The drooping branches of my favorite Maytens tree often provide beautiful bokeh backgrounds for photos taken in our backyard. Today, I decided to use them as the foreground to go along with the theme for my ODC Flickr group- Starts with B.
So- now presenting Black and White Branches with Bokeh!
I’m having some issues with the slideshow with this new WordPress theme. It automatically takes the photos from the posts on this page and inserts them into a slideshow at the top. Cool! But. . . some of them it changes. I can’t figure out how or why it is doing that. It seems to have something to do with whether they have been cropped or had a black and white conversion. This photo has been cropped to a square AND had a sepia treatment AND a black and white conversion on top of that (all in Aperture 3) AND then a Photoshop tweak and watermarking- so heaven help me. . .
This display of gourds outside Trader Joe’s today reminded me that Fall is here- Happy First Day of Fall, everyone!
Project 365 2011 is 100 Days away from completion! I am feeling such a sense of satisfaction from having honored my commitment to take a photo every day and post it, while improving my camera skills! I’m celebrating Day 265 by changing the look of my blog (or not. . .). I’m experimenting with WordPress themes, so not all my links are showing up. Bear with me as I play with this!
Today I am using the topic from Our Daily Challenge on Flickr- From Ground Level. I took a beach towel and lay on our lower patio, aiming the lens one of the leaves that is starting to litter our grass. Definitely a bug’s eye view!
My constant backyard visitor. . .
Yes, I know I have photographed these webs before- but our yard is SHROUDED with them, and the spiders are HUGE! I feel like I am in a science fiction movie.
Today is Texture Tuesday, so I added one layer of Kim’s tattered texture using the color burn mode. This was the first time I had used color burn, which I thought did a nice job of adding some interest in the non-bokeh part of the photo (I masked off some of the texture in the rest of the image).
I spotted this yesterday in the bushes by our driveway. I think it’s supposed to be a sign- good things to come? an angel nearby? Anyway, it made me smile, so here is my macro shot for today-
f/3.8, 1/200, ISO200, 85mm
I seem to have a yard full of spiders- there are webs and BIG spiders everywhere! I was very glad to spot this little guy, who was eyeing me as I was eyeing him! FYI, WordPress thinks eyeing is misspelled- but dictionary.com says eying and eyeing are both correct. Just so you know. . .
f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 200, 85mm
Out all day- and thank goodness there were roses!
I found this rather large spider working hard in my garden this morning (with two more nearby!). I didn’t really get the shot I wanted (a closeup of a spider spinning a web- all in focus). When I increased the depth of field (closing down the aperture) on later shots, she was moving too fast for the slower shutter speed required. So, I settled for the shallow depth of field. BTW, this photo was not cropped, other than making it square (yes, I was THAT CLOSE!).
Big news in my Flickr world: yesterday’s photo of the day was “Explored”! Not really sure what it means, but I know it’s good. . .
Most of the photo blogs I look at are documenting signs of the approach of autumn, so I decided to look around for some in my garden. We have a moderate climate here, so the color display here is just beginning. I had to look closely- and, in among the greenery, here is what I found!
f/3.8, 1/2000, ISO 200, 85mm
When my husband invited me to accompany him on an insurance claim in San Francisco today, I jumped at the chance to photograph something other than my backyard and family heirlooms! Unfortunately, it was a foggy day ALL day, so my plans for a gorgeous Golden Gate Bridge shot went out the window. You could see a bridge was there, but you couldn’t easily recognize as the Golden Gate.
But, with the magic of HDR, I managed to create this shot- and, I assure you, it IS the Golden Gate!
My ODC Flickr group’s latest challenge is “with a flower on it.” My first thought was dishes. My Blue Ridge and my china definitely are flower decorated- but I have photographed them for this blog several times. So I wandered out on the deck this morning to see if there were any flowers left that I actually have not featured on this blog.
I think I found one. One exactly! The last geranium on the plant, alas.
Because it is Texture Tuesday (and because I like it this way), I added 2 texture layers (Kim’s bent edges and canvasback). I played around with the image for awhile and decided to change the whole thing to a black and white. I’m not sure if that is supposed to work well with textures, but I like the effect.
I think I will be photographing dead leaves next. . .
Macro Monday plus the Flickr group ODC’s topic seven= today’s photo. I used seven beads from a craft project that I’m working on and called it DONE! 🙂
f/22, 1/80, ISO 800 85mm- and used my FLASH (!)
9.11.01- 9.11.11
melinda anderson photography 