Sweet Spring

My sweet daughter somehow came across three lovely little amber bottles and thought of me. She used beads and wire to fashion them into bud vases that would mount on my kitchen window. They were my Christmas present.







She designed them to hold daffodils. So that is what they have done very well this spring.






I have loved coming home each day to see them in the window - especially on days when the sunlight is streaming through them.

Enjoy Bees

I love bees! They are so important to the well-being of our planet that I allow them to roam freely around our flowers and bore holes in our wood :) I've been chasing them around since I became interested in photography and have never gotten stung. They pretty much ignore me. I got up from the dinner table Sunday when I saw a few frolicking among the butterfly bushes and had a great time recording their busyness.

This first set was edited in Lightroom with Nik's Color Efex Pro using the Contrast Color Range and Vignette Blur filters. For the Vignette Blur I centered the blur on the bee and also used a control point to remove the effect form the bee.








The second set was edited in Lightroom using Color Efex Pro's User Defined BiColor Filter. For the top color I clicked in the Butterfly Bush bloom, for the bottom I clicked in the bee, blend was set to 63% and vertical shift to 47%:






They were all taken with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro set on Aperture Priority mode, f/3.2, ISO 800.

Enjoy Spider Lilies

I had to grab the macro lens when I saw this lone, lovely spider lily blooming in the backyard.





It's even pretty in black and white:


These were taken with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens at f/3.2 in Aperture Priority mode. Post processing in Lightroom with Nik's Color Efex Pro plugiin (Ink #5 at 50%) for the top three and b&w conversion for the last.

Enjoy the Little Things

I really enjoy macro photography and I love my Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens, but I rarely stop to record all the pretty little things I see anymore. I took some time this week-end to walk around with my macro lens and captured these small things we so often overlook in our busy lives.

mushrooms on the lawn...




the apple tree...



a little pink begonia bloom...



the neighbor's cat...



fushia blowing in a gentle breeze ...



the hummingbird vine...



the last pink hydrangea...



lantant (which always makes me think of my Aunt Jessie Mae)...



a teeny, tiny little lizard...



million bells...



even monkey grass can be pretty...



and a weed in the azalea bed...



All the images were processed in LightRoom with Nik Color Efex Pro using various cross processing settings.

Shamrock

I love the shamrocks in spring. I took this today with the Lensbaby Muse I won for a Photo of the Month on DigitalImageCafe.com. I stacked both Macro Filters on the lens and hand-held the camera.

Summer Snaps 58

The cicadas have been abundant this summer. Unfortunately, one met its demise in the birdbath last night. I was fascinated with the way the morning light shone through its wings. I took these with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens and two Kenko extension tubes -- 12mm and 36mm.







Before coming in I took a few snaps of some nearby Shamrocks.

Summer Snaps 57

I admit, we've had a beautiful summer in Alabama. Today was the first day I've been out and seen haze and oppressive heat. I was near despair wondering if I would be able to photograph anything for the summer snaps. I wandered back into the office to get my camera and head outdoors when I saw my husband's African Violets. Yea! I found something pretty without venturing out into the heat and haze!

Summer Snaps 51 (I think)

I'm a little confused about exactly where I am with my summer snaps. It's getting harder to keep it up each day, but I am learning so much with all the practice.

One subject I've been wanting to experiment with is feathers. I've been picking them up in the backyard all summer with the intention of doing a series of macros with them. This is my first attempt.



I'm extremely grateful to Gina of Gina Lee Photography for showing me how to make the images larger within my blog so you won't have to click on a thumbnail to enlarge it. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to go back and replace all previous post images but will display the larger images within the blog from this day forward. Thanks, Gina!!

Summer Snaps 36

These were made today in my backyard with the Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens through the viewfinder of Kodak Duaflex IV Camera. They were cropped and post-processed in PSCS2 - most with a cross processing action.






These last two were made today using the Canon macro lens alone. They were edited in LightRoom using a David Jay preset designed for photos that were taken with backlighting.