Photography

Salon series ~

/ Marilyn Davis / 2 Comments

I had an appointment the other day to get my hair cut and colored. When I got to the salon (I prefer to think of it as the hair-cutting place), I realized I had brought along nothing to read. But I did have a little Canon point-and-shoot in my purse, so I amused myself while the hair color set in by opening the drawers in the station cart and taking photos. These aren’t very sharp; they’re acceptable only for web viewing. But I like the set. I oversharpened a couple of these—especially the hairbrush closeup, since nothing in it is in focus (and not in a good way).

Hairbrushes Crop no. 2
Cart Top
Combs
Hairbrush Closeup
Scissors
Holsters
Roller Clips
Hair Dye and Brush

Stinkbug nymph ~

/ Marilyn Davis / 1 Comment

When I let my dog out this afternoon before heading to an appointment, I noticed this small insect on the side of the house. It was no bigger than about 3/8″, but the striped pattern jumped out. I had a little Canon point-and-shoot in my purse, so I set it on macro and did my best. Tonight I looked through my field guide and decided the insect was some type of stinkbug. Then I went to Google, naturally, and found that it appears to be a green stinkbug nymph (essentially, a juvenile), judging by the third photo on this page. My (!) stinkbug’s stripes were yellow except for the top one, where you can see some green. The text indicates it’s the wrong time of year for this little guy to be growing up. If he doesn’t find a place to hibernate pronto, the cold wave is gonna get him. Or her. Confession: I have a bad habit of referring to most animals as male unless they’re obviously female. This anecdote seems to have two morals: 1. Bugs are beautiful, and 2. Sexism is insidious.

Green Stinkbug Nymph

Green Stinkbug Nymph

Breaker, breaker ~

/ Marilyn Davis / 2 Comments

I was excited by the colors I found painted over some graffiti on a breaker box downtown. These are just cropped a little and color-corrected. I may try doing something more with them. Taken with my Fuji X10.

Breaker Box

Breaker Box

Breaker Box Detail

Breaker Box Detail

More fall colors ~

/ Marilyn Davis / 1 Comment

A sampling of images I took around the neighborhood today. I’m not positive about the ID of the turkey tail mushrooms, but it seems the best guess. The redbud leaf makes a nice contrast to all the autumn color. I like the delicacy of the hosta leaves, although I wish the photo was sharper. I’m still finding that my images do not seem as sharp as they should be.

Reflector ~

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Reflector

Reflector

This is a better…ahem…reflection of my attempts to find interesting abstracts within objects. This image was taken with a Fuji X10 and is straight off the card, without any cropping, sharpening, or color correcting. I was taking photos of various businesses in a nearby town, including macro shots of the glass bricks in a bank window. Since this is quite near to the police station, I wouldn’t have been surprised to be confronted about what I was doing. But the only time anyone questioned me—what they actually said, from a car on the other side of the street, was “Can I help you?”—was when I was taking a series of closeups of this reflector on a traffic barricade. I said, “I’m just taking a picture of this reflector,” and rather unnecessarily pointed to it (my camera lens was practically touching it). Apparently satisfied, they drove off. Go figure.

Playing with pixels ~

/ Marilyn Davis / 1 Comment

Although I used Photoshop a lot in my job, I was never proficient at it. Now that I have access to the latest version, that’s even more true. I’m also not up to speed on a teeny tiny Samsung HD that I bought recently so that I would always have a camera light enough to carry in my purse or small enough to leave in the glove compartment. Unfortunately, my impatience overrides the need for greater knowledge: hence, playing around.

Bad Image of Solar Panel

Original Image of Solar Panel

        
Fun with Solar Panel

Revised Image of Solar Panel

October leaves ~

/ Marilyn Davis / 1 Comment
Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf

Sycamore Leaf, St. Francis River, Mo.

Sycamore Leaf, St. Francis River, Mo.

Shadow on Leaf

Shadow on Leaf

I got exactly three photos of fall foliage this year that I’m happy with. The top photo was taken with a Fuji X10 and not adjusted in any way. The second and third photos, taken with a Pentax K-r with 50 mm lens, were cropped slightly and needed a bit of color correction. I’m getting very few sharp pictures lately, even with the image stabilization that is built into both cameras. Frustration!

Tail-light detail ~

/ Marilyn Davis / 1 Comment
Tail-light Detail

Tail-light Detail

Pale Moon Rising

Pale Moon Rising

These pictures show some of the kind of abstract photography I’ve been trying to do lately: nonrepresentational images found whole or as snippets of other photos whose composition, color, or other qualities resonate with me the way an abstract painting would. The first image is a crop of about one-sixteenth of the original, taken through a dirty windshield with a point-and-shoot camera zoomed out to the equivalent of 500 mm. The second image is a larger crop from an out-of-focus version of the same subject. Technically, both are all shot to hell. (Pun most emphatically intended.) Do the pixelation, luminance noise, etc., matter? In these cases, I’m not sure they do.  What I’m trying (and mostly failing) to do is, I hope, sufficiently outside the realm of conventional photography to skirt that problem. But the flaws bother me nonetheless.

Art only for the web? Amateur failures posing as art? (The first shot I planned; the second was serendipitous.) Not art at all? The work of a wannabe painter? It’s quite possible that these images would lose the character I’m looking for if they were printed, with all their technical flaws more apparent. Therefore I prefer to find subjects I don’t have to crop, or crop so much, and to shoot under better conditions using better equipment. Lately I haven’t been able to get out much to do work. I hope that will change.