Day 16 – Black Eyed Susan in Studio

Flower

It’s been a busy day and I had at first thought to post something from the archives but I got another new toy today. and had to try it out though at over 100 degrees I did not want to go outside so I clipped a flower from my black-eyed susan from the nursery and took it up to the tiny studio. My new toy is another lensbaby lens. This one fits on my mirrorless camera and gives me three looks a twisty background, a velvety look like the velvet and a sweet look like the sweet 50 but at 28mm. It took me awhile to figure out how to make it work but I’m excited about the possibilities. On this one I used a lightroom preset to desaturate it a little and added a texture.

Day 16 – Coneflower

ConeflowerS5031

Yep, another coneflower. I had a webinar that started at 8am and could not get out to photograph before the winds picked up. So, I decided to experiment a little with my lensbaby Sweet50 using my orange coneflower for a model. I had to use a 31 mm extension tube to get this close to the flower but this is exactly the ink of look I am trying for. I’m not sure about the focal point being dead center but as they say, even the rules of composition were made to be broken. One texture added for a little more interest in the backgound but masked out over the center of the flower.

Day 14 – Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia

I’ve been wanting to experiment with my 70 – 200 mm zoom lens for flower photography. I used to have a zoom lens that worked great for this but the manufacturers are now making them so that the minimum focusing distance is about 4 ft so that even zoomed in you can’t get a closeup of the flower. So, I decided to try it with an extension tube and it worked like a charm. As this is probably my sharpest lens I’m pretty excited about the possibilities.

I loved the composition on this image but I wasn’t too happy with the background which was black in the upper left and white in the lower right. So, between a lightroom preset and a texture I managed to bring them back toward brown to be more compatible with the flower and I even like the grungy texture that it added, especially in the corners.

Day 11 – Dahlia

Dahlia

This was one of the flowers I brought home from the nursery the other day. It has been patiently waiting it’s turn to be photographed. But, by the time I finished my errands it was getting pretty windy out so I decided to bring it in to the studio to pose. I’m still experimenting with the Sweet 50. I like a shot I did of the flower in a bottle but I didn’t quite find the sweet spot as I was trying to maneuver the tripod in the tiny studio. But this one came out well. I added a high pass filter and a texture. I think the color is more red than the real flower which is more purple but I’m not one of those people who gets all wrapped around the axle about things like that. It is still beautiful and that is the point.

Day 10 – Marigold

Marigold_Chalk

So, I swung by North Mountain Park again after church. This time I used the big girl camera hand held with the Sweet 50 lens. I have a hard time holding that big camera steady but it is easier to get down to the level of the flowers. This one has a lot going on in post processing. I did a high pass filter, then added a texture. I really like the purples of the lavender behind the marigold but wanted to soften them a little more. Then I took the whole thing into Topaz Impression and added a chalk-smudge filter which I lowered to 50% giving me a look I like though maybe it still need a vignette but I’m done messing with it for now. The end game here is to get a few great shots that can be printed large on canvas for a show. I’m still on the fence on this one but it might work.

Day 8 – Orange Coneflower

OrangeConeflower

I know, I know, enough with the coneflowers already. But they are what is blooming fresh and bright right now. I found this one at the nursery yesterday and brought it home to plant in my yard when I am done photographing it. I also got a new toy yesterday. A lensbaby sweet 50! It is a lens designed to have a sweet spot of focus and then fade off to blur at the edges. I still need more practice to get the photos I’m envisioning. In this case I was trying to make sure it was focusing right in my viewfinder and accidentally left the aperture set at f11. But I loved how all the little spikes came out in focus so I went with it. I added a texture to darken the left side and a vignette to darken the corners.

Day 7 – Geraniums

Geraniumw

Yesterday I spent 4th of July at my Mom’s house with my sister and her family. My Mom has lived in the same house for over 60 years now. She is not really up to gardening anymore but she loves her flowers so my brother and sister-in-law keep her patio garden going and parts of her yard have just gone wild so things that have been planted over the years are still blooming with abandon. Long story short, I spent some time running around her yard taking pictures yesterday afternoon and I have enough different flowers to last at least another week, or at least plenty to draw on come crunch time. And another place to add to my list of rotating field trips.

These geraniums were so over the top vibrant I had to tone them down a little using a Lightroom preset.  I did the usual high pass filter, then added a texture with a slight vignette to it.