Month: October 2011

This week I ask you to change and think primarely in colors. In the northern hemnisphere Fall is most likely on the peak and there are beautiful images to be taken. I ask you to look for beautiful and contrasty colors and I recomment not ot forget the background. It is best to shoot with an open lens to blurr the background. As always, don’t forget to have some fun!

I photographed these leaves at the botanical garden at Tilden park just outside Berkeley, CA. The sign said Hollyleaf Barberry. I don’t know if that is true, but when I photograph in a botanical garden I always take a shot of the sign so I know what kind of plant I photograph.

I took several exposure with my 50mm prime lens. I decided f4 gave me the overall best bokeh that I was looking for.

Enjoy and keep on photographing!

I like the composition of this image. The rock works very well as natural background for the plant. I added a vignette to this image to bring even more attention to the plant.

Enjoy and keep on working on your photographic skills!

I shot this photo while it started to rain. I created a very sharp and a soft looking image in black and white. Then I created two layers in post production and used the sharp layer for the leaf and the soft version for the water.

Enjoy and keep on photographing!

The wind blew a bunch of leaves into the corner of the tree’s root system. Of course I had to photograph them.

Enjoy and keep on photographing.

The Idea for this weeks exercise came from Peggy Hoppes, a writer and artist from Texas. Go out and photograph “Fall” in black and white. Normally I go out look for beautiful colors and photograph them. Peggy suggest to do the un-usual and that’s what I like. She wrote, Photographing is black and white “Forces you to look for contrast, to be more aware of shadows and highlights. It is also good practice for composition.”

I started out looking for images in mother nature and did a few try-out shots. I like this one because of the high contrast. Enjoy and keep on photographing!

I discovered this rose after sunset in my backyard. The light was just perfect. I did not use any reflectors or flash light.

Enjoy and happy Friday!

This is the “over the hill” view of a purple sage plant. I used an f2.8 aperture to blur out the background.

Enjoy and be passionate about your photography!

This cactus is named Coastal Prickly Pear.

Enjoy and keep on photographing! 

These roses are definitely “over the hill” and they are somehow still pretty. I liked the green leaves on the lower left side as a contrast to the red colors.

Enjoy and keep on photographing!

Summer is over and Fall brings out beautiful colors. This is just one side of the story. Part of Fall is also that many plants are “over the hill” and dying. In this exercise I challenge you to show both, the beauty of Fall and the harsh reality of dying and death. This exercise can be challenging and rewarding at the same time because it brings the photographer into the game. While I stricly ask you to photograph plants and not people, the truth is that what is true for plants is also true for mankind. The only question is how to deal with it?

This is a leaf of a “Giant Coral Bell” which is a very rare plant in California. Half of the leaf has turned beautiful read. On the left bottom you see two leaves, a dead leaf on top of a life one, the hidden messenger that despite all the beauty winter will come and the leave will fade.