Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Move

I love birds! Trying to photograph them in the wild is not an easy task. So I made my photos “artsy”, as in, “I meant to do that”. 😉 The swallows in particular are so damn fast you can barely follow them with your face. Notice the beautiful and graceful vulture. He coasts a bit, and came really close to me. I am glad one shot is kind of in focus. The trick (I learned in a nature photography class) is using a flash. Not a fast shutter speed. You really need a flash to have a sharp bird photo. Now, if they would only pose for me…. Here birdy birdy.

Sleepy Sunny Sunday

Another beautiful day in good ol’ Columbus, Ohio! We got up early (yes, even losing an hour) to take some sunrise photos. There were some nice cloud formations and some exciting goose moments. The red-headed duck I saw yesterday was still hanging out, and his friends (who don’t match) came back (they had left yesterday and he stayed with the geese). The third photo does not belong, but I included it because it is fun. And the sweeping curves are similar, maybe tying them all together in some esoteric kind of way (?) ~~~~ green bubbles forming on an egg in colored vinegar for a science project. Enjoy this lovely day! I hope yours is a nice as mine. I even have all my windows open!!!

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details

For my weekly challenge, I decided to use an image that makes me think about the dialogue within an image, about the meaning and usage of detail.  Can the viewer look beyond the image, especially in photography, beyond the details, the technique, the subject matter and see something else artistically without being asked to do so?

I took a series of photos deliberately out of focus, to concentrate on the composition, the color, the movement. Sometimes getting lost in the details, means losing the details. Like the saying “You can’t see the forest for the trees” my photo lets you see the whole rather than the individual. Opinions?

 

Chain of Events

The sky last night was beautiful, but I didn’t get any real good shots. My continuing frustration of trying to find a spot to shoot the sky goes on. If only I could fly. I have toyed with the idea of building a ladder to go way up on my roof, but I still don’t think I would be able to see over the tall trees. And I could fall off and that would suck. Ugh. It is very frustrating. And even though going up on the dam gives me a view, and even though the drive is only about 20 minutes, things change so fast in that time and distance.

As it got darker I decided to hold the shutter open longer and longer catching car lights. Which led to driving with the shutter open. That was FUN! And pretty cool.

Photo Abstract. I like it.

Fumbling in the Dark

Last night was the Perseids Meteor Shower. As the sun went down it was raining really hard. So I went to bed and hoped I would wake up and the sky would be clear. I woke up at 2:52 am, the clouds were gone. I grabbed my camera, tripod, and cable release and ventured out. My first spot is nice and out-of-the-way, great for sky shots, not a lot of traffic and open. So I parked and tried. Luckily for me, I had no reading glasses or flashlight, so I am guessing at my camera settings, using my phone to light the dial and find the bulb setting. Fumbling around with the manual focus button, or at least what I thought was manual focus. After getting it together I watched the sky, saw a few meteors, my photo attempts were pretty weak. The city light was discouraging, fog was rolling in, and clouds were heading toward me again. I heard a dog barking, and imagined if he was heading my way that I would hear him running and be able to escape into my car ala Fletch. Then a train came so I hurried and shot that. Then I decided to get back and my car and see if I could find a better spot.  I drove around, stopping here and there, for almost 2 hours. I should have just stayed where I was. Stupid lights are everywhere. I really need to find a spot ahead of time, get all my crap together (like reading glasses, a chair, and perhaps coffee and a blanket). Sometimes my “wing it” mentality does not help my cause. But I did see 8 deer, 1 possum, 3 cats (all animals were alive and well and having fun doing their thing), lots of fog, the beautiful moon and sky, and 15 meteors. My camera saw no meteors. The night air was beautiful, cool, aromatic, and all around really great. It was hard to see, but I had a good time.

I used a number of filters and adjustments on the train photo above, as it was a little blurry and gave me a headache. Below is the night sky with the moon taken at my first location. I am going to have to look into the right way to take nighttime sky shots. And I also need to buy 20 more pairs of reading glasses and stash them everywhere!