Back in business

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
~Robin Williams

Camera: Canon PowerShot A710 IS
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
Modifications: Cropping, adjusted brightness and color levels
Date & time: 25 April 2009 at 14.29 EEST
Location: Kerimäki, Finland

Spring has sprung! I couldn't help but get ecstatic about it. Yeah, I took nature photos during the winter months, but I was in Asia from Mid-December 'til February. To me, winter is not the best time of the year to take photos, lack of light always makes my photos look dull. Moreover, I always get blurred photos because my hands get shaky, thanks to the extremely cold weather.

Good lighting is a major ingredient of stunning photographic compositions. It's wonderful to be in here in Finland during spring and summer because of the lovely natural light. When I was in the Philippines I had a chance to meet my fellow macro addicts for a photowalk:


The weather wasn't perfect then, I had to use flash most of the time, as a result, 80% of the photos were quite dull. Although most of my shots sucked, I absolutely enjoyed shooting with the pros. I would definitely join them again on my next vacation. For the mean time, I'm back doing solo photowalks. I have a higher 'success rate' here in our own yard, thanks to the lovely spring sunshine. I took 20 photos a couple of days back, and most of them are good -according to my belief. Here are two new photos:



If you you want to give macrophotography a shot, keep in mind that it is about showing off the details. This can be achieved by taking photos when natural light is at its best. I still get emails from photographers who are curious about the brand or type of macro lens that I use, news flash: I don't have one yet. If Santa Claus will give me a DSLR plus the kind of macro lens that would best suit my usual subjects, of course I would accept it. I am not counting on it though because I can't be nice all year. My little camera is still okay, but it is no longer as efficient as it used to be. Its manual focus still works perfectly, which means that I can still make do with it.

I have always been focused on improving my so-called skills, setting goals have always been helpful. For this season, I will experiment on abstract macros and minimalism. Of course you would still see shots bearing my usual style. I hope that my photos in the weeks to come will be better than my 2008 spring collection. It's a tall order, but with the wonderful spring sunshine, I see better photos in the horizon. Do I sound ridiculously optimistic? Well.. blame it on spring :-)

Weather talk

I often say that I rarely take photos when the weather is ugly. It's because I want to avoid the hassle of making the images look good through post-processing. I am not against photo editing, the truth is I suck at post-processing. There are hobbyists that are well-versed in that area, like my friend Romy who can make a drab pebble shimmer like a piece of jewelery. Since my skill in Photoshop is not that good yet, I just rely on good weather condition. Great light will always produce good images. The image below is SOOC- straight out of the camera:

Untouched beauty
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 5.8 mm

The weather is seldom perfect. But if you want your photos to convey a sad mood then rainy days can be your friend because raindrops symbolize tears and conditions that call for anti depressants.

Taking photos of droplets is a lot easier than stalking bugs, at least you can get very close to the droplet without fear because it won't sting you. I saw a lot of photos of reflections on water drops last year and I thought that it was impossible for my little camera to produce such images. Well, I was wrong. One of the tricks is to focus on the reflection itself. It's also best to use manual focus, but if you think that the water drop will fall in any second then use full auto mode. I guess tripod would be very helpful but I haven't used one yet. Take a look at my water drop photos:

1.Shedding tears
2.Look Deep into nature

Water drops give dramatic effect to flowers. In case you don't feel like going out to take photos, then use a medicine dropper to put a few drops of water on petals. Make the drops as big as possible so that it be easier to focus on.



I only have a few droplet photos in my gallery. Now that it rains almost everyday,and the bugs are slowly disappearing, I think I will concentrate on droplet reflections. One of Chris Marquardt's photography tips is to Learn to love overcast days. Maybe I should.