Beyond Beyond 5
This week’s Beyond Beyond (2B) challenge was to find the best light in your house- and to practice some Photoshop tricks to add more light to photos. I am pretty familiar with the light (and lack of light) in my house at different times of the day after having done a Project 365 for two years, so concentrated on the Photoshop techniques. I used the Sybil texture, as well as a white gradient to enhance the window light that was already present in this macro of a sea urchin from my shell collection.
And here’s a black and white version of the same photo (almost the same processing).
Bubble Macros
Take one glass of water, add some drops of olive oil, set the glass on something colorful, set up your macro lens on a tripod- and VOILA! Instant fun!
To my teacher friends who are still working: yes, retirement is A W E S O M E !
Black and white versions are fun too.
Macros in Pink
I experimented with my macro lens last weekend- shooting gerbera daisies and water drops.
For the top photo I used a long exposure and small aperture to increase depth of field- and mostly succeeded.
For the shot below, I used close to the maximum aperture of my macro lens (f/4) and went for a very shallow depth of field. I further reduced the clarity in Lightroom to accentuate the dreamy look.
Reflected
I found a bunch of these seeds on a walk the other day and thought they would be a subjects for a macro shot. I couldn’t decide which photo to post. The second one has greater depth of field- but I love the reflection in the first one. Which image do you like best?
These photos were both shot at f/16, 1/200, ISO 400 with added bounced flash. My shooting challenge involved getting sufficient light without losing the reflection- and without adding a reflection of the flash on the white surface (my white chair again). I ended up underexposing- and then opening up the shadows in Lightroom. If I had used a wider aperture, I would have needed less flash, but would have sacrificed depth of field. I know I need to learn more about focus stacking for macro shots to avoid this issue- but not today!
Noticing
Using my macro lens with a purposely shallow depth of field, I took a few shots of my asparagus fern the other day. When I brought them into Lightroom, I noticed bumps on the surface of the tiny leaves. I thought the leaves were dirty, so went back outside and looked at the plant more carefully- no dirt that I could see. I reshot the images and took them into Lightroom. There was still a rough, bumpy texture. I actually reshot the photos the next day as well- same results. I’m fascinated with what you can see with a macro lens! I ended up liking this photo best in monochrome.
Speaking of noticing, the shadows of my shutters in the morning light caught my eye this morning.
Good Day Sunshine
Photography reminds me to be grateful for small things. Despite fog and dreariness for most of the day, the late afternoon sun provided some cheerful bokeh as background for my favorite windchime.
In the kitchen . . .
It’s a humble pastry brush.
I joined the Clickin Moms’ Monthly Macro group and was challenged this month to take photos of ordinary kitchen utensils, such as spoons and forks. Having photographed spoons several times (and being totally intimidated by the gorgeous fork and knife photos posted by the group so far. . .), I moved on to wooden spoons and . . .the pastry brush.
My favorite of the three images is the top left- I like the abstract quality of the lines and shadows. I originally edited it in black and white, but I ended up adding tones to both the shadows and highlights for this layout (and copied the processing to the other photos).
Magic Carpet
One of the themes of my Flickr group this week is How Low Can You Go? I was inspired to get down on my stomach (a pretty sight for sure) to photograph the “oriental rug,” as my mother called it, that was always in our front hall while I was growing up. I believe it may actually be a prayer rug, but, as a child, I pretended it was a magic carpet. When my parents moved out of our childhood home, I claimed the rug as my own and it graced the walls of several of the homes we lived in during the first ten years of our marriage. When we moved into our current home, it became a rug again- one you probably don’t notice in its somewhat dulled and frayed condition, but it’s there.
Nandina
I had fun this morning shooting some nandina berries I had brought into the house. I used both my 35mm 1.8 and my macro lens and took a variety of photos from different angles. Here are a couple that I like so far.
In the photo below I played with a matte look with my black and white conversion (basically eliminating the blackest blacks in the image) and added a Florabella texture
And here is a macro of some of the berries on my father’s dental cabinet; I always love the reflections on the black surface.
Day 352- Morning Rain
Day 343- No small accomplishment, if I do say so myself!
Today is number 343 of 366 days in 2012 that I have taken and posted one or more photos that I have taken that day. Since this is my second year, I can also brag that it is Day 708 out of this two year project. Looks like I have 23 more days to go.
And- correct me if I’m wrong- this is the first time I have photographed push pins.
Small is the topic for today. These were taken pretty early this morning with my macro lens, tripod, and speedlight.
Day 331- Leaf Peeping
I think noticing my surroundings has been the biggest gift I’ve gotten from being a photographer. I actually made my husband stop the car as we were headed down to the water yesterday, because these leaves were so gorgeous- and ORANGE (a Daily Challenge theme). They are also red and gold and yellow- and all shades in between. I brought some home to photograph today for Macro Monday.
And here are some shots from yesterday.
Day 317 Bottom of the Barrel?
I am coming to the end of my second year of my Project 365. Next year, although I will still continue posting photos to this blog, I am not committing to taking a photo a day. This decision is based on days like today, when I am busy, the creative well is dry, and my easiest option is going with one of the daily challenges.
Today I am using yesterday’s challenge, which is hair. Good thing my husband got a haircut today. . .
Today the sunflowers get thrown away, so here is a bonus macro sunflower shot.
Day 296- Danger!
It’s Macro Monday- and the theme of my Flickr group today is danger. I took a macro shot of a chef’s knife as a response to the theme, although I was really thinking about the stabbing scenes in Psycho or Play Misty for Me– and not chopping vegetables as this photo would suggest.
melinda anderson photography 