Blogging from Bolivia: Macro Friday

Its Macro Friday over at Blogging from Bolivia!
I captured this sweet little lily during the Canada Day festivities yesterday:

Exposure Time:	1/2500
Aperture:	f/2.2
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	50mm (75mm in 35mm)

adjusted white balance and slight unsharp mask in GIMP

get up close and personal with more entries here:

In a Yellow House: Nature

I am going to have to make a list of all these photo challenges!
This week at In a Yellow House, the theme of the week is Nature. I have just the shot I think!

For more great entries, visit:

Shutter Love Tuesday: Nature

Edited: because I am a dummy, technically this challenge is closed, and so my submission was not captured. But I am going to leave the post up so you can still peruse the other great entries and learn about another online photo challenge

another day, another online photo challenge.
Trendy Treehouse is a fun site a stumbled across when a friend nominated me for a blog award (I promise that post is coming up; just thinking of my 10 nominees to pass on). Every Tuesday they host a photo challenge, called Shutter Love. This week's theme: Nature.

I am still drawn to this sunflare I captured back in April, in honour of a very special boy. Here it is again:

Check out more great entries back at HQ:

Day at the Beach

I went to the beach yesterday on my lunch break (high noon - pretty much the worst time to shoot), and proceeded to nearly burn my eyes out of their sockets attempting to get some sunflare shots. Some of my results:

SS:	1/800
Aperture:	f/36
ISO:	400

increased contrast via curves to add some punch to the blues

this is SOOC. Not sure what I want to do with it yet.

SS:	1/200
Aperture:	f/16
ISO:	400
Focal Length:	18mm

straightened horizon, upped contrast and brightness, ran a colour enhance

SS:	1/3200
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	58mm

In other news my replacement Lightscoop arrived (back from when my d60 was stolen; I hadn't replaced it till now), so I can retire the budget light bouncer (a side plate) I was using. Yay for being able to take pictures on the fly at night again! Photos of its capabilities to come soon.

More Spring Blooms

Thought I would share some other spring blooms I have tried to capture around the city

The shrub in front of my house. This was actually back in February. it tends to bloom and rebloom throughout the year:

SS:	1/2000
Aperture:	f/2.5
ISO:	n/a (I had some weird setting turned off back then that didn't allow me to adjust the ISO)
Focal Length:	50mm (75mm in 35mm)

SOOC, no editing

First blooms in my little front garden. This is from March:

SS:	1/320
Aperture:	f/2.5
ISO:	n/a (still affected by weird setting)
Focal Length:	50mm (75mm in 35mm)

 auto white balance run in Gimp

And the first blooms in my back garden, from April:

SS:	1/80
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	105mm (157mm in 35mm)

brightened and increased contrast using curves, ran a slight unsharp mask at .50 in GIMP

Some beautiful tulips in a nearby park

SS:	1/125
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	105mm (157mm in 35mm)

brightened colours and increased contrast using curves, ran an unsharp mask at .50

Spring has Sprung!

So while the cherry blossoms FIRST made their appearance back in January, they really truly came into their own this past month.
Here are some of my favourite shots of them around the city:

SS:	1/320
Aperture:	f/4.5
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	18mm (27mm in 35mm)

SS:	1/640
Aperture:	f/4.5
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	18mm (27mm in 35mm)

SS:	1/100
Aperture:	f/9
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	58mm (87mm in 35mm)

Day 032: ocean wise

Took a walk to Kits beach today:

 

desaturated (I seem to be on that kind of kick don't I?), brightened with curves, upped blacks a bit.

Photo Stats:
SS 1/200
Aperture f/5
ISO 200
Focal Length 55mm

Day 021

SOOC

edited: just pumped up the contrast and brightness a bit in GIMP

This is a cherry blossom tree getting its first blooms. In January. 3 weeks before the city is supposed to host the Olympics. Not exactly a winter wonderland here, now is it?

Photo Stats:

Shutter Speed: 1/800
Aperture: f3.8
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 18mm

Day 011

In the interest of full disclosure, I missed taking a photo on Monday January 11. Technically this photo is from Tuesday. But hey, history is written by the victors right? :)
Blooms on a walk near my office:

Photo Stats:
Exposure: 1/125
Aperture: f5.6
ISO 400
Focal Length: 125mm