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Week 3: Full Manual x Technical

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r/WeeklyPhotos week 3 challenge is Full Manual x Technical.

I captured this water droplet at Cranbrook on a windy day, precariously standing on a slope. It was physically challenging, as well as technically, since I was adjusting my focus manually and this branch would not sit still. But I’m thrilled with the capture and the way the photo came out overall.

I’m also pretty thrilled with my post-processing edit. I think I did a great job with adjusting the colors to my liking, but also to showcase the beauty of this shot more eloquently.

This week gave me the opportunity to step back into my comfort zone. As you all know by now, I absolutely adore photographing nature. It’s difficult to find flowers in their natural settings in the winter, but I’ll be damned if there aren’t interesting dead leaves (and the dirty ground…) to capture. Especially here in the Metro Detroit area.

Here’s the technical breakdown:

f/1.8
Exp 1/320
ISO 200
35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX NIKKOR lens

 

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Squashy

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One of my favorite unintentional things (at first) that I noticed while I was doing this shoot was that I was capturing a lot of contrasting color backgrounds for the flowers I was photographing.

During the editing process, however, I had loads of fun playing around with adjusting certain photographs, including this one, so that they’d show a greater contrast between the focus and the background.

In particular, I made a point to shoot more oranges than I normally do. I don’t know if anyone else has trouble with the color orange, but I’ve always found it to be pretentious, especially in sunlight. It doesn’t want to work with me and I’m still trying to figure out the best methods for capturing how gorgeous it can be. I’m pleased with the result of the squashy orange in the background of this photo though.

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Dancing in the Wind

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The time is finally here for fresh flower photography and I’m long overdue for a blog update.

Michigan weather has decided, as always, to skip spring and go from “warm winter” to “volcanic apocalypse” within a couple day span, which means that I finally had the opportunity to get out and photograph flowers at my favorite flower shop.

I’ve decided that instead of making one big post with a ton of pictures, I’m going to showcase a new photo every day/every other day. That way, each one will get it’s own spotlight, rather than get lost among the others.

Today’s is one of the more “ethereal” looking photos of this trip. I really fell in love with it even before editing, which it didn’t need much of. It kind of reminds me of My Fair Lady and all the begonias and other large flowers in the intermission section, and it looks like it’s dancing a little in the wind too.

 

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Finny Waves

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I’m not drunk anymore! Which is unfortunate, but also good for this blog because I gotta update this before I head out for work tonight.

Anyway, my dad went fishing a few days ago on Lake Michigan and caught a couple fish. I sat down and photographed their fins with my macro lens and I’m really satisfied with how they turned out. I feel like if I didn’t know they were fish fins, I wouldn’t know what they’d be, and I like that.

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Clinging

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Tonight’s post seems like a burden cause I’m not really in the mood to blog. BUT IT’S BLOGVEMBER and I gotta keep my promises.

I got my Wacom Intuos tablet in the snail mail today and it’s pretty glorious! It sped up the photo editing process and hopefully will motivate me to work in Illustrator again. Hopefully.

Anyway, here’s another shot I really liked from my short trip to Yates this past weekend. There were some branches on the trail that still had berries and I thought they made for good points of interest. Pretty sure I took this on all manual as well.

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Summer Flowers at the Zoo

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Hey guys! Yes I totally have been MIA from this blog for a month, but I also have meant to update it several times and just never got around to it.

I’m currently sick at home so I have spare time to do just that today.

I don’t recall if I’ve mentioned this previously, but I purchased a yearly pass for the Detroit Zoo this spring, so I’ve been going to the zoo more frequently than usual and all the little gardens they have along the trails are perfect for my floral photography.

Here are a few shots from my most recent trip, on my birthday.

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Chrysanthemum Collection

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In the past few years, I’ve discovered that I really love Chrysanthemum flowers. They’re gorgeous to look at, but even more interesting to shoot.

In this set, I’m featuring the ones I took photos of using my 50mm portrait lens – and this was by accident, because I realized too late on the way to the flower shop that I had the wrong lens on. But I think the photos turned out well regardless.

They were all shot on manual mode. My floral pieces always turn out better on manual. And I think I’m finally starting to better understand my camera. Ya know, 2 years later.

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F-stop: f/1.8 Exp: 1/640 sec. ISO: 320

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F-stop: f/1.8 Exp: 1/640 sec. ISO: 320

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F-stop: f/1.8 Exp: 1/1000 sec. ISO: 320

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F-stop: f/1.8 Exp: 1/1250 sec. ISO: 320