Monday, December 31, 2018

Fuzzy Leaf

The next flower I took pictures of wasn't a flower but a fuzzy leaf. I have taken pictures of this type of leaf and different types of leaves before, but never this close. With the picture this close, I think the white fuzzy part caught an ant. The viewer of the picture can also see the very tiny water droplets on the white parts.

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Pink with a hint of Green

The next flower I took pictures of resembled a lettuce head. Except for being green, the flower was pink with small parts green. I enjoy taking pictures of this flower without the macro lens because of the waves in the petals and interesting color, but now the flower looks even better. The leaves look sharp and rough around the edges but smooth in the center.

Friday, December 28, 2018

Macro

While trying out my new macro lens, I photographed several of the same objects as before just much closer. I have taken many pictures of this purple and white flower. With the new lens, I am able to get extremely close. It allows the photographer and viewer to see things that the human eye can't see clearly. For instance, who knew this flower had small 'hairs' in the center. A human eye and regular lens can't see them, but a macro lens can.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Blurred Motion

Similar to the picture of the bridge and lights going around the pond, is how I took this picture. I had a long shutter speed which captured several seconds of the water moving, this made the water blurred. Since it was a long exposure, I had to use a tripod to keep the rest of the picture still. When taking a long exposure picture, the photographer has to not touch or move the camera during the exposure as it might cause the entire picture to become blurred. 

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Night Reflection

While looking at Christmas lights, I found these at a pond. To reduce the grain/noise in the picture, I kept the ISO low. I changed the aperture and shutter speed to complement each other and make a great picture. I settled with a larger aperture and longer shutter speed. This picture was exposed (shutter speed) for 4 seconds. This made the clouds in the sky blurred but the white in focus. 

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Full Moon

One day after the winter solstice, I took this picture of the moon. It took me multiple pictures before I was able to find the right shutter speed to take a picture of the moon. I wanted to have then moon be bright, but not too bright that it would be overexposed. There were some clouds that night which made it hard to take a full picture of the moon.

Monday, December 24, 2018

Blurred

The other picture I took with a slow shutter speed was this one. I set my camera on a tripod and angled it straight down. I like this picture better than the last one because of the leaves are more in focus and the camera is closer to the water. I also like how you can see the waves in the water that was caused by the rocks. 

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Flowing Water

At a creek, I was taking pictures of the water with a fast shutter speed (nothing blurry) and I wanted to change things up. I increased the aperture and slowed the shutter speed, for a more blurry picture of the water with the objects sticking out of the water in focus. Overall, I think the picture is really interesting and something, not every person takes a picture of.

Friday, December 21, 2018

Blowing in the Wind

It was incredibly windy the day I took these pictures. This was one of the few pictures that weren't blurry and had random objects in the picture. I think this is one of my better pictures. I like how the picture is basically black and white with the exception of the rose. 

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Golden Leaves

The next leaves I took pictures of were light yellow and orange. They almost look golden to me. The way the sun hits the leaves to bring out the color. Then in the background, the sun doesn't reach those leaves leaving them dark. The leaves in the background are also the same as the ones in the foreground. They look interesting as they are an out of focus representation of the leaves in focus. 

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Bottom Up

Similar to the picture two days ago, I also enjoyed this picture for the same reasons. I also like how in this picture the red colored tree is much fuller and has much more leaves. Another feature of this picture is that the trees in the top of the picture have very few leaves on them. The amount of leaves decreases as you move up the picture. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Fire Streaks

On another red tree, I zoomed in really close and filled the frame only with the individual leaves. When I later looked at the picture, it reminded me of fire. The leaves moving right to left almost look like a fire. I also enjoy how the background is a dark green. It doesn't distract the viewer from the leaves but it complements them because the green makes the leaves stand out. 

Monday, December 17, 2018

Fall Foliage 

Away from the waterfall, some of the trees had changed color their colors into fall mode while others remained in summer mode. I choose this picture because I liked how the trees filled the entire picture. I also like how only one of the trees is red while the others are green. While the red tree is small and doesn't reach the heights of the tall green-leaved trees, it still looks interesting next to the big green trees. 

Saturday, December 15, 2018

One in a Bunch

Moving away from the waterfall, one of the bushes I found was all green except for this one leaf. I found it interesting how only one of the hundreds of leaves was red/yellow. While I didn't capture the entire bush with only this one red/yellow leaf, I purposely wanted to focus the picture around this leaf. But from the green background, it is clear that all the other leaves are green. 

Friday, December 14, 2018

Water Fall (part 2)

In this picture of the waterfall, I slowed down the shutter speed to make the water look blurry. When you slow down the shutter speed, more light is able to go into the camera making the picture brighter. To compensate for this, I had to zoom in and make the hole that allows light into the camera (aperture) as small as possible. While I didn't capture the whole scene of the trees and everything, I still think this is the better picture. 

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Water Fall

This picture and tomorrow's picture are connected. I tried taking a picture of the same object two different ways: this picture with a fast shutter speed and the next picture with a much slower shutter speed. Unfortunately, the trees in this picture don't change colors. They are evergreens, meaning the leaves are always green. On the opposite side, the sun wasn't in the frame which could have ruined the picture, so that was good. But overall I think the picture is fairly boring and something anyone could take.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Sunset Bush

Zooming out from the sunset leaf, the entire bush looked like a sunset. Normally in Texas, fall is just a tree full of leaves turning into a tree with no leaves. This year I was lucky to find a tree that was able to turn colors before the leaves fell off. I like how the front portion of the tree is red while the back part of yellow. Then the background is dark which complements the leaves. 

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Sunset Leaf

While the last leaf had all of the colors of fall, this leaf looks the best. I like how the red, orange, and yellow all flow together. It reminded me of a sunset when I took the picture. Everything coming together in one picture that captures the whole scene. Even the background is perfect. It is more of the sunset leaves which helps the one in focus stand out.

Monday, December 10, 2018

Berry Tree

Most of the trees at the arboretum had changed color when I took these pictures (as you will see in a picture coming later). I found this tree with very little leaves and a few berries on it. One of the leaves happened to be right next to one of the berry bunches. Not only that, but the leaf was all of the colors of fall. It was red, orange, yellow, and black. 

Saturday, December 08, 2018

Full Bloom

The next flower I saw was this bright pink one. The flower itself is pretty cool. Since it is bright pink, it stands out against the dark green background. I like how the flower has different shades of pink in it. The top part is a lighter pink, and as you move down the petals the pink becomes darker. Then at the bottom of the flower is the dark green stem. I helps to bring out the color in the flower and to showcase it in the picture.

Friday, December 07, 2018

Broken

While walking around in the arboretum, there were several leaves that had changed color and ripped. I believe that the front leaf was consumed by an animal. There was another leaf behind the ripped one that hadn't turned red yet. I positioned my camera to capture the green in the spots where the leaf had a rip. While the picture didn't come out exactly how I pictured it, I do like the green line in the red leaf.

Thursday, December 06, 2018

Mini Flowers

The next flower I saw were these mini flowers. I put my camera into the center of the bunch and started taking pictures. Unfortunately, the flowers are so small that you can't clearly see the centers of them. On the other hand, I like the deep green centers contrasting the white petals around the entire picture. 

Wednesday, December 05, 2018

Color

Like the black and yellow flower, this black and pink flower was dark in the center and became light towards the edges. Unlike the yellow flower, I was able to make the focus spread out in the frame. Also, in this picture, the background changed from a green to a much darker green. If I were to combine both of the past two pictures, it would be a really good picture. 

Tuesday, December 04, 2018

Black and Yellow

Along with the pink flowers, there were this (these, if you read this any day after it was published) multicolor flowers. I had the exact focus be in the middle of the black and yellow flower. While the center is clear and very detailed, the focus dissipates very quickly once you look at the outsides of the flower. To fix this, you can increase the aperture (make the number bigger since it is 1/that number) to soften the focus.

Monday, December 03, 2018

Pink

I returned to one of my favorite spots to take pictures of nature in Dallas, the Dallas Arboretum. When I went, there weren't too many flowers, but there were some. It was an overcast and windy day, perfect for photography. One of the few flowers I saw were these pink ones. I like them because of their bright color and how the flowers are complete and aren't missing many petals. 

Saturday, December 01, 2018

Glowing Red

Towards the end of a sunny day, I found these leaves. While having the sun behind the leaves makes a very bright exposure in the background, it also helps to outline the leaves. Especially where the background is white, there is a clear focus and definition of the border.