It’s been kind of gloomy the last couple days. I have found a couple things to shoot around the house. This grasshopper was on one of the hibiscus.
This morning when I took the trash out, I saw a couple Wild Petunias next to the trash cans.
The first stop on our cruise was the island of Roatan. We took a tour to the Carambola Botanical Gardens. It was an absolutely terrible day. It was raining and humid. I wanted to get some good flower pictures, but it was almost impossible. I did get a really good shot of an orchid.
Following that, our bus toured the west side of the island, stopping in a small village. From there, we went to a resort area. I got this picture at the resort. It took some manipulation to better balance the details and the contrast, but it was worth it.
We went to the pool. Behind the rock waterfall is a Bird of Paradise plant. I have looked at it for quite a while, and thought it would be interesting to take some shots of it. This time, the blossoms were perfect. I used my 90mm Tamron macro. I like that lens, but it was a little difficult under these circumstances. The plants were between the rocks by the pool and an iron fence. So, I had to get the picture by shooting between the bars of the fence. But, it still came out nicely.
I got a new Macro lens, and wanted to test it. So, I went over to the arboretum for a couple flower and insect shots.
Every Spring, there is a place on Highway 6 in Grimes Co. where there are always lots of cars parked because there are fields full of blue bonnets. This year,on the way home from Galveston, we pulled off the side of the road and got some good pictures.
and
I just came back upon Don Giannatti’s “Project 52” web site. I had seen the site several months ago, but it slipped from my memory. I have been a member of the flickr group for a long time, but, I can’t remember the last time I actually visited the group page. On this site, there is a weekly photography assignment. The assignments for this year start on February 1. So, I looked at the 2012 assignments.
The first assignment is to create a Vision Statement. This is basically a statement describing why it is that I take pictures. As described on the web site, “Tell us with a single paragraph what you want to be able to do with your images. Tell us what you do without telling us you are a photographer. Accompany that message with a single image taken around your home.”
To me, the reason I enjoy photography is it differs from other modes of expression, and there is something that is transcendently stimulating when I see a really great image I have taken. In 2012, my Aperture Library has over 7700 images. Every once in a while, as the image would come up on the screen, there was a moment of awe. Kind of, “Oh boy. That is good!”
It is becoming easier to take technically perfect images – those with proper exposure, composition, lighting, whatever. I can look at those and think, “That’s a good image.” But there is the added, intangible element that is included in an image that is really great. I take photographs because I enjoy that feeling of producing a picture that is really great.
Now, what kind of image around the house can I make that illustrates that?
A few days ago, there was a dandelion in the front yard. I wanted to get a picture of it, but I saw it early in the morning, and by the time I got home from work, all the seeds had blown away. This morning, I was pulling leaves out of the pool, and I saw this dandelion along side the pool. I don’t use my Konica/Minolta 7D much any more, but I kind of do use it for macro photography. So, I put the Tamron 90mm macro on it and set up the tripod.
The first shots were pretty good, but I wanted more. So, I got the small LED light and used it to produce a little more light.
That produced a nice effect, reflecting off the filaments of the seeds. I then got my flash, and used it kind of hand held with radio triggers.
There was more depth of field because I had to stop the lens way down to get the correct exposure, but, again, the effect was pleasing. By holding the flash low, I put much less light on the surroundings, and got a really interesting effect.
Now, the background was essentially unexposed. But now you can see something else that I didn’t even notice. There were small bugs crawling on the stem. Finally, I wanted to add a little more. So, using a spray bottle, I created a little “Dew.”
