OK, hang onto your hats, things are about to get interesting. This is the first day of a two week winter escape to California. First stop Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. this Snowy Egret was happy to go about his business while I clicked happily away. Hard to choose from the many nice images and the detail in the feathers captured by the 7D Mark II is still blowing me away!
Every time I take a walk in Lithia Park I am playing around with water flowing over rocks. I like this one so much I am thinking of printing it large to hang on my living room wall. Or maybe I will go back and try again for something that the rock doesn’t crowd the frame quite so much. And is taken on a tripod so the rock is sharper. Oh, well, I’m on the right track.
Yesterday, for the first time in, Ah, hem, 52 days, it wasn’t rainy or windy. So, I hurried on down to North Mountain Park to see if I could find any birds to photograph. They were few and far between and jumping around alot. But I did find a few sparrows and Juncos gathered around the bird feeders. Looks like this one was sampling a rock though.
I know, I know, not another oak leaf. But what is a Macro Photographer to do in the depts of winter. At least I haven’t given in to bringing home a bouquet yet. And I did process several images yesterday but this was still my favorite. I have something else in mind for tomorrow, weather permitting.
I’ve been working a day ahead so I have something ready to post each day. I must say that takes some of the stress. This is another one from the first outing of the EOS M3. Also processed in Topaz Texture effects. Today it is pouring rain again, maybe there will be a break later for a camera walk. But meanwhile I’m heading to the archives for new processing opportunities.
I’m really excited about this one because it is from the first outing of my new Canon EOS M3. If you have been following me for long you have heard all about my frustrations with the EOS M I bought 2 years ago. Though I invested in a Fujifilm XT-1 system it didn’t solve my problems because the lenses are too big and heavy. So with the EOS M3 many of my complaints have been addressed. I can change settings without going into the electronic menu system, I now have a telephoto lens. This image was shot with said lens and a closeup filter, hand held I might add. I bought the Electronic viewfinder attachment but I haven’t tried it out yet. The camera is a little sluggish in responding to movement but the raindrops weren’t going anywhere and I still have the 7D Mark II for action shots. But for serious photographs while walking around or traveling, I think the M3 may just be a winner!
Well, I can only say in my defense that Oak leaves are about the most interesting thing I have found to photograph lately. This is another one processed in Topaz Texture Effects. I like the way it made the grass blades stand out and added some color to what was mostly a brown image. I do wish I had not crowed the top of the leaf so close to the image frame but it was hand held so framing accidents happen.
This is another one from yesterday’s camera walk. I love the textures of the moss and the rocks and the leaf veins. The treatment I picked from texture effects is a little warmer than the original. And of course, I added a border.
I realized I haven’t been doing much indoor photography despite the uncooperative weather. Today being another sunny but too windy to have fun outside day I decided it was time to dip into my box of found treasures. Feathers, leaves, acorns I’ve been saving for a rainy, or windy, day. I shot this handheld with the EOS M on a neutral background which I then blurred out using a Gaussian blur filter. Then I added a texture also blurred and blended. I finally settled on multiply though I wasn’t totally happy with the colors. So I took it into Topaz restyle and ended up with something I’m pretty happy with.
Here’s another entry in the black and white category from yesterday’s photo walk in Lithia Park. Because I was being lazy and not carrying the tripod I was challenged to get a slow enough shutter speed to get the flowy effect in the water. This was shot at 1/6 sec f/11 with my elbows firmly rested on the bridge railing. I did a fair amount of editing on the left side to remove distracting sticks and branches. To emphasize the water flow I added a dark vignette and burned the edges.