Day 161- Out of my own yard (finally!)

My good friend and former teaching buddy, Kathryn, kindly offered to let me come by anytime to take photos in her gorgeous garden- so today I took her up on her offer!

Her yard has been beautifully landscaped- complete with waterfall and firepit.  And then there’s the vineyard!  Today I just concentrated on the flowers by the gate, knowing I will be back again for another photo session.

Here’s a rose with lavender in the background- love the colors!

f/13, 1/200, ISO 200, 135mm

And here is a bonus macro shot of a little visitor to her garden.

f/22, 1/80, ISO 200, 85mm

Thanks, Kathryn- I’ll be back!

Melinda3 Comments

Day 153- Precious Jewels!

The sweetest birthday present I received this year was from my three year old grandson, Miles- a beautiful macaroni necklace made with his own little hands. I wore it all day yesterday and am wearing it again right now!

f/6.3, 1/160, ISO 3200, 85mm

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Day 136- Lucky Macro

Hello- it’s Macro Monday! Today I photographed my little Lucky Bamboo plant with my macro lens. I had an image in my mind of how I wanted the shot to look, but ended up liking this very simple composition of just the stem better than what I originally envisioned.

f/5, 1/60, ISO 1600, 85mm

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Day 130- Tungsten Schmungsten

Water drops trapped in a spider web- perfect photo op! I actually tried this yesterday, but wasn’t happy with my results, so I tried again today.  I tried different exposure settings and liked how it looked best when slightly underexposed. This is a crop of a larger image.

f/13, 1/60, ISO 3200, 85mm

And the white balance, you ask?

Tungsten.

OMG- when will I ever learn?

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Day 129- Steady there…

Focus! Such a huge deal with macro shots! I tripod-ed all over my yard today shooting everything I could find that I hadn’t macro-ed before.  It was a good exercise in using the tripod and time exposure to steady my camera, but for today’s photo I ended up using this shot of a blossom on one of our two tomato plants- which I took WITHOUT the tripod.

f/6.3, 1/200, ISO 1250, 85mm

Not even sure if this qualifies as a macro shot, because you can see the whole blossom. . .

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Day 122- Grandfather Clock

I always wanted a grandfather clock when I was a little girl. My dollhouse had one, and it seemed that all the books I loved took place in houses where the grandfather clock chimed throughout the story. My mother remembered that and bought us one about twenty years ago.  I love it and used it for today’s Macro Monday shot.

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Day 115- Well, it’s Monday. . .

It’s Mundane Macro Monday.  I snapped a quick photo before I left for the day. It is colorful, it has a shallow depth of field, it’s a macro- it’s FANCY TOOTHPICKS!

We had these out, because our little Miles can be very particular about what foods he is in the mood for- and fancy toothpicks seem to make the meal suddenly more appetizing!

f/5.6, 1/60, ISO 2500 85mm-  I took these at 8:30 am before the “sun” (it’s a cloudy day) had reached the kitchen- look at that ISO!

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Day 108- Up Close and Personal

It’s Macro Monday- time to get up close and personal with one of my geraniums. . .

f/9, 1/160, ISO 250

I am getting a better handle on this macro thing- I remembered (after a few shots) to use a small aperture in order to get adequate depth of field.  Macro is much easier outside than inside!

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Day 107- Beware. . .

Beware! Installing dark colored granite bathroom counters is not a good idea if you use a powder type makeup!

f/4.5, 1/80, ISO 2000, 85mm

We installed this counter and chose a beautiful dark green, because we fell in love with it.  A couple years later I switched to a powder based makeup (which I love), but this is often what it looks like by the time I’m finished.  It isn’t quite as bad as it looks in this photo though, because there seems to be bokeh mixed in with the powder (plus an interesting heart shaped bokeh in the top middle…).

I spent a lot of time stalking my mama hummingbird today, but the only photos I got were of her in her nest.  The one time I caught her flitting about, she had quickly resumed guarding her egg(s) by the time I got my camera. Hence, the makeup brush photo from this morning. . .

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Day 94- Macro Misting

While misting my spider plants today, I realized I had a fun opportunity for using the macro lens.  I really do need to get a good tripod- any degree of camera shake is so intensified with the shallow depth of field in macro shots.  I trashed most of my images- thanks goodness it’s a digital age!  These droplets are TINY.  In the photo on the left, only the reflection within the drop is in focus!

Both photos were taken at f/5, 1/125, ISO 2000, 85mm.

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Day 92- Heads Up!

Hurray- a sunny Saturday! Time to think about cleaning up the deck after a very long month of rain.  Miles and Papa did some watering, while Henry slept and Miles’s mama, Caitlin, and I played with photography.  She has a knack for spotting good photo ops- so I ran and got the macro lens when she spied a ladybug crawling on the ground. We took turns taking fabulous macro shots- every spot and body part in focus! Then we discovered it was, um, damaged- and were so grossed out we deleted the photos. I don’t think insect photography is my true calling . . .

Next, Caitlin found a wonderful spider web, which will be my photo of the day.  She even brought me a kitchen chair, so I could get close enough to get the shot- it is very nice to have my own photography assistant!  I think our roles will be reversed at some point, because I am teaching her how to use my camera- with the idea of handing it down to her when I eventually upgrade to my fantasy camera (Nikon D7000).

 

I think one of my favorite photos today is this shot of Miles watering a plant.

Melinda3 Comments

Day 87- Spiral

It’s Macro Monday!

I was outside shooting some tiny flowers and tiny waterdrops when the phone rang. When I hung up, I discovered my macro photo of the day- the phone cord (yes, we still have a phone with one of those…)! Simple and, um, retro!

f/5.6, 1/100, ISO 2000, 85mm

Melinda3 Comments