Sunday morning and Apple blossoms

I try to make sure I get my camera out at least once every weekend, today the subject was apple blossoms. Two of these shots are straight forward documentary style photos. The other two are impressionistic, one (the red crab apple) is a multiple (five) exposure shot taken in camera and the second, also created in camera is a digital version of what is known as the Orton effect. The original Orton images were created by sandwiching two slides of the same subject, one in focus and the other out of focus and then rephotographing the image. I simply took two exposures, just as with the multiple exposure shot, but one in focus and the other out of focus.

I like these impressionistic images as they have a dream like quality that is quite representative of how I feel about the subject.

This is not a "snap shot"

When taking family photo's, my wife thinks I fiddle too much with the camera ...here is an interesting article by Art Wolf, who will be known to many readers, about how he develops a photo by working through options.

Click here to read the article:

Spring has Sprung.....

Every year my wife, Faye, has a number of bird feeders in our front yard so she can sit down at her dining room table in the morning, drink her coffee, read the paper and watch the birds. Actually she has feeders year round but we get different guests in the spring.

This morning I took the opportunity to photograph some of them. The last two shots are of a female Western Tanager, earlier this week I saw the male with his head bright red in full mating plumage, but I haven't seen him for a few days now. Hopefully I will yet have a chance to photograph this fellow. I will also have to photoshop the Christmas light out of the last picture when I have some time.

Now, I have to say bird photography is not as easy as it may seem. Especially with these little fellows who are hyper and don't stay still for a moment. Auto focus doesn't work as you just don't have time to focus and re frame the picture. These were all shot manually with the lens (450mm equivalent) wide open (f4.0 at 1/500 second @ ISO 200) and set to manual focus. The camera (actually the lens) is mounted on a tripod, with the tension on the ball head set so that it will hold the camera and lens in place but still allow you to move the gear to compose your shot. One hand is on the focus collar, the other on the grip with your finger on the shutter release and you have to compose focus and shoot in one motion as you have only a fraction of a second for this. It takes a practiced skill to do this and I am still working on that.

In the greenhouse....

It's the third week of May and the temperature is scheduled to go down to -1 Celsius tomorrow night. That's why my wife, Faye, still has all her plants in the greenhouse, which we had patched up to last one more year.

I started off trying to get some shots of the tomato plants for a competition being held by Pentax USA (the last two shots). The president of Pentax USA and another well known pentaxian, both of whom live in Colorado, are tomato growers and decided to hold a photo competition of tomato's. Their shots of the early buds were posted a month ago, and theirs were growing out doors; my shots were in the greenhouse.

It's tight in there with all the hanging baskets and potted plants, as well as her tomatoes which she has also has in pots for now. Hardly room to move let alone manage a tripod, but I did manage to get some shots to start the season. I haven't been shooting much lately 'cause of my health but hoping to do lots this year and this is a start.