Fleur d'Leigh

Chris brought flowers home yesterday and so this afternoon I decided to do some photography. I put them up on the kitchen counter and used window light coming from my right to illuminate them. A PhotoFlex diffusion disk/translucent reflector softened the light a bit. I used a 50mm lens and an extension tube, the lens set at f/1.8 for minimum depth of field. Lovely colors. Wonderful guy for bringing me flowers! ©Carol Leigh

A break in traffic . . .

On our way home from the Bay Area last week we made a pit stop in central California. There's always something around to photograph! I found complementary colors on a galvanized metal wall and artificial flowers in a (real) window box. My standard "walk around and keep a low profile" 18-55mm lens was used for both. ©Carol Leigh

Japanese anemone

We've got Japanese anemones blooming out front right now, pink ones and these white ones. I love the light, airy, ballerina-esque look of them. I photographed these using a 100mm lens at an aperture of f/16 for decent depth of field. ©Carol Leigh

I'll be showing these shots and a lot more in my upcoming macro class in Castro Valley, California. Have you registered yet? It's a fun and informative day. Call the Castro Valley Adult School at (510) 886-1000 to register. The fee for the day is $89.

Objectivity . . . or lack thereof

In my online classes I spend a fair amount of time providing what I hope are thoughtful, gentle, and honest critiques of my students' work. But it's sure tough to be just as honest with oneself!

In my heart I know that these are not some of the best photos I've taken, but TODAY they are quite appealing to me. I like them even though I know they're flawed. Tomorrow I may question my thought process, but today, they're okay.

They represent that I'm experimenting with various backgrounds and lighting situations. They represent growth. They represent the joy I find in photography, in seeing things in a slightly different way. Tomorrow I may toss 'em all. But today? It's been a good day. Know what I mean? ©Carol Leigh

Queen Anne's lace

A few days ago I picked a Queen Anne's lace flower, put it in a bottle of water, took a few photos and then walked away. I went into the studio this evening thinking I'd find a flower all wilted and bent over and yucky. But nope, it's still looking good, so I took a few more.

This shot had a light and airy feeling to begin with, but I enhanced the lightness in Photoshop to reflect not only how the flower looked, but how I felt about it ("It's alive! It's alive, I say!")

Lens? 100mm macro lens at f/2.8 for minimal depth of field. ©Carol Leigh

A walk around the block . . .

Queen Anne's lace is blooming all over the place right now, and so I picked one and brought it home this morning to shoot. I used a flashlight to lighten up the background behind the flower and, with a 100mm macro lens set at f/2.8, reduced the depth of field (the amount of focus from front to back) to next to nothing.

These are deceptively difficult flowers to shoot — they look better from a distance than they do up really, really close. But then don't we all? ©Carol Leigh

Imposing limits . . .

I made a quick stop at the farmers' market this morning and limited myself to a 50mm lens and an aperture of f/1.8. Shallow depth of field is great, but it can often bite me in the butt. I see some of the photos later and think, maybe I should have stopped down to f/3.5 for just a hair more in focus . . . But I'm loving the way the tomatoes blurred out yet kept their little soft shapes in the background. ©Carol Leigh

Color challenges

These blue hydrangeas are a tough color to process. Adobe Camera Raw makes the blue way too intense and I have to desaturate the shot a lot to get the color back to where it should be. Anyone else have this problem with blue colors? (No, Carol, it's just YOU!) ©Carol Leigh

Hello, old friend

In January of 2003 I bought my first digital SLR -- a Canon EOS D60. And in April of that year I bought a hydrangea plant at the local garden center so that I could photograph the flowers up close. I then planted the little plant outside our front door. Well, it's a LOT bigger these days and today I photographed it again. Sort of a "hello, old friend" thing.

I used a 100mm macro lens and handheld these shots, bracing myself on the deck railing. I'd forgotten how much fun hydrangeas are to photograph, and so in the upcoming week I'm going to be playing around a lot with these flowers, using extension tubes, close-up diopters, and more. Workin' it for a week -- that's the mantra. ©Carol Leigh

The kitchen lights are on . . .

Just because you're "in the zone" and getting a rush from what you're photographing doesn't mean you're necessarily breaking new ground.

This morning it was foggy and dark outside. But the camera and tripod were all set up and the plant was sitting there on the kitchen counter, beckoning me.

I turned on the overhead kitchen lights (not the best light source in the world, but surprisingly good) and began focusing on the plant's flowers.

After awhile, trying this and that, I was stoked! Never has photography been so much fun. These shots are terrific! Hoo ha!

Well, not so fast, grasshopper. I bring them into the computer and begin looking at them. And a lot of them are pretty good. I'm praising "live view" and I'm praising my own vision ... until I realize that a lot of these shots look JUST LIKE SOME I TOOK THE OTHER DAY!

Just when you think you're growing and improving and GETTING SOMEWHERE you realize that you're not the hotshot you thought you were 45 minutes ago.

But you know what's good? I KNOW when I'm not doing something different. I KNOW when my photo is a "fleur ordinaire." Maybe not when I'm doing the shooting, but eventually it sinks in.

I took a lot of images I can use in my upcoming macro class. And I had a good time. And my time wasn't wasted. So maybe my NEXT set of photographs will be my best! ©Carol Leigh

Still blooming

My sempervivum plant is just now getting underway with flowers, and more appear daily. The light from the kitchen window made them look really good this afternoon, so I had to stop what I was doing and shoot. The background? A sage-green dishtowel. The equipment? a 100mm macro lens and one extension tube. Shot at f/2.8 for minimum depth of field -- I wanted very little in focus from front to back. ©Carol Leigh

"Cheese Food?"

I've got an old wooden Velveeta box and some old bottles. I added a few of my neighbor Gene's dahlias and voila! But for some reason the term "cheese food" is sort of creeping me out. Oh, wait! It's a "delicious cheese food." Whew! I feel much better now. ©Carol Leigh

Friends and flowers . . . always good

A friend arrived on Saturday bearing a big bouquet of flowers! Hoo ha! So I spent a little time yesterday shooting, shooting, shooting. And today I will shoot some more, somewhat differently. I don't know what these round purple things are, but they are cool to look at and a challenge to photograph. The lens I used for all these pictures is a 100mm macro as well as a variety of extension tubes. ©Carol Leigh

First bloom

My sempervivum plant has one open flower on it plus a lot more buds. A giant stalk has risen out of the middle of this thing and it's starting to scare me. Before it takes over my kitchen, I figured I'd shoot this first flower and then will stand back. I wish I could tell you what lens/extension tube setup I used for these shots, but I was changing things constantly. The only thing I know for sure is that a 100mm macro lens was used throughout. ©Carol Leigh

Save the date . . . October 10, 2009

I just sent off the class description and it's pretty much a done deal that I'll be conducting a one-day classroom-style macro photography class in Castro Valley, California on Saturday, October 10, 2009. I'll post more details when they become available. If you would like to be placed on my notification list, please send me an e-mail. That's carol at photoexplorations.com. In addition, I'll also be leading a photo walk to shoot the murals in San Francisco's Mission District on Sunday morning, the 11th. More details to follow on that as well. Hoo ha! This'll be fun!

A high-key kind of morning

Terry E. in my latest "Parts is Parts" class created a beautiful series of photos that all had a high-key look, so I've got high-key on my brain right now. Using a 50mm lens and some extension tubes, I photographed this daisy and purposely overexposed it by 2/3 of a stop to make it look light and airy. Thank you, Terry, for the inspiration. ©Carol Leigh

To the garden center

Our local garden center -- the Oregon Coast Garden Center -- always has a variety of beautiful plants and flowers. They're so kind to let me take photographs whenever I wish, and so when I'm in a photographic slump or wondering what the heck to shoot, I know I can always go there and find something wonderful. This morning I photographed an exquisite rose called "Lovestruck," a sedum of some sort, a burgundy/gold-colored succulent, and a bunch of bluish-purple things that weren't labeled. We always try to buy something in return, and today we came home with bright red geraniums, some alternanthera plants with red and green leaves, and petunias. It's a great start for the day.

Linaria

Linaria or "toadflax" blooms in the back yard right now. I'm attracted to its graceful curves. I've also incorporated these flowers into some photomontages here. ©Carol Leigh

Daisies again . . .

As the season progresses, the Shasta daisies just don't look quite as fresh and clean as they do right now, so even though my heart's in the weeds, I need to photograph these guys while I can. And tomorrow? A quick overnight road trip up the coast to Astoria. Hoo ha! ©Carol Leigh

Just for June . . .

Here you go, June . . . heavy sigh . . . you are SO high maintenance! :-) ©Carol Leigh