The Experience of Depth

Of late my Passion Flower Vine has captured the attention of some Fritillary Caterpillars. So far I've counted 7 of them. What I love most about photographing small critters is what I'm able to do with the depth. I used the "super macro" setting on my camera and focused on the head, allowing the rest of the frame to blur as it would. I used the rule of thirds for my primary composition guidelines and looked for interesting angles. When dealing with a shallow depth of field I've found it best to take many pictures even of the same basic shot because fractions of a difference in the depth can change the entire focus of the picture.

For example, what if in the picture below I had mistakenly focused a fraction to the left of the caterpillar's head? It would have focused on the flower bud and slightly blurred the caterpillar rather than bringing it in sharp. It is often hard to notice the slight changes in depth when taking a picture which is why I always take several just to make sure I get it right.

Notice this picture below, if you look carefully the focus is on the middle of the caterpillar rather than it's head. Do you see how such a subtle change hinders the photograph's effect? I love the composition of this one but the slight misplaced sharpness really detracts from the overall picture.

To read about Andrew and Kathlena's experience with these little critters visit our Family Blog.

Plum Good Eating

Do you know what's really good on a hot summer day? Plums. Do you know what's even better? Plums warmed by the sun but picked in the cool of the evening...at sunset. My Mom went plum crazy; she made Plumonade (Plum-Lemonade), Plum Baby food, Plum sherbet, Prunes and so on...The lighting was just perfect when we picked the plums and these turned out to be plum good pictures too! 

One thing I really kept in mind for these pictures was depth. A shallow depth of field helps to make the fruit more interesting. 

Bee-tail

This shot was taken from above the subject and used the rule of thirds. (Notice the center of the flower is at one of the four intersections.

Zoomed in for Detail (or Bee-tail) :)

A Stroll Through the Garden

Well...I went shopping this week...in the garden section.
I bought two varieties of Tulips and a Daffodil which you will see pictured below. When I planted my newly acquired plants in my Butterfly Garden I discovered these clover (below) and they were just too pretty to pass up.

 Just an old stump I use as a stepping stone...

Notice how the stigma of the flower below is blurred but the pollen is in focus, this is due to the limited depth of field in macro.

Beautiful Eyes

Have you ever noticed how striking babies' eyes are? In portraits, the eyes should typically be the focus of the photograph, especially when it's of babies. I just never get tired of those big, beautiful eyes.

The picture below is mostly unedited other than just a hint of Gaussian Blur.

Houston Zoo Trip-Part One

Utilizing the "Aperture Priority" setting:

In the picture below I used two popular methods 1. the rule of thirds & 2. "storytelling".
What is "storytelling"? Beginning, middle, and end, the structure of any good story and oftentimes of a good picture. In this picture (below) the water is the "beginning", the duck is the "middle", and the grass is the "end".

A Walk in the Woods

To give you some perspective, the frog pictured below was but two inches long.
Enlarged for detail. :)

Wild Onions

Dragonflies and Horseflies

Horseflies, Taken the weekend of July 4th.


Since getting our new pool we've had a major traffic increase into our yard, Butterflies, Bats, and Dragonflies have all been attracted to our pool. After many months of trying to attract Butterflies and Dragonflies to my little garden all I needed was a pool. :) Oh well, the Swallowtails seemed to have taken a liking to my Plumbago (a Swallowtail nectar plant), maybe I can catch one on film soon. :)

I used the "Super Macro" for most of the pictures taken below, ideally I should have used a tripod, but I did not have one on hand at the time.

Looking back at these dragonfly pictures I am once again amazed at the creativity of our Creator in what we humans deem small and insignificant, which in reality are complex beyond our understanding. We photographers got it easy! We have only to discover and record the beauty in what has already been created!

Just a note on the picture above. Be sure to watch your backgrounds, especially on Macro. I got to engrossed with the dragonfly and forgot to watch the background, so as you can see, it might have been a great picture were it not for the distracting background. Just a thing to remember when you're taking very detail-oriented pictures.

Notice the difference a simple change of background makes?