Bright Star

One of the fireworks was this star inside of a red circle. The hardest part about taking pictures of fireworks is finding the perfect time when they are bright but not too bright. If they are too bright, the white will look like bright suns and if they are too dark, you won't be able to see the fireworks.

Celebration

Before the Seattle theme starts, let us celebrate! This is my 675th post and I have nearly 8,500 views. Now to the picture, before the fireworks started, I had to adjust my camera to the dark night with flashing bright lights. I held a bright light about where the fireworks would be and set my camera to have the light be the focus. This way when the fireworks went off, I was able to capture them and nothing else.

Golden Leaf 

This isn't a real gold leaf, but it looks like it has golden edges. I like the contrast between the light green leaves, the golden dead leaves, and the light brown fence. Here's my new theme, Seattle, Washington. By Monday I hope to have posted pictures from Seattle and continue for the days to follow.

Water Marks

On the fence, there are water marks from the sprinklers. I like the designs that the water makes, it isn't a straight line and it comes in many different colors. There is dark brown and light brown scattered all over the wood.

Low Grass

I found a pile of dead grass in the green grass and decided I wanted to take a picture of it. I found a low vantage point and took several pictures. I like the focus on the dead grass, but if I could change one thing, it would be refocussing the green grass in the fore and backgrounds.

Moon

While I missed the moon during its 'strawberry' phase, I was able to get it before it became another new moon. I like how there is a structure to the moon on the top side then it fades on the bottom side. If you look closely you can see the smaller details only found in night-time pictures that I was able to capture in the daytime.

Falling In

Another one of the shots I wanted to capture was a close-up of the ball falling into the hole. Since I zoomed in, there is less sunlight in the picture resulting in a darker picture. Also since I zoomed in, the camera had a better chance to capture the ball rolling into the hole.

Hole in Three

A hole in three isn't good in a golf match, but for this picture, it was needed. In the very first hours of sunlight, I went to a putting green and captured the balls rolling into the cup. It wasn't easy since the sun was already making the picture too bright. One ball was too small to be seen so I rolled three toward the hole. This allowed the camera to see the ball and record it through this picture.

Bolt of a Thunderstorm

I was taking pictures of the sunset and I didn't even know that this was a thunderstorm. As I looked over the pictures I took I found this tiny bolt of lightning in one of my pictures. I was so happy. I have never been able to take a picture of a bolt of lightning, until now.

Thundersunset

This sunset was different then any other I have seen. I was in Dallas when a thunderstorm formed north of me. The sunset reflected itself onto the thunderstorm making this. On top of that, I was able to capture a bolt of lightning in the middle of the whole thing. That picture to come tomorrow.

Sprinkler

After the rains passed, someone's sprinklers turned on. The only problem is that this sprinkler was broken. It wasn't spraying the grass instead it shot upwards. While it wasn't good for the grass it is good to take pictures of. I increased the ISO to let the shutter speed be at its fastest and I took several pictures of it.

Fruit of the Rain

At a house that has several plants and some fruit plants, I found these fruits covered in rain. The fruits seem to be a peach or something similar to that. The rain helps to add a bright color to the fruit. It also helps to make the fruit a darker color and shinier.

Clear Spheres

Something about these clear spherical raindrops makes me love the picture. The leaf on its own isn't very interesting, but put some clear raindrops on them and the picture is much better. It might be the difference in shape or the difference in color I don't know. What I do know is that this looks much better with the raindrops.

Hanging

Nothing in this picture is straight. The grass was bent over and the raindrops were hanging on the grass. This is one of my favorites from this theme. The rain creates bright tones that contrast the dark green grass.

Macro

When taking pictures of nature, I like to put the main object in a very sharp focus. This allows the viewer to see exactly what I saw when I was taking this picture. It also allows the viewer to see things I couldn't see when I took the picture. I didn't see the small black and yellow bug when I took the picture but I did see the folded leaves.

A Group of Flowers

These flowers caught my eye for both their color and quantity. I don't normally find a group of flower together. I do like how each flower has a different color. Some have more white, and others have more purple.

Bunch of Flowers

This is a plant I have never seen before. It is a group of tiny sponge-like balls on a stem. The balls on the plant have a very interesting texture on them. They aren't smooth and look like tiny sponges. Maybe they help the plant absorb water to help it live.

Fallen Flower

This purple flower was hanging low on its branch when the water fell on it. I like the streaks on it that make it more interesting. I also like the dimension the water makes on it. The water adds another thing to look at. 

Picture Taking

Sometimes picture taking isn't venturing to someplace to take the perfect shot. Sometimes the pictures come to you. A simple walk around the neighborhood could give you five interesting pictures. Look at people's yards, gardens, trees, and the animals. 

Shape

A good picture also has depth. It isn't a two dimensional object that is one colored, it is an object with a shape and several colors scattered around the picture. Water helps with shape and depth. Without the water in this picture, it would be pretty simple. A green leaf with other leaves surrounding it.

Water in Nature

I like the way that water makes a picture so much better. It brightens the picture by reflecting the colors. It also forms interesting shapes that do not often seem in nature otherways. There aren't many other spherical and clear objects that are commonly found in nature.

Water

Water is great for reflecting objects and mimicking the color of an object. In this picture, the water is pink as it mimics the pink in the flower. It also has a grey color since that is the color of the sky. The clouds had not fully moved away but that's good so the sun wouldn't be overexposing the picture.

Rain Drop

A common weather occurrence in Dallas during the summer are pop-up thunderstorms. They are fueled by heat and the water (humidity) in the air. They pop up without warning and can bring huge amounts of rain and wind. This pop-up thunderstorm brought nothing more than rain. It lasted for ten minutes then the sun returned, and I went out looking for picture opportunities.

Flipped

As rain from the thunderstorm landed on the branches and leaves, it formed rain-drops. If you look closely at the raindrops, you can see the surrounding environment. Except it is flipped. The gray sky is on the bottom and the green tree is on top.

Color 

Another thing you want to focus on when you take a picture of an object is what do you want to be the center point of your picture? It can be a color or an object. Using this picture as an example, I chose my center point to be the color white in the flower. I knew that if I get the color white the correct exposure, the rest of the picture will fall into place.

Shadows

When taking this picture, I wanted to have the shadow of the flower be the main focus. The exposure couldn't be too low or else the shadow would disappear. The exposure couldn't be too high or else the white on the flower would distract your eyes from the shadow.

Bright Flowers

When taking pictures of bright flowers, especially during the daytime, you have to change the camera's settings to compensate for the brightness of the flower. I wanted to have the flower stand out in the picture but also have it be dark enough so that it isn't overexposed.