Category: Nature

Day 67 – Oak Tree with starburst

Starburst

As promised I took the Edge 35 out for a walk today. I initially put it on the M3 but it was so heavy it almost overwhelmed the little camera so I switched it out to the R which felt more balanced.  Before I left the house I checked the specs on the Edge 35 to to make sure I knew what I was working with. Minimum focusing distance 7″ check, f3.5 to f22 check.

I spotted this old oak tree along the Greenway and realized it was on the right side of the fence. I went over to see what leaves and acorns I might find. Seemed like most of the acorns were on the ground already. This tree has to be at least 200 years old. It is about six feet around the trunk at the base. So, I went over to give it a pat and thank it for being there. Well, when I looked up and saw the sun shining through the canopy I remembered a little trick that most photographers who have been doing it for any time will know. That is when you set the aperture at f22 and point it at a light source, including the sun, you will get a perfect starburst. Yep, it works.

So the trunk and limbs of the tree came out completely in shadow so I had to take it through Camera Raw twice to open the shadows up enough to see the detail in the bark. It maybe could have used one more trip. I also added some luminence to the greens and yellows to make the leaves stand out a little more and reduced the luminence on the blues to darken the sky. 

Day 66 – Autumn Leaves

Leaves

This is another one from yesterday’s walk on the Greenway. Actually it was captured before I ever left the neighborhood. It was carefully composed so the white bark showed through and the street behind did not. This again was taken with the Sol45 on the M3. I did a little inventory yesterday and found that the Sweet50 is way over represented at 27 out of 65 images posted, the Trio is next at 11, the Sol 45 with 7 and the Velvets split at 6 each. All of which means I’ll be working with the edge 35 and the Burnside next week. 

So, in post processing, adding clarity was the main thing, then I added a slight vignette to make the main leaf stand out more.

Day 65 – Acorns

Acorns

So, today, I decided it was time to mix it up a little and took the Sol45 for a walk on the Greenway. I was just getting interested in the acorns when my battery started flashing red. I forgot to bring a spare but I did remember to put extension tubes in my pocket. It was a little dark under the canopy where I found these but so many of the ones in the light were over my head. I worked on the exposure, added a high pas filter, and added two textures. 

Day 62 – Thistle with Bee

ThistlewBeeTX

I’m still putting the Velvet 56 through it’s paces so today I took it to growers market. I was just leaving the market when I spotted some thistles blooming. I went over and darned if there weren’t bees buzzing around. I probably could have gotten a little closer from a technical standpoint but I was a little worried about ticking the bees off. So this is a situation where the Velvet 85 might have been the better tool for the job as I really don’t like that dead thistle at the bottom. I cropped in quite a bit as it was. I suppose I could have gone a little further. One advantage to the R camera is it has a lot of pixels to play with. In any case I did brighten it a bit and added a high pass filter for detail. I also added a texture for just a slight painterly look on all that gorgeous blur in the background.

Day 60 – White Rose with Raindrops

 

WhiteRose2Here’s another one from my camera walk with the Velvet 56 yesterday. I had to brighten the exposure on this one due to the white flower tricking the camera into thinking it was grey. I also added a high pass filter to bring out the raindrops. And I added one texture but masked it out over the flower. Textures and the Velvet lenses really do play well together. 

Day 59 – Lavender

LavenderTx

I took the Velvet 56 out for a spin around the neighborhood this morning, mounted on the EOS R. Match made in heaven I think. The combo is light enough to easily hand hold and both the camera and the lens are sharp where they need to be. And the Velvet 56 lives up to all my hopes and expectations as a macro lens. I love, love, love, the super soft background the velvet produces and I was hesitant to mess it up with a texture but in the end I thought the texture added just enough interest to make it a keeper.

Day 58 – Hydrangea Still Life

Hydrangea2

I may have mentioned awhile back that I would be getting a new Lensbaby lens for my birthday. What with travel and jet lag and trying to catch up from being gone it has taken three weeks to get the new Velvet 56 into my hands. With a minimum focus distance of 5″ this lens has the most macro capability of any of my Lensbabies. I’m currently taking an online class in color so I set out to kill three birds with one stone by completing my color homework, testing the new lens and getting something done for the 100 days project. I’m not sure I succeeded, at least from the color standpoint. To my eye the burgundy cloth and the burgundy hydrangeas were about the same tone.  But the camera wanted the flowers to be pink and the cloth red. So, I adjusted the color toward blue and added two bluish toned filters to try to bring it back to what I was seeing in the studio. I used the little bucket and a tin ceiling tile for neutral tones to play against my color. One thing I have noticed so far is that while the velvet 56 can stop down to f1.6, I haven’t been able to get anything in focus at that aperture…it may work better in full macro modes, we’ll see. In any case I look forward to playing with my new toy some more in the days ahead. 

Day 55 – Zinnias

zinneas

I’m starting to get my second wind on this project. I stopped by North Mountain Park yesterday. They had half the park closed off… apparently because of yellow jackets… but fortunately the flowers were still accessible. I haven’t done much with the Sol45 lately so thought to give it a whirl with the zinnia beds. The flowers are a bit past prime but I was happy with the effect though it might look better if the flowers had not been in shadow. In post I adjusted the exposure, added clarity, contrast, and vibrance. Then I added a texture for a little more visual interest.