A return to doing what I love- soft and dreamy flowers. For this one I used my Lensbaby Velvet 56, which I have never fully explored. When I joined my photo group, it seemed that there was such an emphasis on sharpness- that I started working on my landscape photography more and more- and I mostly left my lensbabies behind. It has been fun this week to once more embrace my love of BLUR!
for Halloween . . .
The last few months, I’ve found myself missing blur and soft focus. As a result, my Lensbaby Velvet 56 has been on my camera for the last week, and I’m going to put the Edge 80 (my fave!) on there next. Manual focus is always a challenge, but I find taking soft and dreamy photos is my comfort zone. I love the blur!
My beautiful Valentine’s Day tulips are fading, so I took the time to trim stems and take a few Lensbaby shots.
As I look out at the melting snow, this image seems out of place- yet I did take it a week or so before Christmas. Let it serve as a reminder that the days are now getting longer, spring is on its way, and the strange, turbulent, and sad year 2016 is almost over.
Shot with Lensbaby Velvet 56
The theme for my AAUW photo group today is Locks and Keys. I selected several past images of padlocks to bring, but then I decided that, since I wanted to play with my Lensbaby Edge 80, I would take a couple photos of keys to bring as well.
After taking a few shots of keys spread out in different configurations, a small branch I have on my shelf of props caught my eye. I ended up hanging keys on twigs, and came up with these two images:
When I was all finished shooting, I combined two other images in camera, which I then converted to a split toned black and white in Lightroom. What looks like an added texture is actually the garage floor!
I was at the right place at the right time last week and was able to bring home this sweet bird nest that had fallen out of a tree at a friend’s house. Sadly, little egg shells were nearby. I intended to spend all of Mother’s Day morning in my garage studio photographing the nest (and beautiful Mother’s Day flowers from my daughter) using different lenses and backgrounds. However, rain and hail put a stop to the project after an hour.
Here are a couple lensbaby shots of the nest. More to come!
I love trying to create impressionist effects with my Lensbaby.
I took the photo above a bit farther by editing it in Photoshop and Topaz Impression.
Some Lensbaby fun. . .
More branches in a jar. This was shot with the Lensbaby Edge 80 again, but then I used an oil painting filter in Topaz Impression and a Flypaper texture after that. Yup- just playing with sticks. . .
“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape.
Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn’t show.”
– Andrew Wyeth
What can I say?- I am in the mood for BLUR!
These photos were shot with the Lensbaby Velvet 56; the resulting softness was further emphasized by editing with Topaz Impression.
It has been a week and a half since our snowstorms- and I find myself marveling every day at the slowly disappearing expanses of snow that remain in my yard, not to mention around town. I took my Velvet 56 outside to capture a few bits of weeds and leaves peeking up here and there through the snow.
When we went outside last weekend, the melting snow on the evergreens sparkled in the sunlight- and I couldn’t resist going back in to grab my camera!
I love tulips in the window light. These are pink, but I really like the contrast when I convert it to black and white.
Both photos were taken with Lensbabies. I think the second one was with the Edge 80- but I can’t be sure (aperture and lens aren’t recorded in the metadata- frustrating at times).
melinda anderson photography 