Small World in My Garden
With light fading fast today, I switched the Ricoh GRD IV to macro to have a close up look around my garden. Using manual focusing macro to 1cm, I looked around for some test subjects. The little flying creature in the main shot above was sitting on some coriander flowers (quite small in themselves).
The ants below, for the given light, didn’t stand still (no surprise), and the small stinkbug like beetle consistently turned its back to me! The last little mite of a creature was barely visable with my close as possible focus – goes to show no matter how close you look, there is always something smaller around the corner.
Last day of my holiday break tomorrow. Not sure what the weathers going to do, but all going well I’ll be off for a stroll.
Wave of Green
Ricoh GRD IV
The Long Climb Up
The Ants
Douglas Florian
Ants are scantily
Half an inch long,
But for their size
They’re very strong.
Ants tote leaves
Five times their weight
Back to their nest
At a speedy rate.
They walk on tree limbs
Upside down
A hundred feet
Above the ground,
While down below
Beneath a mound
They’re building tunnels
Underground.
And so it’s been
And it will be
Since greatest
Ant antiquity.
Little Creature
With a busy day out and about, it was hard to squeeze in any time to take some photos today. Whilst waiting outside a store, a cicada happened upon me, and hung around long enough for me to grab my GRD and take a few macro shots. Taken on the ‘positive film’ setting, aside from framing and signature, this is as shot from camera.
Macro Daisy – Pro HDR
Searching the App store for interesting photo apps I came across ‘Pro HDR Camera’. Unlike a lot of mobile apps, Pro HDR does actually capture three seperate exposures to form a genuine HDR image.
Although I must confess I dont do much HDR at all, there is a lot of great photog’s out there who do, and if stuck without a suitable camera, this is a nice little app to have up your sleaves for the cost of a can of coke.
Taking a short stroll through Smiths Bush, it delivered great results from what would normally have either more blown out, or underexposed images – especially on a mobile phone, which tend to have low dynamic ranges.
At home none if the images I shot appealed to post up. Whilst great testers for the app, image content wise they didnt much speak to me. So – I clipped in my macro lens and visited the back lawn. I have not seen much macro HDR, so the daisy is my casual snap at it.
Im tempted to go back to Afterfocus again tomorrow. Its been my top vote so far. I did also play with Instagram today, but the prompting to share or where to share put me off it straight away im afraid.
Catch you tomorrow!
Sun Searcher
I think whenever one is struggling to find an interesting shot, its always good to switch to macro and explore the smaller world a little. ‘Cant see the wood for the trees’ is not quite the right expression I am looking for – but sometimes stopping, sitting and looking a little closer opens up a whole new world…’Stop to smell the flowers’?
Today’s shot, ‘Sun Searcher’ came about from a walk I took the other day. It had been a long day, and searching for inspiration felt a little like it was hiding. Taking a short stop I noticed a line of buttercups on the crest of a small grass mound. Almost approaching sunset, the light was getting quite low – the golden hour. I took a few shots and settled on the above for today.
Using Gimp in post processing, I added a cross-processed filter and then adjusted the levels more to my liking. Something about cross-processing always adds a bit more of a ‘memory’ effect to images. Its quite popular with a range of modern smart-phones (and digi cameras) at present – a sort of instant retro I guess.
The Question
Possibly a little more dark than my usual images, no little plastic people were actually harmed in the making of ‘The Question’.
Playing around with some ideas for the EOS Photo 5 competition whilst the weather outside was again poor I come up with this little arrangement.
Using the Ricoh GRD IV, the macro function is really quite good. Smaller sensors generally allow you to get closer to the image, in this case about 1.5cm away from the main subject. Macro functions are also generally the only time you get a real small depth of field on smaller sensor cameras.
Shot in bleach bypass mode, all I did in post processing is add the words and resize.
Ice Planet
I had noticed a number of macro images used in artistic ‘landscape like’ was when surfing around recently and had a bit of a muck around this evening with my own version of it. Starting with a macro shot of real landscape, at the beach, I went about creating a shot that would not necessarily look like a close up of water running down into the sea. Removing the background, pushing contrast of the foreground, adding a red smudge to the background, and a cross-processing filter to the lot. I result has a bit of a weird Martian landscape feel to it.
Bellis Perennis in the Rain
Bellis perennis, or ‘common garden daisy’ was the subject of todays image. For such a small little flower that grows all over, they have a lot of potential uses – eaten raw, used in soups, salads, teas, as a vitamin supplement. Romans (and more modern homeopaths) used their juice to assist with wound injuries. Then we have the saying ‘smell the daisies’ – to take a break, relax, don’t stress about the big stuff. To top it off, these are hardy little flowers. Mow them down with a lawn mower, and within the week they are shooting up at the sky again.
It had been on/off raining all afternoon today and with the threat of another downpour looming when I finished work I took a few minutes to look for todays photo before getting in my car. There was nothing appealing scanning around so I set the Ricoh on macro to see what I could find. Remembering the above mentioned saying i picked this little guy/gurl/thing, reaching up for the sun regardless of the less then ideal weather. Will it make it before the lawn mower gets it? – unlikely, but its a good reminder to take a break in our busy lives all the same.
Post work I desaturated the grass slightly and slightly bumped up the sharpness in Gimp.
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