bug noir: August 2010

Monday, August 30, 2010

Light Rays at Mill Pond

Tonight I didn't really have a plan, but I wanted to get some exercise and walked to the Mill Pond. I was treated to a display of light rays bouncing off clouds, and while the colors were not spectacular (hence the black and white photos), it made for a nice backdrop.

In other news I'm blaming Goldenrod for my recent allergy flare ups, because there doesn't appear to be anything else blooming.

The first decent photo of the fountain I've shot.

The geese are gathering in numbers; two flocks took off while I was there.

This artistic blur occurs when you forget to open the aperture, up the ISO and increase the shutter speed before shooting low-light action. It was very exciting and stuff.

I've walked by this barn (that appears to be filled with wicker chairs?) every time I've been to the pond, but this is the first time I've seen it. Would be an awesome shot in the morning, if not for the wicker.

This was me goofing around with fill flash. I was using the on-camera flash so it's very uneven. I ordered my shoe-mount flash today, so there will be more of this kind of thing in the near future - when I can hand-hold the flash or mount it on a tripod.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Lines and Shapes

I worked for it today; five hours of shooting at Phyllis Rawlinson Park. I doubt you'd recognize the location if you compared it with my other shoots there. My goal was to shoot examples of lines and shapes to practice seeing what's really in the viewfinder. A bug or two snuck into some shots, so it's not without the usual insect factor.

This is also the largest post I've ever made. Not really the best. I found that reducing an image to its simplest elements, while a useful exercise, does not make for photos that really say anything. A.K.A. they're boring. There's a lot of black and white today because I shot mid-day and there wasn't much color. I tried to use color where appropriate.

Anyway, it was a good day and lots of fun. The weather was beauuuuutiful. Almost nice enough to make you think it's summer!

I noticed this on the picnic table while I was eating lunch. I have no idea what it is. It's dead. It's also on my 'please don't crawl or lay eggs on me' list.

I lucked out when this boring colored dragonfly let me shoot it from below. Fill flash used.

Horizontal and vertical lines on two planes.

Curved line, adding depth, and leading the eye through the photo.

Triangles and vertical lines.

Triangles, diagonal and horizontal lines. Squares.

Mummified rat.

Vertical lines on black; spirals.

Grey triangle leading to circle, leading to square.

Scarier than the rat. Slightly more hydrated.

Green line, brown line, line of circles, blue line, blue rectangles, stacked. Vertical brown lines lead the eye into the photo.

Horizontal and vertical lines leading into a horizontal row of circles. Framed by the dark grey line across the top, which stops the eye from leaving the photo.

Curved line leading the eye through the photo. I cropped out a weak 'punchline' along the line in the lower left. It was a single green weed crossing the white line. Leaving the image in color, with the punchline, might have made for a stronger photo - but the punchline wasn't that punchy, so who knows. I'll revisit it some other time.

Alternating green and grey lines, topped with three lines of yellow, green and blue.

The grand fields of Goldenrod. Horizontal blue line stacked on green and yellow horizontal lines.

Separated horizontal line highlighted by vertical lines of various widths.

A Korean emoticon.

A scene from The Fifth Element, or a strong left to right leading image using a dark grey trapezoid, strong horizontal light grey line and two framing darker grey lines.

Colored rectangles separated by light grey lines, framed by darker grey horizontal and vertical lines.

I drew a crowd. Of one. Very small spider. Who left.

Copper(?) drain spout.

I blew this shot, but it's close. Strong left-to-right leading line with depth. Still not sure how to fix it. It probably has something to do with the dead orange spruce.

Horizontal white lines of degrading focus receding into the distance, creating depth.

Diagonal lines on a concrete downspout spillway that lead the eye from left to right. Vertical lines slow the eye.

Whoah, color! Wasn't expecting that. Curved line from top left to bottom center leads the eye through the image. Darker color of center... whatever they are... holds the eye.

Shadow of Stonehenge. Horizontal lines at the top of the image lead the eye off the photo. Bad!

A bird on a wire. Barn swallow.

There were a few splashes of color amongst the Maple family trees. The inevitable cometh.

And what do you know... a colorful dragonfly! Yay!

Diagonal lines form a curve that leads the eye through the image.

Horizontal line with semi-circle and diagonal left-to-right directional shadow.

For Theresa.

On My Way to a Nap

One of the problems (maybe awesome aspects?) of my foray into photography is that my mind keeps suckering me into looking at things. There have been three occasions where I've had people honk at me at traffic lights because I'm looking at something and trying to create the best composition for a mental photograph and missed the green light. It's a little unsettling, and no doubt annoying for the people in cars behind me. But I can't help myself.

Not everything we see is how it appears. Our minds play tricks on us with optical illusions hundreds of times a day but our brains are so efficient we never notice. But now I know they're there, I can't stop looking for them.

I remember walking to the subway one day about two years ago, and coming across a coworker from the game publisher/developer where I worked. He was stopped on the sidewalk, looking across the street, with his hands raised to form a rectangular frame. He was trying to understand the light and shadows on the walls of the buildings he saw. I asked him why, and he said as a video game level designer, it's part of his job.

I didn't really understand then; I just saw some shadows on a building. But thinking back to that day I remember there were light shadows and dark, triangles, rectangles, patterns, in a stunning composition formed by the setting sun and the buildings. That composition spawned an emotional response and made it unforgettable. Seeing the true composition of something is one way to make a photograph great.

I have a long way to go to master composition, but I'm enjoying seeing this way for the first time in my life. Or maybe that's not right. I'm not enjoying seeing this way for the first time because I've always seen this way; I'm enjoying understanding more about what I see.

Today I wanted to have a cat nap before I go out to take photos. I'm going to the Phyllis Rawlinson Park for another crack at architecture. This time, however, I'm going to follow a shape theme. Anyway, I went into my bedroom and lay down, and on my wall across the room was a fantastic shadow cast by the sun shining through some leaves and my window screen. The light was strong and the shadows crisp.

I started shooting, not realizing until I'd finished that my camera was on manual focus; I made a silly mistake and thought the low shutter speed, hand-held camera, and moving leaves were causing blur. So I almost missed the shot entirely, but managed to luck out with one image.

It's definitely abstract, but I'm thrilled with the lines, variety of tones, shapes and balance. I think it looks like Cerebus the Aardvark. Results may vary.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Concert Night Fail

Tonight was a fail. (That's right, niece, I said it.) I went to the Millpond Park to try and shoot some sunset stuff and discovered it was concert night.

People everywhere.

I've it's been almost two months and I still can't catch these swans posing together properly. I remember reading a long time ago that one will always have its head up when the others are feeding to sound an alarm if it spots a predator. Then they swap. That would explain my difficulties.

With the exception of some not-very-stellar landscape shots and a few of a lonely bee, that's all the pics I got this run. More next time, and fewer people, I hope.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Reflections on Phyllis Rawlinson Park

It did not rain today! I got home from work, got changed and was out the door in record time. I went to the Phyllis Rawlinson Park, and adopted a 'reflections' theme for the evening. I spent a lot of time sitting in the same spot, looking around, trying to find good subjects around the pond.

It was harder than you'd think. There wasn't much that was unusual, out of the ordinary or juxtaposed... so I sat for quite a while. I did manage to learn something about my camera today; Active D Lighting, the feature that intelligently exposes High Dynamic Range images, does not play well with a polarizer. In fact, they cancel each other out. Good to know!

This is a cedar waxwing. They are very good at not letting me close. This photo is a 1:1 crop, taken with my 18-200mm zoomed fully, or with my DX sensor D300s, at an effective 300mm. It's just not long enough. A 300mm lens would be perfect for me, especially with a 2x teleconverter 'just in case'. Applying some noise reduction made the bird take on a 'painted' look.

Here's another shot, farther away so the mistakes are hidden. It's a very slick looking bird.

The first reflection shot. Bonus points if you spot the fish.

This one is all reflection, and the only way you can tell is the ever-so-slight ripple on the water's surface. More fishy bonus points.

This shot is taken with the polarizer after I figured out that Active D Lighting and the polarizer don't mix. Crazy blue sky, rich greens and yellows, and a nice blue in the water. Unfortunately, just a tad too much ripple.

If this was the G.I. Joe movie, you could take my height, length of shadow, and pin-point my exact location before sending in the attack submarines! My shadow, beside a puddle reflecting the sky. /Wave!

More cedar waxwings, caught glowing in the setting sun. The angle of the light really made their light colored plumage pop.

As time progressed, it seemed the wind died down more, and the pond settled.

This is the best reflection shot I took, but it's lost in this small photo. It's quite nice large.

I tried shooting these trees a bunch of different ways and from a bunch of different angles, but they all looked the same. The orange light of the setting sun highlighted the reddish tint in their bark, making them pop.

I tried to get a sun star and instead got what appears to be a sun splash. I guess the coated UV filter isn't the best for a crisp lens flare.

Another burning pine, lit up like a Christmas tree! Cliché quota exceeded.