drove a little past this, the light direction totally changed and there was BEAUTIFUL orange/red late evening light striking the plant.  I stopped the car and backed up to see what I might find.  As luck would have it my friend Will Crockett sent me a little point and shoot camera to play with and it arrived today.  Proving the best camera is the one you have with you!  These were all taken with a Panasonic SZ1 camera, really very affordable and it’s biggest plus is the Carl Zeiss lens it looks through!  What difference does a lens make?  Take a look at some of these hand held close ups, just check out the detail.

If I had driven just 3 minutes to my home, grabbed my “real”  camera and then 3 minutes back, the “magic light” would have been totally gone.  These files are large and sharp enough to do some nice size prints, so I haven’t given anything up at all.  The uncropped file is 6.5 MB, from a point and shoot.  But wait, there are a few more I want to show you.

Shooting right into the sun? Yes sir, and look how well it held up!

One parting shot, no post processing magic, just cropped to look the way I saw it.

I think that this could be a very pretty shot with a little help from Photoshop.  Eliminate the road and make that left side green, fix the sky…it just might work.  Pretty simple fix even for a PS challenged guy like me.  I do know for sure that with Nik filters, even I can make them look great!