These are BEAUTIFUL! A friend of mine sent me the link because she knows I love to paint flowers. Would you grant me permission to use your gold marigold on blue background as a reference photo for an oil painting? I look forward to hearing back from you.
threadmonitor
· 5 months ago
Questions specifically for John should be sent to:
John, great use of space. I'm thinking a dwarf lemon or lime, but I'm not sure how that would work in DC. Close to the wall and cut short in the winter, it might work. The pictures are lovely.
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
The problem with lemon, at least, since I had one, is that they need sun in the winter. I have no sun inside my place in the winter - well, an hour a day in the deepest of winter. The rest of the year, is pretty good. And the balcony gets loads. But I don't think lemons can winter outside here, certainly as container plants. I have been looking into other citrus, but again, I'd need a good size planters to help them not freeze (the roots). My bro drew up some plans so I'm going to get some wood and try to build some. It will either be very cool, or a total disaster - me hammering things.
burro
· 5 months ago
Nice shots John. The most ordinary flowers become pretty amazing when you get up close. The color combination's and the way they transition from one color to another is hard to appreciate until you zoom in on them.
The first marigold really pops out with that blue tinted background. It would look good as an enlargement. You might need more MP's to start with though to go that big. Good luck on figuring it out.
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
Yeah I think the first one might be fun to try. I may try printing it at costco first, it's only ten bucks - then if it looks good, go to a higher priced printer for real prints (only 20 or 30 bucks, but still, would rather not "test" at that price per print).
Susan Harris
· 5 months ago
Very cool that you could make marigolds look so awesome! I'm a Takoma Park garden writer and coach - http://www.sustainable-gardening.com/coach/ - and would happily give you a free coaching session (not that it looks like you need one) in order to meet you and pick your brain. About what? About how to advance www.greenthegrounds.org - a national media campaign encouraging the White House and all governors to use sustainable landscaping on the grounds of their residences. I mean good Lord, veg gardens are great but how about getting those lawns off drugs? Stop killing the Bay. Update the design, for crissakes. Etc.
houstonray
· 5 months ago
Love the 'green the grounds' campaign...very cool idea!
shak
· 5 months ago
Nice pplants. Why not take up growing your own veggies and herbs?
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
I do have herbs, just didn't show them. Veggies, I'm not too sure about - other than tomatoes, have them growing too. Not sure what else I can grow, veggie wise, that wont' take up too much room.
f
· 5 months ago
IMHO, megapixels aren't as important as overall picture quality. I've printed 3MP photos on 11x14 paper with great success. I sell my photos at local craft shows, and my best-seller is one I took with my 6MP Pentax. Give it a try and see what happens. Besides, with a picture that large, you're probably going to be looking at it from across the room, not close enough to see every pixel.
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
Yeah, I thought about the distance question. That would work for my living room. But the main pics were going to go up in the hallways when you walk in - the three frames I bought - thus people will be close to them. Interesting that 3meg photos blew up well to 11 x 14. Of course, I'm looking at 19 x 27 :-)
Jim
· 5 months ago
Great Pics John. Go to kenrockwell.com if you want to learn anything about photography in a practical and simple manner. He says, and explains why pixels don't matter and claims regularly that you can do up to 20X30 with 6 megapixels no sweat because of the way processing is done by interpolation. He also says sharpness doesn't always matter, which I would concur is the case with your striking pictures. Composition, and color make the difference. He shoots with everything, but primarily Nikon, and mostly with the D40 which is 6 megapixels.
Thanks for your pics, I really enjoy them. You have a great eye. The marigold is absolutely gorgeous IMHO.
Jim
· 5 months ago
Ps- Rockwell does most of his day to day printing at Costco. Check out his site, it will blow you away with info. He's an engineer, but a pro photographer too.
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
Yeah I've been there before, I'll check it out again - actually started to last night. I am going to try costco for the 20 x 30 print they offer for ten bucks, and see how it is. I found one online for $30 and they do a real photo print, photo paper, developed in chemcials etc - I want to compare the quality, once I decide on a pic
cowboyneok
· 5 months ago
Gorgeous!
tlsintx
· 5 months ago
green thumb-o-rama! beautiful!
Õ¿Õ
· 5 months ago
It's gorgeous but needs more height that's why I love the large containers I have. Plus you don't have to water very much with the tray underneath but they're heavy. Stick a palm tree or two out there. My majesty palm finally looks like it's going to do something. (That's the most goddamn tempermental palf there is but I love them.) My patio garden is a jungle now but I don't care. Little lizards during the day and geikos I put out there at night can do whatever. Large containers and you can recycle your organics from the kitchen. I had some old potatoes that I threw in one and they're being broken down by the earthworms right now. I know alot of people don't like that idea but I think it's really nice, natural and funny as hell.
Õ¿Õ
· 5 months ago
There's this female green/brown chameleon lizard out there that's been out there for the past 3 years I've seen her. I don't know where she goes during the winter to hibernate but she's back. That's her area and she rules the roost. I saw her sleeping on one of the palm fronds the other morning being green.
crackbaby
· 5 months ago
Nice Pics. Flowers are wild. As a reader of Americablog since nearly its inception (conception?), I've been enjoying John's images.
As someone who has been suing the Bush Administration to protect a variety of plants and animals in northern Wisconsin's Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest, I enjoy the pics and conservation orientation of this site. Keep up the great work.
CB
houstonray
· 5 months ago
Thanks for sharing the pics John, very pretty. I love gardening and always enjoy when others share their handiwork. Great job!!! Share anytime!!
PeteWa
· 5 months ago
the photo of the (first) marigold is incredible... almost alien looking.
Kevin(NYC)
· 5 months ago
typical John posting pictures of sex organs on his blog....
Pretty garden. The flowers look so lush. The petunias will no doubt attract hummingbirds. But then again, maybe they're too low for the hummingbirds.
They're absolutely fascinating to watch AND to listen to the hum of their fast flapping wings.
Truly amazing how they can fly forward and backward, up and down, , even upside down, or just hover in one spot.
Anyway, the garden looks great.
pjkool
· 5 months ago
Love your flowers. I love to take pics of flowers too. My partner and I have two homes and I am trying to manage 2 gardens 1100 miles apart. It is quite a challange but it usually works out ok. I love marigolds, they are nice and bright and help keep bugs out of the veggies.
Liberpassion
· 5 months ago
Beautiful, John! The flowers must look lovely from inside the windows. I love the sweet purple Daisy with the trippy green background...But my favorite is the dramatic purple Iris and the interesting green background. These would make gorgeous Note Cards wrapped with a ribbon as a gift...and you could easily sell them! I very much enjoy 'John's Photos' corner.
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
that's a good idea, I haven't updated my cafepress shop in a long time, I will, thanks for the idea
Liberpassion
· 5 months ago
John, You should 'sign and date' the Note-Cards...making them even more valuable and giving them 'Provenance'! (Coming from a SanFrancisco antique dealer)
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
LOL then I'd have to ship them out personally from my apartment, but I could, if you really think folks would want them. What would one charge for such a thing? For packs of 6, 10, or 20 say?
rmthunter
· 5 months ago
Clematis should have no problem in DC -- they survive Chicago winters just fine. I suspect the roses will have more trouble with heat than cold there, but maybe not.
That first marigold pic is a knockout. You give good visuals.
Indigo
· 5 months ago
The flowers are lovely. Come up to speed with the White House and add a veggies section, maybe a tomato plant or two, some crawling viney squash things, a nice bell pepper plant or two along with a flower box of carrots and call it your Condo Victory Garden.
John Aravosis
· 5 months ago
I do have a tomato, it's in the back left of the photo, and an herb garden. But that's about it. Wanted to try sweet peppers, yellow and red, but the ones from my Harris Teeter were not tasty - was going to harvest the seeds
Indigo
· 5 months ago
Way to go, you! Don't hide them, show 'em off!
Stanley_Krute
· 5 months ago
Hi John
I love your photos. You've got a great eye.
RE large prints: I've used an HP DJ-130 large format printer for the past 3 years. It prints 24" by whatever long. My typical prints are 22"x28". Back in 2006, they were made from a 6MP Nikon D70. These days, they're made from a 12MP D700.
The DJ-130 has limitations, mainly that it's best suited for printing on one kind of paper: HP's lovely gloss satin. For me, that's not a limitation, but for folks who want to print on canvas or art papers a more expensive printer is needed. The DJ-130 has a low initial cost ($1300) and low cost per square foot (approx. $2/sq. ft. for that HP gloss satin paper plus ink).
Despite what Ken Rockwell says -- he's good, but best taken w/ a few grains of salt and an understanding of what sorts of photography he does -- for large prints more megapixels ARE useful. More important, however, are clean pixels and tack-sharp in-focus images. Looks like you've got those two parts covered.
I don't do any resolution changes in Photoshop. I save out a properly-cropped-for-aspect-ratio level-12 [pixel-perfect] JPG in sRGB color space from Photoshop, at the image's original resolution, and then use Qimage for printing. Qimage handles all aspects of printing beautifully, esp. up-rezzing as needed for large prints.
If you'd like a sample print of one of your images done up on a DJ-130, drop me a private email and we can arrange that. No charge, just a small thank-you for the excellence of AmericaBlog.
-- stan krute
UKmum
· 5 months ago
You have great bokeh going on there John. I am really enamoured of the purple daisy with the raindrops
HelenRainier
· 5 months ago
Orchids! Where are the orchids? I just realized we haven't had any orchid blogging for quite some time. Have I missed something?
Pansies -- how about pansies? My grandmother always had lots and lots of pansies -- they always have such pretty, smiling faces! You need pansies!
petra glyph
· 5 months ago
Beautiful!
Laura
· 5 months ago
I love your images and your daily postings are a highlight of my day (wish they had locations so I would know where you were when you took them...).
In my former life, as a professional photographer, I solved the "not enough pixals to print large art images" problem by altering the images slightly with the watercolor effect in Photoshop. If you are not happy with your test prints, you might try this. It worked for me and my clients snapped them up. Have FUN!
Laura
· 5 months ago
DUH...I just was talking to my hubby and put the mouse over your print! Why had I not seen the caption before? HA, that's what happens when you get old.
Stephen - DE
· 5 months ago
I live in DE and grow clematis. DO NOT cut them down in the fall. they are a woody plant and like to expand. They may look dead but leave them alone.
All Comments
americablog@starpower.net
Close to the wall and cut short in the winter, it might work.
The pictures are lovely.
The first marigold really pops out with that blue tinted background. It would look good as an enlargement. You might need more MP's to start with though to go that big. Good luck on figuring it out.
Thanks for your pics, I really enjoy them. You have a great eye. The marigold is absolutely gorgeous IMHO.
beautiful!
As someone who has been suing the Bush Administration to protect a variety of plants and animals in northern Wisconsin's Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest, I enjoy the pics and conservation orientation of this site. Keep up the great work.
CB
;-()
here's mine: 30'x60'+/-
http://picasaweb.google.com/dmghobby/Garden?fea...
The petunias will no doubt attract hummingbirds.
But then again, maybe they're too low for the hummingbirds.
They're absolutely fascinating to watch AND to listen to the hum of their fast flapping wings.
Truly amazing how they can fly forward and backward, up and down, , even upside down, or just hover in one spot.
Anyway, the garden looks great.
The flowers must look lovely from inside the windows.
I love the sweet purple Daisy with the trippy green background...But my favorite is the dramatic purple Iris and the interesting green background.
These would make gorgeous Note Cards wrapped with a ribbon as a gift...and you could easily sell them!
I very much enjoy 'John's Photos' corner.
(Coming from a SanFrancisco antique dealer)
That first marigold pic is a knockout. You give good visuals.
I love your photos. You've got a great eye.
RE large prints: I've used an HP DJ-130 large format printer for the past 3 years. It prints 24" by whatever long. My typical prints are 22"x28". Back in 2006, they were made from a 6MP Nikon D70. These days, they're made from a 12MP D700.
The DJ-130 has limitations, mainly that it's best suited for printing on one kind of paper: HP's lovely gloss satin. For me, that's not a limitation, but for folks who want to print on canvas or art papers a more expensive printer is needed. The DJ-130 has a low initial cost ($1300) and low cost per square foot (approx. $2/sq. ft. for that HP gloss satin paper plus ink).
Despite what Ken Rockwell says -- he's good, but best taken w/ a few grains of salt and an understanding of what sorts of photography he does -- for large prints more megapixels ARE useful. More important, however, are clean pixels and tack-sharp in-focus images. Looks like you've got those two parts covered.
I don't do any resolution changes in Photoshop. I save out a properly-cropped-for-aspect-ratio level-12 [pixel-perfect] JPG in sRGB color space from Photoshop, at the image's original resolution, and then use Qimage for printing. Qimage handles all aspects of printing beautifully, esp. up-rezzing as needed for large prints.
If you'd like a sample print of one of your images done up on a DJ-130, drop me a private email and we can arrange that. No charge, just a small thank-you for the excellence of AmericaBlog.
-- stan krute
Pansies -- how about pansies? My grandmother always had lots and lots of pansies -- they always have such pretty, smiling faces! You need pansies!
In my former life, as a professional photographer, I solved the "not enough pixals to print large art images" problem by altering the images slightly with the watercolor effect in Photoshop. If you are not happy with your test prints, you might try this. It worked for me and my clients snapped them up. Have FUN!