Macro/Closeup – Page 22 – Jeanne Hoadley Photography

Day 56 – Echinacea

Echinacea2

I was looking through the files for something I could do something artistic with and found this one which needed absolutely nothing done to it. Well, of course I had to do something so I cleaned up a blemish on the flower added a high pass filter and yes, I think that’s all. I really like the idea of reviewing the files to come up with keepers like this one that may have just been edged out or overlooked in the first review. I shot this on July 1st, by the way, at North Mountain Park. I was using the M3 with a 28mm macro lens.

Day 54 – Rosebud

Rosebud

I was obviously going for an artsy look here. I started by converting to black and white and then overlaying a selection of just the reds in the bud. I then lowered the opacity on the black and white layer to let just a bit of green bleed through. Then I added a couple of texture layers to bring back just a hint of color and some texture into the background.

Day 53 – Sunflower

Sunflower

It is getting harder and harder to find something that doesn’t look like something I’ve already done. I got lots of great shots of sunflowers yesterday but many of them have a similar look to previously posted sunflowers. I don’t think I’ve done one in sideview yet though.

This one was shot with the Sol45 on the M3 again. I added a high pass filter which has become standard operating procedure for flowers. Then I added a texture and masked it out over the center. I may have to start playing with new techniques such as black and white or selective color or more digital artistry. We’ll see.

Day 52 – Soft focus Rose

Rose_soft

So, I skipped church in order to worship at the temple of photography this morning. I gave the security guards at Harry and David something to do again. They don’t seem to mind that I’m there taking pictures, they just see my car and have to come investigate. Anyway, I’m not really that fond of roses as a photographic subject but when I do shoot them this is what I’m going for. Unfortunately this rose had a few blemishes that I couldn’t seem to photoshop out so I’ll have to give this one an A- but it’s definitely headed in the right direction. I shot this with the Lensbaby Sol45 handheld on the Canon M3 with an extension tube. Post processing was about as usual. Tweaked the exposure, opened the shadows, burned in the upper right corner, added a high pass filter and cropped in just a little bit. I also ran this one through a denoise program to help emphasize the smoothness in the blurred areas.

Day 51 – Rose with Beetle

Rosewbeetle

I’ve been thinking about getting back to the rose garden soon. So, I thought I wold take a look at what I might have from the last trip. I had to open the shadows way up while holding the overall exposure down in order to highlight the beetle. I added a texture to help with the edges but I think it might still be a little too bright on the right side.

Day 50 – Black Eyed Susan

BES

Well, look at that, half way done. I’m not sure whether to celebrate or shoot myself. This is another one from my tour around the yard yesterday. I tweaked the exposure, added a high pass filter to sharpen the edges and threw on a couple of textures.

Day 49 – Hydrangea

Hydrangea

I was thrilled to see that my Hydrangea, which I thought was done for the year, sent up two new shoots and some fresh blossoms. I’m not sure I like the harshness of this treatment but it is the road I chose to go down so here we are. It has a high pass filter, a lightroom preset, and a texture. Just practicing some of my skills. Now back to the ancestors.

Day 48 – Pink Dahlia

Dahlia_Pink

Well, I got all the way to bed before I realized I hadn’t posted a flower yet today. So I went into the archives and chose one from shore acres. Really, you just can’t beat a Dahlia for being drop dead gorgeous. This one took a little exposure adjustment and some sharpening. I think I should have worked on burning in the left side a little more. But it’s late and I’m tired after chasing those 17th and 18th century ancestors all day.

Day 47 – Shasta Daisy

ShastaDaisy

I kind of went on strike today. I had intended to go to growers market and look for flowers to photograph. But the smoke was so bad I decided to cocoon and immerse myself in the 17th and 18th century looking for my ancestors instead. So I decided I don’t think I have posted a daisy yet and I shot this one with the Sol45 the other day. One of it’s special features is it can create it’s own texture effect in the background blur. I added another texture just for good measure along with some brightening of the exposure and a high pass filter for sharpness where it is supposed to be sharp.

Day 46 – Sunflower

Sunflower

It seems as if the only flowers that are thriving right now are the sunflowers and the black-eyed-Susans. I took a walk around the neighborhood yesterday and captured this sunflower that is growing all by itself in the middle of a vacant lot. I assume it escaped from one of the neighbor’s yards. I added a texture to give the background a little more interest but masked it out over the flower. This one was also shot with the new Sol45 lensbaby.