Rose Buds.....

While I was working on this little image tonight, my in house person who passes judgement on my images gave the one on the right a thumbs down...big time. She prefers the unadulterated, original version of any image I might happen to shoot. As a result, I decided to post both versions tonight, for those who might happen upon my little blog. In case you are wondering why I haven't been posting much lately, it is because I have been busy constructing a little studio of sorts, out in my garage. It is the sort of project that is not for the faint of heart. At my age, I must be nuts eh? 

Anyway, this image is the first ones taken with my "new to me" Minolta 500mm f8 AF lens that I picked up last week for a very reasonable price from B&H in New York. It is an item that I did not really need, but always wanted. There have been a lot of discussion and controversy about a mirror lens VS an optics lens. If I were to buy a 500 mm optical lens, it would cost me North of $5000.00 for a good used one. However this mirror lens set me back less than $300.00 and while it is a used lens, it is in pristine condition. But, but but, it gives ugly donut shaped rings in the out of focus areas of the background....well true, but that all depends on what you are aiming it at. It takes a bit of getting used to, and at a fixed aperture of f8, a tripod is a very useful tool indeed. To me, there are a lot of folks who are somewhat neurotic when it comes to grain, noise, or donut rings in the "bokeh" area of an image. To my feeble mind, there is no such thing as perfection, and it is more important to just enjoy an image, warts and all. Sometimes, when confronted with some undesirable element that might crop up in an image, it for me, is an opportunity to try to arrive at something different, unusual and satisfying. It is an enjoyable way to pass a little time, to work on an image, and see what can be made of it, that might be a bit unusual, or even beautiful....to some viewers eyes at least. Whew! A bit long winded tonight eh? Cheers folks! 

Camera: SONY a77ll

Lens: Minolta 500mm f8 AF mirror lens

Specs: 1/360 sec. @ f8 hand held  

 

Monet's Tulip.....

It is starting to look and feel a lot like Spring is happening now, so tonight, my offering to everyone is this little tulip that is growing beside our neighbour's driveway. The mix of red, yellow and orange made for a very colourful image, and I thought that I would try to render it as something that possibly Monet might paint. The tulip was photographed in Illustration mode on my camera, and then the image was worked on a bit in Corel Painter Essentials 8, to give it a bit of an impressionist feel. It's not perfect, but it was a fun way to clear the mind at the end of a day. So this is my little offering to start the month of May....enjoy the flowers folks....like us, they are only here for a little while. Cheers! 

Gerbera Daisy.....

Sometimes when I am watching TV, and my hockey team is losing, I get frustrated, and go get my camera and start to fiddle about with it, while watching the game out of the corner of my eye. This little image is the result of such a situation, and it was taken with a 50mm f1.4 lens, wide open with the flash bounced off of the ceiling. This gives a very shallow dept of focus, as well as very flat lighting effects. When it is enlarged, you can notice that the only sharp part is the center of the red Gerbera Daisy, and the sharpness starts to fall off from there. This lens was bought a while back, and I had not used it much in the meanwhile due to situations beyond my control. When it is mounted on my crop sensor camera, it has the effect of being a 75mm, f1.4 lens, which also makes it rather nice for portraiture as well. While this image is no award winner, I still enjoy it for it's simplicity and mix of colours, and also for the fact that I did not have to do any arrangement of the scene, just record what happened to be there. Cheers!! 
 

Shivering Sparrow.....

A couple of days ago, I found this little sparrow sitting in a Rose of Sharon bush beside our deck. It was a very cold, windy day, and the feeders were swaying in the wind, so I figured this little one was in no mood for a wild midway ride this day. This was a very quick shot taken through the kitchen window, and while I would not consider it for competition night at the photo club, it is still very enjoyable to me. Spring is here, and hopefully the temperatures will rise soon to make it enjoyable to sit outdoors again. Cheers!  

 

Bird Feeder Glitters.....

Yesterday morning, the first thing that met my eyes when I looked out the kitchen window, was this scene. We had had an ice storm during the night, and everything was encased in ice. When I was a little lad, I used to look forward to the many ice storms we had back home during the Winter, as we would put on our skates and skate all over the neighbourhood. After an ice storm, when everything was encased in ice, it was often just shimmering in the sunlight, and we would call it the "glitters"....hence the title for my posting tonight. Unfortunately, it was an overcast and dreary day, so there isn't much "shimmering" going on in this image. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it anyway....Cheers! 

Rose Fantasy.....

This image tonight is just something that I came up with, as my meanderings online lately have just about driven me around the bend, as they say. So, I spent a few minutes playing with this rose that I had photographed last Summer. It helps me make the world go away for a while. It has occurred to me that maybe the reason that I turn a lot of my images into something a bit unreal, is that nothing seems real anymore, so if I must deal with the unreal, then maybe I will call the shot on what some of the ordinary things of life might be transformed into. It helps to keep me in a positive frame of mind these days....but then again, it may suggest other things that are better left to the gods of time to sort out.  It is what it is, and I am happy with that...Cheers!
 

Autumn Colours, Outside My Window

It appears that November is about to become history in a few days from now, and tonight I thought I should make at least one posting on here before it passes, and we will be into December. Time passes so quickly anymore it seems. Anyway, this colourful little scene is just Autumn through my front window. In the transition from a straight picture to this somewhat impressionist rendition, the roadway changed appearance, and now appears to be a stream running by, an effect that I find a somewhat pleasant surprise. Yesterday, I set up my little bird feeder station, and hopefully I will be able to improve on my bird images this year. It will be fun to see what transpires over the next few months when they return.  There is just one negative for me in my setup....last Winter, while I was focusing wide open on a lovely Redheaded Woodpecker, I did not realize that the lady who lives directly behind me had been outside, and it appears that she thought I was taking photos of her, as she went inside and slammed the door. She has not spoken to me since....such are the joys of living in the city where so many folks are so "triggered" anymore. A few years ago, I got called out at a little league baseball game that my grandson was playing in, and my son was one of the coaches for his team. It seems that when an old guy shows up with his camera and telephoto lenses, that he is up to no good these days, but it is alright for everyone else to be shooting every moment with their cell phones. It makes one want to head for the deep woods, away from everyone.  But then, on the other hand, the bad guys seem to be getting away with a lot these days. So you can't really blame folks for being hyper vigilant I guess. It is for that reason that my photography is usually about things that is close by to me, and even then things can go a little sideways sometimes. Cheers!