From the diaphragm


Down at the park the other day, chasing whatever I happened to come across, I did a few casual photos of unknown insect larvae, roughly 15mm in length, doing their best at denuding a small tree. Upon returning and unloading the memory card, I realized I’d caught some details I never expected to see, and certainly didn’t realize at the time, or I would’ve gotten read more

I meant to do that


Yes, of course I chose this particular focus – anyone can focus on the bee, but using the bee as a backdrop, that takes creativity!

Okay, I lie, this was a missed shot handheld during a breezy overcast day, but I realized I liked the effect with the flowers. While I don’t encourage hanging on to less-than-ideal shots “just in case,” sometimes they can be repurposed by considering read more

Harken back

This is a revisit of a post from a few years ago, partially because I always wanted to tackle the images better, and partially because this is the season for it. But at the same time, this post is aimed in part at the people with a fear of spiders, because it just might be a factor in getting over this phobia.

If you go outside in the early evening, just as it’s gotten fully dark, and hold read more

Advice on advice

If you came to this post by following one of the links under “composition,” I’m going to apologize up front, because this isn’t exactly about how to compose photos. Yet, it does have some relation, so stick with me for a second as I explain.

Last week was a busier one for me due to photography students (which is just fine,) but it repeatedly raised something I’ve noticed read more

Just because, part 10

Arrived early to meet with a student, spent some time investigating what the park had to offer. I just happened to like this one, largely because of the focal plane capturing two separate subjects so well. And there’s something about the marvelous shape of the buds.

If someone’s not familiar with any of the species herein, they could be drastically mistaken about the scale – everything read more

Frustrations, part 11


The dog fennel plants that provided so many photo subjects last year, visible in the wide image for my last ‘Frustrations’ post, are now taller than I am, and routinely examined for interesting subjects. This evening I noticed some suspicious dewdrops, suspicious because they were read more

Lost in your eyes


On Saturday, I was chasing bug pics when I got an expected call to meet with friends, and snagged one frame of some amorous flies on the parsley flowers before I had to put down the camera (sacrilege I know) and head off. I couldn’t see these eyes in the viewfinder (for the reason illustrated at right,) so the surprise came much later when I unloaded the memory card.

Now, the big question: read more

On composition, part 18: Illustration


This one was inspired by this recent post, but let’s look a little closer at using photos for illustration.

While all of photography might be considered illustration to some extent, there’s also a more specific purpose, separating it from genres such as portraiture, journalism, art, and so on. If it helps, the idea is to visually represent something explained in accompanying read more

Meaningless milestone number, uh, whatever…


Today, I shot the 50,000th image on the old Canon 300D/Digital Rebel. That is, since I’ve had it, anyway – I got it secondhand, so from its own personal standpoint, well, I got nothing, since it’s a piece of electronic equipment and doesn’t have a personal standpoint.

Mind you, this is not the 50,000th image I’ve taken, because I passed that long ago, nor the 50,000th read more

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