January 30, 2010 at 2:17pm
More things I found in the snow, a continuation of my post here.
I saved the best for last…. meet ” Sioux “ (prn. Sue) who is simply a delight!
Hors’n around… Someone’s watching me…
I tried out a cloudy white balance for the cabin shots in an attempt to counter a very grey, overcast day.
A big thank you to Val and Elso for allowing me the freedom to wander their property, one of my favourite places to be!
January 26, 2010 at 12:58pm
A simple example of unsightly merges in your photographs. Make a final visual sweep of the scene in your view-finder before you press the shutter button, to be sure you have separated all of the elements in your composition. Keep your eye on the bench in the background…
All it took was a little “side-step” to the left, to avoid having the bench appear to grow out of the tree trunk. In this instance the trees nicely frame the bench by the 2nd step and it becomes another subject in the composition. Merges are hard to avoid in bushy scenes and there are more I didn’t correct - take a closer look and see what you can find… ( 17-55mm lens @55mm, F/22 & 1/25s, +1EC, ISO 800 )
Click on the Photowalk icon above - it will take you to details of this first assignment and a further link to an excellent article on the rules of composition.
Some warmer composition tips and examples than I have shown, are explained in this article I came across as well.
This cheery little Finch waited patiently for me to finish up with the picture-taking and sweep out the bird feeder so he could eat – we’ve been hit with the freezing rain and blustering snow the last couple of days.
( 100-400mm lens @ 330mm, F/5.6 & 1/1000s, +1 EC, ISO 800 – still had to be cropped a bit )
January 22, 2010 at 3:21am
January 13, 2010 at 10:49pm
With the cold temperatures last week I resorted to some macro work indoors for a few days. The florist introduced me to this Eggplant or Black Calla Lily. Quite an exotic colour and one I hadn’t seen before; from a short distance I did think it was black initially. The light brought out the reds and the texture, making it even more of an interesting subject.
However, it also proved quite challenging to photograph. The dark colour made it difficult to distinguish the details of the flower through the view finder, although that just might be these old eyes. I wondered about it being coated it was so reflective itself – do they wax these things? I used the natural light of a large north-facing window with a small diffuser.
I tried a variety of backgrounds but none did it for me. I would love to try the flower again, but outdoors in even summer light with natural greens behind it; I think the results would be more satisfying.
All but the last image were taken with a Macro lens 100mm at f/4 – f/22. I didn’t find that the unique blur of the Lensbaby lent itself well to this particular flower; the last image is with that lens, plus the macro accessory at f/4. This beautiful lily is just not a soft flower…
January 6, 2010 at 10:41am
Doorway into the old vault at our cemetary… once used to store the dead over the winter and the catalyst of many ghost stories over the years.
The thumbnails have been resurrected from the Fall of 2009. This could also be titled “A Study in Grey” as in grey days.
December 31, 2009 at 8:23pm
This story begins back on October 7, 2004 when we two chickens ( well, one cocky rooster and an old hen) went missing from Drayton Road. We were assumed to be abducted and the mystery began. A search for us ensued over several months to no avail and we’re here to tell you that those first few months on our own were tough go’in. The truth is, we were never abducted… we were totally ABANDONED by our former owners (who out of common decency will remain nameless of course). Yep, just thrown in the back of a truck and taken to an obscure spot further down Drayton Road and dumped by the side of a road. Imagine our shock! But we should have known something was up given that it was done in such a sneaky rush… the “Nameless Ones” acting all nervous like someone was going to arrive home and catch them or something. They couldn’t get out of there fast enough!
Well, it turned out that a family lived on either side of that road. We tried to hide at first, but it is pretty tough to do while dragging a ceramic body around. The people mostly ignored us, probably totally po’d at having junk dropped off in their yard. The snow kept us warm over the winter and by Spring everyone had mellowed; before long we had grown on them and were accepted into their family. We now had a spot by the side of the road to call our own!
Oct 7th, 2004 2:37 p.m./pre-truck Oct 22nd, 2004 Feb 8th, 2005
Turns out the ”Nameless Ones” did us a huge favour – we LOVE it here with Uncle Roger and Auntie Anne!!! We hang with our best ”bud”, Licorice and now a new horse, Raven. It’s so fun to have regular meals, swim, frolic in the field with Licorice’s mega bouncy-ball and Uncle Roger even takes us for rides with Licorice! Uncle Roger’s pretty good with the poopy-scooping thing too. The puzzling posters about us that came unexpectly, anytime-anywhere, have stopped arriving for the last couple of years. Thank goodness, it near drove poor Uncle Roger crazy!
So, we are neither abducted nor abandoned - we are instead, very happy run-aways.
The mystery has ended… we confess!
HAPPY NEW YEAR
ROGER & ANNE !
December 21, 2009 at 7:58pm
Not much time for photography during this busy season, however, I did want to stop and wish everyone a Happy Christmas!
Truthfully I enjoyed these few minutes away from all the preparations with my camera… . hopefully I’ll get out for some seasonal shots soon to add to this theme.
The poinsettia was taken with the LensBaby Composer plus the Macro accessory.
The thumbnail images are the result of a fun photo excursion with my 11 year-old grandson on December 23rd. Justin brought home his wonderful interpretation of Xmas lights with my Canon PowerShot G5 and a whole lot of movement – a reminder for us adults to “just try it” and see what happens! The day was grey and almost over for my landscape shot but it verifies that we do indeed have more than enough snow for Xmas.
December 8, 2009 at 3:35am
Ralph Lake on November 6th, a little after sunset.
December 8, 2009 at 12:02am
November 20, 2009 at 11:36pm
by PatB
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