This is why you do it today

Yesterday I strolled the garden after coming back from finishing off a roll of film. It was cool and raining a bit. I'd been out the day before to get some flower photos, and was thinking of getting some wet flower shots, which are usually interesting. Except I was hungry, and the rain was getting harder, and there was a wine kit to start, and I figured I could do it tomorrow.

Except the rain turned to snow. We retreated to the media room and continued to binge Castle. We're in the middle of season 5. There was a huge crack of thunder and a flash of lightning along the way. We peered out to lots of snow, and slush building up on the road. It snowed all night. The roads are wet, but there are several cm of snow on the lawn. The flowers are pretty well buried. So much for those shots of water drops on the flowers. Maybe I'll put on a jacket, hat, wet boots, and go look to see what shots are there. 

Maybe. The coffee is really good this morning. No, we are not out on the patio in those nice deck chairs drinking our coffee. 

Except the light is really nice and soft, and snow sometimes makes for interesting patterns as it piles up on stuff...

1. Not my best shot ever of a tulip, but the first one this year. Oddly enough it's in the back garden.

2.

3. 

4.

5. The first peony I've noticed.

Of the Day

Driftwood. I went looking for a shot of driftwood that included the rest of the beach. The warm, non-snowy beach.

Peony

Michelle and Antje outtake

Film. Michelle again, testing the limits of capturing only a small part of the negative with a high powered macro lens.  You can see the entire photo here. I've got two more rolls of film at the lab being developed. Watch the photoblog for the results of a walk in Kensington with friends.

Tricky daffodils

One of the things I want to try with garden photos is reflected light. The idea is to change the light that normally falls on the garden. The reflectors even have some different tints. The first attempt was with the gold tint, on the daffodils beside the house, which were in shade when I was shooting. The vision was to have the yellow blooms show up like a flare, while the grass is dark and almost disappearing. What you see is what you get.

And with a similar idea, still with the gold tint. This had afternoon sun coming from the left, and the reflection onto what would be the shaded side, which seems to emphasize the texture. This will work a whole lot better with someone else holding the reflector.

The chairs showed up as a standalone on Facebook, where I suspect most readers have already seen it. This is after one day of Linda shopping for plants to fill her various pots and containers. But first, not one, but TWO serendipity photos.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Michelle and Antje outtake

Film double exposure

It's bee season again

As regular readers know, one of my favourite photographic subjects is our garden. Between all the varieties of light over the season, all the different kinds of flowers in different stages of their lifecycle, and all the little critters around the flowers, there's lots to shoot. Plus, and I probably shouldn't say this, it's really handy. A few steps and I'm engrossed by a world of subtle colours and textures, playing with focus and depth of field.

So there I was yesterday, out looking for a new angle, a new way of capturing flower related images. After all, I wouldn't want my readers to get bored, saying "ho hum, another pretty flower." I'd picked up an orchid picture book from the library, but was actually disappointed in the images. I think they were cut flowers draped over a light pad, so it seemed to wash out the colour.

There are lots of flowers in bloom just now, and the bees are out as well. I was tracking two huge bees, and it's clear I'm out of practice. The colour and texture of their fuzz, especially this orange, really attracts me, but the real challenge is getting their eyes and face in focus.

And I'm reaching here, this really is a bee. I'd goofed on the settings a bit, so it's dark, and it's mostly hiding being that leaf. There will be more bee photos, stay tuned!

The other flower photos from yesterday. Don't ask.

I've got a busy several days of photography and related stuff starting today. A friend is coming over to try out the copy stand and think about the related workflow. He has many negatives from back in the day. Then Friday is a photo ramble with buddies. I'm going to bring some nice black and white film and look for contrast and texture. Saturday is a community association event. Sunday is a family shoot for a friend, and I'll try some film for that as well, if they're patient, and when I say they I mean the infant. 

Here's the copy stand, it's used to hold the DSLR to capture a photograph of a negative. This is much, MUCH better than trying to set the tripod up every time. Since this is my old T6i camera, it can just live on the copy stand, unless I need it for back up at an event or trip.

Of the Day

Driftwood, but first a related serendipity.

Peony. I'll for sure be trying this shot with different film stocks. I recently acquired a high tech diffuser shade thingy, and I'll be trying that out as well.

Michelle and Antje out take.

Celina, through the window, disapproving.

Film, the other building in the industrially scenic tour.

I am just a fuzzy blanket substrate

Celina has become more demanding of her humans. Most cats want what they want, and they want it now. Their furry expression leaves little doubt about the whole situation. Celina does all that, and in addition tells us, sometimes quietly, sometimes at the top of her lungs. Telling her to howl louder because the cats on Mars can't hear her does not impress her.

Is she lonely? We're still not sure what she really thinks of Curtis leaving, even after a bit more than a year and half (566 days, but whose counting?). I still miss him offering editorial comments on my photo editing and writing. I think of him almost every day. Does she miss furry company? Does she want us to get another cat, or cats? We tried that once, and it didn't go well at all. I am, however tempted by the thought of bringing home a box of orange kittens for a little while, just to see what she thinks. Anybody have some of them for loan? Yes, I know I'm going to cat hell for some large number of eternities.

One of the outcomes has been increased demands for lap time, though she doesn't want to be picked up and cuddled. Human breath or something. The lap she really wants is mine, provided the fuzzy wool moose blanket is there. She won't sit on my lap without a blanket. Nor will she sit on the fuzzy wool moose blanket when it's folded up on the footstool. Sometimes, if w're working in the back yard, she'll sit on the fuzzy red wool snowflake blanket in the back window. And yes, you know it, telling us what we're doing wrong.

Even if Celina is snoozing on a blanket in Linda's lap, warm and comfortable, being petted, as soon as I sit down, I get one slitty green eye watching me. Nothing happens till I put the fuzzy blanket on my lap. Then, and only then, she hops over and settles in. It's clear what I'm good for, in her mind. That and opposable thumbs for dealing out cat food. I know my place.

Because we've been talking about her, a photo in the main section of the blog.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Lily. This is the last lily in the of the day feature till more bloom this year. I hope you enjoyed them. As a bonus you get a serendipity alligator.

Michelle out take.

Film. I was driving back from something, taking an industrially scenic route, and discovered this building, and one more in the next blog.

April Image of the Month

 There's something special about this month's image.

It wasn't a big month in terms of number or quality of photos. I took more photos yesterday (at the RnR Get Shit Done race, if you're curious) than I did during the entire month of April. But the number of photos taken isn't a particularly important metric. It's the quality of the photos. I'd rather make one stunningly brilliant photo in a month than one hundred mediocre ones. I'm working on that.

Photographers who start shooting on film after being in the digital world often say it makes them slow down and think about the photos more. Which one could do while carrying a digital camera, but it's difficult. The mode of thought is generally, when in doubt take the photo. Try different settings. Try different compositions. Try anything. At its worst photographers call this approach "spray and pray." Done more selectively it's called, "insurance."

When the goal is to produce better photos, one has think, "what in this scene would make a good photo?" There are any number of factors that go into making a good photograph, and we argue about it. But when there is an identifiable cost for every click of the shutter, even if it isn't much, we try to get it right the first time. We think about composition, camera settings, and many other factors.

The other thing that happens is to decide that there isn't a good photograph in that scene after all. Or at least with the equipment in hand in this light. It might be a limitation on the photographer's imagination or a lack of skill, but the result is to move on. There can be much rueful gnashing of teeth when that photographer sees a great photograph that another person got from that scene.

The big event in April was trying out film to do portraits. Mostly the goal was to better understand the camera, and work on seeing people in a setting, and starting to figure out indoor lighting. If you missed it, you can see the results here. But there was one indoor photo that didn't show up in the results. Michelle had flopped onto the sofa on the way to doing something else, but I loved the pose, and asked her to hold it. I played with lighting a bit, and took a film and digital image.

First version I saw is of course, digital. I liked the image instantly. There's minimal editing, but as I look at it again, I think I'd edit things slightly differently. 

First attempt at editing the film version. Lots and lots of editing. As it turns out, the film was a bit over exposed, and the first attempt at digitizing didn't turn out well till I dropped it into B&W, although it's still not quite how I thought it would turn out. I could have brought B&W film and tried that, but didn't.

Second attempt at editing film and Image of the Month.

The difference is that I reshot the negative with slightly different settings, and used a different scanner emulation in the negative inversion step. This seemed to treat her skin tones better, and is more how I wanted the image to appear. 

One walk two cameras no editing

I think that's the first time I've gone for a photoramble and not edited any of the images. Yes, I captured a few digital images, but once I got home and saw them on the computer, they didn't really do anything for me. During the walk I didn't see anything that inspired me to put film in the camera.

What was important was getting out for the walk with a friend. In a recent blog I'd talked about running along the rivers, mentioning that the path along the west side of the Bow stopped at Edworthy. I'd done a bit of exploring but didn't know how far the paths went beyond that. Sean and I crossed the bridge, turned right and headed along the Christmas trail. 

Eventually the path sort of dead ends near the railway tracks, but there's an obvious path heading up the hill on the other side of the tracks. We followed along, stopping periodically to think about photos. This was all new to us, so we admired the view. Eventually we emerged to see the Shouldice bridge over the Bow. There was no bush whacking required along the way, but there are several fairly steep hills that wouldn't be much fun in wet ground.

We crossed on the pedestrian bridge, and came back along the shore of the Bow river. My regular readers will not be surprised that we stopped for a coffee and treat at the cafe beside the parking lot. I was amused by the bylaw enforcement officer stopping speeding cyclists. There was much good discussion about camera technology along the way, with some comparison between two very different mirrorless cameras, one brand new, and one about 40 years old. All in all, a wonderful morning.

I had another go at the blue flower, and got a yellow one along the way.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Lily, two similar shots, one with ant, one without. There is one more lily photo from last year in the pipeline, and that will be all till more bloom this year. I hope you enjoyed!

Michelle and Antje outtake during photo session.

A Linda serendipity, and Celina

Film abstract