Fuji XT-1, XF 18-55mm @ 37mm, f/4.0, 1/800 sec, ISO 400
This rail around the Philly City Hall provided a very clear message: “No Leaning” or should I say “No Sitting”. Today I was just walking around downtown Philly watching for images to appear. This one popped up and pain entered my body from all directions. It was not a very inviting element for the City Hall. But it did provide an interesting image. I purposely used my widest aperture to provide an interest depth of field.
Canon 5D MkIII, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS @ 195mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO 800
I was walking along a Hilton Head Island beach one evening when I looked up and saw this white feather floating above me against the stars of the Milky Way. I quickly threw up my camera and snapped away. It was an amazing sight!
Now getting back to reality, I saw this white feather laying on the sand. Not too much contrast, but I thought it still might make a good image. A little work in NIK Silver Efex Pro did the trick.
Fuji X-T1, XF55-200mm @ 58mm, f/5.0, 1/55 sec, ISO 400 (hand-held)
As new growth emerges from the ground, the flora from the previous year stand above protecting it. It is a natural progression. But now is the time when all “good gardeners” remove the old in preparation for the new. My preference is to let the old and new coexist in a natural environment. But in our garden, I don’t vote. I just need to spend more time in the natural areas close to home.
This spent cone flower caught my eye. I minimized the DOF to keep the focus on the flower head and blur out the ground. I converted to B&W to further keep the interest on the spent flower.
Canon 5D Mark III, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec, ISO 400
In our back yard field of white, the red of the coral bark maple stands against the bleakness of a cloudy winter day. I walked around the tree multiple times trying to get the right balance for the image. I found this foreground “Y” (or “V”) framing two other “Ys” I added a touch of graduated fog in NIK Color EFEX Pro to focus on the foreground “Y”.
Canon 5D MarkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/8.0, 1/640 sec, ISO 400
Exploring our back yard, I saw what looked like a pair of large dark spectacles sticking out of the bright snow. As I got closer they looked back directly up at me. Shapes have always intrigued me. When I was just a kid, I use to just lay on my back and look up at the clouds for hours imagining the different animals as they moved across the sky. Today, I can easily become fixated on an object’s shape and imagine what it could be if it had a choice.
Canon 5D MarkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 58mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400
Karen use to sit on this old stump when she worked out back in our garden. Over the years the termites have taken over. It is now just a garden feature out back, a little piece of nature along a fence. It does make an interesting subject covered in snow.
Canon 5D MarkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/11, 1/500 sec, ISO 400
The pods of these spent Tiger Lilies looked like mouths opening up to feed. They look like they are struggling for survival to keep their heads above the snow. They are quite different than their summer budding. The image below was taken from about the same spot last summer.
Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 38mm, f/8.0, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400
We had another snow! The temperatures warmed up a little (high 20’s). With this little incentive, I went exploring in our back yard, walking in snow up to my knees at times. Everything was beautiful with the fresh coat of white. What caught my eye the most were the the little spent seed pods that were sticking above the snow. These were meant for black and white conversion.
I will post a few more gems I found during the next few days.
Canon 7D, EF-S10-22mm @ 10mm, f/4.0, 1/13 sec, ISO 1600
This image of the shuttle’s belly was a tough one for me to get. Shooting directly up at my widest perspective and slow shutter speed made me dizzy. I almost fell down. It took me several tries to get a decent image with the shuttle balanced in the frame.
Canon 7D, EF-S10-22 @ 10mm, f/4.0, 1/25 sec, ISO 1600
This image of the shuttle’s tail shows the nozzles of the 3 main engines used to get the shuttle into orbit and the smaller thrusters used to maneuver the shuttle.