Canon 5D MKIII with EF24-70mm f2.8L @ 62mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec. ISO 800
Fall color is gone. We just had our first snow fall, quickly followed by freezing rain. I got up early to capture the moment before it melted. The fresh snow was covered by a thin layer of ice leaving interesting ice encased shapes. To capture the contrast of the dark leaf against the bright snow, I over exposed by +2 stops. Treatment in B&W captured the dreariness of the morning.
Canon 5D MKIII with EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 66mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 1600
Looking down on a brilliant bed of fallen leaves, I noticed this single geranium bloom soaking up the early morning sun rays. It stood out stretching its neck out to show off its last hurrah. The rest of the plant had withered away preparing for the winter ahead. I will have to wait until the end of May to catch its first bloom of the new year.
Canon 5D MKIII with EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 63mm, f/8.0, 1/400 sec, ISO 1600
The color of fall in Eastern Pennsylvania has all passed. This entry is the start of a series of posts of an early November morning shoot in our back yard capturing the last of the fall color. The early morning sun caught these fallen leaves just right to pop them out from the frosted grass. Simple things tend to catch my eye. I constantly look down as I walk through the landscape.
On this shoot, I was testing out the low noise performance of the 5D. There was a steady breeze which required me to use a fast shutter speed. I also normally use a tripod where ever I go. This day I wanted to be “free” and capture images quickly as I saw them. With a high ISO of 1600, the 5D performed exceptionally well and allowed me to capture the images that I was targeting.
From John Barclay, “When you see RED … Shoot!” Yesterday evening I walked out our front door and saw this Salvia “on fire” from the early evening sun. I ran inside to get my camera and try to capture the brilliance of the light. I walked around the Salvia to find a suitable background to set the red against. I stood on my tip toes to see if I could get it against some dark green foliage. I got down on my back to see if I could set off the red against a cloudless blue sky. I finally rolled on by belly and look up against the house and this is what I came up with. I spent about 20 minutes trying to beat the setting sun to find this one image.
Lessons employed/learned:
1. When you see red > shoot
2. Find a good background, then put something in front of it.
3. Explore all angles.
4. Wait for the image to come to me, sometimes it doesn’t.
Welcome Summer! This Spring has been very interesting … periods of heat, cold, wet, and dry conditions, all mixed together. Right now we are between periods of rain and warm days. It is hard to tell which is growing faster, our flowers or the weeds. One thing for sure, our knees are getting their workout separating the two.
This image is a multiple exposure created by simultaneously rotating and zooming around the center flower. Karen’s garden creates an abundance of photographic opportunities.
More of the Fonthill Study coming …
I was after a subdued image of our Bleeding Hearts on a bright early morning. I stood above these “hearts” and shot through an Atlas Cedar. A slight gap between the branches framed the “hearts”.
I next got down on my belly and shot the macro below focusing on the simple two heart image. I added a little contrast and darkened the background to highlight the “hearts”. I plan to use this one for a Mother’s Day card for Mom.
This post will be my last of my “Emerging” series … at least for a little while.
I saw this emerging Lilac blossom against the bright red of a Flowering Quince and could not resist shooting an image. As they say, “When you see red, shoot!” The red background tends to overwhelm the Lilac buds. I tried to separate the two with a shallow DOF. Later in post processing, I added a little structure to the Lilac and added a little blur to the Quince which helped the separation a little more. Just experimenting …
I was experimenting with swipes and pans on this Redbud tree to create some interesting images for backgrounds. While I had my camera set for a blur (f/32, 1/4 second, ISO 200), I let the wind create a little magic on its own. I just held the camera still, waited for a gust of wind, then snapped the shutter. It’s pretty amazing what nature can do!
The sweet smell of the Holly blossoms greet me as I go out our back door. Who could help not noticing these small blossoms especially when they are highlighted by the sun-lit red Japanese Maple leaves in the background.
The early morning dew drops highlighted this emerging Lady’s Mantle leaf. This was a gift of nature just waiting to be noticed. It was a beautiful morning!