Good Weather!

So the weather was good for

For studying photography 

[which is a great hobby with

no creative boundaries]

Thursday morning was filled with fog and rain as the afternoon wore on, the temperatures started to drop quickly.

They went from 40 to 30 in two hours with winds gusting to 50 mph. Thankfully, we are in a hollow here so we are getting the wind but not to the extent those on the ridge are getting. 

Oddly enough, my shovels, and skis blew down on the porch. A water bucket I had out there took off for parts unknown.

I assume I'll find it in a few days.

So I decided to work with High key photos before returning to experimenting with macro images.

I saw a photographer I follow on Flickr use a broken ornament as her subject for a macro shot. The shot was so beautiful and so well done, that I stopped and studied it. 

Instead of breaking anything, I picked some weeds when I did chores to practice macro while avoiding the cruel weather.

Wednesday while hiking I picked up 'Old Man's Beard' seeds. Okay they are actually a wild Clematis that grows in the forests not an old man's beard.

The shape has always fascinated me, so I put it in a plastic bag and brought it home to study.

Old Man's Beard aka
Clematis vitalba

Here is a piece of Yarrow I got from the garden next to the porch. I can't believe that the dried flowers held up with the snowfall and all the weather we've had.

I placed the dried yarrow on top of a wooden block on my laptop keyboard and brought up a fractal I'd made years ago as the back drop.

Behind the scenes, it looked like this.

I don't have an iPad, but I do know of folks who place their flowers on top of or use an iPad photo to make a backdrop for macro photography. Ingenious really as you can control the brightness behind the flower.

I don't have anything like that. It worked for this shot and was handy as an experiment. I've done this with toys and had great results.

The shot below is the remnants of the Flea Bane flower in the winter. I put crinkled up foil behind the plant and a red ribbon below it.

Meanwhile in the Christmas Village, Mini-Me and Charlie spot something going on. Looks like a couple of Boo Monsters grabbed a snow mobile and 'eye' spy the Grinch hiding behind a tree and the Vampire Lady from Halloween on the balcony.

Huh. The Christmas Village has so much to see and so much going on!

Still Life Challenges

Photography

I do enjoy Toy Photography as much as Still Life. I don't have to wait for perfect weather or perfect light. With a little effort and fun, one can create any world they wish too.

I took an on line class to learn and force myself to do Still Life years ago. I was pretty sure I'd hate it, but I also thought it would be an interesting way to spend time learning a new skill. 

I found out that I really did enjoy it. The class I took was in 2014.

I should do some more of this. Still Life is beautiful and always open to any interpretation. 

I don't want to be stuck in any one genre of photography.  I will say that I am not comfortable with Portrait Photography though. Weddings and portraits are tough and I am very uncomfortable with that genre. 

I have done portraits but mostly those just of my grand kids and a few other little ones. Kids are naturals and fun to follow around with a camera.

Maybe it is time to refocus during these cold, wet, and nasty days.  I might  put the toys aside for a little bit or just mix things up more.

My regret is that I didn't pick up any flowers at the store yesterday!

But I did have some time to make an effort at something much different anyway:

Glass Heart 
&
Pearls

Glass Heart
Pearls
Old Silk Rose

Below: Old Thank You Card I made when I was making all of my own cards to send out in the mail. Remember sending things in the mail???

Anyway. 

It is a good challenge on a dreary wet and nasty day!

Rock 'n Roll

 

Thought I'd have some fun with a different look. This is from the last day in February and the photos were of course shot in Infrared with a 665nm filter. 

Just playing with some art conceptions. High key concepts are fun as well as low key. 

Hint: I got sidetracked again while putting things away in the spare room. I messed with some old fiber board and a piece of white painted plywood. 

I was hoping for a wild and wooly snow melt but it doesn't look as though that is going to happen.

Charlie and I have been cruising the valley looking for signs of the big melt. What I am seeing instead is that due to the dry fall we had, it seems the snow is melting slow enough to soak into the ground.

The Ice Fingers are all gone now with night time temps staying just below freezing. 

Charlie and I hiked for a few hours yesterday in the valley. I stopped for a bit to work on the project I have way back by the obnoxious neighbor's empty land. I actually go to this spot a lot for picnics in the spring and summer. In the spring the patches of Leeks cover the forest floor.

We eventually made our way back down to the creek and headed home. 

Mr. Charlie is getting to be a pretty good assistant. He was tired enough to sit on a rock and watch as I knelt down in the creek to look for Caddisfly houses.

I have some really cool shots of him that I got yesterday. I haven't pulled the photos off yet as they are on the Infrared Camera. 

I'm taking my friend Bill today for a new hike at KVR. We'll park at Horse Camp aka as Willow Camp at Star Valley. Willow trail to old 131 ... a peek at the river ... then on to the pond and back up Star Valley road to the parking area. Bill wanted another easier hike so I picked a rout that would be a nice loop for him and Charlie.

Funny enough how this short legged guy just loves hiking. My cousin told me that Weiner dogs are notorious for disliking hikes. Charlie doesn't know that...I haven't told him that his 3 inch crooked legs were not made for hiking. The lady that I got Charlie from also said that his Pekinese half would be super lazy.

He can't handle the heat, but he sure loves wet, muddy, snowy, sloppy, trails. I didn't think he'd be up for another hike today but as soon as I started putting things in a back pack...

he went and sat on it.

He's ready to rock 'n roll.

High Key Photography ~ my lesson

Our assignment for this week was High Key photography.

So I read up on it and was rather put out to find that most of this sort of photography was done in a studio with lights and things called softboxes, lightboxes, and other things that I don't own.

Never fear.
Some things can still be achieved by using natural light.

But I had to wait for the sun to shine.  That did happen yesterday, but I couldn't do the project outside as the winds were gusting to about 35 or more mph.

So I set up my little ugly wooden chair in the living room and put an old white sheet on it.

High Key=light ...upbeat, happy, bright...

Ohhhkay...

Well here is the 'home' fancy studio.

Not very impressive right?
I mean look at Morris's crate right behind it, the heater, the brick, the wall, and all of the distractions.

But...
Here is that red horse.

Items used.
Tripod.
40mm micro Nikkor lens, Nikon D5200.
Sunlight, bright sunlight coming in the window.  This reflected off the old white sheet I tossed on the chair, or should I say.... 'Artfully tossed' on the chair.

I had the sun at my back and off to the side.  The white reflected the sun onto the subject and into the camera.
I tried a few settings.  Manual settings were ISO 100, f4, 1/20th of a second.

I also used the setting on the D5200 of High Key.  
But because I wanted to learn how to do this, I decided to use the Manual settings.  I was able to over expose by .67, I thought it was +7 on the EV but the details say .67.

I took the photo in RAW, processed it to jpeg in CorelAfterShotPro and then used Topaz BW Effects in CS2 [I also was able to process it in PaintShopPro X6 the same way].

I tried the Topaz BW setting of Hi Key I.  It was close to what I was looking for but I moved the color filter towards pink to get the details to show up on the horse.

I like how this shot turned out.  Very high key.

I  used Topaz BW Effects on this one also.

But then I used another method of how to make a photo look like a drawing.

I finally settled on this shot as my presentation for the assignment.

I'd like to redo this shot and bring out the details in the wings more, but that will require another sunny day and a different mode of focus on the camera.

I'm not sure High Key is my style but it sure is a good exercise in photography.