I sit in my garden every day, watching the butterflies feasting on Buddlejas and what is left of my plum cooking. The Red Admirals seem to love plums just as much as the ordinary flower table. Golden days now, when summer is drawing to its close.
The beautiful Scarce Copper though, is not to be seen anymore. I guess its season is earlier. I tried to catch some of the Admirals with my camera, but unfortunately – I will try again tomorrow.
This week, Patti invites us to have fun with motion. Please visit her site and get inspiration and great examples on how to go about the challenge!
Personally I will tweak it a bit…letting me do the motion while the object is standing still.
In this first yellow one I have used a favourite technique – double exposure. The gentle flowers seem to be dancing a wild, energetic dance.
In these two slider pairs, I have used ICM – intentional camera movements. In a sense, ICM gives the same effect as (intentional) single-exposition motion blur: in the former the camera moves during exposure, in the second the target moves, but they have in common that there is relative motion between camera and target, resulting in streaking in the image.
In the first pair, I have moved my camera from an upward point downwards, rather fast, trying to create as straight lines as possible while the motif gets blurred. In the second pair, I have tried to move the camera faster still, making the image even more blurred, giving the sense of fast movement.
Generally exposures of 1/20 to 1/2 second give the best results and an optimum seems to be 1/8 of a second to retain the shape of the subject, but strip away surface detail. But much is trial and error!
Another motion effect can be achieved by changing the focal length of a zoom lens during the exposure. I find this even more difficult to get a satisfying result. But fun it is and the results surprising!
As I don’t use filters, I tried these effects in the late evening to get softer light.
Last week Anne Sandler challenged us to explore our photographic groove. A great challenge, Anne, and we found many interesting grooves to explore! Next week, Amy will lead the challenge. Visit her beautiful site next Saturday at noon EST to join the fun.
Just remember to link your post to Patti’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag to help us find you in the Reader.
Until next time…, stay safe and be kind.
We met up for a trip to a pond wellknown for its dragonflies. Rain in the air and rather chilly – so, our expert told us we would not see any dragonflies that morning… Ten degrees warmer and sun is the recipe.
We had all brought breakfast though, so we might as well hike up there and at least eat. Said and done.
After an hour the sun warmed up behind the clouds, so we were a bit lucky in the end. Not many dragonflies were patroling the water, but if you walked through the grasses on the shore, you were greatly rewarded.
Here are some of the critters that we found. We saw 6-7 different species of dragonflies/damselflies and some other beauties. The caterpillar will later evolve into a small tortoiseshell. Some sea birds were talking loudly, and the swallows came sweeping down as the mosquitos woke up. An enjoyable morning!
Click the gallery for more detail.
Amazingly small, but in a shining blue or red armour, striped or checked – we saw them dancing. I learned that many dragonflies live for a month or so, and some species live for almost a whole year – they even fly throughout the winter months here. If you want to hold one, it is the wings you should grab. They are not soft and velvety (as with butterflies), but stiff and hard. If you then set the dragonfly free, it will sit where you put it, silent for some seconds – and you have an excellent photo option!
Our host this week, Anne Sandler , is asking: ”What type of photography do you truly enjoy doing?”
I enjoy almost all types of photography, but Nature is my Muse. More specificly: flowers, close-ups and macro. And I am happy if in the flowers there is a critter or two as well… I believe our ”groove” changes over the years – as the world is changing – so are we.
For many years my photography was all about travel, new places, new people, new architecture, new food… but there has always been flowers. And why flowers? Well, I was born in the countryside, and from my grandmother I learned the importance of the little things – to see a world in a grain of sand. Flowers – nothing beats their great variety; in colours, shapes and sizes. I have to have flowers in my life!
My blog was named lagottocattleya after my favourite breed of dogs and my favourite orchid. So, the first image is a cattleya hybrid pictured at Keukkenhof, Holland. Then follows a gallery with some old and new favourites, from close-ups to macros and from Spring to Autumn. From forest to garden and indoors plants. I hope they will speak for themselves.
Special thanks to our guest host Sarah Wilkie of Travel With Me for the exercise of picking out three of our favorite images. And thank you to all our wonderful July guest hosts, Aletta, Jez, Andre and Tracy. If you join us, please link to Anne’s original post and use the lens artists tag. We’re looking forward to seeing your photos! As the LAPC team resumes rotation, Patti will present next week’s challenge. In the meantime, have fun and safe travels.
If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.
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