The assignment for May was Action. About the only thing that the entries had in common was movement.
Shirley
An enthusiastic model at the Google+ Washington, DC photo walk.
Batala
Batala Washington performed at this year’s Kinetic Sculpture Race in Baltimore. I used a slow shutter speed to show the band’s energy.
Winsom Memory
Winsom Memory is a 22 year old broodmare who clearly enjoys her retirement. I used 1/30 sec and panned to show motion while keeping her face in focus.
Macro was the assignment for April. Like most people, my entries were of flowers. However, my pictures were omitted because of a glitch. The Easter Lily was featured as the Digital Story photo of the day on Facebook, but it was left off of the monthly assignment page at TDS.
Easter Lily
I like this Easter Lily at Longwood Gardens because of the ring of pollen.
Crocus
Since the DOF is so shallow, I like to concentrate on the abstract nature of macro photos. This is a crocus in my yard.
Bouquet
Flowers in a bouquet. They’re only about 1/4″ across. The red flower is a carnation.
In March the assignment was Eyes. As you might expect, the majority of the entries were of people’s faces. However, there were some novel entries as well, such as the winning shot of a stereoscopic camera. I decided to go with the obvious choices myself, plus a close-up of my reflection in Dixie’s eye.
Sophie’s Eyes
This is a close crop of a picture of Sophie that I took her first day with us.
Gavin
I’ve been told that I should show more of this picture so people can see that Gavin is watching a parade. Actually, he’s standing beside his sister and her horse who are wearing similar head boppers. His eyes are saying, “Please tell me that I’m not related to these crazy people.”
Dixie’s Eye
Dixie doesn’t mind posing when I want to try out new things. I took this photo with my new macro lens.
The February assignment was about composition, namely the Rule of Thirds. As I learned way back during my architecture days, things look better if they are off-center. The Rule of Thirds refines that and works like this. Draw two horizontal lines and two vertical lines on a picture so it is evenly divided like a tic tac toe grid. The intersections are four focal points where you should place the primary objects in the photo. Most image editing software will superimpose the grid for you when you crop an image, and some cameras will display the grid on the LCD or in the viewfinder. (My Nikon D7000 grid is 4×4 instead of 3×3 so I have to adjust a little.) In each of my entries I placed the primary object at one focal point and a secondary object at the diagonally opposite focal point.
Bald Eagles
The eagle at the bottom left point is very dramatic with his feathers spread and his talons ready to go fishing. His partner is scanning the river for his own lunch. I’ve also cropped the photo to show just the eagle in flight, and I like this version better.
Carnations
I composed this shot with carnations near two of the focal points. The out-of-focus flower serves as a counter-point to the flower in the foreground.
Roses
The sharp and vibrant rose bud at one focal point is balanced by the hint of rose blossoms in the background.
The January assignment was Mobile Phone to tie in with a promotion by one of the TDS sponsors. I rarely use the camera in my cell phone, so I took a few pictures for the contest. My phone is an HTC Incredible and it has an 8 MP camera.
Moon At Sunset
I took some pictures of the moon through the trees with my Nikon D7000, then I took more with my cell phone.
Sunset at the Farm
This was a genuine shot. I was at the farm and the sky was so red and colorful that I had to take a picture of it. I also have pictures of a cat sleeping on my car, but they were not good enough to submit.
Community Center Entrance
I was waiting at the entrance of my community center to let people in. I spent the time taking pictures of the entrance area. I like this picture the best because it is sharp and clear.
Jefferson Memorial
A couple of months later I was in Washington, DC during the Cherry Blossom Festival and all I had with me that day was my cell phone.
The January photography club theme at the Havre de Grace Library was Macro. Before we looked at our photos, one of the club members gave an instructional presentation on macro photography. Technically, in a macro photograph the ratio of the subject to the camera’s sensor is 1:1 (1 to 1). That means for my D7000, whose APS-C sensor is 23.6mm (just under 1 inch) wide, I need to place my 90mm macro lens about 3 inches from the subject. Since I was further away for many of the photos, what I was taking were closeups. Since other club members also did this, we decided that we didn’t care what it was called; we knew what we liked.
Camera With Macro Lens
This is a fun shot of my camera and new macro lens and was not intended to be a macro photograph.
Closeup of Paperwhite Narcissus
A closeup of paperwhite narcissus blooms. The total width is 4+ inches. Notice that the background is entirely blurred out, which was my intention when I took this photo.
Paperwhites Taken With Telephoto Lens
Another closeup, but this time I used my 300mm telephoto lens. I extended the lens all the way, then moved the tripod several feet away from the flowers until they were in focus. The photo shows that you don’t need a macro lens to take closeups.
Macro Photo of Paperwhite Narcissus Blossom
My first true macro photograph. The flower is about 1 1/2 inches across and it does not fit in the frame. You can start to see the pollen on the stamens.
Dixie's Eye
Since I did not stick the lens directly in Dixie’s face, this is another closeup. I like how clearly I can be seen in the reflection. I took this picture the night that I got the macro lens.
Dorothy
I tried a similar idea with my cat Dot’s face. Closeups and macros let you experiment with unusual compositions.
Wires
I put the lighting unit from a ceiling fan on my kitchen counter because I have halogen under-cabinet lights. I like the bokeh (white, blurry circles) in the upper right. This was selected as the favorite of my photos.
Oreo Cookie
I took this photo to show the limited depth of field (DOF) of most macro photographs. Because the camera is at an angle to the cookie, there is a narrow strip that is in focus. The front and back of the cookie are blurry. This photo was surprisingly popular.
Extreme Closeup of Paperwhite Narcissus
Before I bought a macro lens, I would mount my 50mm prime lens face to face with my 200mm zoom lens. The combination has a ratio of 4:1. While the DOF is incredibly shallow, you can see the pollen grains.
I won the Family assignment for December! While the majority of the entries were “normal” family photos, a few of us stretched the definition of family.
Family Headstones
I returned to Greenmount Cemetery for this month’s assignment, and I converted the image to B&W again. I took photos of family plots as I’d planned, where several stones had the same last name, but I had never seen anything like this before. The gravestones at one end of each plot had the member of the family, while the ones shown in the foreground had the names and dates.
Father and Son
When I took this picture this past summer, I knew that some day I would submit it. I like how the father is teaching his son how to fish, and I also like the composition with the rod stretching to the right.
Mary’s Family
Mary with her mother and daughter at the barn Christmas party. They are clearly having fun and it’s a nice family portrait.
Wow, there were over 80 entries for Black & White in November. I used B&W presets in Lightroom, then edited the settings a little for the effect that I wanted. (The original pictures were in color.)
Condominiums
These condominiums are near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. I like the abstract look and the shades of grey.
Greenway Trail
The light and lines of this picture of the Greenway Trail draw your eye to the two people who are walking.
Memorials in Greenmount Cemetery
Greenmount Cemetery is very old and has many stone markers and statues. I chose this picture because the statue in the foreground is sharp and white while the obelisk and dark tree are out of focus. The obelisk is a counter-point to the statue, which stands out against the dark leaves.
Condominiums
The original version of the condominium picture is all shades of blue and grey.
November was the last photography club meeting at the Havre de Grace Library for this year, so the theme was Your Favorite Shots from 2011. Here are my entries in the order that they were taken. I tried to select pictures that were technically good, not just ones that had special meaning to me. I tried to avoid pictures that I had shown to the group before.
Joan and Tish
I like this picture of Joan (human) and Tish (horse) because of their similarities. Joan’s hair and Tish’s forelock are similar in color, they’re both wearing their St. Patrick’s Day glasses and head boppers, and their eyes are closed. It’s also clear that they are enjoying themselves.
Egret With Fish
I was on a bird walk (drive, actually) when the driver spotted this Great Egret with a fish. We all jumped out of the car and I took this picture in the rain. In just a few seconds the fish was gone. This is my first picture of a bird with a fish.
Goin' Batty II
I like this picture because the balloon is luminous. This was taken during the Preakness festivities, and I went up in the balloon earlier in the day.
USS Constellation
The USS Constellation and some other ships are on display in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. I used a long exposure to make the water smooth. The spotlight on the mast, the reflections in the water, and the lights in the distant building are repeated vertical lines.
Ferris Wheel
I get a lot of comments on this picture. It’s another long exposure, this time of two rides at the Havre de Grace 4th of July carnival. I like how the distant ride serves as a counter-point to the big Ferris wheel. This was chosen as the favorite of my set.
Sweet Pea
A group of photographers had come to the farm to take pictures. I spotted Sweet Pea under cover with only her face in the sun. I started to grumble when she walked out, but I like this shot better. Her coloring really stands out against the dark background.
National Gallery of Art
This picture is from a photo walk in Washington, DC. This is the roof of the National Gallery of Art, East. I like the geometry, depth, and abstractness, plus it looks like the roof of a modern art gallery.
Heron Leaving Cable
An insane Great Blue Heron decided he would land on a big cable stretching across the river. (I think he was jealous of the attention that the Bald Eagles were getting.) After about 40 seconds he decided to take off. I like the action and the detail in the feathers.
Jim Goldstein on Google+ decided to create a page where photographers could post their 10 favorite pictures of the year. Here are the two that I added to my original 8. Both were taken after the library meeting.
Greenway Trail
The Greenway Trail extends from the Conowingo Dam alongside the Susquehanna River and into Susquehanna State Park. I liked how the sun illuminated the scene, so I converted the picture into black and white.
Paperwhite Narcissus
I bought myself a 90mm macro lens as an early Christmas present. One of my first subjects was a pot of paperwhite narcissus. Each blossom is only about 1.25 inches across.
I didn’t put a lot of effort into Side Lighting. I expected people to submit dramatic B&W portraits where half of the face was lit and half was in shadow. As it turned out, there were only 11 entries and just one was a color light/dark portrait.
Footbridge
There are two long, serpentine bridges on a local trail. I took this picture near dusk when the sun was low. I like the curves, straight lines, and long shadows.
Civil War Statue
This monument is on McPherson’s Ridge at Gettysburg, PA. I took this picture early in the morning at the start of a tour of the battlefield.
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