Monday, June 30, 2008

Insects, Plants and Composition


"Linear"

Since I can't photograph snowflakes in the summer, I look for other challenges such as insects on plants and flowers. They are similar because they give only a small window of opportunity to take their picture. They move around and fly away without much warning just like snowflakes being blown away by the wind. But at least insects don't melt.
Here again, you can experiment with composition. The butterfly photo above was taken at Meijer Gardens. I waited by this plant for a butterfly to land on it. I love the lines in both the leaves and butterfly wings. The insects in the two photos below were placed on the plants because I thought they would make interesting backgrounds.




Thursday, June 12, 2008

Light and Composition


"Set of Keys"

Here's another example of an amazing masterpiece of design:
maple keys.
It's easy to step on them, sweep them up and throw them away without really looking closely and thinking about how incredible this little piece of creation is.
They can fly, spin and plant themselves! I never noticed (until this past spring) that when maple keys first come off the trees, they have such beautiful shades of colors.
I experimented with these, not only with the magnifying glass to get close-up shots, but also by using natural light at different times of the day. The composition can also be manipulated. Note how some of the maple keys are in a jumbled pile, but others can be put in a row or on different backgrounds to get different effects.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Using a Magnifying Glass as a Macro Lens


"Perfection's Reflection"

It's fun to look at the world around us in a different light! I used to walk right on by and even step on incredible works of art. Two authors have inspired me to experiment with my camera.
Wilson A. Bentley (a.k.a. "Snowflake Bentley") was the first. He experimented back in the late 1800's and actually figured out how to attach a microscope to his camera and get breathtaking photos of snowflakes. He published over 2400 of his snowflake images in his book, Snow Crystals.
Kenneth Libbrecht is the other author who in his book, Ken Libbrecht's Field Guide to Snowflakes, suggests looking at snowflakes with a magnifying lens (page 102).
I decided to go one step further and put the magnifying glass I had in the house up to the lens of my inexpensive digital camera. My camera is a Fujifilm FinePix (2.0 mega pixels) and has a close-up feature. I set the camera for close-up, zoom in all the way and then put the camera lens up to the magnifying glass. I move the camera around until it looks focused and then take quite a few shots until I get one that I really like.
Taking close-up (macro) photos reveals the indescribable and often overlooked masterpieces of design found in creation. It's great to share these treasures with others!


"Twinned Crystal" (12-Sided Snowflake)



"First Sight"


"Traverse"