One more from earlier this week

I might be wrong, but I think this is a shot that really demonstrates the value of a solid background. If I would make the $2 investment in double sided poster board (black and white) to put behind my subject, I think I could make an image like this one "pop."

Tattered edges

This shot and the shot that I will post in a just a minute are shots that I took earlier this week at Raleigh's Raulston Arboretum.

Another bee, another flower

For all the time I spent chasing around the bees at the arboretum, this is the only shot I'm willing to put on the blog. Several others have beautiful images of the bee, but the background is too distracting.

One of the nice features of this particular shot you can see the probiscus probing the flower.

Yellow flower

I spent an hour again this afternoon shooting flowers in a local arboretum. Today proved an important educational day, with the most important lesson being that increased depth of field has its good and bad points. Much of my hour was spent chasing a bumblebee, and while I took some really nice shots of the bee itself, the background is very distracting in most of the shots. Ideally, I need to start taking an artificial background with me so that I don't keep getting distracting half-focused flowers and blades of grass in the background.

Anyway, I took a couple of shots that I do think are okay. This is one of them. A few fewer clouds would've helped the shot, but it's a decent contrast between subject and background nevertheless.

One more...

Often, I'll take a set of pictures and pick my favorites, only to find that something else jumps out at me the next time I visit those shots. That was the case today with the shots of this flower. I liked this shot from the start, but after revisiting it this evening, I now like it enough to post it and to make it the banner for the blog.

Still playing with expensive toys

This picture, like the one I posted earlier today, was taken with my father-in-law's Canon Rebel XTI. It's a remarkably fun camera.

Other than cropping, I typically don't do much manipulation to my shots. This was an exception. In the original, the background was a shade of brown that I didn't love, and as a result, I did play with the color balance on this picture.

Playing with expensive toys

As an early 30th birthday present, Stephanie signed me up for a digital photography class next week. My father-in-law was nice enough to loan me his new digital SLR camera for the class. I'll also take my own camera to the class, but someday, I'd like to upgrade to a dSLR, and I probably won't get a chance to take another class like this anytime soon, so I figured it was worth learning on some high end equipment.

This week, I'm trying to take a few shots with the camera so that I'm more comfortable with it next week. These are some flowers I bought for Steph. I just snapped 75 shots or so in our dining room, and this is one of them.

I like this shot quite a bit. I think the one white petal is a particularly nice feature. The black background isn't a photoshop addition. I just shot it on a dark background.

Sticking with what works

About a year ago, I took one of the best pictures I've ever taken, a bee on a flower. That combination of flower + insect is a pretty decent one for a nice shot. However, without a high end macro lens on a high end SLR camera, it can be a tricky shot as well. On Sunday, I spent 15 minutes or so chasing some bees in Duke Gardens. This shot isn't as good as the one I did a year ago, but even so, I like it.

Because the bee was flying and because I wasn't using a tripod, it's not nearly as sharp as the one I posted last year, but I really like that you can see the packets of pollen (?) on the bee

Duke Gardens

We spent Sunday afternoon with my in-laws at Duke Gardens. I can't say anything nice about Duke without feeling a little nauseous, but I can't lie- Duke Gardens in Spring is pretty much a photographer's playground. The flowers make great subjects. These really caught my eye on Sunday. I have no idea what they are called, but I'll post a series of shots of these over the next few days.

From the picture album: Spring dogwoods

Stephanie's parents are in town this weekend, and her dad has been taking some really incredible shots with his new digital SLR camera. As I was showing him some shots I've taken this weekend, we stumbled across this old shot I took earlier this spring. These dogwoods, like many of my subjects, are located on the campus in Chapel Hill.

On a related note, I'm now done with classes for the summer, and until I leave the country next month, I should have more time to devote to photography. Expect this site to be updated more frequently for the next four weeks or so.

Lions and tigers and bears

Today, we spent the day with Stephanie's parents at the North Carolina zoo. Between the two of us, Steph's dad and I probably took well over 200 shots. Unfortunately, I had a particularly bad day with the camera. For my second straight outing, I'm not thrilled with any of my shots. I took about 40 shots of this lion, but I didn't get the settings quite right on any of them. Even so, this was the best shot that I took all day.

Linville Falls

Steph and I spent a good part of last Saturday at Linville Gorge, just off of the Blue Ridge Parkway, near mile post 316. These falls are probably the most impressive in North Carolina. This picture only shows the bottom third of the progression. Just out of view is a the corkscrew-shaped middle, and above that are the double upper falls.

I visited Linville Falls with my parents back in 2003 or so, but I hadn't been back since. I wasn't much into photography back then. Additionally, on the previous visit, we'd just taken the hike up to Chimney View, and I've been wanting to get to the floor of the gorge for a while now.

As it turned out, the falls are much harder to photograph than I expected. Photography books will tell you to do a long exposure on waterfalls to get a smooth, glass-like appearance on the tumbling water. That's really not an option at midday at Linville Falls, because you'll completely bleach out the water with a long exposure... even with a small aperture setting. Basically, the water is already so churned up when it comes over the falls that it's completely white. Smooth texture isn't really an option.

Additionally, there were 3 guys fishing at the bottom, and their chosen spots got in the way of the best views of the falls. Even so, I got several C+ shots. This is one of them.

A canine's countenance

I encountered this dog sitting with his owner at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. I think that he has a particularly striking face.

Reflections on downtown Asheville

After spending a good part of our Saturday in Linville Gorge, we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner in downtown Asheville. I took this shot right after we ate and right before we went window shopping.

On my other blog, I'll try to get something posted about how much I love Asheville.

And finally we're back...

The end of the semester has been remarkably hectic, and I've had few chances to get out to shoot. However, we're spending the weekend not studying in Asheville, and I had a chance to snap a few pictures this afternoon. None were great, but in the interest of keeping this blog active, I'll try to get a few things posted over the next few days.

I took this particular shot on the floor of scenic Linville Gorge.