Spring Just Around the Corner

Spring is in the air, the days are getting longer, the days are warmer and the sun feels good on ones skin. All of these things tend to put one in a good mood. It is a time for some long walks in the open space around the house and I'm sharing a few pictures from those walks today.
Here are some pictures I took with my Leica D-Lux 4 a great camera to carry on my walks especially while controlling two large dogs and shooting pictures.
The first shot is of a trail leading to the Windy Hill Open Space and was processed in Adobe Photoshop cs4 and Topaz Adjust 4.

This shot was taken on a trail with lots of over hanging trees and through filtered light and was processed in Adobe Lightroom and Color Efex Pro.

This shot is of Ricki my male German Shepherd on a now dry trail but with evidence of recent damp conditions exhibited by the moss on the rocks. Processed in Adobe Lightroom and Viveza 2 to bring out the texture and vibrancy of the moss.

Shot in macro focus mode of the bee and the newly blooming flowers. Processed in Adobe Lightroom.
Yes I did get a chance to take some pictures with my Leica M-9 when we had visitors the other day. I decided to try the vintage black and white mode and here is what I came up with.

This picture has had no processing and was only cropped for use on the web. To say the least I'm extremely pleased with results. The picture has the warmth which I find very pleasing. I will be trying more black and white in the future.