Tag: Nature

Travel Photography – Lighting

Most of us when we travel and are touring do not have the luxury of bringing a tripod or time to change our camera settings for the tricky lighting conditions. I found when in indoors the best way to capture lit up scenes is with my cell phone. It seems to work far better than my mirrorless camera. These photographs were taken in Crystal Onyx Cave in Cave City, KY. Some of the most beautiful formations I have ever seen.

Photography – Impressionism – Abstract

Floral Mushroom-sf/5.6; 1/100 sec; ISO-800; 60mm

The Chicago Botanic Gardens offered an abstract photography class so I decided to enroll. Discovered that the best take away from this class was it pushed me to think outside the “box”. The above photo is a flower placed on a tree trunk mushroom ledge. With a little camera movement when the shot was taken, this was the result.

Flower Photography – Lensbaby

Clamatis-lensbabyLensbaby Sol 45 with 16mm extension tube  – Sony A6000 – f/6.3; ISO 250; 1/400 sec.

“Expectation is everything. Every day can be your day, if you expect it to be.”               Bob Moawad

Thought I would try taking some more photographs with the Lensbaby Sol 45. This time I added a 16mm extension tube. It seemed to work really well. It was a little windy today so I set the shutter speed to 1/400 of a second and was surprised at how sharp the focal point was given the wind.

Bud-Lensbaby

Bee on Bud-Lensbaby

 

Bird Photography – Reflections

goose reflection“The love you feel in life is a reflection of the love you feel in yourself.” Deepak Chopra

Although Canadian Geese are quite plentiful where I live and can be photographed almost any day, they are still one of my favorite things to photograph in the water. On a calm overcast day, the reflections are wonderful.

Inserting An Object into A Photograph

SkiffA skiff inserted into a photograph of Lake Michigan.

Capri (107)The photograph of the skiff was taken in Capri, Italy. I loved the skiff’s simplicity and faded colors, but the surrounding area left a lot to be desired to capture a good photo.

One day I was looking at some photographs that I took of Lake Michigan and decided to see if I could insert the skiff into a beach photo and make it work. I first processed the skiff to pop the colors, then I cut it out. I brought both the cutout and Lake Michigan photo into Photoshop and combined them: adjusted colors, luminosity, and cloned sand around the bottom of the skiff. I decided to add some texture by using the  Oil Paint filter under Stylize. Then to finish the composite I created a mask and lightly brushed the filter out in different areas. I did not want a lot of texture in the skiff. Finally I went into Photoshop Elements and added the border.

This exercise is a really excellent way to experiment and use tools that you don’t often get to use in normal photo processing. I must say I learned a lot!

 

Flower Photography – Lensbaby

LensbabySony a6000; Lensbaby Sol 45; 1/200 Sec; ISO 250

I bought this lens a year ago and was really frustrated with the results of my photography sessions. No matter how I adjusted the lens or bokeh blades my photos left a lot to be desired. Yet many photographs taken by others with this lens were amazing. Why theirs and not mine?

Initially, we were not a good fit. The whole purpose of the Lensbaby is to create soft, dreamy photographs. I am someone who strives to create clear, sharp photographs.  I suddenly realized when using this lens I was just shooting to shoot. So I set out to create one really sharp area in an image and let the rest just happen through adjusting the bokeh blades. Much happier with the results and this lens has become a whole lot of fun!