Today I knew it was too windy to even attempt to photograph leaves but I was intrigued by the leaf prints on the sidewalk where the wet leaves had been before they blew away. I introduced a real leaf to add a little color. The challenge was getting the shot before the leaf blew away. I added a texture for just a little more color and texture.
I’m glad I took this picture a couple of days ago so I don’t have to go out on my ankle today. Except for Cody’s dog walks of course but they are shorter and further between, I’m don’t think he understands that he is being punished but he was pretty mellow last night. Tonight may be another story.
We woke up to more much needed rain this morning. I managed to sneak out between downpours to get this image of raindrops on autumn leaves. Fortunately, it was just up the street because my stupid dog tried to cripple me a few minutes earlier. Thank goodness I have learned not to take the camera on dog walks. It probably would not have survived the fall. The jury is still out on my ankle.
I know it’s been too long since I posted anything because I almost forgot how to do it. But persistence has paid off and after several false starts I managed to get it done.
I’ve been admiring the autumn leaves for several weeks and thinking I should do a project just celebrating the colors and textures. But I have been busy with other things so I’m getting a late start. I’m thinking 30 days on this one but if I run out of leaves to photograph it may end earlier. Of course, I can always draw from the archives.
The constraint on this project is only using my new Lensbaby sweet 80 lens. Extension tubes allowed for macro but today I forgot to put them in my pocket so this is a close as I could get to the leaf and still be in focus. And in the interest of starting close to home and working my way outward, this one is the tree in my front yard.
For my last hurrah I took the Velvet 56 and the EOS R to the Harry and David Rose Garden. There is such a poignant beauty to faded roses and some of them look like they had been freeze dried with the colors still warm and vibrant. I added a high pass filter to bring out the details and gave it a little pop of vibrance and saturation. Then I added a texture that seemed to compliment the texture of the rose. And that, my friends, is a wrap. It’s been fun playing with my lensbaby lenses and getting to know them a little better. As always some of the images were better than others but I learned a lot and while I’m glad it’s over, I’m not sorry I started. I’ll be reverting to image of the week again now that the 100 days project is done.
I noticed my tiny Japanese Maple was putting on quite a show of color so I grabbed the closest camera to hand which turned out to be the M3 with the Burnside mounted on it. But when I got up close the leaves were pretty far gone and not nearly as pretty as I thought. So, I turned to my Hydrangea which just never stops giving interesting and colorful compositions. I love the mix of purple and green in the background. I though about adding a texture but decided that would just be gilding the lily. As I approach the end of the project I’m torn between “Thank God it’s almost over” and “I don’t want to stop.” But trust me I will, I have plenty of other projects to work on.
I stopped by the Grower’s Market today with the Velvet 56 on the EOS R. You can see that nice velvety background but the main apple and front of the basket are nice and sharp. I did add a high pass filter to tighten it up just a little more. I also cropped out a distracting red and white tablecloth. And I added some vibrance and touch of saturation to bring out the rich colors.
I took the Velvet56 for a walk on the Greenway this afternoon. I found a little bit of lingering fall color but I’m always intrigued by the Teasel. The Velvets have a feature of offering a little bit of a glow at large apertures. This was shot at f1.6 so shows off that feature well. I added a high pass filter and two textures to add interest to the background and just a wee hint of color.
We’re mighty proud of the Pioneer statue that graces the Ashland Plaza. I have to admit that growing up I was more aware of the fountain than the statue, maybe because he was up there so high…. or maybe because it produced pure clear water you could use to rinse out your mouth after sampling the Lithia water fountain nearby.. or maybe because, as far as I know, he hadn’t been named yet. In any case, I took his picture with a background of autumn leaves a couple of weeks ago using the Sweet50. It lacked a certain something so I cropped it quite a bit as I had to stand back away to get the right perspective with that 50 mm lens. I added a high pass filter to give Mike a little more definition and I bumped up the exposure and vibrance and saturation. But it wasn’t until I put the texture on that I decided it would pass as a work of art. Even though the color is a bit off from reality I like the blur in the bottom of the image which is transformed into a grungy look by the texture.
It’s a good thing I got extra pictures yesterday because the wind is fierce out there today. The tree outside my window reminds me of the whomping willow. But this image is interesting because the leaf has an icicle on it. I think someone must have forgotten to turn off the sprinkler system because I can’t think how else the water got on the leaves as it hasn’t rained in some time. This was taken with the Burnside and I like that I captured the swirly bokah which is one of the Burnside’s characteristics and also was able to take advantage of it’s close focusing distance. The hard part was finding a leaf that was not way over my head. In post I opened up the shadows and toned down the highlights. Also added a high pass filter which really helped define the leaf.