Having fun with a Zinnia

My rugged Zinnias just keep blooming in the garden. Despise the lack of water and the very dry, dog days of summer, they persist.
This morning I took my Nikon D5100 camera outside, with a 105mm macro lens, and took a few shots. Then I had some fun with them in Picasa, a free, online, photo storage program, and transformed them with special effects.

 The beautiful reality

And the taking away of some color.

or the switching of color that focuses on the magical inner world of its center.

Another lovely reality

transformed into a drawing.

And finally the same zinnia... fresh out of the camera

And then... all zoomy in black and white.

This is how I spend a few hours of my retirement each day. It's a magnificent obsession... and so much fun.