Ann from Slow Shutter Speed A photographic journey hosts this weeks Lens Artists Challenge #225: Wildlife Close to Home. Wrote; Stop. Look. Listen. Doing those three things will help you discover the abundance of wildlife you have nearby. You have wildlife in your yard, nearby park, local pond or lake and just about anywhere around you.
My contribution this week are these images. Animal Photography is not my forte, I don’t have the patience or the equipment to get the best shots, but I occasionally get a shot.
Birds big and small that I have been able to capture. this type of photography is not my forte.
A deer from our backyard deer on a hillDeer seen from my bedroom window.
Capturing this Seal was just a happy break, I was at a right place at right time.
November will be filled with photos from the archives .
Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’
This plant gives pleasure when from middle of the summer until late fall, these photos are from late fall when the flowers have already turned brown. Still beautiful with all it’s details.
For this challenge, it is up to you how you work on exposure. You might, like me, prefer to use shutter speed to change the exposure balance when shooting. You can also play with aperture. Or you can have fun changing the exposure settings while editing. The idea here is to see how the mood of any photo depends on its exposure.
I am posting three sets of photos that I have over – or underexposed in post edit. I usually shoot in automatic mode for exposure and edit the photo to suit it to way to capture what I thought I saw or change the mood. exposure, light and contrast are the main things I work with when editing my photos, but over the years I have learned few more tricks to get the photo to express more of what I want to show in it.
Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. – George Eastman
Contrary to the general belief about photography, you don’t need bright sunlight: the best moodiest pictures are taken in the dim light of almost dusk, or of rainy days… – Jack Kerouac
All these shots except the portrait were taken late afternoon or at dusk so I wholeheartedly agree with the quote above.
I feel that this side profile mood is totally different in these shots, other is more hopeful and often overexposed shot is more forgiving to the person at least if you have lots of lines on your face 🙂
Shooting in nature with backlight has its challanges and you have to be careful not to over light the front,so that is doesn’t look unnatural. Obviously the what the eye sees and camera captures are often totally different in these situations.
Beach shot with early sunset vibes using exposure is also a mood changer
This image is one more sample of mood changing light. The raw materials of photography are light and time and memory.
November will be filled with photos from the archives .
The luxurious flowers of Peony ‘Double Pink’ are ruffled and petal packed, unfurling from round buds in early summer, revealing petal after petal until fully open. Large, flamboyant blooms coupled with a sweet, light fragrance.
Peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is an exquisite herbaceous peony with ruffled, flamingo-pink, double blooms that open from large, and rounded buds. This RHS AGM variety has been popular since its introduction in 1905, and still beguiles gardeners with its sheer flower power. With a slightly taller habit than most, this beauty is one for planting towards the back of perennial borders, where its glamorous blooms will rise above a clump of deeply divided, dark green foliage.
I don’t know which one these are, I do know I love peonies, one of my favorite flowers. I some how was able to kill mine at my summer house, but then again I don’t remember planting it, it appeared and after several year it disappeared… but it was lovely addition to my very scantly garden
October surprises with frost and colorful leaves 🍃 afters a cold night. The splash of color got my attention, here are more shots of the frosty morning.
October surprises with frost and colorful leaves 🍃 afters a cold night growing in the embankment at my backyard. The splash of color got my attention, here are more shots of the frosty morning.
Celastrus orbiculatus is a woody vine of the Celastraceae family. It is commonly called Oriental bittersweet, as well as Chinese bittersweet, Asian bittersweet, round-leaved bittersweet, climbing spindleberry and Asiatic bittersweet.
Oriental bittersweet
Oriental bittersweet growing on our fence, needs yearly cutting.
A unknown flower to me, but it is, a beautiful and delicate. I’ve so many flower photos, that I have not shared. These are taken from my trop to Sri Lanka.
I have no idea as what magic mashroom this is, but it looks like Psilocybe mexicana a psychedelic mushroom. Its first known usage was by the natives of North and Central America over 2,000 years ago.
We did not pick them up, they ended up being cut down by the lawnmower.
I just took photos necaused they looked great, like from a story book.
More Magic mushroomsMagic mushroom growing in my yard
Rose, flower is a flower and beautiful in its own right. As is hydrangea, both in pink tones
Pink Rose
Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time I am just posting shots of roses.
I love to have fresh flowers at home, I picked some roses this time.
I always ,first pick out a photo when I start write a blog post , I decide what I want to share, and then maybe write few words to accompany it and come up with a title. I keep repeating the title as I am bad as coming up with them.
I mean, flower is a flower and beautiful in its own right. And I want to believe, that so are most of my photos that I choose to share. They should speak for themselves. Not that they always do, but I can make believe ☺
Pink Carnation
Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time I don’t have violets, but some of the carnations have violet color.
carnations looks lovely even as black and white image
I love to have fresh flowers at home, I picked some small carnations this time, because they stay looking good for a long time. I take photos of them to pass time and in the process get few nice shots. Edit them see what I can create from them.
Autumn iis about letting go of summer and preparing for winter. Greens give way to dead stems and yellow drooping leaves. Darkness slowly takes over the time of light, but how beautiful it can be at the beginning of autumn🍂
yellows ang orange, in a misty settingLooks so pretty!
I found this nature’s artwork in my backyard, fern and a some other plants made a beautiful contrast. You just have to look for it closely to find it. . Sunday greetings to you all!
We had an amazing weekend to capture, clouds and reflections.
These are taken at lake Pikku-Kukkanen (Small flower) I was able to capture beautiful reflections on the lake and there were two swans further away, so I really missed noth having my camera with me. In the first shot the exposure was low so the clouds came out really dark. I like the intensity of the atmosphere.
Reflectiond on Lake Pikku-Kukkanen in Nastola, FinlandLake PIKKU-Kukkanen
We had an amazing weekend to capture, clouds, mist and rainbows as the weather was mostly cloudy, but few moments of light. I happened to be in those to capture some beauty. Most are taken by mobile phone, because, well it was so cloudy when we left, and I thought that there would be nothing to photograph. How wrong I was! I usually have my camera with me, once again a great reminder that, Ritva, keep it with you, you never know what you can see.
These are taken at lake Iso-Kukkanen (Big flower) I was able to capture beautiful reflections on the lake.
Reflectiond on Lake Iso-Kukkanen in Nastola, FinlandLake Iso-Kukkanen
This summer has had some technical issues that I would not have needed. First I had the issue with back up, my hard drive was full, couldn’t store, upload my photos, so I did not edit my photos due to that issue. Summer vacation came, which was 😊 great.
Took photos as we took short trips here in Finland. I did start to edit them, but once again I was encountered with a problem. My computer would not open any of my editing programs, Lightroom for example, I was not able to open any of my folders in those hard drives I got earlier in the summer. My computer signed off. I had to buy a new one which I got 5 days ago, but as I am at the summer house and the computer arrived back home an hour after we left on come here it is now waiting at my neighbors for me to go back home to get it.
Shortly, I have done very little photography and even less editing. I have been on holiday even from blogging, but soon, sometime next week I will return.
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography 