Flower pictures (how to make magic)

[buzzsaw]

Some of you guys do a fine job taking flower pictures, I came across this and as much as I appreciate flowers, it never really got me too excited to take a bunch of time taking pics of them..... until I saw this, it's incredible what this guy has done with the use of a good eye and a lens baby. Check it out, maybe you flower guys will want to ramp it up to the next level.

http://www.pbase.com/kras/kras_lensbaby

[jonny_redhorse]

Buzz...very good site!....color,form, interest, perspective just not the ordinary images of flora and greenery....I figured I'd try some of my own with a different "twist"...here's a few with a little different color and form.....jonny

just ordinary grass:

a "burr"

thistle

daisey

more "conventional" shot I guess:

[Tom Wilson]

Jonny,

These are nice. Had the wind been blowing and you scratched up the front of your lens, then you could have had some of the same chintsy effects that a lensbaby provides. I'm not a fan of the gimmick filters that seem to be everywhere now.

Mike

I will say that in that link--that guy definitely has a couple of really nice shots. Artistically some of them are beautiful. His colors and compositions are wonderful, but the windblown, soft focus look only works in about four of the shots IMO. I definitely would call this a different level--but not the next level. By the way--your first 20-30 posts were of flowers--what happened?

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

---

your first 20-30 posts were of flowers--what happened?

---

I like the challenge of capturing a moving or live creature vs a flower or plant. Don't get me wrong, I have some flower pictures that I like and I appreciate others efforts... I'm just not overly interested sitting on top of a flower when there are other things more interesting "to me" to photograph. I'll humor you however and post some flower pics in the near future as long as you get some Wood duck shots.... deal?

[jonny_redhorse]

Thanks Tom.....just "experimenting"......new ways to photograph something...angles ,light(light to me is so important on what it does to a subject,setting the mood of the photograph), softness....how much of the image is captured versus the "whole scene"...sometimes I'm finding an interesting image can be a very small portion of the whole image and still make for an interesting shot(as these above)...I'm experimenting ...and in regards to "what" I find "interesting" in a photo ...I guess I would have to say that I fall into a category as a full blown"opportunist"....if it's a butterfly that morning...it's a butterfly in the camera....if it's a field of flowers that day...well ...it's flowers that day.......and so on and so on.....I guess my photographic forays put me in more of a "naturalist" situation as I,ve always liked the tiny things, bugs ,creatures, animals that are around me even as a young kid...I have no real "special" subject I guess but I noticed I'm kinda moving toward "the macro photography" as being of more interest to me.......I can't explain it,it just happened!.......as far as photographing waterfowl.........I'd love to ...just aren't many around here ...oh ya...occasional geese for sure but not loaded with bluewingers or buffleheads ....a few stray cormorants occasionally.... but no real areas for holding these guys.....I'm still looking for moose...some big antlered whitetails....beavers swimming.....coyotes.....these are tough but they're out there ...it's all fun..never know what one's going to see each day out with the camera........ jonny