Moment in time

 

 

Moment in Time

Nikon D90 with Tamron 90.  1/320s at f/4, ISO200.

 

Simplicity

Since this past weekend, I have not had much time to shoot photos and I am unhappy with those I have shot.

But sometimes it is good to remember the simple.  This little teacup rose comes from a bush that we planted when we moved to this house.  It had been given to us as a housewarming gift and was in a small plastic pot wrapped with foil.  It has grown very large over the years in a small bed next to the driveway.

I am driving to Austin today.  We’ll see what the road brings.

Simplicity

Nikon D90 with Tamron 90.  1s at f/16, ISO200, Portrait mode.  Black background, side window, large 52-inch reflector on gold side.   In Lightroom, cropped, adjusted white balance, adjusted light levels, increased clarity and vibrance, then sharpened and exported.

One Last Look at Rose no 1

I need to photograph.  It’s an addiction.  A good one, I hope.  One last rose photo, side detail view.  Pushed back into the shadows so that only the front and side of the rose are lit by the window and the reflector.  The original photo had more of the stem and I took some others that included more of the vibrant greens of the…well, I don’t know what you call the green parts.

In Lightroom, I cropped and brought out the light tones of the rose as well as darkened the background just a bit.  I saturated the red and increased clarity to give it more definition.  I processed further as a portrait because the white part of the rose reminded me of skin.

It is budget time and I have a proposal due today.  My sister and her children come to town this weekend.  I crave looking around at my favorite blogs and taking more photos but those are luxuries I must deny myself for now.  Sigh…

Nikon D90 with Tamron 90.  3s at f/16, ISO200, Portrait Mode.  Tripod and 52-inch reflector on white side.

Details, Details

Roses are the most glamorous of flowers.  They are stately, aloof and beautiful.  They are complex, do not give themselves up easily and prefer to be the show-stopper.  To me, they are like an actress, a diva, that dominates the limelight and craves the camera’s flash.

I love to photograph in the early morning when I can make the light mine.  I used my 52 inch reflector to manipulate how the flower was illuminated.

Nikon D90 with Tamron 90.  3s at f/16, ISO200, Portrait Mode.  In Lightroom, cropped slightly, added black and increased light.  Sharpened, increased contrast and clarity.

Illusion

I am, as many of you know, obsessed by a dream of softness.  In pursuit of that and in contrast with the sharpness of other photos, I took this image far out of focus.  Out of focus is, well, out of focus and mostly, it looks bad.  This, however, I like.  It uses black space and creates a feeling (for me, at least) of something barely remembered; craved, perhaps.  It contains a hint of the mysterious romantic.  Perhaps even a voyueristic quality, stealing a glimpse of that which is just out of reach.

Nikon D90 with Tamron 90.  1/10s at f/4, ISO200, Landscape mode.  In Lightroom, increased black and lights, saturation.  Decreased clarity and contrast.

Touch

What pleasure to touch the velvet softness of a rose;
like the cheek of a lover on a cloudy, Sunday morning.

Nikon D50 with Tamron 90.  1/125s at f/11, ISO400.  

Potato Chips

I kept this rose long past its prime, I have had it for more than a month.  My wife tried to throw it away but…hehehe…I rescued it.  I took this shot about a week ago.  For me, nothing fades so beautifully and gracefully as a rose.  

Photo was taken with the Tamron 90 at f/11 and 1/50s.  I used the SB600 speedlight (in manual mode, 1/2 power) with the Light Sphere 2 mounted and bounced off a gold reflector.    I used a black background and setup next to the large windows in my family room (it was gray outside).

In Lightroom, the photo was rotated 90 degrees to the left.   I dramatically increased clarity and bumped-up contrast.  I deepened the black background and used the Portrait setting, this flattened the light a little.  The I sharpened and converted to jpeg.

The rain has stopped but its still cool.  I am listening to “Song for Monet” by David Lanz.  My Sunday morning prayer is by Harold Feinstein:

A Prayer of Gratitude:

gratitude for the beautiful flowers, and

gratitude for the eyes to see them with.