Post-processing!
Working on the pictures we took at Descanso Gardens (brief review down below) and I can’t help but 1) be incredibly happy about taking pictures again with my own camera and 2) be incredibly happy that RAW and Lightroom 3 exist. So much overdone lighting to correct, but it all manages to look almost natural (and unedited) once I’m done. I’ll probably throw a few of the favorites up once I finish working on them.
As for Descanso, it’s not bad. Price is only $8 for an adult admission or $6 for students. There were a TON of spiders. And I’m not even exaggerating when I say a ton. I’m talking hundreds to thousands. Everywhere you look, there’s a decent size web (~12” diameter or larger) with a spider sitting in the center. They weren’t large spiders, but the sheer number of them was a little off putting. There was a pretty decent selection of stuff, but I went during the wrong part of the year. I’m assuming early/mid spring would be beautiful. As it is mid/late summer, a lot of the grass was yellow or a darker, “dying” green, a lot of the flowers were having trouble looking perky and fresh from the heat, and the “lake” was quite dirty. I didn’t manage to see the entire thing (way too hot/hungry to go through the California natives section and too dry to spend time in the Oak Grove with its yellow grass). Their map is not anywhere near being accurate as far as scale goes, but you learn to deal with it. Overall, it’s a decent place to visit, but make sure you consider the weather/season when going. There are definitely times when you should go and times you shouldn’t and now falls under the latter.