Thanks for listening to me whine the last few days!

Oh my goodness. This morning was WONDERFUL! We woke up to overcast skies and temps at about 60 degrees. The whole house was comfortable for the first time in many, many days! The cloud cover has long since burned off, and it's still supposed to be pretty hot here for the next several days, but not as bad as it's been.

We went out for dinner with some friends last night, and the air conditioned restaurant was absolutely PACKED. One good thing about this heat wave is that I am sure it has stimulated the economy! Lots of people going out to eat, and from what I've heard the malls and theaters are packed as well.

Anyhow, thought I'd post a picture from when B and I escaped to the Olympic Peninsula a few weeks ago. Wish my photoshopping skills were good enough to remove that signpost smack dab in the middle. If that window wasn't right behind it I could probably do it. The pathway I was shooting from was very narrow, with dense growth on both sides, so there was no avoiding getting it in the frame. Oh well.

I love the name of this lighthouse. It is called "Point No Point." :)

103 !!!!

Holy smokes. It was 103 degrees yesterday, breaking the record all time high since Seattle started keeping records back in the mid 1800's. Its was miserable, and today is supposed to be 99, so not any better :(

On Monday we were able to find one portable AC after hunting around for a couple of days, so our bedroom is mildly comfortable.....not cool, but barely bearable. When we went to bed last night our main floor was 87 degrees, and I know the upstairs was at least 5 degrees warmer. I am SO over this!

Our pregnant neighbor came over and spent most of the day here with her sick toddler, they even took a nap in our bedroom to escape the heat. So this morning, Brett and her husband got up at 4:45 and went air-conditioning hunting. They drove 45 minutes away to a Home Depot that was supposed to get in 100 units, but they didn't. So, on a whim they called the Lowes by our house, and SCORE. Brett said it was a slightly stressful drive up here, hoping they didn't sell out. So the guys got an AC for our neighbors, unfortunately they were too expensive for us to consider a second one for us, but Brett was able to pick up 2 more fans which hopefully will help a bit.

Supposedly it's going to cool down on Tuesday. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

A photo of our sweet little neighbor-toddler who is feeling better today, thankfully ( I posted this on the board for CC a few days ago, so you may have already seen it). She's been miserable in the heat, and her mom is completely exhausted....so hopefully their new AC will help a bit!

Isn't she just a doll? She's got such a sparkling personality to boot!

Love-In-A-Mist....again

I took this several days ago, I wanted to get a shot that gave more of an overall feel for the plant. This was shot with my 50mm 1.8 at 1.8. Colin's window curtains are the background :)



Still ridiculously hot here, the high is supposed to hit an all-time record for Seattle of 101 today, with no relief in the 5 day forecast. YUCK. What I wouldn't do for central air conditioning right now!!! Hope the rest of you in the PNW are holding up ok!

SNEAKY!

Ok, first off, forgive the photo. It is 100 degrees here today and I cannot think straight, let alone concentrate on taking a GOOD photo :(

So, my birthday was yesterday, and my husband is a sneak! About 6 weeks ago we went with another couple to an arts fair, and I found a beaded bracelet that I really liked. The colors were perfect for me, greens, warm browns, and ambers, and it just screamed "take me home Lauren!" Since we were there to look for art for the house (and trying to show self-restraint), I left the bracelet at the booth, but continued to think about it. Finally, right before we left, I decided to go ahead and buy it, but when I got back to the booth it had been sold :(

Fast forward to last night, and B gave me a little box, with the bracelet inside! He had sneaked (or is it snuck?) off while I was busy looking at stuff with our friend and picked it up for me.

He's a crafty one, and I really am happy that he is!



I'll post a photo of C's very thoughtful gift to me another day, it's just too hot to shoot.

Blue

I like how this shot shows just how narrow the DOF is when shooting at f/3.2. These are 6mm (just shy of 1/4") crystal beads. That strip of area in focus across the bottom is pretty minute, probably between 1/8" - 1/4". Notice how the back edge of the hole for the string/wire (which is teeny tiny) at the bottom is in focus, but the front edge of the hole is not? So, if you're having problems shooting macros, just keep this super narrow DOF in mind, don't beat yourself up about it, and keep working at it!

I shot this for the BLUE color challenge on 2ps. Hey, it's not a flower...surprise, surprise!



f/3.2 @ 1/160s, ISO 200, handheld

And now, back to your regularly scheduled flower post :)

Yes, yesterday's post was a little long, and a little negative ;) so back to flowers for today. The light rail got back up and running this morning, so hopefully when/if this problem arises again they'll be better prepared to deal with it. Oh, and they did show me on TV, but annoyed the heck out of me because they aired things I said completely out of context. Next time someone asks to interview me for the news, my reply will be a solid, un-wavering NO!

BTW, a few people have asked about my backgrounds. When I shoot indoors, I typically use either a piece of 12x12 cardstock or a small 1 yard piece of fabric for the background. For this one I used cardstock:



f/8 @ 1/125s, ISO 500, handheld

Seattle's brand-spanking new LINK light rail - zero for two

So our light rail (which has taken many. many. many years to get up and running) finally started service this past Monday. Our new house is about 4 or 5 blocks from a station, and was definitely a bonus to us moving to this neighborhood. We've been very excited about it, as have all of our neighbors!

This morning Colin and I got to ride it for the first time, he to his once a week internship at a theatre downtown, and me to a haircut appointment. It was a wonderful start. We walked over the the station and POOF a train arrived. No waiting for a bus, no checking and worrying about schedules, it was just there.

Boarded the train and got to the next stop just fine, and we agreed how much we were enjoying the smooth, quiet ride. Then, shortly before the next stop our train stopped in a tunnel and was delayed for a couple of minutes. After that delay we were on our way, and chattering once again about how happy we were to be riding the train! Then just shy of the next station, again the train stopped. And we waited, and waited, and WAITED. Finally, about 10 minutes into it, the driver made an announcement over the intercom, but no one on the train could hear what he said, either he spoke too softly, or it wasn't turned up high enough. So, we waited some more.

Finally, after about 15 minutes the train moved, HURRAY! Unfortunately, it was only a few dozen feet - we pulled up to the Stadium station, and then all 40 or 50 of us were unceremoniously told to get off and take a bus the rest of the way!!! GRRRR. Fortunately, there was a bus stop just to our left, and fortunately a bus came right away, and fortunately it was heading in our direction.

So, C was late to work, and I got to where I needed to go. Then, when I was ready to go home a few hours later, I headed into the downtown transit tunnel to catch the train home. I figured if it was still not running, they would have employees and/or signs up at the street level letting riders know what was up, and since they didn't I thought I was good to go. Got into the tunnel, still no one/no signs. YAY!

Oops, I was wrong! The train was still not running downtown, and they had NO ONE there to let people know. I only found out because I asked some random guy who was waiting for a bus (some buses routes run through the tunnel as well).

Then, a TV news guy and videographer approached me and asked me if I was leaving because of the light rail was not running. I said yes.

Then he asked me if I had been on a train that was stuck this morning. I said yes.

Then he asked if he could interview me. I said no and started to walk away.

Then he pleaded with me, saying that he hadn't come across anyone else who had been stuck this morning and would I PLEASE let him interview me. Against my better judgment, I said yes {smacking self on forehead} So, just so you know....when you see people being interviewed about random stuff on the TV news, don't always assume that they wanted to be interviewed! I don't know if I'll turn on the news at 5 to see if it airs, but if I do, and it does I know I'm going to HATE seeing myself on TV :( Hmmm, now that I think about it some more, I think I'm going to pass on turning it on.

Back up to street level I went to catch my bus home. So, an anti-climactic ride for sure! While I know "these things happen" I am slightly frustrated about the poor communication by Sound Transit. Boy, talk about bad PR to overcome....day 4 and it's not running through downtown. I'm hoping for better luck for us next time!

Photos quickly snapped with C's point and shoot on auto-everything :)

Loading his ORCA card - for some reason, after multiple tries, he wasn't able to do his online, but mine worked fine, weird.



Wow, perfect timing, a train pulled up just as he finished:



Pointing out that we were passing our neighborhood :)

Love-In-A-Mist....

I kid you not, that's the common name for this flower (Nigella). Apparently they're fairly easy to sow in the fall, so I'm going to let the flowers go to seed, scatter them around the bed by the garage, and hope they make it.


f/25


f/5.6 (handheld)


f/25


f/7.1

One photo - too many ways!

Friday afternoon I hung out in the office with the fan blowing directly on me, eating watermelon, and tried to stay cool. It's going to be another scorcher today, so I might just do the same this afternoon! While I did, I played with processing a bit. I'd love to know which of these you prefer, and if you're so inclined, why as well. I know the differences on some of them are pretty subtle, and these would be easier to decide looking at them side by side, but they'd be tiny if I did that.

Thanks a bunch!

1. SOOC


2. My standard, basic edit


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.



8.


9.


Lastly, I've had a couple of people comment recently asking which textures I use. I got a bunch for free at FLICKR quite a while ago. They just sat and sat on my computer until I finally started using them. I wish I knew where on there I found them, but try searching under free textures and see if you get any hits. Also, I have a bunch of texture shots that I've taken over the years as well. Typically I'll use between 3 and 5 textures per photo. I usually add them as a softlight layer, but sometimes do an overlay, color burn, and I think I've used multiply as well.

I think I'm still a bit heavy handed with them, I need to show a little more restraint!

It's the most wonderful time of the year......

Rainier Cherry season!

Boy, we go nuts for these things! I buy 2 pounds at the farmer's market every Wednesday evening, by the end of the weekend they are history. The ones at the grocery store (while good) don't even compare. These are BIG, sooooooooooooooo flavorful, and just plain yummy. I wish the season was longer than 4 weeks!



and because I'm enjoying using texture so much lately:

White echinacea

I love nice, soft, morning light. The background on these is a very large, textured pot (which is home to a lovely, large Japanese Maple).


f/5 @ 1/200s, ISO 320


f/3.2 @ 1/250s, ISO 200


f/5 @ 1/200s, ISO 320

Hope y'all are keeping cool, it is too hot for my taste today :/

Too many lavender pictures

You had to know it was coming after hearing we went to the lavender farms, right? Apparently I was on a "camera tilting" phase late last week! ;)

1.

f/3.2 @ 1/250s, ISO 400

2.

f/4 @ 1/320s, ISO 400

3.

f/4.5 @ 1/160s, ISO 400

4.

f/5 @ 1/320s, ISO 400

Oh look, a straight one!
5.

f/4.5 @ 1/500s, ISO 400

6.

taken with my 28-70 at 70mm f/2.8 @ 1/2500s, ISO 250 (yes, I should have lowered it)

Gotta love the gorgeous blue summer skies in the Pacific Northwest!
7.

taken with the 28-70 at 35mm, f/16 @ 1/200s, ISO 250

When it's windy out, and you're at the beach:

You gotta go through a whole lot of this:



and hope you get something worth saving like this:



It shocked me that I was able to get anything at ALL in focus and my shutter speed was 1/4000s! These were whipping around like mad!

I'm really starting to like using texture - and yes, I know I'm so far behind the times! I need to have some of these printed out and see if I like them on paper or not.

In answer to Heather's questions:

First of all... how do you determine what aperture to use? you always seem to be spot-on with your choices and I am in awe of you for that. Also, do you study your surroundings for a while before setting up a shot? I love how your backgrounds are always appropriate and not cluttered.

As far as selecting aperture goes, it depends on how far away I am from the subject, how much of it I want in focus, and probably most importantly what the background looks like. Outdoors, I usually shoot fairly wide opened simply because I can't control the background as much, and I usually want it out of focus. Ok, I could control it if I wanted to by staking things out of the way, but typically I don't. When I'm indoors, and especially when I'm using my tripod, I love to play with the lens stopped down, and see just how much of the flower I can get into acceptable focus.

Probably the best thing that has helped me determine aperture is just trial and error. When I first started out I used my tripod religiously (ok, not THAT much, but often), and I would shoot things at various apertures, just to experiment and see how I liked them, and IF I preferred them one way or another. I'd be in the kitchen for an hour and a half shooting ONE subject, moving the flower around, shooting from various angles, different lighting, and at 6-8 different apertures. I still do it from time to time, when I'm motivated by something I either really like and/or haven't shot before (it has an odd shape or something). Holy smokes, I typed a lot....sorry!!!

The second part of the question. Yes, I do look at the background to determine from where, and how close (and what aperture) I want to shoot at. I've decided NOT to photography many things simply because I couldn't get the background uncluttered, or couldn't get to the subject and still have good light AND be steady enough to shoot it. That said, I have been known to occasionally push a branch out of the way, or even {gasp} pinch off a leaf to get what I want. There are many times I've wished I had a wooden skewer with me to prop up a bloom so the sunlight hits the inside of it better. I need to just toss one or two in my camera bag, we have plenty of them!

If anyone else has questions, just let me know. Hope this helped a little bit!

Answering questions

Well, I feel like a slacker. A couple of weeks ago I offered to answer questions, and then never got back to them. And there were a lot less than I thought there would be, so I have no excuse. Anyhow, here we go :)

Michele asked:

1) What was the best resource for you in really learning/improving with your macro photography?

Probably the best resource that truly got me interested in macro photography is a woman named Anna Diederich. She took me under her wing and answered all the mudane questions I had when first staring out. She is an enormously talented photographer, and I'll always be grateful to her for her help and mentorship.

The other thing that helped me a lot was a macro class I took at Betterphoto.com

2) What tripod do you have, would you recommend it?

I use a Bogen tripod that I've had for probably 8 years or so. I have no idea what the model is, and it's probably discontinued now anyhow. But this thing is a workhorse, and I would highly recommend Bogen/Manfrotto tripods and heads.

That said, I hardly use my tripod. The Nikon 105mm macro lens has vibration reduction, which is a lifesaver for me. I enjoy the freedom of shooting without a tripod much more than shooting with one. However, if I was shooting super-duper macros like so many people do, I definitely would use it!

3) What or who inspires you?

That's a tough one to get specific on. I look at other people's work and it inspires me, plain and simple. Also, I put on my glasses (getting older stinks) and really look at the details closely, and that inspires me to try and capture what I see.

4) Where do you find all the unique amazing flowers you shoot?

In our garden, in our neighborhood, in the parks and botanical gardens, in a planter next to a business, in a vacant lot. The thing with macro is, you can isolate and find little bits of beauty to photograph everywhere you look! Also, I buy flowers frequently, and while I enjoy having them in the house, more often than not when I'm selecting them, I'm thinking about how they might photograph!

I am the slowest typist in the world, so tomorrow I'll answer Heather's questions :)

Also, Pat, you asked me yesterday if we went to the Lavender farms while out in Sequim. Of course we did! However, it was very breezy, so I hardly did any macro shooting :( Maybe next year...

Here's one I managed to get in focus:



Purple Haze farm (isn't that a great name for a Lavender Farm) rents out the 3 bedroom house on their property (the picture I posted yesterday that B took). I would love to get a few photographers together and rent it out for a couple of nights and be able to shoot at sunrise and sunset to one's heart's content! Or, drag my extended family out there for some R&R next summer.....hmmm, I wonder if I could talk my mom, and my sister and her family to get away ;) It really is idyllic!

If you give a man a camera....

....you may end up with a photo like this :)



B hardly ever uses a camera, like maybe once a year. While we were away the last few days, he took my old D50 with my new 18-200, and I gave him a very abbreviated lesson on using aperture priority mode. I think he did pretty darned well, don't you?!?

Wait for it, wait for it....

Patience is not my strongest suit, but this time I exercised it for sure.

B and I took off for a few days on the road, and the other night sat at Lake Crescent (on the Olympic Peninsula) and watched the sunset. Yes, I wished there were clouds to make it more colorful, and yes, I wish I had a neutral density filter so I could have slowed the shutter enough to make the water more smooth. But, that said, my patience was rewarded with some beautiful sun flare. Doesn't it look like I used a star filter? I didn't.

How did I not know this place existed?

We go to the zoo at least a couple of times a year, and have since C was little. I never knew this little building existed. It's tucked away, and is very small....maybe it's new-ish, I don't know?!? Anyhow, you can buy seed sticks for $1 each, and feed the birds. It was really cool, though their little claws feel kind of strange! You've got to watch where you're walking as well....there were lots of birds on the ground eating the fallen seed. We saw a little girl come {this} close to stepping on one! Poor B got nailed on the back of his neck too, EWWW!

Orchid

I've finally embraced the fact that I can't get them to re-bloom, and just enjoy them for the month or so that they bloom after I bring them home from the nursery ;)


ISO 250, f6.3 @ 1/200, window light, handheld

Kookaburra (through glass)

Let's see if I can get this melody stuck in your head too. It's been in mine since I saw these the other day :)

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gum drops he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
Leave some there for me

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
That's not a monkey that's me

Kookaburra sits on a rusty nail
Gets a boo-boo in his tail
Cry, Kookaburra! Cry, kookaburra!
Oh how life can be

I don't have a clue what this guy/girl is, but isn't he/she pretty?

Flower, after flower, after flower....

Hopefully you all aren't getting too bored with it all. Echinacea, aka Cone Flower



ISO 320, f/5.6 @ 1/160s

If there is enough interest, I'll do a blog post next week to answer any macro and/or flower questions you may have. So, ask away....and I'll do my best to answer them.

Oh, and one more thing, because I can't pass up a deal. The Container Store is offering 25% your ENTIRE purchase through July 12th. It is good either online (use coupon code CLUTTERCREW) or in the store (print the coupon linked here and bring it in with you) . I LOVE THIS STORE! It's like crack to an addict if you like having your life organized ;)