. . . is a rose is a rose.
Day 207- Water Lilies
A visit to the Ruth Bancroft Cactus Garden today provided me with a zillion photo ops. I posted many of my favorite cactus photos to Flickr so that my grandson (a big fan of cacti) could see them. I like the abstract quality of some of the cactus images, but I am much more a fan of lily pads than cactus. My favorite photo today was of the lily pond in a shady nook of the garden.
f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 400, 200mm
Day 206- Soft Pink
Macro Monday again!
Today’s photo was taken using my tripod- and a display board (given to me by my photoblogging friend, Carol) with white paper on it as a backdrop. I felt like I was impersonating a professional photographer!
f/7.1, 1/160, ISO 3200, 85mm
Even in front of a window, I couldn’t get enough light at the aperture setting I used for my desired depth of field without using a high ISO. Eventually I realized that I could lower my shutter speed (hello- tripod!), so later photos were taken at a lower ISO. But this ended up being my favorite.
Day 205- Looking down
Waiting outside at Broadway Plaza today while my husband picked up some Art of Shaving items, I searched for something to photograph. We were there in the heat of the afternoon, so my eye was drawn to the cool water of a nearby fountain. I took several shots and liked this one which shows the patterned base contrasting with the dark water.
f/9, 1/400, ISO 500, 44mm
Day 204- Still Green in July
When we got this tomato plant, we were told that it was an early variety and that we would have tomatoes in May. We just ate our first red tomato last week, but the rest are still green.
f/5.6, 1/160, ISO 250, 200mm
Day 203- Diagonal
Yesterday I took 171 photos; today I took 3. It’s called balance. . .
Since I’m still editing (and deleting many of) my Carmel photos, I haven’t been too inspired today- so here are some early morning shadows on my deck. I think they make an interesting composition.
Day 202- Garden Gate
Carmel! My husband had to go to Carmel for an appointment this afternoon, so I tagged along to take photos (171. . .). Carmel is beautiful and picturesque to say the least! I have dozens of shots of beautiful flowers, windows, and walkways, but the image that seemed the strongest to me today was this simple closeup of the top of a garden gate. I can’t really defend this choice other than- I just like it!
Day 201 Dragonfly
My friend and photography buddy, Carol, came to town today for lunch and a photo shoot. We decided to go to the park to try and see the bald eagle and ospreys, but didn’t take into account the ninety plus degree temperatures. After walking the mile or so to the lake, we discovered the raptors were smarter than we were and were sheltering themselves from the heat. We did find a sweet robin and her babies to photograph, as well as this dragonfly (which seemed to be the only thing flying around today).
f/13, 1/400, ISO 640, 300 mm
Day 200- Desaturated
It is Texture Tuesday again! I knew I wanted to do flowers again- but our flowers are fading fast, and I didn’t have the time or inclination to go out looking today. I ended up shooting our much photographed Gerbera Daisy and desaturating it in Aperture. I was going for a faded yellow tone, but ended up desaturating it more in Photoshop, because I didn’t like the green background. Eventually I went for a sepia processing before I added my textures. The assignment today was to use Kim’s aurora texture (the one with the script), and I also added golden and february magic edges.
Day 199- Peachy Keen
As I scooped fruit into the VitaMix this morning, I noticed the ice crystals on the frozen peaches and thought- Macro Monday!
f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 2500, 85mm
Day 198- Osprey
When we were at Yellowstone, one of my photography goals was to photograph a bald eagle. I have a very tiny image of one I took last year with my kit lens, so this year I took my longest lens hoping for a good shot- but no luck. I found out recently that a bald eagle has been spotted hanging out at a small lake a mile or two from us, so today we took a walk, hoping to see him.
Almost immediately we saw a red-tailed hawk circling a field- and then three osprey, as we neared the lake. A fellow photographer (a Canon shooter) pointed out the tree where he had seen the bald eagle earlier in the day- and said he had photographed the eagle trying unsuccessfully to steal a fish away from one of the osprey.
Long story short- no bald eagle was seen- which calls for a return trip! I did get many shots of the osprey flying overhead.
f/7.1, 1/800, ISO 200, 300mm
Day 197- Community Garden
We were out and about early today- heading over to Starbucks after saying good-bye to Matt. A drive by the Community Garden yielded this shot of a basket of petunias in among the veggies.
f/4.5, 1/125, ISO 640, 170mm
Day 196- Cute!
I’m deep into a novel, so sat outside reading this morning with my coffee- and, of course, my camera. I was rewarded by the presence of this cute little guy, who sat on the retaining wall for the longest time- beak open, as if wishing mama would come back with a worm for him.
f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 640, 300mm
Day 195- Golden Boy
I am a little obsessed with the golden hour (right before sunset)- and especially with the backlighting available on our deck in the very early part of the golden hour. We get some great tree bokeh, so it is fast becoming my favorite place for family photos (well, at least in summer). Tonight we celebrated our son’s birthday a week early before he heads out of town, so here is his golden hour photo. Happy Birthday, Matt!
f/7.1, 1/125, ISO 640, 95mm
Day 194- Magnolia
When we had our trees trimmed this summer, they did an EXTREME trim of the branches of the magnolia tree by our deck- too extreme! When you look at it straight on, all you see is trunk. With my 300mm lens, I was able to capture a magnolia blossom today- about 30-40 feet up! I liked it as a black and white conversion and added a pink overlay for fun (yes, I’m still playing with Photoshop- but could have done it in Aperture too).
f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 320, 300mm
melinda anderson photography 