flowers and spiders

Took these around M’s house today when I dropped off some of my dinner leftovers for her to snack on (since she paid for my meal and didn’t even get the pleasure of going)

This one I love because I didn’t alter it in any way. The feathering of colour around the edges of the frame are all the cameras doing. (Actually, other than cropping/sizing these pics, and a very occasional adjustment of contrast, I didn’t photoshop them at all.)

Same flower as above, but taken from a tad further away, to capture the whole thing. Who ever said flowers were simple?? I mean…one flower, and just look at the colours, the patterns, the textures…amazing.

One of DB or RB’s flowers from their recital. I can’t for the life of me remember what the stuff is called….nectar?!….with a nectar drop.

LOVE the colour on this one. Periwinkle and purple. Not even Crayola can recreate such perfect hues.

7 legged spider 🙂

Looks like it’s standing on nothing.

So, with the macro, I’ve found that the object I want to photograph has o be right in the center, or it’s not focused on (or to put it more simply, whatever is in the center is what gets focused on!). But. Somewhere along the way I was taught that a piece of art is not as compositionally sound if the subject is always in the dead center. (or maybe I made that up????) Regardless of truth in that, I do find that I definitely don’t prefer everything to be in the center. So macro requires some creative cropping (that last pic went thru about 12 variations before I decided on that one!)

And as I look at these pics, I wonder….are they too cliche? Or could I actually sell a print or two? I guess it would depend on how well they printed, which is something I’ve not done yet. Although I’ve gotten away from saving everything in 6×8 and have moved to 10xX cuz it’s big enough to show most of the detail on the screen, but small enough to not totally overwhelm my lil’ ol’ dialup connection. heh.

But. Cliche. Yeah. I mean, the world is already full of pictures of flowers and bugs, isn’t it? But. *shrugs* I’m pretty impressed with some of these, if I do say so myself. But perhaps it’s just the thrill of the new camera and my ability to fulfill an obsession for capturing the minutia?

Dunno. It’s midnite. Half past, actually. And I’m pretty sure the last fish has died. But I can’t bear to check on it right now. *sigh*

Pictures. Pictures pictures pictures.

Deve

A lot of cameras let you deal with the center focus issue this way: lock the focus on the subject by pushing the shutter button halfway, then point to where you want the center of the picture to be, then take the picture. Macro focusing has a very narrow depth of focus, so you can’t move too far away or the length to the subject will change and blur the subject. The other thing I’ve learned isthe less you use the zoom the more things will be in focus at the same time. Maximum zoom means maximum blur. Not that background blur is bad. But it’s useful to know the relationship. Having said that, I have to agree, “Wow”. Good job. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an iris with that extra petal layer inside. I bet you could enlarge the “Wow” picture to make a great print.

Focus on the object, then move the camera to a slightly different angle to recompose your image. Try to keep the lense the same distance from your target. It should still be in focus as long as you don’t move any closer or farther away than when you originally focused it.

Can there ever be enough photos? Especially if they are as stunning as the ones you’ve posted. I mean, truly, they are breathtaking.

…another one of my faves has been using printroom.com to sell his prints–he uploads them & then I *think*… you might have to read the “fine print” but I think people can order them directly through the website & you get a cut of the sale. I think you can set your own prices and they have a list of what they charge per print and option. It looks like a good thing to try!

…the more pics you post–the more I realize that my camera is just SAD. 🙂 I told J I want a high(er) end camera for my graduation present… 🙂 Or maybe a “yay! you’re going back to college” present! 🙂

spinningwhirl

May 22, 2007

I’m artsy. I was an art major before well… before deciding not to go anymore. If you’re trying to be “compositionally sound”… or “textbook definition of “art compositionally balanced”” then you are sort of right. A piece is balanced by where the focal point lies and what else is around it.. many things to into play to be compositionally sound (color,texture,light, shadow). If your focalpoint gets lost in other details of the photo it is not balanced. But I think you’re talking about is this: Take each photo, or the space in your view finder (LC whatever screen thingy… yeah ok I’m not digital speak friendly) and you will divide it into three even sections vertically and horizontally. This will make 9 even squares. Your focal point will look more balanced if it is touching one of the 4 points of the center square. If you can pull off a good photo with it touching all points (a center focal point), then that is ok. Your flower pictures do this. Photos don’t always look balanced if you are off center, depending on what you are capturing. But if you’re going off center… go for one of the points in that middle box (draw it on a piece of paper to see it) Hope

heh… totally cut my message off, and didn’t see it until now. Hope you got some rest, and I’m very sorry about your fish

ryujin

Are we calling things cliche if they exist, then? I love the photos. Can’t hurt to try selling some prints. These are BEAUTIFUL.

ChaoticResolve

June 4, 2007

Awesome flower pics! Love the first one!