Oh For A Good Macro Lens

Getting the photo I want with the equipment I have is sometimes a challenge. During times like this I am glad to be able to crop the image to obtain the desired framing. While this doesn't work well if I want to do full size prints, it serves the purpose for digital and smaller prints. For example take this lovely lawn ornament.  I was intrigued by the lines and vivid colors, and really wanted to focus on small sections. However the ornament was hanging in a tree in someones backyard. The first three images I was able to capture with my camera but to get the last two I had to crop the original image to the desired composition.

 

 

Until some good fairie brings me one of these, I guess this will have to do.

Random Odd Shots

A random odd shot taken in early February.

Another random odd shot taken yesterday.

Weekend Reflections: Kick It!

Don't forget to run over and visit all the great photography at Jame's Weekend Reflections!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday: Winter's Chill

A few of the prompts for today's  Scavenger Hunt Sunday are going to have a two shots instead of just one. I didn't plan to do all of the prompts in one theme but when I was going through the photos taken for winter wonderland and frozen I realized I could once again do the entire scavenger hunt from one group of photos.  

Stacked Up (Honey Mommy's suggestion)
Trying to think of something different for this prompt I decided to stack the kids on top of each other. My grandson was disappointed because he wanted to do the stack more dog pile style, but the girls wouldn't go along with that. .

Now for the Winter's Chill theme shot for this prompt. Going through the photos taken for the winter wonderland I came across this one and was suddenly inspired to use it for Stacked Up also. I find it so beautiful the way nature stacks up dirt and sand and turns it into amazingly beautiful rocks, like this quartzite rock at The Falls.

Winter Wonderland (Honey Mommy's suggestion)
Around here one of my favorite wonders of winter is the water running through the frozen falls.

Sweet (Honey Mommy and Sacha's suggestion)
My first thought for this prompt was to take a photo of one of my sweet granddaughters, gotta love those freckles!

Yet, going with the winter's chill theme I captured a couple of sweet moments of kids and families taking advantage of a nice winter afternoon at Falls Park.

Hole (Sacha's suggestion)
You can't see the water surging behind the hole in the ice but let me tell you it was a really amazing sight. I wish I had a really nice zoom lens so I could get in close enough for you to see. 

Frozen (Sacha's suggestion)

This year is such a mild winter I was worried that there wouldn't be any ice on the actual falls. Although there is not as much as usual the falls are still partially frozen, and it is still pretty awesome looking.

I hope you have enjoyed my interpretations of this weeks prompts. To join in or just enjoy what others have just click on the Scavenger Hunt button:

Weekend Reflections: Along the Big Sioux

Joining in with Jame's Weekend Reflections

 

Reflection of the quartzite along the partially frozen Big Sioux River.

Macro Monday: It's All in the Eyes

It has been a while since I did any real close up shots but I just couldn't resist these two.

 Can you see the laughter in her eyes? I forgot to tell her I was going to get in close for a shot of her beautiful eyes and she jumped as the camera got close. But once she knew why I was coming in so close she was all excited to see how the photo would turn out. I also love that I was able to capture a reflection of the two other models and their shadows as well as a reflection of my shadow.

With this one I zoomed in instead of getting extra close. I learned something important with this shot as well and that is to make sure the model remembers to clean their glasses. I did have to do a bit of clean up on this shot to remove dust particles from her glasses.

If you like macro shots you will love Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos

Christmas Decorations

I decided to try out the camera on my cell phone this afternoon. While it is a good phone and has a 5 megapixel camera the photos are pretty grainy and smaller than I expected. But I did managed to get a few shots I liked even though they are rough.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Waiting: I just couldn't pass up this shot while we were all waiting for the Parade of Lights to start.

Foliage (Kamana's suggestion): There really isn't much foliage around our place now so I pulled this from some shots taken last month. I did consider going to a store or mall to get the shot for this prompt but decided to be a home body today.

Candid (Kamana's suggestion): Isn't this little guy just too cute.

Knife, Fork or Spoon (Kamana's suggestion): Once again I pulled from the archives. I thought about taking something new but I just love this shot. This is a scan of the original photo I took some sixteen years ago of my  daughter.

Rules of Thirds (Mikayla's suggestion): What can I say, I like to style miniature dolls in historic clothing. :D

Next week I am going to do my best to take all new shots.

Next weeks prompts:

1. Portrait
2. Nostaglic (Ida's suggestion)
3. Time (Ida's suggestion)
4. Full of Light (Mikayla's suggestion)
5. Motion (Mikayla's suggestion)

Weekend Reflections: Tendrils of Winter

Now hop on over to Jame's Weekend Reflection meme and check out all the awesome reflections!

Have a beautiful weekend!

Photography Post Production Right or Wrong

Photography is not just capturing a duplicate of the scene before you, it is the photographers' interpretation of that scene. Just as the Masters of old added their own interpretations' to the subjects they carved or painted so too photographers past and present add their own artistic perspective to the images they capture.

I have heard people rebuke digital photography and digital post production, claiming that modern technology is ruining photography.  While yes modern technology allows a much higher level of manipulation than was previously possible this no more ruins photography than post processing techniques ruined the works of master photographers such as Ansel Adams.

Since the conception of photography photographers have been adding their own special touches from how they set up the shot to coming up with creative post processing techniques in the darkroom. Skills that became highly prized and made the difference between just another person with a camera and an inspirational photographer.

Photography is an art form and as an art form not only is it a way to record history it is also an artistic medium which should be explored and used to express the artists interpretations of the scene depicted.

Of course major alterations and manipulations would not be ethical when working with a photograph that's primary purpose is to record history. However, even such images can and should be edited, if needed in post production. Even if a camera is set to automatic the image it captures is not exactly as it is seen in real life. Post production allows the photographer to tweak the image so that it more closely resembles what they were viewing.

Take for example the following photographs:

This first is the original shot

When I came across this scene because of the equipment I had with me I was not able to frame the shot so as to place the focus on the benches exactly as I wanted. In addition to the framing; the color and lighting, although very close to what I actually viewed at the time does not impart the same depth of color and emotion that was evoked in me while viewing the scene.

Here is the edited shot

By cropping the image and adding a low percentage overlay the image now captures not only the scene that was before me but the depth at which I viewed the scene. 

For me post production is not only right but is a prized skill that I am continually striving to master.