Images of spring flowers taken this very morning on an early(ish) walk through our town park.
I won’t attempt to name them – I can just about recognise a Snowdrop – but all were taken on my Olympus EM-1 Mk II with a 60mm macro lens; all natural light with some ‘tweaking’ in Lightroom.
And followed by breakfast in the Park Café. A perfect morning.
These fantastic patterns appeared on our conservatory windows one morning earlier this week. To good to miss, I took the opportunity to take a few shots using a 60mm macro lens on the Olympus EM1 Mark II – and a tripod.
All backlit with natural light from the garden – and tweaked ( a touch ) in Lightroom Classic CC.
A quiet photography week since our return from Aldeburgh ( see ALDEBURGH – 03 ), so this week I’ve been looking through some older images and, for some reason, homed in on the topic of texture.
It’s been said many times before, but it’s worth repeating – good or bad lighting can make or break a potential image. And this is particularly true if you are looking to capture texture in your image. Have I achieved that in these four images? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
An appropriate subject plus directional side lighting is often the key, although my second image is more ‘soft’ light than directional.
1 & 2 Taken on Northumberland beaches
3 Aldeburgh Boat
4 JohnB through Wet Glass
Just returned from a couple of days in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk – North Sea coast. Bracing – but beautiful. A fabulous mix of coastland and places to visit inland – Snape Maltings, the ruins of Leiston Abbey – and much more.
Here are some images from Aldeburgh itself, the last one being of Maggi Hambling’s controversial Scallop – originally situated closer to to the town, but moved because some residents felt it spoilt the beach! You decide. The shot was taken just as the sun was coming up, some of the colour on the Scallop being reflected sunlight,
One of my previously broken New Year’s Resolutions was to get to grips with off-camera, outdoor flash photography – away from my usual safety net of a home studio and lots of time!
So eventually, a couple of days ago, I ventured outside into the garden with my Olympus OMD MKII, a 60mm macro lens and flash gun ( on an extension lead ) to catch whatever was about.
The first three images are of a clump of fungi Daphne had spotted growing in a sheltered corner of the garden. Fungi in January? A little unexpected – but then our winter, so far, has been quite mild – nothing to the atrocious weather that has struck parts of continental Europe. Our thoughts go to anyone who is suffering as a result!
The final image is of grass growing in the crevices of an old tree stump (thanks, Trevor!!). This is probably the result of bird food left in the stump for the passing wildlife – but then again, we’ve not seen much of that over the past few weeks. They are obviously being fed somewhat better further down the road.
Not much incentive to venture outside in this cold grey weather. So I’ve hunkered down in my (Slightly) warmer garage/studio and taken more studies of shop-purchased flowers.
Fairly weak on identifying which is what, but then it’s the image that counts. Hope you agree. 🙂
The ‘Purple Macro’ is a single shot. I’ve just rediscovered my Sigma Ring Flash and dragged it out for this shot. With the flower-head just a couple of inches in front of the 60mm macro lens, even lighting is always going to be difficult. There are still some dark shadows in the centre of the image, but I think I can live with those.
The “Ornamental Kale” shot is a focus-stacked image – 18 individual layers, merged together in Photoshop CC to give the deeper depth of field.
All taken on the Olympus E-M1 MkII with a 60mm macro lens. Will Olympus ever bring out a macro lens in their Pro Lens series?
Bowtruckle is, apparently, a character for the Fantastic Beasts film, book, comic (?), I’m not sure which.
But this bendy little toy, seen in a local toy shop, looked like potential shoot material. So here she/he is – in a studio constructed version of what Bowtruckle’s home looks like (in my imagination!!)
It’s been much colder this week – and the light outside has gone grey and flat.
So I’ve retreated into my small studio in the garage and been experimenting with studio shots of shop-bought flowers. Maybe as Winter passes and Spring arrives I’ll try something similar with the seasonal wild-flowers as they appear during the year. Maybe even try to achieve this outside where the plants are growing. Maybe!!!
All taken on the Olympus OMD EM-II with a 12-100mm Pro lens and a couple of flash guns. Plus a little bit of Photoshop magic. 🙂
An early morning walk across a local common – Latton Common near Harlow – gave me these images.
The light was amazing – the sun was creeping up, but there was mist amongst the trees, giving the woodland an almost fairy tale feel! I travelled light – just the Olympus EM-1 and a Pro 12-100mm lens.
Early morning has to be the best time of the day – especially when the photography is followed by coffee and porridge in the local coffee shop!
I was lucky enough back in April to be invited along to witness the flying of a Tawny Owl in a privately owned bluebell wood.
At the end of the display the owl was rewarded with a meal of a mouse – and I was rewarded with a sequence of images that show the bird manipulating the meal and then swallowing it head first having initially, I am told, crushed the mouse’s skull with its very powerful beak.
All taken on the Olympus EM-1 MkII + 40-150mm f/2.8Pro lens, ISO 2000, f/3.5 and 1/125sec in natural lighting.
