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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

Reflection

In the last picture, I wanted to add a reflection and put the camera closer to the surface of the water. I did that for this picture, but I still don't completely enjoy this picture. I tried to take pictures of the water that was in the leaf but the focus wasn't correct. I guess I am going back to try again. 

Full Moon

After all the clouds disappeared, the full moon shined bright. In the past, I haven't been able to take pictures of the moon during the night. When I took these pictures, I figured out how. I kept the ISO and aperture the same as shooting in daylight, and only adjusted the shutter speed. I adjusted it to the exposure that fit the moon. I made sure the moon wasn't too bright or dark and was able to take this picture. 

Partly Cloudy

During the night of a full moon, the sky was only partly cloudy. I missed the sunset, but the clouds made for an interesting full moon. They covered the moon for about 15 minutes before clearing away. So, I was able to get pictures of both the clear moon and a moon covered by clouds. 

Red Berries

Continuing with the black and white with the selected color theme, I chose these berries to take pictures of. Above the roses were these berries. What I don't like about the picture, is the roses and these berries are red. I would have liked for there to be a different selected color between the two pictures. 

Roses

I saw this rose bush and this one rose stood out. There were very few roses and this was the only full rose. It was also a lone rose in a large area of green leaves. I chose to edit the color away from the rest of the green bush and have the focus on the bright red roses. I like this new style of black and white with selected color photography. I think my next theme will be over that and black and white photography. 

Color

Most objects in this picture are brightly colored. There are the bright blue sky and red leaves. Most times bright colors contrast each other or ruin the picture, but in this picture, I think they work. The leaves stand out against the sky and the sky complements them at the same time. The bright colors bounce off each other and create a neutral picture. 

Wall of Flowers

Near the flower that had dew on it, I saw a big bush of these orange flowers. The orange flowers also had dew on them. I thought it was a perfect picture, but if you look closely there are specs of white. That is from the water reflecting the sun and creating an overexposure in that tiny area.