A Painterly Background

I was out on the patio yesterday afternoon cutting and sanding a wood project when I noticed this rose. The sun was low enough in the sky to pop in and back light the center flower.  Was too much to pass up, so I went inside and grabbed a camera. This was shot with the 70-300 using the Macro setting. At 300mm in the macro setting, there is no depth of field. The bokeh is really nice, working well to help separate and define the detail in the rose and stem.

Sometimes a subject like this works well with a solid dark background, but the effect of the out of focus objects in the background give a painted look to the image. The refracted highlights are really cool.

On the way back inside, I had to do something with the dogwood leaves. They were rockin' in the sunlight.

Zombie Encounter

 

I experienced a recent Zombie Encounter. I had the opportunity to photograph Tiffany Osborn and Stephanie Busbee made up for the Halloween season. The two did a great job with outfits and props. The doll was a really cool touch. Tiffany did their makeup. All I had to do was shoot.

I thought a woodsie setting would be kinda good for the environment, and Wellston Trail was a convenient

location.  We shot in the edge of the trees along the trail and on the bridge. The bridge worked out really nice. Love the way it is positioned in the top photo, and the unsuspecting walkers approaching the waiting peril is a nice touch.

I used two lights for the top shot, one on camera right, one behind them to give some separation from the background. The light in front was to help bring out detail and light their eyes.  The top image was shot with my fish eye lens to give the image a little eerie bump,  fro a little extra detail, and to grab some of the environment. Most of the heavy lifting was done post production.

  I toned and worked the photos in Photoshop Elements. Used Highlights/Shadows in the lighting adjustments to help bump up and emphasize the detail. Then went into Color Efex Pro 4 and used the detail extractor. Next added a bit of fog.

I went back to Photoshop and used levels, the eyedropper and airbrush to even out their makeup.

 The bottom shot was with the zoom at 135mm for a bit of compression. It was ambient light. It got pretty much the same post work.

Happy Halloween!!!

I See The Moon, And The Moon Sees Me

I have no idea how many eclipses I have photographed, but I still get excited whenever one comes around.
I can only imagine the reaction of early man to such a sight. And each time I observe, I think about how cool God is to throw so many neat things into our world.

I waited til the moon was over half hidden to start shooting this morning. Last night I got out a body, my old Leitz tripod and the Nikkor 600mm. This was old school, using the old manual focus lens. The last exposures were pretty dim, and my old eyes were having a hard time with manual focus. This old f5.6 lens ain't the brightest, but it is still sharp. That lens is about 34 years old. The tripod is even older. If you are thinking about buying a tripod, buy quality, and sturdy. A wimpy tripod is a waste of money.

Anyway, I spent about 45 minutes shooting this series, then the moon dropped too low in the sky, down in the trees and utility lines. I picked three separate images and combined into this composite. Hope you got up to see this, such a cool and beautiful happening. Never get tired of the beauty in nature.