RGB Flower Impressions - D700

Flower impressions from some flowers we had sitting on the kitchen counter. I was attracted to the color combinations of RGB. Single shot done with a slow shutter speed and some motion blur moving the camera during exposure. Just having some visual  fun…

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Back-lit Kousa - D700, 70-200mm

Two images from the garden with an impressionistic interpretation…the kousa dogwood is covered in flowers this year so I wondered around the tree looking for a image. Shot a bunch of multiple exposure images spinning and zooming between each exposure. When I walked around the back of the tree the sun was back lighting everything with a glow. I think this one illustrates the feeling I was getting.

The next one is a some poppies we had until the hail storm the other day pounded them to the ground. Good thing I got a few shots while I could…this is a multiple exposure (2 shots) done in camera, one focused on the front poppy and one focused on the back poppy. A fair amount of post processing was done to this image.

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Pink Poppies - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro

Bluebell Variation No. 1 - D700, Lensbaby, Sweet 35

I have been taking a bunch of images of the Spanish Bluebells we have along the sidewalk. Here are four variations of some of the images I shot recently…experimenting with some Flypaper Textures and some other effects…

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Bluebell Variation No. 2 - D700, 85mm PC

Bluebell Variation No. 3 - D700

Bluebell Variation No. 4 - D700

Pink Azalea - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro, Sweet 35

Outside the back door we have a sea of pink…they don’t last all that long so I’ve been shooting them as much as I can while they are at their peak.

Here’s another Lensbaby fish-eye shot of the red and pink azalea’s…lots of fun.

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Pink Azalea - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro, Fish-eye

Spanish Bluebells - D700, 85mm PC

Just outside the back door we have a row of these Spanish Bluebells that were glowing in the sunlight this morning. Grabbed the camera with the 85mm PC and a Soft-Ray filter and found this shot. Processed in CS5 using the ‘pixel bender’ oil-paint plug-in.

And now for something completely different…just down the road is this farm I drive by just about everyday. I have started to look for when the light is best and how to  shoot it. Of course IR is always in the back of my mind so here is an IR version of the barn down the road…

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Oak School Road Barn - D200, IR converted, 18-35mm

Lily of the Valley - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro, fish-eye

OK this might be the last of the ‘lily of the valley’ fish-eye shots…not totally sure about that but pretty sure. The first image is shot in the shade on a tripod using ‘Live View” to get the focus right. Then you get out your led flashlight and paint a little sunshine into the scene. I highly recommend the Fenix LD10 led flashlight for macro work. You get four different intensity setting so you can dial in as much or little light you need.  This image is a combination of two photos with a slightly different angle with the flashlight. Loaded both images in CS5 on different layers and painted in the light I wanted to use. Additional post production with Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0, Tonal Contrast and blended in some Topaz Simplify too.

Lily of the Valley - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro, fish-eye

No flashlight on this one, just some Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 Classical Soft Focus filter.

Click on images to view a little larger…two sepia versions for you b+w fans.

Lily of Valley - sepia version

Lily of Valley - sepia version 2

Lily of the Valley - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro, fish-eye

Here’s another ‘lily of the valley’ image shot with the Lensbaby fish-eye optic. Post production on this one was done using the ‘pixel bender’ oil paint plug-in for CS5 to give a more painterly feel.

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Lily of the Valley - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro, Fish-eye optic

The ‘lily of the valley’ are starting to hit their peak now and I have been checking them out daily looking for a different way to shoot them this year. I broke out the Lensbaby fish-eye optic and crawled around the patch looking for an interesting composition. Here is one of my early shots with the fish-eye. Not an easy lens to use, you got to get REAL close to make an interesting composition. Had to resort to “Live View” to make the composing easier and make sure I was in focus, getting harder to focus as I get older. Yes that’s a small spider that appeared for this shot only.

Some layering and masking with different blend modes was done to make this into more of a paperweight image.

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Pink Azalea - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro, Fish-eye Optic

Looking around the garden yesterday trying to find a different view of my annual ‘lily of the valley’ photos. I got the Lensbaby fisheye optic out and started sketching to see if it would give me something different. Anyway I got sidetracked by the color of the azalea’s. Yes, I did get some lily of the valley shots that were OK…I’m refining that image some more.

When I started processing this shot I fell in love with the color’s and mood of the shot. Processed in Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 with the Polaroid Transfer filter and a few tweaks back in Photoshop. Not what I expected, but happy to find it…

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Sweet 35 Dogwood f2.8 - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro

A couple more dogwood images shot with the Lensbaby Sweet 35 optic. The first one was shot at f/2.8 to soften the background as much as possible. Then with a quick flick of the lens I changed to f/8 for the second  image to add some more detail into the background. Much easier and quicker with the Sweet 35 optic, no more fumbling with the aperture rings and the case they come in…less bits and pieces to carry or lose too.

Sweet 35 Dogwood f8 - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro

And for you black & white fans…here are some sepia toned versions…

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Sweet 35 Dogwood f2.8 sepia - D700

Sweet 35 Dogwood f8 sepia - D700