Photoblog 2.0

Bloomin Bromeliad, photo by Harold Davis.

Meta data: Nikon D70 Raw capture, AF Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 (157mm 35mm equivalence).
Exif: ISO 200, 0.8 second, f/36.
Focus: Manual, about 0.33 meter (around one foot).
Post: Routine level adjustments and sharpening.

Phyllis and I went for a walk in Blake Garden this afternoon. Sarah had charge of the kids, so we took a little time off because the weather is so wonderful.

For once, I didn’t take my photo gear with me, so we just got to spend a little time together.

Then I saw these flowering bromeliad, hidden under an overgrown bank of plants. There were two blooms, the one above and this one:

I figured the light was perfect in the afternoon, and made plans (with myself) to come back the next day (tomorrow) to photograph them.

Then I said “nyet.” If I’ve learned anything in all these years taking pictures, it is to take the good ones when you see them. Things change. The weather is not as perfect the next day. A bird makes its home on the flower. The gardeners think it is a weed, and mow it down. Whatever.

Phyllis dropped me off at home and went grocery shopping. I hopped back in the car with my kit, and had just enough time to take these pictures before the Blake Garden gates closed at 4:30.

In photography, as in life, carpe diem.

Flowers Reflecting, photo by Harold Davis.

Are these flowers thoughtful? Or are they merely contemplating the contrast of their strident red coloration compared to the green of mint chocolate chip?

Moon Caucus, photo by Harold Davis.

I’ve been working on photographing the wonderful full moon we’ve had the last few evenings, and you’ll see some of the results in this photo-collage.

While out on our roof with a long lens pointed at the moon, I turned and saw the city–and started fooling around. During long exposures, I tried zooming slowly, and moving the camera slowly. The results in the LCD seemed kind of interesting. Perhaps the vibration reduction feature in the lens made the lines of light seem more steady than they would have otherwise.

Back in Photoshop, I sandwiched the moon together with the light show, using a layer mask and a circular gradient.

This one reminds me of a bunch of weird aliens (the caucus of the title) gathered together to perform some ritual under the light of a baleful moon.

In contrast, this one seems more to me like a benign (but still alien) creature dancing under the moon:

Wet Rose, photo by Harold Davis.

My father, who is a logician, likes to say: “‘A rose is a rose is a rose’ is a statement in the English language–and is false.”

This rose is a Cecil Bruner, photographed in my garden after being watered.

Mint Choc Chip, photo by Harold Davis.

For miles I struggled, slipping on the icey green fields of mint chocolate chip ice cream. When the temperature warmed, my snow shoes got clogged by the chocolate clots. When everything froze again, the sharp edges of the chasms and crevasses tore my hands. But at least I wasn’t hungry!

Then again, if it was lettuce and not ice cream I’d be better off as a bunny…

Oreo, photo by Harold Davis.

Photography is a way to eat one’s cookie and have it, too!

Golden Gate Sunset 2, photo by Harold Davis.

Yesterday I posted a photo of sunset over the Golden Gate from Indian Rock, and a sunset cloud.

Here are some more of my favorites from the same photo set.

Clouds:

The setting sun up close and personal:

An extravagant sky:

Bay Sail, photo by Harold Davis.

For this photo, I used an on-camera circular polarizer. When I imported the image into Photoshop from Raw, I maxxed out tint and satuartion.

In post processing, I added color to the sky with a dark blue gradient filter. I added the color cast to the water with a user-defined split color filter (nik color Efex! Pro), and finally add the red cast in the lower-right quadrant (also from nik).

Piling of Damocles, photo by Harold Davis.

I took this photo from the old Ferry Point pier at 200mm with a 2X teleconverter–for an effective 35mm focal equivalence of 600mm. This accounts for the compressed perspective in the image.

I used a polarizer, and–naturally–a tripod.

It’s really hard to see what is holding these pilings up. From beneath, they are surely the pilings of Damocles!

Sunset from Indian Rock, photo by Harold Davis.

Here’s a photo of the wonderful sunset from Indian Rock last night. It’s a more panoramic view than the colorful cloud (part of the same sunset display) that I blogged last night.

I processed the Raw file twice (here’s more info about this technique): once for the sky and once for the foreground.

Sunset Clouds, photo by Harold Davis.

Photographer Alfred Steiglitz called his famous series of cloud photos “equivalents”–meaning, as far as I can tell, that the cloud subject material was not as relevant to the experience of viewing the photograph as the emotional response, or equivalence, of the person looking at the photo. There’s something in this.

I took this photo of a wondeful (and brief) sunset sky this evening while I was out with Julian. This incredibly colorful, staturated stretch of sky and cloudscape lasted for only a couple of minutes–although the entire “show” this evening from about 4PM to 5:30 or so was wonderful.

People were seated and sprawled all over Indian Rock watching, as Julian and I agreed, just like at a campfire presentation in Yosemite.

Except for routine level adjustments, balancing, and sharpening, this photo of clouds has not been Photoshopped. The colors were this fantastic!

Note to the reader who called my fig photos “disgusting and disturbing”: You’ll be glad to see that I have moved on!

Fig Bacchanalia, photo by Harold Davis.

I’ve been photographing grand landscapes of the Bay and Bridge. See Golden Gate Sunset, Storm over the Golden Gate, Above Us Only Sky, and Orange Sunset for some of these photos.

So for relief and fun I turned my macro lens close up on a lily (see Another Country and Adventures in the Lily Forest), a strawberry (Strawberry Fields), and a fig from our garden. These external close shots ended up looking very much like weird, alien landscapes. The fig from my garden actually could be mistaken for a real landscape when looked close enough (see Turkey Fig Cliff and Turkey Fig Crater).

What happens inside a fig close up–so I’m no longer scratching the externals but really digging in?

Inside the fig, I found aliens:

And a creche-style nursery:

Orifices (don’t ask):

And–of course–landscapes of the fantastic:

All this from a cute little modest-end-of-season Turkey Fig from our garden:

Fire Ball, photo by Harold Davis.

This is an extreme macro photo exposed for a number of seconds of a small toy ball that flashes a red light. Julian got the light to pulse on and off for me, and then held still while I made the exposure.

For a change, this photo has not been Photoshopped.

Turkey Fig Crater, photo by Harold Davis.

Another macro of the outside of a fig from our garden that looks like topography to me–here’s a fig cliff compared to a real landscape.

Turkey Fig Cliff, photo by Harold Davis.

This is a macro photograph of the skin of a Turkey fig from our garden.

Like the strawberry, it is a true blessing to have sweet fruit to eat from our garden this time of year.

One more example of photograph it, then eat it.

I am reminded how the very small can be mistaken for the very large. This macro of the fig’s skin reminds me a bit of the pattern of the giant-scale Zabriskie cliffs in Death Valley: