This is an orchid that my daughter bought for my wife on her birthday the beginning of August. It has been quietly blooming on the entertainment center by our front windows ever since. Occasionally I look at it and think I should photograph it. It is a thing of beauty and I should celebrate it! Yesterday I took it out to the back deck and actually did it 🙂

I could not find and did not take the time to improvise a completely dark background, and I don’t have the sophisticated lighting required for a studio style shot anyway, so I made do with the shadowed trees around the deck and my Samsung Smart Camera in Macro mode. I did do some extra processing to isolate the flower in Snapseed. Besides my usual Ambiance and Structure adjustments, I used the Center Focus filters to blur and darken the background, then finished off with a dark frame just highlighted with a thin white edge.

All in all I think it works. It is certainly a beautiful flower. Nothing I could do could obscure that, and I am hoping my efforts do help to capture and share that beauty.

And for the Sunday Thought. I am reminded by this birthday flower that my wife too is a thing of beauty, quietly blooming, and that I do not take time often enough to celebrate her. Her beauty is more a matter of character and harder to capture and to share, but that does not mean I should not make the effort. So, Carol, this orchid and my efforts are for you this morning. An orchid quietly blooming. 🙂