Day 304; Cobweb in the Fog

When I went out in the fog yesterday I also took this shot, but I knew I wanted some time to edit it. I really liked the composition of having the dewy spiderweb in the foreground, and the foggy woods in the background. To edit, I tried to tone down the colors of the dead leaves and branches on the forest floor, and smooth out the background so it wasn't quite so grainy.

Day 303; A Series of Fog

This morning I woke up to an incredibly thick, very eerie looking fog. I didn't have my camera on hand, so I snapped a few photos with my phone. I couldn't really pick a favorite, and I didn't end up having time to edit them today, so I'm sharing this series of raw images. I noticed, especially in this third picture, that these shots were pretty grainy, and didn't look nearly as cool as what I had seen with my own eyes, but I'm still pretty happy with them.

Day 302; Jeans and a New Phone

My birthday happened recently, which was great. Besides turning a year older, the day was significant because I got an iPhone. And I love it. One of the big reasons I wanted an iPhone was because they're known for having great cameras. Today's photo is one of the first I've taken on my new phone, but you can expect to see more photos taken on my phone on the blog in the weeks to come. This photo is a close up of a pair of my jeans. My only edits were to crop the image and make it black and white. My goal was to keep the focus on the seam and the texture of the fabric.

Day 301; Rust and Snow

I took this photo a few days ago after we'd received a light dusting of snow. Today, temperatures rose to 65℉ and it felt like spring for the first time. To get this photo, I put my camera down into a large, rusty basin sitting out in our yard. The bottom had rusted out so that I could see the ground on the other side, and the combination of snow and rusted edges lent a nice contrast of texture and color to the image. For editing, I cropped the original down to the area I wanted to focus on, and adjusted the exposure to best represent the white of the snow and the shadows on the sides of the basin.

Day 300; Sunrise on the River

Today, I present this gem from last October. On this particular morning, a club I'm a member of was putting on a rabbit show, which meant getting up well before the sun did. The show location had a great view of the river, so when the sun did start coming up I slipped away to get this shot. There are many things I like about this image. I love the colors present, with the purples and blues of the water and the pinks and yellows in the sky. The water has a gorgeous texture and I love how it's juxtaposed with the pattern of the fence. The fence forms a leading line which effectively leads the eye from the highlight on the water to the child's silhouette on the right side. The presense of the silhouette adds an interesting secondary focal point and a significant amount of interest to the image. The negative space of the trees on the horizon, the fence, and the silhouette provide a nice balance with the busyness of the water.

Day 299; Luminescent Lily

Today, another in the series of photos from last June which I've editied recently. I didn't post this one back in June because I didn't like the blades of grass in front of the subjects, but when I cropped it down and adjusted tones and shadows they weren't as distracting and I thought they framed the focal point nicely. To edit, I brightened the whites and yellows of the flower while darkening the blues and greens of the bacground. I used a dark vignette to draw the eye in toward the flower. If I could change anything, I would have the lily pads be slightly less in focus to really set the flower apart.
(Also, I know what the word luminescent means and that this is not a correct usage of the term, but alliteration in titles is something I'm continually drawn to.)

Day 298; Before and After - Purple Plant

 We finally got some snow today, but I haven't had a chance to go take advantage of it. So, today I'm posting another photo from last June which I edited this weekend. Below you'll find the original image - click on either photo to see a larger version and compare. I adjusted a lot of components here - color, shadow vs. highlights, cropping, etc. I took the original because I liked the colors in that plant and the arrangement of the leaves. However, I felt the original was really underwhelming. My edits were all an attempt to add drama and interest. I really like the overall look of my finished product, though there are still a few things I would tweak if I knew how/had the tools to do so.

Day 297; February Ferns

I wish someone had told me how busy senior year would be. The days are flying by - my future is rapidly approaching. I find myself missing last summer when I was working at summer camp and showing at the fair. This winter has been bleak. We've only gotten one or two goods snows, so I haven't been out photographing much. This photo was taken last June at the Iowa State 4-H Conference. While looking through old Conference photos recently, I found this image and decided to edit it. I liked how the sun highlighted the stems and edges and the many lines present. While the original vibrant green colors were a welcome break from the brown world outside my window, I preferred a black and white filter because it drew attention to the intricate structure of the plants and the contrasting light and shadow.

Day 296; Art and Absence

It's been a while. I feel slightly guilty that I've left the blog for so long, but I wasn't sitting idle all this time. Summer is an incredibly busy time for me, and I had to prioritize my time. In fact, my life won't be slowing down much this fall either, so posts will be sporadic.

Today's photo is of a rose I made from an old book for a project at my county fair this year. I was thrilled with how the arrangement turned out and plan to try making more again in the future. The text and the rounded shape of the petals add some interesting lines and shapes to the photo. When composing the shot, I wanted the eye to be drawn first toward the center of the flower and then radiate out to examine the petals. This was a really old book, so the pages were really yellow. I wanted the focus to be more on the lines and depth than on the color, so I used a faded black and white effect so there was still a touch of warmth.

Day 295; Black, White, and Backlight

Today's post is a close up of one of my scarves. This one was hanging on the end of my bed and I happened to notice the way the window behind the scarf was providing a really nice backlight. Originally I loved the teal color of the scarf and the way the lighting interacted with it, but in the end I wanted the focus on the lines and contrast so I opted for a black and white effect.