Testing gear as an excuse for photo fun

I like to try to photograph common subjects in unusual ways.  Sometimes I need a little nudge to get going.  Even though there may be no one watching me, it can feel a little silly to be putting time and effort into yet more pictures of...whatever...let's say another stupid dead leaf and some nondescript pine straw.  That unease absolutely should not be a consideration, but the psychology of hesitation is what it is.   So I find various modes of thought to push myself over that small initial hurdle, but today I had no trouble, thanks to an extra stimulus.

I just acquired a new bit of gear, a lens to replace another, adding a dash of new capability (I hope) and making certain things easier to do.  Its primary functions (in theory, at least) will be shooting wildlife, sports, and narrow landscapes.  However, this telephoto zoom has an excellent range of close focusing, which opens other areas for exploration.  Aha, what more excuse could I need to notice what the fallen leaves are up to today?  Here is one of my first shots with the new lens.

That was done right in my own front yard.  Oh, and looking back at the house, what do you know - someone has been watching me!  Ziva got the glass door quite misty!

Here are two small leaves on a very large one.  This lens will be good for shooting butterflies and dragonflies, I think.

Next is just a hanging leaf, but I like the patterns made by the blurred branches behind it.  One of the lens characteristics that I was testing is the quality of blur both behind and in front of the plane of focus.  Bokeh is the fancy (Japanese) term for blur character.  I am pleased with the bokeh as an ingredient of the first shot, at the top.

A tangled mess that perhaps could be a metaphor for life and its inherent beauty and struggle:

As I re-entered the house after my ten pace safari, I got a really quick shot of Ziva, who was moving. This actually was a good first test of high speed autofocus response in dim light, suggesting that I will be a happy camper when I get to chase after birds in flight, soccer players leaping, and dogs running.

[all photos using Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS II]

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Ziva and more leaves

In today's wanderings down the Greenway with Ziva, I spotted another one of those crazy isolated fallen leaves that sometimes get caught in funny looking spots.  This was an unusually large interloper among the not-so-small evergreens.

When Ziva is relaxed and not actively searching for the location of a sound, the tops of her ears will flop in rhythm with her footsteps.  If I had something like a GoPro, I would arrange a doggie-neck-cam to show it from a close perspective.  This is my first stab at showing the effect through iPhone video, shot while we walked and I held the leash.  I used slow-motion, but at the beginning and the end you'll see a brief snatch of normal (walking) speed.

Next goals: to capture the excitement of a trot, then a gallop!

Later, she was ready for a nap, but that didn't mean the exercise was over for the day.

However, that's it for photos, for now.

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Still Autumn

Okay, it may be December, but it's still definitely fall in Raleigh, not winter!  Here's proof, shot this morning, right after the "mammalian" tree relic that I posted earlier.

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Self-Guided Greenway Tour

Ziva the diva dog led the way on a tour of the streets and the Raleigh Greenway today.  She stopped to sniff some Queen Anne's Lace, and I decided I would keep the iPhone camera handy during this trip.

Along Crabtree Creek, we saw a juxtaposition of bare trees and others still holding some colorful leaves.

At an abandoned bridge over the river, I photographed the patterns made by shadows, fence rails, and leaves, all from safely behind a barrier fence.

When I moved a few feet for a different composition, the sun ducked behind clouds.  With the shadows gone, I felt this image was strengthened by a toned black and white treatment.

Ziva poked her head through the posts of a pedestrian bridge.  I leaned over the top rail to get this perspective.  Kids, don't try this at home.

Is she serenely contemplating the view, reflecting on reflections, or wishing she could get at some squirrels on the other side?

On the way home, I encountered a concept straight out of the sixties...Free Love combined with True Love yields Tree Love:

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Falling for Ziva

Ziva loves autumn weather!  I suspect she'll be happy through all seasons, though.

While she watched from inside the house, I went after a few falling leaves that got caught on their way down.  These are exactly as I found them.  Forkful:

Almost butterfly-like:

Wants to be the last one on a stem?

How much is that doggie in the window?  Priceless!

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Yates Mill Pond Autumn

At the start of a late Saturday afternoon outing to Yates Mill with a few members of the Carolinas Nature Photography Association, I was a little disappointed to find the type of clear blue sky that millions of people like, a sign of "perfect weather".  From a photographic standpoint (and also just personal preference), I've always enjoyed cloudy weather.  It can provide flattering light for portrait subjects, intriguing light on landscapes and cityscapes, and interesting shapes if sky occupies a significant portion of an image.

Blue sky it was, so, what would I see...
Doing an establishing shot of the focal point of the area, the old Yates Mill, I chose an angle that emphasized the reflected blue in the windows.  I did not want to tilt the camera up to cover the height of the building (my vantage was low on the rocks), so I used a tilt/shift lens, shifting the lens upward. I leveled the camera, but unintentionally pointed it very slightly downward!  I liked the very slight divergence of the vertical lines - it seemed to add to the imposing bulk of the old wooden structure, so I left it that way rather than refining the leveling nearer to exactly accurate.  It's a pretty subtle difference, but if you're tuned into "architectural" verticals you'll see it, and if not, you might feel it.

Moving further away and to a higher vantage point, I used a longer lens to isolate an interesting part of the structure and contrast it with the trees.

For this image, the extreme contrast of sunlight and shade was tricky to tame, but the shadows added to the composition.

As the sun got lower, there was a bit of gold in the light, enhanced by reflection off the wood.  I chose to exaggerate this to contrast it with the blue tones.

There wasn't a lot of fall color in the leaves, but across the pond there was a patch of red standing out from its surroundings.  The shape of a dark branch balanced things, and a long telephoto included just the area I wanted in my composition.

The view across the pond was serene.  Here the angle is such that the sun was blocked by a tree limb in direct view, but shows in the reflection.

I suspect that some gorgeous sunset colors may have been on the way, but I needed to leave to attend a pre-concert reception for a group of patrons, after which I had a difficult concert to perform.

In my last few moments I tried an abstract reflection shot.

And a parting shot across the water when a pedestrian in bright clothing caught my eye.

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Weather Atop the Blue Ridge

Just two hours and a few miles of travel on the Blue Ridge Parkway can reveal dramatic changes in weather and the look of the landscape.

There was fog and haze, and most of the trees had not yet revealed their most intense autumn colors (this was October 7).  However, I briefly caught sight of a patch of color through a gap in the mid-ground foliage, and a long lens concentrated the view.

This fog bank followed the fence line for awhile.

My goal that afternoon was to hike to the Cascades in Jeffress Park, and I was rewarded with nice conditions at the upper and lower falls overlooks.  It was cloudy (and sometimes drizzly), which kept the contrast of the white water manageable.

I got my viewpoint very close to ground level at a feeder stream on the way back.

Here are views from inside and outside the Jesse Brown cabin in E. B. Jeffress Park.

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Autumn rose

Ahhh, beautiful, fall weather today...sunny but cool...and my neighbor has a few roses blooming!  No complaints, flowers are great to see and smell whenever you find them.  Of course the camera insisted on a chance to go out and play before work.  Usually a subject like this seems soft, delicate, and vulnerable to me, but this rose definitely evinced sturdiness and showiness.  (At least I didn't say it had "pluck"!)  I was content to work with the bare sunlight, rather than adding a diffuser or reflector.  Appropriate for a rose showing its stuff in autumn, right?

I used a 300 mm lens, and a 25 mm extension tube to allow focusing just a little closer.

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Chipmunk, Cardinal, Leaves

Five minutes in the yard today yielded lots of things to see, and I caught a few of them with the camera.  The chipmunk was in a tough, contrasty light situation, with a busy background, but his face was irresistible.

This lady cardinal looked inquisitive, and as you would expect, her movements were sudden and quick, but she tolerated me long enough for this sequence.

The leaves caught the light in a fantastic way against the shaded background.  One almost looks disconnected and falling (the very deep shadow on the stem has not been altered at all).

Moments later, as I moved no more than a few inches for a slightly different perspective, the balance of light on subject and background completely changed.

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