Signs of spring

 I love spring, with its ever changing weather throwing snowstorms, rain showers and increasing sunshine, combining to give us rainbows, it seems unpredictable but we know that it heralds the promise of things to come. With frogs starting mating in our ponds, birds displaying comical courtship behaviour and other wildlife coming out of hibernation. The arrival of Hellebores, Snowdrops, Crocuses, Daffodils, Dwarf Irises certainly brighten up February and March for me and give me plenty to keep myself occupied whilst waiting for spring blossoms.

 This year I have discovered a new favourite Crocus -"Firefly" with its fresh colours, a sunny yellow centre and delicate pale lilac and white petals. Who could not be delighted with these?

Whilst its been less than favourable conditions outside for photographing plants in the garden ( too windy) I am taking advantage of our mini studio in the dining room and trying out the new backdrops Ive made, so spoilt for choice with the combinations between plants and backgrounds. This has resulted in experimenting with colour palettes and making some surprising discoveries on what works. 

The image below incorporated 5 of my textures/backdrop images.

Our outhouse has become a great holding zone for plants that are not quite ready to be planted out, or flowers that I am trying to make last longer in a cool room so that I can eek out as much use of them as possible. It looks like a cross between a florists and a garden centre with 3 types of Tulips, Crocus, Snowdrops, Primula, Hellebores, Lilies and more.

 So I am starting out with close ups and aim to include a few still life creations as I go. Below is a Dwarf Iris photographed against one of my new out of focus backdrops.

I actually had my 2nd trip out to a local nature reserve a few days ago, just a couple of miles away from home, so took the camera along too. Unfortunately my mobility scooter decided to choose that day to stop working, so we were not there as long as I hoped. I did capture some spring Catkins though and opted for creating  interesting bokeh with Catkin silhouettes in the sunshine. I think these work nicely in black and white too.

Another subject caught my eye as we passed Bullrushes with their brown velvety heads split, dispersing their seeds in the wind, set against a backdrop of sparkling waters. This gave further options for producing eye catching bokeh. I actually photographed these in black and white for the forms and shapes, but I think they work well in colour too.

 

 I recently watched a very informative webinar by Guy Edwards on fungi photography, where he explained how to achieve the silhouette shapes within bokeh - something I dabbled with last year and have attempted again, more successfully in the last week or two. This was the perfect opportunity to try the technique, you can see it in the above Catkins images and some of the images below.

 I had a brief play in the garden with the bokeh technique too, it is easier to make it work in larger outdoor spaces with bokeh through vegetation and trees though. So far it seems to work better with a longer macro lens than a shorter one, I think the blur from the item causing the silhouette is too pronounced in a shorter lens, it becomes less obvious using my 150mm. I am keen to try a longer lens to see the results. You can see from  the Grape hyacinth image below how the snowdrop used has caused quite a distracting pale blur. The bokeh was from nearby vegetation sprayed with water, hence smaller bokeh, in a larger open space where the bokeh can be further away it becomes larger, making it a bit easier.

This one is a Snakes head Fritillary using fern for the bokeh. I stuck with F2.8 for the bokeh which wasn't ideal for getting the flower fully in focus, but it was just an experiment  and there were limited options space wise and where the sun hits the garden. Definitely something I will practice more of.

Below I used my Meye Gorlitz Primoplan vintage lens plus an app on my camera which produces rays of light. With a little editing. I have added a selection of other images I have taken in the last couple of weeks.

Lockdown photography part 5 - In camera Double exposures

 I have been keen on trying double exposures or multiple exposures in camera for a while, but did not have the option on my camera. I recently discovered that there is a downloadable app for my camera (Sony A7ii)) from Sonys website Play Memories that allows double exposures in camera, so promptly downloaded it at a small cost of £3.99.

I was feeling quite excited at using this option because it would allow me to pull together two aspects that I love in one image - firstly getting my main macro subject mostly in focus ( By shooting at F11-18 and using good lighting) whilst adding the soap bubble bokeh ( from a Meyer Gorlitze primoplan lens) which is best achieved wide open at F1.9 with backlighting. The weather outside was murky, dull lighting with winds that would move my subject so I opted to attempt setting up on my dining table rather than in the garden.

 There were several obstacles including having to create my own backgrounds, naturalish look, backlighting to produce the bokeh that I love from the Primoplan lens, then getting the two images to work well together. Plus working at macro photography meant having to be very precise. Then I got silly and decided to photograph a moving subject - my Orchid mantids on tiny spring flowers - giving myself an extra challenge - but then I do love a challenge and both mantids appeared content to explore or preen themselves. I like the option of using current spring blooms for this project with snowdrops, crocuses, mini daffodils and Grape Hyacinths all in bloom this last few weeks.

 The image below has a very light bokeh and I found this was the result with many of my images - using the "screen" mode.

 I did try a few options - using two Primoplan images, or combining one with either a 90mm macro lens shot or a Sigma 150mm macro capture. I was constantly forgetting to change my settings ( switch off flash between images and alter aperture as I was having a major brain fog day  - but kept trying. It was also a good exercise in learning what distances are best in producing the specific bokeh from the Primoplan lens - often it is difficult to find the correct distances in that single image - so you can see why I was keen on double exposures to produce what I wanted.

 The image below was from two Primoplan exposures, one of the snowdrop alone then another of some out of focus Hyacinths covered in water droplets, plus a few more images taken using this method.

I could not resist trying this out with my Red eyed tree frogs using one of my latest backgrounds in red, plus a red flower captured with studio lights at F14 using a Sony 90mm macro lens, with the second image being of the flower covered in water drops photographed with the primoplan lens and macro extension tubes, using led back lighting. 

 The double exposure app has a few different features which I still need to experiment with such as the mirror option used below on my partner whilst he was eating breakfast :D - ( sorry not sorry lol) 

Then there is the soft focus choice which I have yet to try, plus  the reflection and the silhouette possibilities. There is a manual alternative where you can try 6 different blending modes too, viewing the previewed result prior to pressing the shutter.

Below is a quick effort using the silhouette action, my first image was houses out the back and the second one simply plant pots in the garden - nothing particularly creative but an exercise to demonstrate the effect.

Another attempt using the silhouette version resulted in a strange appearance, maybe as the subject was light and background dark - it gave a sort of opposite silhouette look.

 Many cameras do have double exposure or multiple exposure options and some that dont do have an app that can be updated to your camera. Even if yours does not, there are phone apps that can also be used to great effect - so worth looking into and another fun activity to try out whilst we are restricted in leaving our homes. Whilst it is fun to be actually taking the photos and obtaining in camera double exposure, don't forget to try producing these in photoshop by bringing together two images and simply changing blending mode and opacity. I would love to see your double exposures in the comments.

Below is a quick blend of two of my images in photoshop as an example, it was as simple as pasting in the second photo and scrolling through the blend modes to see which looked best, and thats it. 

Lockdown photography - part 2

Ideas to photograph at home

 A few more ideas to get the creative juices flowing whilst we are spending most of our time at home. My brain isn't functioning well enough to go into detail of how to do each one so please excuse that, but hopefully the ideas will prompt further exploration and search engines will help you find full instructions. I have included some useful links to help.

Liquids

 Oil on water

This is a fairly easy one, although can be a bit fiddly setting up and getting everything just right- take a glass container such as a casserole dish and stand it across two stacks of books, with a gap underneath ( so it looks like a bridge)  or other sturdy props so that you can place something colourful underneath ( I use a tablet with colourful photo). Or use a tall glass/measuring jug and fill it with water and stand that on your chosen colourful backdrop. Once everything is steady and you feel you have the right height of water to get the background you desire then pop in drops of oil and stir gently. Make sure your glass container and stirring item are super clean with no dust. Photograph from above- a tripod can be useful for this and takes a good deal of work out of it - setting the focus up and locking it, then shooting on live view means you can do this more comfortably. If using a macro lens and getting quite close then you can often get away with closing down your aperture to get the drops of oil nicely in focus whilst the backdrop is out of focus due to  close up work. It will take trial and error to get your distances and amounts of water right. One drop of washing up liquid added to the water when everything is still and set up will help with your droplets.

This image below was photographed by a lovely online friend Kathryn Willett - she used an ipad below to get this look. ( Kathryn also produces wonderful animal photography)

Soap bubbles/soap suds - lit up to show irridescent rainbow colours - here is a link to show how to obtain these colour abstract images. Soap bubble technique

Or try photographing bubbles full of smoke by holding an incense stick underneath the bubble blower that comes with a little bottle of kids bubbles liquid. Smoking bubbles  Smoking bubbles 2

Refractions in Droplets on wire or stem/flower 



Raindrops or spray on glass ( or other surfaces) - Handy as textures but also can make wonderful abstracts. This one below is just water sprayed on glass with flowers underneath.



Droplet Splash or droplet collisions
I've not done this in about ten years, so excuse the low res pics. You don't need expensive equipment - some aquarium tubing and a valve to sort drops out, its not so easy getting the collisions this way but I did manage some. Best to read up how to do this for good results - I used to set up in a dark room to avoid ambient light causing issues and adding various substances to your water/liquid can help get more interesting results ( I seem to remember a lot of people used to use something called Rinse aid). A couple of flashes that work at 1/128 speed are very handy too. Its fun and addictive. Try using a a CD for colourful reflections for something unusual or add milk to the water dripping into the bowl. I used to challenge an old friend to produce more creative droplet collisions giving him the idea set ups as he was so much better at it then me - from wine glasses, coffee cups to a boiled egg shell or mushroom. 






Liquids jumping due to vibrations
Another thing Ive not tried myself but would love to. If you type in "Paint on speaker " into your search engine or youtube you will get to see pics and videos. They're very eye catching.


Liquids in bottles or glasses and dripping ink/paint/milk into water
Check out the wonderful creative splash art by Mark Hunter for some creative inspiration using glasses, bottles and much more Mark A Hunter Photography He has also put together info on mixing liquids for photography liquid photography



Ice cubes or containers of ice with items frozen within



Reflections - either at home or on a walk



Items being dropped into water or actually submerged in water - this is a really old pic - I will post a better one soon


Abstract images using ink/paint and alcohol ink or nail varnish floating on water
Make it rain - spray water in a scene and capture the droplets falling either frozen still or using long exposure
Droplets on top of a CD ( Another old pic from about ten years ago just to give an idea) 


Freezing bubbles in the snow or in the freezer can give fun effects
How to photograph bubbles in the snow