Relaxing Read in Forsyth Park - Lensbaby, Sweet 35
On the last day of the workshop in Savannah we went to Forsyth Park to shoot. I was traveling light with one camera and one lens, a Lensbaby sweet 35. This image is a composite of two images, one focused on the foreground and one on the guy reading the book. Yes, I did ask him if he minded if I put him in my photo, he said no problem…
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Eric Sommer 1 – D700, Lensbaby Sweet 35
A couple more shots of Eric Sommer shot in Savannah…I told you Eric was a fun guy.
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Eric Sommer 2 – D700, Lensbaby Sweet 35
Eric Sommer 3 – D700, Lensbaby Sweet 35
Eric Sommer, Savannah - D700, Lensbaby Sweet 35
We were in Savannah, GA last week, I was in a photo workshop with Craig Tanner from TME (The Mindful Eye Photography School) and my wife was touring Savannah and eating well. If you are passionate about photography do yourself a favor and visit Craig’s site tmelive.com you will be glad you did. Probably the best photography instructor you will ever meet and a awesome person to boot. If you can afford to do one of his workshops and they are not booked up, DO IT!
While shooting on the streets of Savannah I had the pleasure of taking a coffee break with Wes Norman, Craig’s assistant for the week. We got our coffee and sat down across from this gentleman and struck up a conversation about cameras. The guy, Eric Sommer, was a singer/guitarist on the road playing 270 dates a year. We asked if we could shoot some photos of him and worked our way outside to Chippewa Square. Eric was a very friendly guy and we had a great time taking photos. This is one of my favorites.
Great town, friendly people, good food, awesome workshop…dosen’t get any better than that for me!
Ocean Moon-glow - D700, HDR
Not many clouds at the beach for the last couple of days but that changed last night. The moon came up and some great clouds appeared just when I thought it was time to go to bed. So I got to bed a little later than usual…had to use a little HDR to get some detail in the moon and clouds.
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Starfish - D700, Lensbaby Sweet 35
Four images from the beach today…click to view a little larger…
Beach Biker Babes - D700
Cell Phone Biker - D700
Dune Crossover Motion Blur - D700
Baby Mantis 1 - D700, 85mm PC
Every year now for the last four years we have had a preying mantis lay an egg sack in the scotch broom and in almost the same spot. This year my wife was checking the egg sack to see if they hatched yet and there they were streaming out of the egg sack. Pure luck, I grabbed the camera and started trying to get some shots…well they are REALLY small, see the next shot for some scale. Trying to find these guys in the broom now is quite a task. They come out of the egg sack a bright yellow and change to a light brown in about an hour or so. I saw one the other day and it was about an inch long and green so they must be eating well.
Baby Mantis 2 - D700, 85mm PC
Baby Mantis 2, 100% - D700, 85mm PC
Here’s an overall shot of the shrub with mini mantis everywhere, all the slightly yellow blotches are baby mantis…shot with my Lensbaby Composer because it’s what was on the camera when the hatch started, I changed lenses later but they had already dissipated in the scotch broom by then.
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Baby Mantis 3 - Lensbaby Composer, Sweet 35
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
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.
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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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