Hellebore

Another bitterly cold day. I had a very very short walk to the village shop and back for extra bird seed. Our regular sacks are empty until the delivery on Wednesday.

I was pleased to see the tiny blue irises in the rockery bravely poking their heads above the ground. Sadly a slug has spotted them too. Shouldn't slugs be frozen solid at the moment?? Then I looked for the hellebores. We have quite a few and they have gradually cross pollinated and produced different coloured flowers.

This is one of the darkest. Photoshop wants me to lighten in when I check the levels, but I want you to see the velvety darkness and richness of the colour. I also had the chance to play with using the colour picker to select the flower and process it separately from the background image. Somehow this basic skill has passed me by - each time I learn to use it, I forget soon.

Tomorrow's blip will probably a special commission, so watch this space.

PS Today's image was taken one handed with my DLSR, while the other hand held the stem to reveal the flower. Tricky focussing because I use a separate button, not the shutter release for this.

PPS In case any one did wonder about the mouldy image from the other day, it was beetroot. The other resident of the house is not very happy that I let you see what was lurking in our fridge..........!