Beach Grass

I was out doing a bit of work today in Watsonville (actual paying work, non-photography... what we starving artists will do!). As always I had my camera with me, and I headed down to the beach when I was done. It was a cold gloomy day, certainly not fit for landscapes. So, I pulled out the macro, and... voila!

As for the desktop being fried, it is still in the shop. However, posting became less of a nuisance when I hooked up a mouse. (am I the only one that hate those finger pads?) I do miss Photoshop and Lightroom which are on the desktop, but I do have PS Elements on this machine. So, I'll post.

Entry in the Colton Hall* Call for Art - Moss Landing Fishing Boat

Well, here we go again, another competition. I rather like this image. Will helped me pick it. It’s different in a number of ways.

The contest is themed for The Central Coast. I figure all sorts of folks will submit Big Sur, Carmel, Pigeon Pt etc images. You know, big, grand stuff. So I thought I’d go for the Italian, Portuguese and other fisherman and zoom in on something gritty and real, in this case the rugged prow of one of their fishing boats. I also doubt there will be much black and white in the competition. I am hoping this will make my work stand out.

This actually did not take me long to make up my mind. I like the image, bold and strong like the fishermen who sail her.

*Colton Hall - the first state capitol of California which is located in Monterey and is now a museum.

Feather on the Beach, Will and Other Stuff at Pomponio Beach

Will and I went over to Pomponio Beach on Saturday afternoon. I came up from Monterey and Will came over the hill from San Jose. I had to endure the trip through Santa Cruz, never a favorite thing of mine. Will had to cut his way through The Great Pumpkin Festival at Half Moon Bay. I think I got the better part of the bargain.

We arrived there in late afternoon. Will was working on a project for his photography class and was shooting full manual film. Oh my. I, on the other hand, was footloose and fancy free to take in the late afternoon light and do whatever I wanted.

So I did.

Morning in the Garden

Fire and Water

This is another shot of a water feature in the garden. I shot this with the 100mm macro as the sun was setting behind the hills and I turned the lights on in the fountain. I was pleased with the effect.

Image of the Day - Holy Begonia Batman!

Focus is not what I had hoped for here. I would prefer the center was sharper but I got the top of the flower instead. This macro stuff can be pretty challenging. Nonetheless, I rather like the picture.

Image of the Day - California Oak Acorns

Today we took some limbs off a California oak in the backyard, and much to my surprise, there were acorns there. (Call for Mr. Macro!) The California oak, a form of live oak, looks nothing like the oaks I was used to back East. But, sure enough, the Californians are related to my old familiar trees.

Speaking of Mr. Macro, my confidence is growing the more I use this lens. At the risk of being repititious, it is very good color and clarity-wise. I am finding that at 100mm it is very versatile and would probably make a fine portrait lens, though I have yet to use it for that. I look forward to my expertise growing with this lens over time.

Image of the Day - Foggy Morning

This morning it is cool and foggy. The light is soft. Not a bad day for macros.

Image of the Day - The Fenceline

Image of the Day - Morning in the Garden

Image of the Day - Along Came a Spider

I must be in another macro-mood. I was sitting out on the back porch and looked up. There were two or three of these leggy dudes hanging from the roof over my head. Well... call for Mr Macro!

The roof is beige, so I adjusted the white balance in RAW to "tungsten" to give the picture a bit of life. I flipped the image so he would look to be right side up. With only a bit of sharpening and contrast boost, this little guy came to life.

Morning Dew

After a day of getting around San Francisco with friends and son, it's back to the "Little World" of the backyard and my good friend, Mr. Macro.

Life

Still fiddling around with the macro. It consistantly delivers good results. I am even getting used to lugging around a tripod which is a must with wide open aperture at 100mm.

Japanese Maple Leaf

I was outside playing with the Canon 100mm f2.8 and experimenting a bit with depth of field. I like this lens a lot. The sharpness, color and contrast are all good. A fine tool.

Oh, OK, Here is Another of My Tiny Buddy

For larger image click on picture.

This is another of the 1/4 inch garden spiders.

Macromania

Well, I've been on a macro jag for several days now, so I will go ahead and leave several of them up for awhile.

The lens is a Canon f2.8 100mm macro. It is a superb if touchy lens. There is zero forgiveness in the DOF until you get down to f11 or so. The color, contrast and clarity is as good as anything I have seen. Needless to say, I am happy with it.

Addendum: the macros are now archived under "macro" in the subject archive below.

End of the Line...

For larger image click on picture.

Hmmm, it seems I like these more than other folks judging by the total lack of comments, so this will be the last one... I'll go eat worms or something :)

Continuing the Macromania

For larger image click on picture.

This is a shot of a small garden fountain in the back yard. I cropped out some extraneous stuff. The colors appealed to me.

I include the rose just because of the clarity it demonstrates. (Oh yeh, and I like roses :) Also you can see the veins in the petal to the left are sharp while the rest is soft. I need to get into the habit of stopping the aperture down when shooting shots like this.

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Well, Let's See What That Macro Can Do

For larger image click on picture.

I was out in the garden this morning and saw this tiny spider, about 1/4 of an inch long. So I decided to push the limits on the new macro. Not bad!

The bane of shooting images like this is wind. With a DOF measured in fractions of an inch, getting something in focus is a challenge. Each breath of wind moves the subject in and out of the POF. Thank goodness for digital cameras. You just shoot a ton of images, and one of them is bound to be in focus.

Another Macro above Big Sur

Another shot from the hills above Big Sur.

It's time for a sensor cleaning, I had to clone stamp out more than a little goo. Skies make that sort of thing really apparent.

For larger image click on picture.