Even after a relatively mild winter, spring-hungry people flock to the Hartford Flower Show, where they can feast their eyes on green grass, flowers, trees in leaf, and even butterflies.

Camera: iPhone 4s Processing: PhotoGene2

Geometric

At the Hartford Flower Show, there' a vendor who sells butterflies This one was resting on the glass of the display case. It has dramatic geometric patterns on its wings. The photo was taken with my little Kodak Z915. I darkened the background and brightened the butterfly a bit with Elements.

To be honest, I really liked the original photo. It's not one I would ordinarily try to "improve" with a filter. But since the theme of the blog is to see what Elements can do with photos, I had to give it a shot. I used Corey Barker's technique: duplicate the layer; then use the Glowing Edges filter, adjusting it so the edges are well defined; then hit CTRL-I to invert it; desaturate it; then uus the eraser at various levels of opacity to paint back color. I still like the original better, but this does create a certainly dreamlike look. I wanted to try to generate a shadow, but I couldn't seem to manage it, and it's getting really late--so I'll present it as it is.

Today we went to the annual Hartford Flower and Garden Show. There was a display of tropical butterflies. I loved the symmetry of color between the butterfly and the flower beneath it.