Tag Archives: Red

Springtime at Peace Valley

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150425_Male Cardinal by Karl G. Graf. Canon 7D MkII, EF100-400mm 3.5-5.6L IS @ 400mm, f/7.1, 1/1250 sec, ISO 1600

A couple of days ago, I took a couple of hours to visit Peace Valley Park to try to get a couple of nature shots.  As I arrived, three bus loads of kids arrived for a field trip.  There went my opportunity to get any wildlife shots with all the noise.  It was a great day for the kids though.  So I put my camera to my side and just enjoyed the walk in the woods.

When I got back to the nature center, I thought I would try the bird blind.  It provided a good spot to try out my new 100-400mm zoom and the low noise and fast shutter speed performance of my new Canon 7D MkII.  I was pleased with both.

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It’s Red

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150211_Red Leaf by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/5.6, 1/20 sec, ISO 400

Today’s message is very simple:  “If it is RED … Shoot!”  So I did.

Lesson Learned:  The image is not as sharp as I want it to be due to the low shutter speed.  I had a lot of room to increase the ISO sensitivity.  I just was not paying attention.  When I am walking around doing “hand-held” shooting, I fall back to shooting “snap-shots” instead of taking my time to optimize the image.  Take my time!!!!

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St. Augustine Lighthouse With a Little Swirl

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150207_St Augustine Lighthouse by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 44mm, f/11, 1/320 sec, ISO 250

Does this look a little familiar?  Sometimes one gets lucky.  This image is a multiple exposure of the St. Augustine lighthouse combined with a B&W version of yesterday’s post.  I thought that that the unknown swirl image posted yesterday would make a good texture background for something.  I combined it with an image taken just a few frames earlier.  Magic happens sometimes.

Lesson Learned:  Take what each moment brings you and cherish it.

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A Little Winter Color

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150129_Bench in Snow by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 83mm, f/11, 1/170 sec, ISO 1600

The red twig dogwood adds a little color to the cold winter scene in our backyard perennial garden.  Of course, when I see red, I shoot.  During our walks in our backyard, Karen and I usually stop here and spend a quiet moment or two.  The bench is tucked in between shrubs and trees.  It is a nice private place in the middle of our wide open area.  Each spring I prune the dogwoods down to about 12 inches above the ground.  New shoots pop up to create a 5-6 foot bush each year.  Along with our winterberries, the dogwood provides a bright red contrast to the winter landscape.

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Winterberry in Snow

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150126_Winterberry in Snow by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 39mm, f/11, 1/210 sec, ISO 1600

When I see bright color (especially red) contrasted in fresh snow I feel like I have received a gift.  These winterberries provide a treat all winter to both to my eyes and the local bird population.  Several years ago, we transplanted these out to our perennial garden to be our winter highlight.  The three flower supports wait all winter long for our mountain sage to emerge in the spring.

Lesson Remembered:  “When You See Red … Shoot!”

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Just Playing in Our Garden and on My Computer

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141231_Garden Color-Experimentation by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/22, 14 sec, ISO 200

I keep going back to our Red Twig Dogwoods to get a little winter color.  This is a vertical swipe taken at 1/4 second.  Back at my computer, I started playing around with Topaz’s new Impression plug-in. This is the Impasto II preset.  There is a painter somewhere inside this engineer’s mind.

This post is a milestone.  I have entered a post every day for this month, first time ever.  Now to get ready for the New Year!

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Still in the Christmas Spirit

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141227_Red Poinsettia by . Fuji X-T1, EF18-55mm @ 55mm, f/11, 1/10 second, ISO 400

I am still in the Christmas mood.  This image is just an effort to work with composition.  The subject is the center stamens and pistils of the poinsettia flower.  The plant leaves framed the subject while the background ornaments added interest without distracting from the stamens and pistils.  I cropped the leaves to eliminated any distracting edges.  Using the “mirror lock-up” function might have improved the sharpness of the subject.  Always learning …

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Longwood Christmas #2

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141222_Longwood Main Consrevatory by . Longwood Gardens Conservatory

Fuji XT-1, XF18-55mm @ 34mm, f/22, 1/3 sec, ISO 400

The bright light from the ceiling skylight made capturing this photo taken with a small aperture possible.  People were everywhere.  Patience paid off again while I waited for the scene to clear.  I waited over 10 minutes to catch this break.  If I would have had a long exposure there would have been people entering the scene.  Lessons learned:  do not photograph Longwood on a Friday.

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Happy Thanksgiving

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141127_Maple Leaves and Background Dew by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-55mm @ 55mm, f/8.0, 1/250 sec, ISO 400

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  We have so very much to be thankful for including this beautiful fall day a couple of weeks ago.  Each day is a gift to be lived and enjoyed to its fullest.

This was taken in our back yard in the early morning as the sun was breaking the horizon and shining on a little fresh frost on the ground.  I liked how the sparkle from the sunlit frost made small globes of light.  I then walked around to get something interesting to put in front.  This backlit maple was just what I was looking for.  It was a moment to be thankful for.

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