Take Flight

I had other plans for my blog today- Yellowstone photos (which will find their way here soon).  But I awoke with the desire to photograph this tiny feather I chased around while photographing the baby owl (no idea if it’s an owl feather or just a random feather floating by). I brought it back in a plastic baggie, which I dug out of my purse this morning, set on my dental cabinet (one of my favorite surfaces for photography) and took a bunch of macro shots. I intended to shoot more, perhaps on a mirror, but, alas, as I carried the feather through the house, the breeze from the ceiling fans carried it aloft to who knows where.

Rather than mourn my loss, I sat down and created some photo art with one of the 5 good shots I have.

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Here are a few more images from this morning’s shoot .

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This and That

My camera has been out a lot the last week; here are a few photos that didn’t make the blog.

A couple Blue Ridge cups

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A macro of a leaf, snapped while watering

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And from Chalk It, Prescott’s chalk art festival last weekend

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Have a Happy Thursday!

Melinda2 Comments

Desert Black and White

I convert at least half my photos to black and white- I just can’t help myself. I love the emphasis on shape and form, as well as the drama and simplicity of the monochrome. Not that I don’t love color- just not all the time.

Both of these are macros (yes, I tried macro at the botanical garden with no tripod. . .). The first, I call Prickly.

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And this one, I call Cactus Noir.

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Tomorrow a color photo- I promise!

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Tulip Macros

tulips-2Gorgeous red and white tulips decorated the tables at the party given by our friends, Debbie and Dale to celebrate their daughter, Aryn’s marriage to Jason. The young couple currently live in Holland, so tulips were definitely the perfect choice.  I had fun being the photographer for the event and managed to have a lot of fun while taking photos. Debbie gave me one of the arrangements to take home, so of course they will be making several appearances on the blog!

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Yet again . . .

I spent three days with my tripod set up in my living room (actually, it’s still there) and pointed at my tiny arrangement of dried flowers. Warning- there will probably be one more post with these flowers.

Here is a macro, converted to black and white with a bit of split toning for warmth.

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Macro Playtime

Santa was good to me this year- especially in the photography department!  Under my tree, I found some Cokin ND filters, a download code for onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite, and a ballhead for my tripod!!! Within a day or two, I had the ND filters figured out and the new software installed, but attaching the ballhead to my tripod required a trip to the hardware store for the correct sized Allen wrenches. Yesterday, I put the ballhead through its paces when I used it to set up some macro shots.

The first is a detail shot of a small Christmas tree made from gold wire, and the second is (obviously!) a pinecone.

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Buzzing

We don’t seem to have many birds in our yard right now. The hummingbirds are gone, and there are just ravens and some little mystery birds flitting here and there. But we do have bees and wasps. . .

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I desaturated this photo, because I didn’t find the colors pleasing, and then added a bit of split toning in Lightroom.  Because it is Tuesday, I added one of Kim Klassen’s textures, 1301 (a favorite of mine), which I also desaturated.  If you go to kimklassencafe.com, you will find links to some beautiful images using her textures.

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Orange

Next week I am visiting a photography group which I may join, and we are all to bring up to 4 prints to go with this month’s theme- orange and/or spider.  I got busy yesterday taking some orange photos (haven’t seen any Arizona spiders yet- yay!) to get printed before next week’s meeting.  I also will bring this spider photo (second one down) from last September. I went outside with my macro lens to take a closeup of one of the many marigolds we have growing, but there was so much wind that I ended up picking one and bringing it inside. The light wasn’t as pretty on the inside (darn tinted windows!), but I was able to get better focus.

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Looking Around

Today I finally took some time to walk around outside with my macro lens attached to my camera.  Macro lens- oh how I’ve missed you! I found some flowers and plants I’m not familiar with- maybe someone (Carol, Debbie?) can tell me what they are.

There is a huge spiky plant in a bed out front. It is past the blooming stage (you can see the faded red flowers still ).

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I love this one- I think it’s probably an annual.

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Berry Berry

No idea what kind of berries these are- but they are part of my bouquet of roses. Last minute macro and Texture Tuesday edit:

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Editing notes: Desaturated and split-toned in LR; 2 layers of kk_anne added; desaturated a bit more with a black and white layer.

 

Excuses, excuses:

Our house is on the market (gasp!). Potentially, we could be homeless by August (a good thing. . .).  Then . . . time to rent for a bit and find a new house to buy in Arizona. We are looking at it as a Big Adventure!  But in the meantime, my photography and blog may be neglected occasionally. But, I’ll try my best- and I’ll be back with photographs of red rock and cacti!

 

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