365:99

Day 99 - Photograph a flower

Yay - I am so happy to be photographing something that is not abstract!

It is Springtime. In fact, today is the Spring Equinox, the day that night and day are of equal length. The day that the sun rises directly in the East, and sets directly in the West.

I celebrated the equinox today by doing two photoshoots. It is my goal to do two a day, 5 days a week. I just love portraiture!

Honestly, I never thought I would, being a die hard landscape photographer, but portraiture is so much fun!

To be able to spend some time with someone, work with them to make some awesome images that capture that moment in time. Memorialising a life, and the beauty of that life. What greater satisfaction is there?

However, I digress. Today is about a flower.

The fruit trees are flowering, providing me with a few choices. The image I have chosen for today is a nectarine flower - actually a small cluster of nectarine flowers.

EXIF:
D810 and Tamron 90mm f2.8 at 1/80s, f9, ISO 100, Spot metering and custom WB.

Flowers:

Until tomorrow, when we will be photographing a decorative object

MerranG

365:98

Day 98 - Photograph a House Number

A different kind of photo today!

After weeks of light and shadow and texture and patterns etc, we have something different.

Now as a paper girl, I see lots of different house numbers. There is an endless variety. But unfortunately, I am looking at them in the dark, and I am sure people don't want me lighting up their front yards with my strobes at 3am!

So instead, I went out locally and made some photos of neighbours house numbers. In fact, here in NZ we don't tend to put our numbers on the house, more so on our letter boxes. So really, I made a photo of a house number that was not on a house!

My assistant came out with me today, and I handed him the camera, (set up to my custom settings) and let him take a photo. We previewed it in camera, I suggest he move closer to his subject, and he made another photo.

The first image is mine, the second is his. Both have had my usual processing applied in post, with the addition of a clarity filter at the end of PP.

EXIF:
125 at f3.0, ISO 64, WB custom, spot metering.  Both were shot under the same parameters.

So today, I give you House Number(s).

Until tomorrow, when we will be making a photo of a flower (yay!).

MerranG

365:97

Day 97 - Photograph texture

First - my EXIF data:

D810, Samyang 14mm 2.8 at f4, ISO 64, ss 1/80, custom WB, metering - other.

Texture - everything is texture isn't it? Satin and silk = smooth.  Bark and gravel = rough. So what sort of texture?

I chose to photograph texture that we see around us all the time. In our gardens, on our streets, in our parks.

Because I am using a super wide angle lens on a full frame camera, it creates interesting perspective. I have chosen to leave this just as it is, and only do my usual alterations in PS - namely my curve layer adjustments, and some post process sharpening. I do not sharpen in camera.

Today, I give you texture:

Until tomorrow, when we photograph a house number
MerranG

365:96

Day 96 - Photograph Light and Shadow

Today we went to Tauranga. We incorporated getting some supplies for a new born shoot I have coming up, with picking up our son who was returning from camp. (To see the newborn stuff go check out my fb page at www.facebook.com/framinglightphotography .)

So we are standing there chatting to my son and his companion, finding out about the exciting things they have been up to over the weekend, and I suddenly notice something of interest. Light and Shadow!

I excuse myself, and start to frame the image, finding the perfect composition in camera. I had the D200IR in my hands, with the Tokina 90mm 2.8 lens.

Shot at ISO 100, 1/160sec at f8, with custom WB and exposure bias of +0.33, using spot metering.

Now I wonder if the image may have been better if I had changed my metering to matrix for this image.


So today, I give you Light and Shadow - in infrared.

Until tomorrow, when we look at texture,
MerranG

365:95

Day 95 - Illustrate a Haiku

A Haiku - a verse consisting of three lines, the first line of which has seven syllables, the second has five, and the third has seven again. A Haiku normally does not rhyme.

What to write a Haiku about, and how to illustrate it?

Well, when Himself came home from work today, he said, "Let's go for a sail".

"Let's go out to the boat and take her for a bit of a buzz", I replied. "There might not be enough wind".

So, we drank our hot drinks and headed out.

Once there, we were underway incredibly quickly, considering it has been a few months since we took the lovely lady out, we just seemed to fall into the rhythm. Before long we were on our way, the sails were up, and she was vibrating beneath us, responding to the breeze.

That is what I love about sailing, feeling the yacht respond to the breeze, holding that power in your hands, working with that power, and creating momentum from it. The glorious feeling of being under way without the sound or smell of engines.

Divine.

So I decided to write a Haiku about my lovely yacht.

So today, I give you - Illustrate a Haiku.

Again, please comment and reply with your own interpretation of the theme for the day.

Until tomorrow when we look at Light and Shadow
MerranG

365:94

Day 94 - Photograph Texture

Exif data for today.

D810 with Tamron 90mm 2.8 at f3.2 1/60sec
ISO 64
WB - custom set.
My usual post processing as per day 92 with the addition of a blue filter to reduce brightness of yellow/green cast in image.

I actually went out to take a picture of Tuhua covered in cloud. It looks like an  active volcano when the cloud just hovers about the summit. But then, while talking to a neighbour, I spotted this beauty.

It reminded me of my post the other day when I wrote about circles and spirals.

The koru that this image shows always exemplifies for me the cycle of life. How we go around and around, but never are quite in the same position as last time.

Anyway, enough preamble - today, I give you texture:

Please fell free to comment and add your own interpretation of todays theme below.

Until tomorrow, when we will be exploring "Illustrate a Haiku"

MerranG

365:93

Day 93 - Photograph Patterns


Today, I forgot to set my WB, so I had to alter it in PS6. No worries, a reset to K6050 had it looking how remember it. The wonderful thing about RAW is that if you get the WB wrong in camera, you can always correct it later. Of course, I prefer to get it right in camera, but sometimes we stuff up ;).

Nikon D810 with Tokina 90mm at f8.0 and 1/125, ISO 64, matrix metering. I normally use spot metering, so that what I am focusing on, which is usually the 'ballerina' in my composition, is metered for rather then the whole frame. In this case, the whole frame was the ballerina, so I used matrix metering.

PP? Just the usual process, same as yesterday, but an extra curves layer which was used to lighten the image a little. I prefer to use curves over exposure adjustments, just because I do.

So today, I give you patterns:

Until tomorrow, when we have texture again
MerranG

ps - please feel free to add your own take on the theme of the day to the comments below. :)