Focus Control

On this particular day, I was working on controlling my focus - my camera has a great ability to put everything in focus, but I want to be able to be more selective.

A brilliantly sunny day, an aperture of f/2.8, and a 5mm focal length (macro) gave me these bright pink flowers in lovely focus, with the conference centre in the back a recognizable but out-of-focus object. I think the shape of the building adds to the picture, without taking the shine away from those beautiful flowers.

On the flip side, here I had fun looking through a tall, grassy plant that is blurred, while the hillside on the opposite side of the river is clear and sharp. Aperture f/4.0, 15.5mm focal length. (Note the horizon isn't actually crooked, the hill just isn't straight. I should have pretended it was and tilted the camera slightly to compensate.)

In both cases I tended to focus on what I wanted to have clear, and then recompose the image to get the shot just how I wanted it. This is a neat trick I learned from my last instructor, and I really like it.

Bird Stalker Pt 1

Once again, I have been a bird stalker lately. For me they are a great challenge because they don't usually sit still for a long, involved process of composition and fiddling with settings. Especially these little guys.

I haven't got a clue what kind of bird this is. I love the contrast though between this very lively little bird and the old bars and concrete around him.

1/80 sec exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 44.5 mm focal length, ISO 200

Wordless Wednesday: Moon

1/400 exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 59.2mm focal length (to eliminate background items), ISO 100

Focus just where I want

My camera is not a DSLR. I only have a very awkward and imprecise manual focus. So things that are easy with a spin of the lens on a DSLR are a real challenge with my lovely SX10.

This is the first time I was able to get both the foreground AND background out of focus, with something in the middle clear and sharp! I'm thrilled with the results of these beautiful bleeding hearts.

1/60 sec exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 63.6mm focal length, ISO 200, Flash on (it was later evening), non-macro

Rainbow!

These were all taken of the same rainbow. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find my polarizing lens (stupid move!) until the rainbow was nearly gone, so I didn't get to experiment with that nearly as much as I would have liked. These are all with just a regular UV filter that is always on my camera.

The left part of the rainbow. It really stands out against the dark clouds.

I thought about cropping this, but then decided to show it with all it's warts! Those warts are... two tips from my umbrella, creeping in to the top of the frame. I had my umbrella out to protect the lens from getting spotty, but as I didn't have a tripod, sometimes it was hard to balance everything at once - and this was the result. Aside from that, I LOVE this picture. The rainbow enters and exits the image at pretty much the same height on each side. Yay!

And for balance, here is the right side of the rainbow.

All were taken with a bit of zoom to cut out roof tops and so on. There was in fact a bit of a double rainbow at one point, but the second one was so faint, I don't know if I caught it at all. It was still beautiful to see!

Bribe you with pretty

I will bribe you with the pretty, so you'll forget how long I've been MIA!

I was thrilled to discover that our new house has a small army of giant irises in the front flower bed! Here's a beautiful macro shot of one of those flowers.

1/100 exposure, f/4.0 aperture, focal length 5mm, ISO 80

Wordless Wednesday: Calm

Owl in the City

I looked out the office window the other day, and the City was hosting an event downtown, where they were showing off city services and attractions. It seemed like a fun way to pass lunch, so I headed out to see what was what... and discovered that the local zoo had brought 3 raptors to show off!

This is Cortez, a South American Spectacled Owl from Edmonton's Valley Zoo. He was very calm, but definitely aware of and interested in what was going on around him. He only tried to take a nibble out of one person, and even then it seemed like only a half-hearted attempt - he didn't move very fast! It was also quite warm out, so he may have been feeling a bit lethargic. The zookeeper was paying close attention to signs that the heat was getting to Cortez.

And this is a close-up of the foot of Cortez! I'd rather not find myself on the wrong side of those powerful talons. The detail of the feathers is also great, I love how sharply in focus this image is.

This was an amazing experience. To be so close to this bird - I even got to pet his chest! Beautiful bird.

First image: 1/250 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 80, 19.8mm focal length (the slight zoom was just to minimize the background)

Second image: 1/200 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 100, 22.4mm focal length (slightly zoomed in to focus on the foot)

A Day in the Life of the World

If you were not already aware, today is a special day for photographers, professional and amateur alike, around the world! Here's the link and description they've provided:

http://www.aday.org/

Photograph on May 15th!

You have one day to join thousands around the world in using the power of photography to create, share and compare perspectives on daily life! Don't miss it! You can upload your images until May 22nd.

Interesting portraits

I saw this little article today and I just love the idea! These are photos taken of various individuals in and out of their work uniforms - out of uniform means they are in their ordinary street clothes, not nude! The eclectic nature of the jobs is wonderful, and include a bishop and a geisha!

http://www.photozz.com/fizz/28212518.aspx