Maple Leaves

ISO 400 ~ f/8 ~ 1/250 ~ 135mm

Butterfly & Flowers

ISO 100 ~ f/9 ~ 1/320 ~ 135mm

The Lone Ranger

ISO 800 ~ f/11 ~ 1/400 ~ 60mm

Pampas Grass

ISO 200 ~ f/8 ~ 1/250 ~ 135mm
Statesville, North Carolina

Streaming Sunlight...

ISO 200 ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/160 ~ 60mm
Statesville, North Carolina

Charity Suffereth Long...

I'll be kind of busy for the few days, so you get some older photos, and some Photoshop effects! :-)

What's up?

ISO 100 ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/160 ~ 135mm
Notice how his one ear is toward me, and his other one is listening to something else! :-)

Blog problems...

Sorry, everyone, no picture tonight. It seems like blogger is having some technical difficulties.

Mystery Plant...

ISO 100 ~ f/9 ~ 1/30 ~ 60mm

Not really an exciting composition, (photographically speaking) but I am curious; does anyone have a clue what this plant is? It almost reminds me of an oversized and mutated Jack-in-the-pulpit...

Waterfall (kind of...)

ISO 1600 ~ 1/4000 ~ f/5.0 ~ 60mm ~ noise removal done in PS

Time to vote...

Just a quick vote from everyone... Is this new header and footer too busy? I was trying to achieve a ‘collage’ effect, but wondered if anyone thought it was too distracting and noisy. It's really borderline for me, and Mom said it was too busy for her.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Constructive Criticism? Pros/Cons?
Thanks!

Learn by Experience...

ex•pe•ri•ence |ikˈspi(ə)rēəns| noun
The process whereby one messes up enough times to remember how not to mess up again. (hopefully) :-)

Today's photo shoot was one of those times where I just had a brain-fade while shooting... Not really that bad, but bad enough to give a little lesson on carelessness, and composition.

ISO 100 ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/160 ~ 95mm

Here is the original image... Who can guess what is wrong with it? Well, I consider it a very poorly framed shot. I'm not sure where I was looking when I tripped the shutter, but I was not visualizing the end result very well. In anticipation of the direction of the subject's gaze, the photo should always give more room in front of the subject than behind it... As if there is some room for it to ‘walk’ out of the frame. The same rule applies to people. Give more room to the front of a person if you want a more balanced look.
To combat this problem, I ended up cropping the photo. Here is the final result:

That is not a perfect crop, but it definitely gives a more balanced feel to the image. If I were to bring more room to the front of her face, I would start clipping off her paws, which I felt added to the vertical composition.

What do you think?

Snow Flowers

ISO 100 ~ f/10 ~ 1/160 ~ 135mm

Take a picture...of what?

Do you ever get the feeling that you've shot everything around your house and on your property that could possibly have been photographed; ten times over??? I mean, come on! I only have 3000+ pictures of just our 5 acres... :-)

What are some of your creative ways of shooting old territory?

Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gismos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn't make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel. -Peter Adams, Sydney 1978

Melted Snow on the Window

ISO 100 ~ f/22 ~ 1/50 ~ 75mm

Well, Bethany, your last comment couldn't be closer to the truth... :-)

“Spring...it isn't quite here yet!”

Robin in a Frosty Tree

ISO 100 ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/200 ~ 135mm

Thoughts on PhotoBlogging...

I thought this article was kind of interesting!

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“A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.”
- Ansel Adams

“Just as written blogs have transformed journaling from a private activity to a public one, photoblogs have made it possible for the enthusiast photog to find an audience. Just like any artistic endeavor, if it doesn't have an audience then the pursuit of photography is an indulgence or therapy. Those pictures sitting in boxes in your closet or as files on your computer need to be seen in part to justify the work that you put into producing them.
People start photoblogging for various reasons; some to show work they already have created, others to encourage themselves to produce new work. Some are looking for validation, some seek out constructive criticism. Some want to share their world in the visual light in which they see it. Make no mistake about it, there is an element of ego in all photoblogs as there is in most art. If you have a photoblog you are, in essence, declaring to the world, ' Here is my work - come and judge me.' It will cost you time and money so it is best to know your motives before you begin.
Will having a photoblog make you a better photographer? Maybe. If your photoblog forces you to take more pictures in order to feed it, hopefully it will be making you improve and grow as a photographer in the process. It should help you to edit your own work; you should be able to look through a day's shooting and find the one or two images you want to display on your blog. It should make you think about your own work and the work of others; being a photoblogger makes you part of a community whether you like it or not. Hopefully you will not be just maintaining your own photoblog in isolation but you will be regularly visiting the photoblogs of your peers. This allows you to judge your own work in a larger context. It also allows you to riff off other photobloggers work, ideas, themes and methods.
Will having a photoblog make you rich and famous? No. A few photobloggers try to make up a little of the money that they have invested in their sites by selling prints, calendars, courting gigs, etc. but no one is a professional photoblogger yet. Most (if not all) photobloggers are not full time professional photographers. Many want to be, and a few get the occasional commission but every photoblogger has a day job.
Professional photographers tend to like full control of their work so gallery or portfolio sites are more their style. Ansel Adams famously said; “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop” and he was a pretty good photographer. Assuming you shoot as much as Ansel and you get your share of good shots in a year, even if you only post a picture twice a week, what are you going to post to your site the other 90% of the time? If you have a gallery site that you only update every few months you can stick to your A list shots. If you are a photoblogger it means that you are going to have to dip into your B and, perhaps, C lists of photos. You have to be a little brave to show the world work which you know isn't your best.”

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Excerpt from this article.

Tardy Again...

ISO 100 ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/60 ~ 135mm ~ Diffused Flash

Technical note: I used the built-in flash on the camera, diffusing it (to get subtle shadows, rather than harsh dark shadows) with some crumpled bubble-wrap... No need for a fancy flash and flash diffuser! (Although it sure would be nice! :-] )


Sorry for the delay... I had a wedding to attend on Saturday, and was busy most of Sunday, so my apologies if you were waiting.

Using a Blinking Light

ISO 100 ~ f/7.1 ~ 83 sec. ~ 18mm

Sorry, today was really too cold to get any picts from outside, so you get another light spirograph from the other night. This time I used a red bicycle blinker for the dashed effect.

Any Ideas?

ISO 100 ~ f/22 ~ 30sec. ~ 18mm ~ completely unedited


Can anyone tell me how I took this picture?

Another Barn Photo...

ISO 200 ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/200 ~ 109mm

Fog & Dewdrops

ISO 100 ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/200 ~ 100mm

It was foggy and rainy this morning when I woke up, so this picture is shot from out my bedroom window. Hope I haven't posted too many barn pictures yet! :-) Notice the 'dewdrops' on the birch tree.

Hello???

Sorry that I missed a few days here... I'll probably post on my other blog the reason why.

Thanks for your patience!

Torrey Pines & The Coast #1

ISO 100 ~ f/9.0 ~ 1/320 ~ 109mm