Winter Berries

I know I've shared something similar before, but I really love the contrast of bright berries on a snowy background. So here's another! This is also from when I was travelling all over the countryside. I took a little break to admire these beautiful berries.

I'm not sure how well my attempts at editing this one worked. In trying to brighten all the details, I think I may have made it a bit grainy or pixelated. I did crop it quite a bit, trying to take in to account some of the things we were told after the last competition. I also tried cloning out a few little dark items from the snow, because they were distracting without contributing anything.

Snow Loop

I traipsed miles in the fall and early winter, trying to accomplish a crazy, self-assigned task. In the process, I saw some neat things - like this!

This loops of snow was just hanging off a retaining wall. I have no idea how it formed, but I thought (and still think!) it looked really neat.

Spring has sprung!

Please Note: We are preparing to move, so posts will likely be a little spotty for the next 4 weeks or so.

Okay, I admit it, I took this picture on March 31st. So it would have been cooler to post it then, when it felt like we were still in the grips of winter around here, but I didn't.

My irises came back! I planted several last year, but really didn't look after them well or do any of the things that I think you are supposed to do to keep them happy and coming back for a second year. But the hardy little things did it anyway. It was a great pleasure to see them as an early sign of spring.

I took this very quickly in passing, so no great attention was paid to camera settings. Please also ignore the dead plants from last year - those have not all been cleaned out, although some of the annuals appear intent on returning as well!

Snow in a tree

This picture was taken through a not-very-clean window, which affects the sides a bit, but I found a clear enough spot for the important part of the image. However, because of the angle of the tree branch, there was no where else to go to capture this image. I'm amazed by how much snow is balanced on such a thin branch, and I've been eyeing this image for days!

For this image, I tried to take some advice from yesterday's post about cropping, as well as from a book I've been reading where the author talks about cutting out the clutter. This image would be more powerful without the trees in the back, but that just wasn't an option. However, I did zoom in (instead of cropping after) to clear away all the rest of this particular tree's branches - and I think it is a better picture than if I had left it all in there!

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 800, aperture 5.0 and 1/1000 exposure length, no flash.

Before the snow

I took this one before the snow fell. It was a bit of a random shot as I was walking home from... somewhere or other. I looked down, and there was this neat-looking spread of leaves, so I clicked!

I think it looks neater the larger it is, so feel free to click on the picture to see a bigger version of it. I think it might look better with some cropping - maybe I'll give that a try later and edit this post to add a second version.

Snowfall

The snow accumulates and hangs off our eaves trough in very strange ways.

This was taken from below, and on the left is the bottom of the eaves trough (dark) and a bit of the roof (light). On the right is actually sky - it was full dark by the time I went out to take pictures, which I think works really well to contrast the snow. Some shots I took the next day, during the daylight, are much less clear because there is just too much light reflecting off the snow. A few shadows are good! I like how this image captured the lumps and bumps that formed as the snow accumulated, as well as the striations horizontally.

A different kind of subject for colours

Colours of fall don't only exist outdoors, they also show up in glorious fashion indoors - particularly in the kinds of foods we eat in the fall.

This weekend I made a wonderful chili - but capturing it "on film" was very hard! Daylight was gone, so I tried a variety of ways to transmit those rich colours in to a photograph - red from the tomatoes, beans and red pepper, yellow corn, orange pepper, and black beans. Tasty fall harvest colours!

In the end, this was taken using a manual white balance setting for "tungsten" lights, as that seemed to do the best job of compensating for the lighting. Other attempts turned the whole thing a rather unhealthy red, or else unappetizingly grey. I still don't think I quite got it, and I may try again if I get home while there's still enough natural light.

Fall? Really?

Honestly, this IS a fall picture! I took it on the same day as all the leaves, and even as yesterday's pictures of the scarecrow and pumpkins.

I'm not bothered in the least that this lovely rose didn't quite get the message that fall is here and it's time to stop blooming. Unfortunately, the petals are so pale and it was so bright out, that if I didn't use my body to cast shade on the rose, it was completely whited out. There was a lovely bush in behind it that had turned completely red, that I wanted to contrast it with. However, it wasn't to be!

Images of Fall

These two are from the same house, but they were a little set apart so I did two pictures instead of trying to fit it all in to one.

I'm impressed that I managed to take both pictures on a slight angle - how foolish! I shouldn't be making that kind of mistake any more. I'll blame it on the fact that I was standing in the middle of the road. Overall, not great pictures, but I still like the subject. Cheery and seasonal. Very nice!

Colours of Fall, part 3

These colours are completely different, but equally fall. That clear, but cold blue sky says winter is not too far away. The pine tree has pushed out an absolute plethora of pinecones, most of which still have their places on these upper branches. I just love how the tree is completely framed by the unbroken blue. I feel like it could somehow have been framed or set up better, but I'm not sure how, just off the top of my head.

Colours of Fall part 2

The colours in this bush are very different from yesterday's. Here the leaves have that beautiful yellow gold, tinged here and there with orange and red. The dark berries make such a fabulous contrast.  I wasn't at quite the right angle to get the same great clarity of the leaves as yesterday's picture, unfortunately. So the colours are clear, but the sharp details of the actual leaves are missing.

Colours of Fall

I'm going to do several photos over the next few days, trying to capture fall. I guess the bare branches from a couple of days ago would be the first, and the multi-colour tree from the 19th, as well.

If you have any suggestions for other themes I might try, leave a note!

I am completely in love with the colours in this bush. The reds with a touch of gold and orange. So rich and stunning. There's even a single brownish berry to the top left. I love the clarity of the leaves in the center, you can see the very veins of each leaf.

Fall is here.

The colours didn't really come through, but I still like the picture. Blue blue sky (which looks grey) showing flawlessly through the rawness of the bare branches. No clouds, no power lines, no noise. Season changes are really quite beautiful.

Amazing nature

Nature always amazes me. For example, apparently only about a third of this tree has received the memo that it's autumn now. So the right third is entirely red and yellow, while the top bit is confused and the left is entirely green. (The yellow at the bottom left is actually another tree.)

Beautiful colours!

Fall? Already?

It's not a stunning picture, but I'm kind of in denial...

Seriously, I'm sure this tree was fully green when I walked past it just the day before! What's going on here? I'm not ready for the seasons to change!