Lion at the Door - D700, Lensbaby, Sweet 35
No, not a real lion but sure does look like one from a cartoon…just made me smile when I saw this in the house we stayed at in Hilton Head in September. Hope it brings a smile to your face too…click to view a little larger.
Digit - Lensbaby SF Optic
I was experimenting with my Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic the other day trying out some lighting on some flowers, still working on the lighting. For some reason the background kept moving…then I heard a voice behind the background. As I looked behind the background this is what I saw. Did a quick adjustment to the Lensbaby and the exposure to capture this unexpected image. Two shots later and he was gone. I guess all he really wanted was his photo taken? You could spend all day trying to set up an image like this…or just get lucky.
Romeo Glowing in Sunshine - Lensbaby SF Optic
Here’s a image of Romeo glowing in the sunshine yesterday afternoon. Shot this with my Lensbaby Composer with the new Soft Focus Optic. No aperture ring was used at all. Even wide open there is still some detail in the softness. This was shot in pretty hard light and the shadows got opened up and softened pretty good. Yes, I did a little work in Photoshop, so this is NOT right out of the camera.
Romeo Dreaming of Sparrows & Bushy Squirrels
This is one of our cats, Romeo, sleeping in one of his favorite spots. A basket by the window and a splash of warm sun would send me into dream-land if I was a cat. I’m pretty sure he is dreaming of sparrows and bushy squirrels because that’s one of his favorite activities at the windows and doors when he’s awake…
Holiday Bears - Lensbaby Composer
In keeping with the post Thanksgiving, “Holiday Season Kickoff”, I offer my ‘Holiday Bears’. Shot this in January while we we doing some sale shopping after last Christmas. Just took my camera along with my Lensbaby Composer and took whatever looked interesting…
Cottage Window, Crail, Color - D700, 24-70mm
This is the kitchen window at our friends home in Crail, if you think you see a pair of eyes in the window, you’re right. It’s one of the family cats, the BLACK one of course. Processed this with Topaz Simplify and Topaz Detail. Also added the edge effect with Nik Color Efex Pro, Vignette filter. For all you black and white fans, here’s a version using Nik Silver Effects Pro. I can’t decide which one I like best?
Post Updated: As requested by Betsy, I have added a soft focus effect to this image. I didn’t add a lot of softness to the image because it won’t show very well in this small version. Also just for Betsy a enlarged detail of the window with the cat…
Cottage Window, Crail - Softer Version
Cottage Window, Crail - Enlarged Detail
Cottage Window, Crail, B+W - D700, 24-70mm
Digit Napping - D700, 70-200 with 1.4x
Playing around with a off camera fill flash with a LumiQuest softbox. Digit, one of our cats seemed like just the subject. Laying on the chair back with the sun coming in the window behind him. Set the exposure to keep the window from blowing out and filled the shadows from camera left with an SB-800 on a light stand. Also using a LumiQuest softbox to soften the shadows from the flash.
Here’s a few more shots from my photo session with Digit…I took a nap after all this excitement.
Digit Awake - D700, 70-200 with 1.4x
Digit Napping #2 - D700, 70-200 with 1.4x
Maddie - D700, Lensbaby Composer
Well, I’ve finally “gone to the dogs”…we were at some friends home for a few days and they had a cute dog, so of course I took some photos. This is a Lensbaby Composer shot of Maddie. Not the easiest way to photograph an energetic dog but I did manage to get a good shot…not sure I’ll be doing a lot of dog photography in the future.
Hungry Robin - D700, Lensbaby Composer
We were pruning the lilacs last week and noticed a robin’s nest in one of the bushes so we didn’t trim that one back. Went out last evening to see what’s going on and if we could NOW trim the lilac. Of course I took a camera along just in case there was some action. As you can see we’re not quite ready to take flight…and we are hungry too. I snapped two quick photos and let the little guy go back to waiting for his next meal.
Sheep in Sepia - IR, converted D200
Stopped by one of the local farms on my way home the other day to snap a few photos of the sheep. I’ve been working on a IR technique of shooting with a soft focus filter at a small f-stop to spread the highlights and compress the tonal range. The combination of this shooting set up and post processing can yield some interesting effects. I’m still working on it but am starting to get a pretty good handle on where and how to use it…