Monday, October 11, 2010

Nature's Building Blocks



Canon 30D

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
Shutter Speed 1/8
Aperture f/18.0
ISO 100
Aperture Priority
Natural Light

Dan's photo was great (so was Amanda's for that matter)! And I'm so thrilled we have you friends to share this adventure. Having said that, Dan, you really put the heat on for me. I have to confess, I haven't done a lot of urban photography. I spent some time in Chicago several years ago to get some shots of the city but it is much harder to do successfully than I realized. Add to that the fact I live in Puddle in the Woods (translation: Lake in the Hills) and you've got a recipe for a stymied photographer!

*Side note, don't you love language? I just used the work 'stymied' and I gotta say, that was fun!

Moving on, I noticed immediately the deep reds and browns of the brick and the cement forming a lattice of what could almost be veins. I thought about this a lot and almost stuck a flashlight in my mouth to get a "glow worm" view of my cheeks. You would have seen some veins and all. I thought better of it and decided a really close view of a fall leaf might accomplish something similar.

For this shot, I taped about a dozen leaves to my sliding glass door with a nice afternoon sun setting behind the leaves. It spelled a fantastic golden back light that really brought out the colors. From there I decided I better use a very small aperture to ensure sharpness across the entire leaf. This of course meant a slow shutter speed and more tripod work. I used my remote shutter to further increase my odds of a sharp photo.

The best part about this shot is anyone can do it, as long as you have a tripod (or something else to brace the camera) and a window with good light. Many point and shoot cameras have a macro mode. Use it! It's really cool examining these leaves up close. I took about 65 shots and I could have posted 10-12.

So get out, collect some leaves, and see what you can do.

Scott

2 comments:

  1. For starters, I have to apologize to the other photogs, I'm always so quick to comment on Scott's work. It's not because I'm playing favorites it's only so I have as much time as humanly possible to plan my photo for the next day. Nobody take offense please. I love you all equally.
    There, that's better. I was feeling like Mrs. Dugger, with all her kids.

    What about attempting this shot with the bright blue sky through those holes? Laying on the ground shooting up, maybe?
    I love all the detail. I'm crazy obsessed with macro shots so this right up my alley.
    And because I adore your wife... Go take down the leaves.

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  2. Beautiful shot! Everytime you use your macro I just want to cry because I don't have one. The closest I can come is using my telephoto and zooming but of course that makes the shot softer. I would love to play around with macro. Ah well. I love the golden afternoon light bringing out the veins in the leaves. I was trying to use that type of lighting up North to get some similar shots. Great shot!

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