I decided to use my flowers as photography subjects again today and became entranced with the curves and lines in a single rose. I moved closer and closer, eventually changing to a macro lens and getting out my tripod. I’m not sure this image says “ROSE,” but I like the color, curving lines, and composition.
f/20, 3 sec., !SO 160, 85mm
My husband likes to bring home flowers- especially now that he has discovered how reasonably priced you can find them at Trader Joe’s. When he handed me this bouquet, he told me it was for me to photograph for the blog.
I love having the decision made about what to shoot for the day almost as much as I love getting flowers!
So here we go- beautiful flowers! I decided to fill the frame, in response to the ODC group’s challenge- full.
My husband and I are spending the night in Carmel (he has business here in the morning). So… I’m quickly getting my photo of the day done before we head down for wine and cheese in the lobby and then out for a seafood dinner.
My photo of the day is of this huge and mysterious flower (someone quick- tell me what it is!). It reminds me of a pinwheel or a starfish as it turns in the breeze.
I’ve added a bonus photo today- an image of one of the thousands of California oak moths that have invaded Carmel (or at least our inn!) this October- truly mind-boggling! It is a sign of my dedication to photography that my first thought upon getting out of the car into the storm of moths wasn’t “Ewwww- MOTHS! Get me out of here!” – but was “Quick, I have to get out my camera!”
The weather was hot, the company was great, the food was fantastic (the best 6.95 salad I’ve ever eaten), the grandbaby (not mine) was adorable- and the photos? Wellll, not so wonderful.
Each outside table at the Petaluma restaurant where we ate was decorated with a beautiful red kalanchoe in a cute pot- so I focused on that for my photo of the day. When I was editing tonight, I just couldn’t get the colors to look right- the red flowers with the green leaves looked like Christmas to me. The more I looked at the photos, the more I disliked them. I tried a sepia processing with and without texture- too bland. I ended up with a simple black and white conversion- and called it DONE!
But wait- the day wasn’t over! After coming back to it a couple hours later, I still didn’t like it- especially the composition and the lack of contrast in the flower petals. I went back to the color version, changed the crop, and did an HDR cheat on it (only 1 photo with 3 exposures), which helped some.
So. . . it’s 11:00 now and I have wasted entirely too much time on a photo that I don’t really like. There is something to be said for getting a good shot SOOC, Carol!
TGIMM!
(Thank God It’s Macro Monday)!
I seem to be drawn more to the details than the big picture, so it’s a big relief to me when Macro Monday rolls around. I always forget to link to Lisa’s Chaos, where Macro Monday resides- so this week I’m not! If you have time, follow the links on that page to some beautiful macro photos.
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. . .
Out all day- and thank goodness there were roses!
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. . .
No photography outing today- but I did manage a photo of our late blooming lavender in the late afternoon sun.
Macro Monday, how I love thee! I can always find something to look at up close. Today, I picked up some tulips at Trader Joe’s; I will probably use them for tomorrow’s textured photo as well.
I had an interesting time photographing these guys. I wanted the petals and the interior ALL in focus, so kept closing my aperture more. I finally settled on f/22, which gave me a shutter speed of 10 seconds- a first for me (I had already decided to use a low ISO). I was, of course, using the tripod- and remembered to use live view (thanks again, Rudy) and my remote (thanks for the reminder, Carol). Live view ended up being really important today, because my eyes are still dilated from today’s eye appointment- so I HOPE this is in focus!
We are all a little bit tired today from two weeks of children’s activities and getting up at 4:30 today to take them to the airport. The house is a bit empty and quiet, and I’m not feeling too inspired. I looked no further than my front porch today for today’s photo- a cheerful marigold.
Today is the last day with the grandbabies. 😦
Miles and I had some special time outside today, mostly involving moving all the rocks back to the places they were before he came to visit. While Miles was trying to smell the lavender that was finally blooming, I took a few photos of one of the flowers with my macro lens. When I uploaded the photos, there was Miles in the background!
f/3.8, 1/640, ISO 500, 85mm
It’s Macro Monday again- and I’m back inside the box.
Since just about every other flower in our garden has been on the blog, I chose the lowly white oleander (sometimes known in California as “freeway flowers”) for today’s shot.
f/16, 1/60, ISO 1000, 85mm
I try to get out with my camera at least once a week and walk around town- some weeks are better than others. I am getting over my self-consciousness about lugging this big camera around- most of the time- but do get funny looks from strangers sometimes as I squat down to take a photo of a flower or a fencepost.
Today I set out specifically to take fence photos. There are several Flickr groups devoted solely to fence photography, and I am always drawn to those photos. In fact, there is a phenomenon known as Fence Friday (fence photos submitted, if not taken, on Fridays). So I thought I would take a few fence photos and submit one.
My fence photos are okay, but here I am again with a flower closeup! I just really like the flower against the brick wall. The fence and flowers in this garden were spectacular, but this image is just the one. . .
f/8, 1/125, ISO 800, 200mm
. . . is a rose is a rose.
melinda anderson photography 