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.

Still life a month on ( with movement and creative lighting) and some good news

I'm going to kick of with a bit of exciting news ( for me :))  I enter a handful of competitions each year to give myself goals and something to strive for. Close up photography is very much one of my two favourite genres so it was only natural that I would enter Close up photographer of the year. The competition has 6 categories and a one for younger photographers. I entered 3 categories - Plant life and fungi, Animals and Insects. The initial short lists were announced yesterday and I managed to have 5 images shortlisted in the three categories - Im over the moon to have my images included in such a fantastic variety of incredible images. Its been a real boost, even more so as Im having a bit of a crash with the M.E. so its really helped keep my spirits up whilst stuck at home. Below are the photos that made the cut. The top 100 and winners will be announced in September. here  - Updated October - my images didnt make the top 100 but its nice to be shortlisted :)

Still Life update - lighting and composition

So looking back at last months ramblings about my still life attempts and the image I came to the conclusion that many of the images were lacking something, they felt a bit "flat". Whilst being well lit, the lighting did not excite me. So I have tried experimenting a little with different lighting techniques including light painting and using home made Gobos.

For the image above I tried to create a story (Chamomile tea made from chamomile flowers), good composition ( triangle) and interesting lighting (gobo). My Gobo was a simple piece of cardboard where I cut square and rectangle panels out of it and placed it in front of the light, this took a lot of trial and error and its something I need to work on more. It works better using a smaller light source and it takes a little experimentation to get the right angles and distances. Ive since made a new Gobo and will be testing it out as soon as I can find some energy. I am also going to try different objects to produce nice light patterns such as lace/netting/household objects/plants etc. I would love to see any photos where you have used these ideas too. Ive also experimented with shadows but not created a proper "set" and used this yet, but there is a simple shot I took below - a gridded light was used for this one.

This one below was another from my Gobo session.

This next set I tried lighting more from behind and to the side to give more interest, aiming for more of an old painting style.

I have had an attempt at light painting using an led light within a white plastic bag to reduce glare, a long exposure with my camera on a tripod. I need to practice this again in a darker room or at night so it shows better.

Movement

I have also been playing with slow shutter speeds to capture movement for extra interest, placing my camera on a tripod, using a remote shutter release and throwing material about. I just used simple set ups for these whilst getting my technique right. I do love the textures created from the moving voile and lace/net. I may try this at a window at some point or combine this idea with the gobo lighting to give the impression of wind blowing through a window .

That's what I've managed in the last month :) Lets see what I can produce in the next month. Here are another few Ive created that I quite like Ive concentrated more on composition in these ones.

As for props I have used a few home made ones to avoid spending - a jar with paint swirled inside it, popped in the oven for the " vase in the image below.  Some left over flooring for flat lays and surfaces, a home made mini shelf unit made by my partner, artex on a piece of board for another surface, the net curtains and voile were just bits of material I had at home. Plus my Gobos are home made from card board and flowers are mostly from our garden or a local field/bit of waste land.