To view more of my photography please click on www.rakmilphotography.com Walking along I saw this yellow flower and I maneuvered myself to get some if not all of the purple flowers in the background (more or less in focus). That’s the idea, give your flower photos a boost by adding some muted/out of focus colour to the background. Of course pundits will say shooting straight down into a flower is a no no. Mea Culpa.
To view more of my photography please click on www.rakmilphotography.com There is wildlife garden near us that seems to be a great draw for goldfinches. You still hear them more than you can see them but I have been lucky and captured a few. This one flew off and I managed to follow it to its next stop and get another photo. Lovely birds.
To view more of my photography please click on www.rakmilphotography.com Damselflies are small, and pose a few issues for photographers besides getting close enough to shoot. Their eyes are liquid filled, making it hard to focus on their face (sharpening in post processing helps a bit). They collect all kinds of dust that reflects back light (I use the same technique I use on dust removal to get rid of most of these distractions). Finally they are skittish but they like to have their back to the sun, so if you want a portrait approach from the shadows; secondly they believe leaves are great protection and are more likely to stay in place when hiding behind one as you see here.
To view more of my photography please click on www.rakmilphotography.com I often see wild flowers in their own patch of light. It’s actually quite hard to get a good shot and retain the light. We can talk about metering modes but the real issue is that the camera and the software want to even out light even with spot metering. The radial dial in Lightroom can help a great deal, but if you lighten the flowers for example, you also need to tone down the background. In black and white you can choose a colour filter to highlight the flowers. This is one of the better techniques. And a vignette doesn’t hurt either.
To view more of my photography please click on www.rakmilphotography.com My books tell me this is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I had never seen one before. My wife and I took a short trip into Quebec and found a few nature paths including one out of the resort/city of Montebello. Walking along we just happened on this bird who for the most part tried to hide from us before flying out of range.
To view more of my photography please click on www.rakmilphotography.com There are times when all you have to do is wait and the bees will come to you. I use a flash, but they seem pre-occupied and unaffected by my presence . The difficult part is that often the detail of the bee is lost in the dense black of its colouring, this includes the eyes and sometimes you just have to accept that. By the way this is one of my few bees in flight photos.
To view more of my photography please click on www.rakmilphotography.com Photographers and editors of photographs talk about a photograph “popping” or “making it pop” etc. With tulips this is easy. Their form, colour and position provide more than enough pop. You just have to be close enough to get the composition you want and mind the backgrounds, the tulips do the rest.
