Last of 2007

December Sunflower

December Star on Stage

Someone caught me trying to prop this leaf up and commented that I was not allowed to stage leaves! This is a repeat performance from last December I think. The straight version is with the Vivitar version 3 minus, and the askew version with a Pentax 50 f1.2, both taken with a new tripod!

More Maples

Giant Leaf Maple

Sugar Maple branch in sun rays.

Acer Saccharum

Maple Reach
Lone Maple
Maple Floor
Maple Above
Maple Overlap

Here is a bunch of photos of Sugar Maples I took at the Hoyt Arboretum in Portland:

Tele Leaf

Sigma 70-300

October Leaf Dewitt Park

FA 50mm f1.7

Oregon State Aquarium Jellies

Paired Leaves

We came across this maple in the midst of coastal redwoods in the St. John' section of Portland. It is amazing that it can get enough light. The Filtered light effects were quite stunning even if this photo does not capture it.

Last Rays

With this photo I didn't plan on getting the refracted rays of the sun, but I like the effect. I wanted to get the leaf more in focus, but the result, a somewhat faded looking indistinct image, is also something I like. So this was kind of an unintentional photo.

Dealing with the Phobia

Late September and early October are orb web spinners season. I ran into one of these late at night down below our deck and nearly had a heart attack when I realized that I had come away from the sticky encounter with the spinner stuck to ME!

I saw this guy or gal today on the way to the library. Now I wish I had angled a bit up to put the spider's body in the white out of focus area made by the sidewalk, but then I would have lost the contrast of the pink out of focus flower nearby.

In the Barn

This is one of those photos that I want to go back and re-take when I have unlimited time. Ideally I should have used a tripod and a longer exposure for this shot. I'd like to take it later in the afternoon or at sunset to get more color in the light. I would like to get permission from the owners of the barn to move the plasticy looking tables in the upper right hand corner out of the way. On the other hand having something there, in this case the stacked tables, adds something to the composition. I'd like to use a smaller aperture to get a little more depth of field too.

Well, maybe I will go back someday.

Shopping Cart

Pints

Another photo from Sunday at the farmer's market. The golden rasperries one of the shoppers bought caught my eye, and she allowed me to photograph her recent purchases.

Wind Blown Sunflowers

It was about as nearly perfect a day weatherwise as one could imagine. Sunny with a pleasant wind at times becoming a bit strong as when I took this photo of sunflowers grown at a local elementary school.

Oregon Zoo Sunset

This lovely sunset presented itself with good timing. I had my camera and two lenses handy, and no other real obligations. Even so, the light did not last long, so I was lucky to get about 10 shots in. I think this one is my favorite.

Bee and Lavender

Spider

Yet another Vivitar macro.

Sun Goddesses

Two more Vivitar macros taken while lying on the ground.

Blue Flame

Another macro with the Vivitar. I used to scoff when I read about people talking about the quality of colors with certain lenses, but I find that the Vivitar seems to really enhance the blues. This is not very scientific. Maybe I should do a comparison.

Ready to Sail, Regular and Inverted

50 mm macro. The second version was a mistake I made in Elements. I pressed command i to get information on the exposure, and forgot that this inverts the color scheme instead. I liked the blue result!

Lavender Buzz

50mm Macro

Pink Wildflower

50mm 1.2

Single Prop

Orange Tulip

Peacock Triptic

I thought these three attempts to capture a closeup of a peacock who visited us looking for handouts at the zoo made a humorous triptic. The conditions were low light, hence the two blurred shots on either side. The middle shot was with a fill flash, but the depth of field left the beak out of focus.

Three Blues

Moon and Evening Star

O'Keeffeish Flower

Well it's either an O'Keeffeish Flower, or O'Keeffes are Flowerish. I didn't quite nail the focus on the close part of the cone. Oh well.

Dropped Four

Taken with Vivitar lens version 3. Viewed close up you can see that there is some motion artifact. It is hard to hold this lens steady!

Double Pane Self Portrait

Spring Maple Silhouette

Yellow Flowerscapes

Two similar shots taken with the Vivitar version 3 lens at different apertures.

White Blossoms

Red Shift

I shifted the Red, Green and Blue levels in Elements to get the flame like effect in this photo. Although I was hoping for more depth of field and sharpness in this shot initially, the narrower depth of field seemed to add to the luminosity of the flower which seemed to just be floating in space. I want to try again with a tripod, a small aperture, and long exposure, but in the meantime I am pleasantly surprised with this result.

sunny lens

Ex-bug

moon

Cosmo

Grape Hyacinth

Another boring spring vivitar macro photo. Ugh.

more blossoms

Well it's a bit boring, but here are some more blossoms I took today with a new vivitar lens.