nature

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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Week 2: Color Harmony x Composition

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This week’s r/WeeklyPhotos photo challenge was color harmony x composition.

As someone whose photography is color harmony on crack (I mean, seriously, just look at my florals) I found this past week’s challenge actually challenging. I think the major reason is of course because of the season – I’d say my specialty is definitely floral photography, so when there’s no flowers to photograph, I’m out of my comfort zone.

But I took to the streets on Thursday, even got REALLY out of my comfort zone and photographed things in stores – which I’m always really leery about doing because I don’t want to get in trouble for “taking pictures of merchandise”.

Anyway, one of my stops of Cranbrook House and Gardens, which is more in my realm of comfort. I shot some neat photos of foliage and things like that, but I got a couple shots of a fallen piece of a pine tree against the red bricks in the wooded fountain across from the main entrance of the house.

The original photo is vastly underwhelming, and I’ll post it below. But I knew when I took the shot that it had potential post-processing, and I’m happy that I was right.

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for photography and more, @vivianapodinaphotography

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Post-processing

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Original

A Taste of Spring

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I should have posted these about a couple months ago but instead of complaining about that, I’m just going to casually drop the goods for y’all.

Here’s some more flowers from late spring this year.

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Chrysanthemums ’17

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It’s officially a month since my last update and shamefully, I did not deliver on my promises of having queued up posts. Truthfully, I was so busy and mentally occupied in the time leading up to the cruise, I just didn’t get around to it. But excuses, excuses, we’re not here to talk about that, so let’s cut to it.

I have a few chrysanthemum photos I want to share from late spring this year.

I tried some different editing styles in Photoshop with these to bring out a more vintage, cooler toned look. I need to mess around with this style, cause I definitely feel like I can enhance them even more, it’s just about finding that balance.

Hope you guys enjoy.

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Pumpkin Patch

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I was looking for photos I haven’t posted that I could share and I realized I’ve been hoarding these two from a few weeks ago in my archives. My mom and I usually stop by this mini farmer’s market across the street from Yates Cider Mill when we go. They had pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and colors and I thought this gourd patch looked neat.

I know it’s officially AFTER Thanksgiving and Halloween and I should be posting like, cute snowflakes pictures, but it’s December 3rd and we still haven’t had a snowfall here in the Metro Detroit Area. And I hope that my mentioning that didn’t just jinx us. I want snow for pictures. But I don’t want it for driving and everything else.

Anyway, enjoy!

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Decay and Vitality

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I took my annual trip to Yates Cider Mill last month and of course I brought my camera with me. It was towards the end of the foliage decay in this particular section of town, so there weren’t too many subjects to photograph, but I managed.

I used my 50mm lens, partly because I forgot to stick my macro lens on – however, as I’ve mentioned before, I seem to get some really fantastic bokeh shots with this lens and it continues to be my go-to lens for every day photography.

Anyway, here’s a few shots from the day.

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I really like the way the above photo turned out. I think it shows a great contrast between colors, but also between the decay and vitality of nature and how strongly something like a leaf can hang on to it’s live-giving branch. That sounds super poetic, but nature is poetic.

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I had a tough time choosing between the above photo and another, landscape version of the same leaves. But ultimately, like that poppy picture from this summer, I like the contrast between the orange of the leaves and the serene blue background.

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In this last photo, I found this stalk of leaves sprouting out of the ground surrounded by mostly trees with falling leaves and I thought it was just brilliant to see this bright green foliage defying the autumn season.

Side Step

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Good morning from Minneapolis! I have one last floral photo to share with you all from this set. There’s more in the archive, from a different day, but I haven’t gotten around to editing any of those yet.

I’ve found these large colorful daisy looking flowers really fun to shoot in recent years. I have no idea what they’re called though.

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