So, I was looking through the manual for my Sony NEX 3NL the other day (I know, it diminishes my manliness to admit to looking at the instructions, but I am old enough not to care anymore…when I want to know something I do resort to the manuals!), when I came across the HDR Painting Mode.

What?

Yup, my new camera will automatically produce the over-the-top, over-cooked, surreal, badly done HDR effect…just set it and forget it 🙂 So of course I had to try it. I grabbed the camera and went in search of a suitable subect. It was 5 degrees outside (or something equally dire) so my search was limited to the insides of the house. I found this Poinsettia in the kitchen. I had seen it there before of course. It was there when I got back from my week in Florida, dominating the corner of the kitchen and blocking a good portion of the sliding glass door. As you might expect, it has a story. It was rescued from the Christmas church decorations when it’s time as a decoration was up, and brought home by a family we know. It outgrew their kitchen. They still have kids in the house and need the space, so my wife took it off their hands, rather than seeing it end it’s life at the local landfill. She is kind that way. And besides, our kids are now all exploring life elsewhere, and we do, presumably, have room for a giant Poinsettia in the kitchen.

So I put the camera on HDR Painting Effect and shot the Poinsettia. I tweaked the image somewhat in Snapseed, but this is basically what it looks like…over-the-top, over-cooked, surrealish paintingish. And automatic too! But it is, I think, kind of interesting for all that. I like the crazy mix of colors here (the blue milk carton really makes it), the patterns in the snow and ice left on the deck outside the window, and the texture of the faux-wood floor, and the angles of the chair. It might not work as a photograph…but as an image it maybe has something to say for itself. 🙂

Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.

I do suppose I will wake one morning to find that it has completely swallowed that corner of the kitchen…but, all things considered, I can’t consign it to an ignoble death by landfill either. 🙂

(And now we return you to your regularly scheduled program of nature photos.)