03-07-13 An Ordinary Rose

You may have noticed that I revisit the same subjects and scenes in my photography. It could be that I do that because I have limited access to new subjects and scenes. Or it could be that I both lazy and have limited vision.But it occurs to me this morning that, though there may be a grain (or a bolder) of truth in in this, the real reason is that as I improve as a photographer, I keep wanting to go back and improve on the photos I have taken. Whether the improvements are visible or worth the time and effort, I can't say. I'll admit that photography for me is sometimes more about the experience and process than it is about the result. Talk about right brained. . . .What I like about this "ordinary rose" is the texture in the catchlights in several of the drops of water. How did that happen? By accident, of course. In the process of experimenting with a honeycomb grid on a medium soft box, I discovered that the grid shows up like window panes in several of the focused drops. I like it even if you don't. :-)I also like how I spent 10 minutes in Photoshop moving one of the drops because I thought the balance in the photo would be improved. I figure that the drop is less than 3mm in size. But in the macro world, that is pretty big. Which drop? I'm not telling. . . . It ends up being one of the "1000 unseen details."

Mercurial II

I've compared water drops to mercury before in this blog. But for those who have seen beads of mercury, you'd have to admit that these water drops, photographed from the inside of my pickup's front window, look more like silvery mercury than beads of water.A good photo? You'll make that judgement. A different view of reality? As a photographer, I try to offer that from time to time.Incidentally, this photo was taken with a Canon SX230 HS, a palm-sized point-and-shoot camera. I'm impressed with its ability to blur the background. And provide a little bokeh! Notice, incidentally, that the tree in the background is blurred but that each water drop acts as a lens and offers a somewhat focused view of the same tree.CanonSX230 HS 1/30s f/3.1 ISO640 5mm