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Geometric patterns, especially where there are clear flaws, have a certain appeal to the curious mind.
Latest
Window
Hail Fellow, Well Met
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Not a common sight.
Colourful
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I am increasingly finding myself taking a more studied approach as to what should be done in colour or black and white. It’s not always straightforward.
Bird on a Post
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Most of my bird photographs were taken on reserves and in forests. I never really gave much thought to the opportunity urban birds provide.
Perfection
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It’s rare to find perfect flowers to photograph in the wild or in gardens, but you can come close.
Imposing
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This flower was large and imposing, I wanted to get a sense of that in my composition.
Not Staged
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I am always cautious photographing people, more because I do not want to upset anyone. But this photo is a tableau, more than just about the human element.
Window
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Walking the neighbourhood, I can’t help but see windows that raise my curiosity.
More than Enough
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I am a fan of minimalist photos like this. I pass this “garden” frequently and this photo waited till I had the right lens and light.
Scruffy (Two Photographs)
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Urban squirrels are a great deal more wary of people than those I see in the forest. So when Scruffy sat for its portrait, I was quite pleased.
Sparrow
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Sparrows seem to be everywhere and when you can’t see them you can hear them. Nice sound to wake up to in the morning.
Pretty
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In the midst of everything else nature has a distinctly calming effect.
Not Xmas
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Walking by a house where Christmas lingers along with some homemade summer bird houses struck me as unusual but I liked the way the bird houses looked.
Brutalism
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Brutalism is a form of architecture that really does nothing except for being functional. The pretence of many modern buildings to consider themselves fine architecture is absurdism. As a photographer mockery is within our grasp.
Not a Leading Line
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A leading line takes your audience’s eye to the subject, like a road to a house. Here the line of flowers fade into the background like exhaust from a rocket, eye catching.
What the Window Sees
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One technique I like is using window reflection to frame something that then becomes the subject; catching the eye or causing the viewer to think.
Selective Focus
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Shallow depth of field to isolate a subject is a classic technique. Another way to think about it is to call it selective focus. Like selective sharpening it’s all about highlighting a subject.
Angles
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The rule says concentrate your viewers’ eyes on the subject, make it standout. Also note that some of the worlds greatest painters create scenes with a whole lot going on, sometimes unrelated, with the sole purpose of keeping their audience occupied or telling a story. Then there is impressionism and abstract art where the subject is not always the point. For the most part photography has focused on realism and clarity more than anything else. Personally I like a lot of facets.
Bokeh
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Bokeh is the kind of background you see here, nicely out of focus. It’s possible to get this with any camera and lens, but the more blades in the lens shutter the better. A full-frame camera does not hurt but I don’t think it’s a good reason to buy a more expensive camera.
Back End of the Week
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As we see the end of a long week, a change of perspective cannot hurt.
Signage
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Parking lots have provided me with several photographic opportunities, very often it’s the signs that make the scene.
Chairoscuro
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I like the way the light fell on this scene, just slightly haphazard.
Cardinal Couple
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This pair of cardinals kept moving along the ledge and I took the photograph when they finally moved closer together. The photo is in black and white only because the building’s paint was awful and detracted from the birds.
Tulip Against Brick
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The urban environment is no different from any other photographic venue, background plays a role. While good backgrounds are hard to find they can make a big difference.
My No.1 Rule
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If you pass something more than once and it continues to catch your eye take a photograph. There is something there and as a photographer the job is to show an audience what it is.
Tulip (Two Photographs)
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It takes a lot to make a photograph: getting balanced exposure, an appropriate depth of field and a perspective on the subject that is dynamic.
Obscurantism
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Somebody thought their nasty graffiti would be visible but the vine had other ideas.
What the Window Sees
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People who follow me here know I like windows and this is the first time I have done selective colouring.
Stapled for the Common Good (Four Photographs)
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They are in the process of replacing older telephone poles in our area. Traditionally used for postering. On wood, staples work best. This makes for wonderful and interesting textures.
Bokeh
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I was shooting with a 24-70 f2.8 lens. On a full frame the out of focus background seems much better and more amenable to the bokeh effect you see in the photo’s background.
Depth of Field (Two Photographs)
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I use depth of field as a creative tool in almost all of my efforts, it’s something I am very careful about and often take photographs like this with different depths of field tilI I have something interesting.
Swirl
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All the photographs this week were taken with the new full-frame camera I mentioned on Friday, so naturally I am trying out various things to see how the larger frame helps or hinders. The depth of field may be narrower than I am used to with a cropped sensor but for day to day shooting it probably makes no difference.
Outbursts (Two Photographs)
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These photographs were taken downtown a few blocks from where I live. A true urban environment. I found the shoots coming out of old trees a little surreal.
New Camera
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My favourite camera decided to retire unexpectedly. I decided to replace it wth an old model full frame camera, instead of another cropped sensor camera. Apart from it being much heavier than any camera I have ever used, I have had to think more about depth of field as it is narrower than with a cropped sensor. So far so good, but it turned a spring flower shoot into a fall one I am sure it’s user error and I will need to repent.
Window Pane – 2
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This just shows that the window pane, a popular lighting effect can be scaled. You could even use it in portraiture making it look like you were using a window light.
Window Pane
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The window pane pattern comes from a grid on my soft box off to the side. You can use any off camera flash in a cheap soft box but make sure you get a grid to create this effect and to better direct the light. Godox and Neweer have good boxes.
Top Down Lighting
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There are unlimited numbers of lighting schemes, and groups thereof. Taking top down lighting as an example, I wanted to try it with a very narrow beam of light – shooting down a cardboard paper towel tube was one thing I tried, then a few snoots (snoots are plastic, fabric or metal very like the paper towel tube I fabricated). I found most worked equally well regardless of length. It was where the light was focused that mattered most, and for me the best position was slightly in front of the object but shedding some light on the front of the subject. This called is feathering.
Forked
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This photograph was born of an idea to try something influenced by Busby Berkeley’s amazing cinema choreography (worth a look up on You Tube). Inspiration is a wonderful thing.
The Common Kitchen Sponge (Two Photographs)
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I was pretty sure that the sponge would make for an interesting subject. I did not realize it would be so fluid. Only about one in three tries at this level of magnification work out. In some cases I have taken a hundred shots on an educated guess of the outcome with mixed results.
Photography is an Art Form (Two Photographs)
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I am a firm believer that photography is an art form and that you can be very creative in this medium. It’s one of the reasons I decided to try extreme macro, the abstracts and designs are endless. In this case an old tape measure.
Imperfect Mirror
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I use shots like these to explain depth of field. The closer your subject is to the camera and the further the background from your subject the more out of focus and potentially more pleasing the background.
Fall HDR
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There was time when HDR was maligned for a propensity for psychedelic colouring. The idea that you could actually achieve a more toned down result wasn’t mentioned much. I use Photoshop’s HDR function, and I find it works very well for my purposes.
On a Broom Stick
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This is my favoured pose for a dragonfly, they look like they just might be flying a stick.
Swallowtail
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With butterflies it is sometimes hard to tell if they are in flight or not. Their wings say one thing and their proboscis another.
Sunflower Visit
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You could never call this a photo of a sunflower, though that was what I was after. The Japanese beetle photobombed my composition.
A Muscular Bee
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This bee struck me as fairly beefy as bees go. As usual it ignored me completely, but I still got a nice portrait eyes and all.
Lights, Camera, Action…
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At one point I worked in the Movies but that was a long time ago. My current camera, I am told, makes wonderful movies. I sincerely doubt that I could make a quality movie with any DSLR or mirrorless without purchases of necessary accessories, a considerable learning curve and new software. I am quite content with stills. The shot here was not easy and took three lights: a gridded soft box to the left pointed along the table, a second light highlighted the unraveling film, and a third acted as fill for the rest. After 60 shots I got the reel of film illuminated, after that it was smooth sailing.
Goldfinch
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After a week of macro abstracts I did not wish to leave the impression I have strayed from an interest in other forms of photography. We just live in challenging times and I am taking advantage.
Patina of a Medal (Two Photographs)
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The medal here is from 1918 Union of Former Soldiers founded by President Clemenceau. I picked it up years ago in a flea market. Close-up it’s just another abstract.
Spooky Button (Two Photographs)
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As I was on sewing theme I thought about buttons and came across this one. With motorized focus stacking you have a choice to mount the apparatus horizontally or vertically, a change that requires rebuilding the stage (another hour or so in the process). I did this one both ways, with vertical being the winner. Vertical stages are more prone to shake, a passing truck can make the difference. There’s a way to compensate but it adds time and exposures to the stack.
