Palm Trees In the Sun
Palm trees reach up to the sun under a blue sky in Kissimmee, Florida.
Whenever we go to Florida, I always take photos of palm trees. Everyone has those things that they do. Some people always stop at the Florida Welcome Center. Some people always go to the Magic Kingdom on their first day. Some people always wear matching shirts each day of their trip. I always take palm tree photos. That’s probably not the only “always” thing I do, but let’s not bring up all my peculiar habits at one time, okay?
I can’t tell you exactly what my fascination with palm trees is, except that we don’t have them where I am from. There are a few here and there, but those are mostly indoors. Or if they are outdoors, they get taken indoors in the wintertime. Which can be a pretty big chore, I would think. One tropical-style restaurant around here used to have real palm trees out front. They would pay someone to dig them up and move them in the winter and then to move them back in the spring. And now, they have artificial palm trees instead of the real ones. I guess moving the real ones got to be too much of an expense. So yes, we have (almost) no palm trees here.
But the other reason I enjoy palm trees is that they remind me I am in Florida. Which somewhat goes along with the previous reason, but to me it is different. And yes, I know they have palm trees in other places, too. And yes, I usually take photos of palm trees in those other places, too. Castaway Cay, Bangkok, and Jamaica immediately come to mind. But since I most often see them in Florida, that is what I think of. If anyone wants to send me to Hawaii on a “science experiment” to see if palm trees eventually make me think of Hawaii instead of Florida, I’m all for it.
Anyway, since I always take palm tree photos, I thought I would try a slightly different angle here. The camera was pretty much resting on the tree itself, and the fisheye lens makes the tree look like it is bending as it goes up, although it is in fact pretty straight. And I purposefully did not include the sun in the photo, although it is just outside of the frame. I did wait around until the clouds were looking nice since during much of our most recent visit the clouds were pretty thick and gray. These nice, white, fluffy clouds against the blue sky are more of what I like, too.
I will try to keep myself from sharing absolutely every palm tree photo that I took, but don’t hate me if I slip one in every now and then, okay?
The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet Him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One—the King of Israel!” - John 12:12-13
About the Photo
I already said a lot about the photo, but I can still tell you a little more. As with many of my recent photos, this one benefits from the Google Nik filters in Photoshop, bringing out some of the color and texture and helping to make the blue sky even more blue. I also used the selective color adjustment layer in Photoshop to adjust the blue even more to my liking.
And since someone will probably ask, that blue thing in the lower-left corner is one of the umbrellas by the pool at the condo where we usually stay, and the palm trees seen here are all around the pool.
Here is a before and after look at the photo, giving a look at what all was done to it:
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Date: June 5, 2016
Location: High Point World Resort, Kissimmee, Florida
