Mysterious Woman.....

Lately I have been dabbling with studio portraiture, and this is my first attempt in a very very long while. It is fun to experiment a little with some off beat styles, and this lovely lady decided to go a little on the "dark" side for me. She was a thespian in her high school days, and I was fortunate that she has not lost her "joie de vivre" for this little session. The lighting is not what I was hoping for, but it will do for a start. It would probably look not half bad as a black & white, maybe I will give it a go sometime. Thanks for your time. Cheers!

Red Roses in a Vase.....

 While I was doing something else tonight, I got side tracked with this image that I accidentally came across. It was fun to take something that I had passed over many times before, and finally make it into something that I personally find somewhat pleasing. If I remember correctly, I originally shot this image while watching a hockey game, that wasn't going my way, so I set up an extra flash to the left of the flowers, and triggered it with the on camera flash. Flash photography used to terrify me somewhat in the past....not so much anymore. I put a poster efx filter on it in Corel, and this was the final outcome.....hope you enjoy it a little....Cheers!

First Rose of Sharon Blossom - 2024

 

Looking out the kitchen window this morning, I was most pleasantly surprised to see this lovely Rose of Sharon blossom greeting me. It is the very first blossom to open on the bush beside the back deck, and within the next few days, this bush, and the others in the yard, will be covered with these, and should continue to bloom until well into late September or early October. Unfortunately, there isn't much scent to them, but to be surrounded by their vivid colours makes a morning beverage very pleasant indeed. Sometimes I think that I am a bit crazy to be spending money on expensive lenses, but while it is not a work of art, these lovely blossoms make it worthwhile....well, to me anyway. Hope you enjoy it  also....Cheers!

SONY a7Mk2, and 90mm f 2.8 Macro Lens

  Yesterday was the first day of Summer, and I decided to offer this little image as a cheerful welcome to the season. It has been very warm and humid for the last week or so, with a few cooler days here and there which are very welcomed. There are several jobs about the place that need doing, but when the temperatures are pushing into the high 30's C., then it is time to take it easy, and not risk a heat stroke. This yellow rose is growing by the back fence, and I could not resist trying out my 90mm Macro lens. Hope some folks enjoy it.....Cheers!

A Garden Stone.....

 A couple of days ago, I was working in the garden, when I dug up this very round stone. It's shape was very unusual, as you would expect to find a round stone such as this at the seaside somewhere. So, I brushed the dirt off, and tossed it to one side until I was finished what I was doing. When I went back into the house, I washed it off in the utility sink, and set it aside. I had no idea what exactly I would do with it, but I just liked its shape, and thought it could be somehow included in a still life set up maybe. After a while of mulling it over in my head, this is what I came up with. Geometric shapes have always interested me, so this image is made up of circles and rectangles, and also the irregular. It has various textures from the polished smooth balls, to the rough surface of the stone "vase", and the straw in the little wooden rectangular box. The crinkled pinkish gift wrapping paper provides a colourful background. This image doesn't have some deep profound meaning or story behind it....it is just a little something that I dug up, literally, and enjoyed the process of "enhancing the unpolished"....just because....Cheers!

And Some Flowers for Her.....

Before I started to "conjure" up this image tonight, I had all sorts of possible ideas rattling around inside the old cranium. While I very much enjoy shooting flowers, I was getting rather tired of the same old flowers in a vase images. Then there was this light bulb moment where I thought it might be nice to portray them in a bit of a different setting, that might also suggest a story of sorts. So I took a quick dive into the clothes closet and dug out a jacket, shirt and tie, and did a little arranging of the items, and set up my LED lights before I went for the flowers to include them in the overall scene. This was the result, and it was a bit of fun to deviate from the usual methods of presentation....it also adds a bit of a masculine element, if I am allowed to suggest that these days....it is what it is....enjoy life while we can.....Cheers!
 

Light Amongst Rose Petals

The first thing you learn on your photographic journey, is that Photography is all about lighting. It took me a very long time to realize this, but as they say, the first 10,000 photos are throw aways. On the surface, what is so wonderful about a pile of dead rose petals?....Nothing actually. However, when you apply some backlighting, and some fill lighting, suddenly these dead petals come to life, and the lovely colours hidden within them is brought to the fore, and when the light infiltrates the various surfaces of the petals, it seems to do a little dance that for me is somewhat pleasing to my eye. This is AKA Textured Lighting, and hopefully some of you will enjoy it as well.....Cheers!

PS Lighting by 2 Aperture Light storm LED lights

     Camera ~ SONY a7ll mirrorless on Tripod

     Lens ~ SONY 90mm Macro OSS @ f16, 1/6 sec. ASA (ISO) 100