Dogwoods and Lighting

Let me first say that I am by no means an expert on Lighting.  That said, I did have fun the past couple days shooting a Dogwood in bloom in different lighting and had so much fun with these photos and I have to share them and a couple tips with you.


Morning light, before the sun is overhead:

I love Spring, warmer days, all fresh bright colors, and love going for walks in the morning and in the evening.  One night while I was walking I noticed how neat the dogwoods looked in contrast to the darkness, so I broke out my camera and played with the photos, this was a challenge since you have to use a high ISO and slow shutter speeds.  It would be smart to have a tripod, but I wasn't thinking of that at the time, so I didn't bring the tripod out.  Some of the photos when right into the trash bin as there's no way to hold the camera without a shake for a 3second exposure, but I did get some very neat photos that I'm proud of.  The only light source I had that I used was the street light across the road.

Dogwoods at Night:

A wide angle shot capturing the tree, this is with no editing

Unedited

adjusted the tint and contrast

same image as the above 2 but did a "Low Key" black and white filter

I love the street light shining through the petals and the contrast of the flowers to the night

This image is slightly blurred due to slow shutter speed but with a contrast adjustment and sepia effect I really like it.

Now to compare them with some harsh direct sunlight (which I really do like on flowers at times) Here is afternoon light:

Blue skies, sunshine green leaves and white flowers, direct sunlight is beautiful.

This is not one of my best photos but I love seeing the sun shine through the leaves,

 Tip:  Be very careful on your exposure as this makes all the difference in your lighting, you can take a photo shot in nice lighting and make it look like it's all in the dark.  Below is an example of two different exposures on the same shot, these are both before I edited the images...The top is the one I like the most I think the exposure is very good for the lighting, the bottom is underexposed and while the flower facing left does stand out and have good contrast the rest of the photo is lost to shadows.

Tip: Don't be so quick to delete an image that the lighting isn't perfect in, I don't like the low exposure in the above image but I took that and did a high contrast black and white and added a diffused glow and I like the image it became here:

The Dogwood at Sunset:

I hope you all go out and enjoy the Spring and take time to find the beauty in nature.

Hands

I think we often take for granted the things we have in life, and often we never take time to enjoy the small things.  Really it's the small simple joys in life that we live for and we don't realize that until we look back at the memories we have.
I love hands, a persons hands say so much about them.  They are just one of the many ways we touch this world.

What our hands do for us:

 They are the way we get to drink, re-hydrate, and refuel. 

 They are the way we get to play games or many other hobbies one has.

 We cloth them to protect them from blisters, the cold, dirt, and germs;

 We wouldn't protect them if they weren't important.

They show our profession,

 When riding they are one of the ways to give direction and to turn.

 They are the way we connect with nature,
and how we feel.

They are how we learn,

and how we play.

 

They show our age; young, old and everywhere in between.

They are how many pray,

They are how we work,

 

how we care,

and how we communicate without words.

We use them to hold the ones we love close,

 to celebrate,

and to say "I do."

They also show off our dreams, past, present, and future.

Next time that you find life slipping by or you want to be thankful for something think of all that you do with your hands.  Think of the people who don't have hands and how different it is for them to open something, cook, or do many other things we don't take time to think about.

I love how much we depend on our hands, and who much they tell about a person, this won't be the last of photos about how great the small things we over look are on here :)

Remembering an early start to Winter

Last October we got an early snow on the 28th.  This cold streak late in April with some snow flurries made me remember how we got so much snow so early this winter season and then no snow all winter long, with an early Spring I had out my shorts and was ready to enjoy the sunshine and temps 75 and above!  Well it was a nice thought...this week has been cold and raining, out came all the blankets, warm pants, and sweaters, even had a fire in the wood burner.  I thought that this was the perfect time to break out some photos of our early winter in October and hope that I won't be posting any photos of snow covered tulips