The storms have abated, the hills are drying out, the temperatures have warmed, and this is the season for poppies. Poppies are just beginning to appear along the roadsides, on the hills and in the garden. Poppies pose a challenge for the photographer. The petals close in cloudy weather which is often the most favorable light. They are delicate and move in the slightest breeze.
Flowers
5
Apr 10
Spring in Monterey County Brings Out the Poppies
26
Mar 10
Daffodils in Winter
A row of Daffodils retreats into the distance. Five exposures blended together to create a High Dynamic Range image. Taken on Blackie Road above Castroville in North Monterey County, California.
16
Mar 10
Tulips in a Window
This is another experiment in lighting. The tulips were lighted by light shining through a window. I held a diffuser panel between the window and the tulips to soften the light. The black background was a piece of black foam taped to the window. 1/2 second exposure at f / 5.6.
15
Mar 10
Pink Carnations
It is a general principle of composition that three is a pleasing number. This image has either two or three or four elements. There are two carnations, but the bud leading off to the right adds a third element. The lower bud isn’t apparent at first glance.
This image was an exercise in lighting. I placed the carnations in a plastic storage tub turned on its side with a piece of black foam at the back. I used two shop lights placed to the left and right as the light source. The light was diffused by shining through the opaque plastic sides of the tub. Diffusing the light softened the harshness of the shop lights. F/5.6 at 55 mm, 1/6th second.
5
Mar 10
Polar Coordinates and a Sierra Meadow
I discussed the technique of Polar Coordinates in the last two posts and explained the process here. I began the previous posts with the distorted images followed by the original. I’m starting with the original in this post (scroll down for the distorted image.) This is one of my favorite shots, contrasting the fallen tree’s decay with the new life of the flowers. It was taken near Ten Mile stream in Kings Canyon National Park. The transformed image is quite different.
19
Jan 10
Foggy Day in Garrapata
Garrapata Beach is about 7 miles South of Carmel, California, and 18 miles North of Big Sur. This area, above the beach, was shrouded in fog. I liked the suggestion of a trail leading the eye from the lower left up and towards the fog. A trail that leads to mystery. Taken with a wide angle lens, 1/15th second at f/16.
8
Jan 10
Circular Motion and Intentional Blur
A pleasing effect is created by rotating the camera as the shutter is open, as I did on this image of flowers in my front yard. A more symmetrical result is possible by using a tripod and a telephoto lens with a tripod collar. If the collar is loosened slightly while attached to the tripod, it is easy to rotate the camera about 180 degrees while the shutter is open.
5
Jan 10
Vertical Sweep and Blur
This is another in the Motion Blur series. Aperture setting was f13. I used a three stop Neutral Density filter to slow the exposure to 2.5 seconds and moved the camera up and to the right. The flowers were in my yard–Marguerites, and a white daisy. This technique feels like painting with the camera. I like the effect very much but the outcome is successful only occasionally. Often there is not enough detail to identify the subject.
4
Jan 10
Adding Zoom to Intentional Blur
This image of Daisies was taken in Monterey, California, with a 17-55mm zoom lens. The shutter speed was slowed to 2.5 seconds by using a variable neutral density filter. During the exposure, I zoomed the lens out from 55mm to 17mm. The effect changes when the lens is zoomed in rather than out.
2
Jan 10
Intentional Blur for a “Painterly” Effect
This image is is from my front yard and is of white daisies, Marguerites and red petunias. I used a Singh-Ray Variable Neutral Density filter to slow the shutter speed to 1.3 seconds at an aperture of f13. As the shutter opened, I dragged the camera up and to the right to blur the image and create an impression of motion.