Final showing

We've had gorgeous, almost spring-like weather in Minnesota, and the rain has urged our flora to show off one last time before winter sets in. I've had the opportunity to use a high quality macro lens for the past week or so, and it has been a good exercise in steady photography. Nature's wind and one's own heartbeat and breathing are amplified greatly when using a long lens. I could have stopped a few of these down a bit more...I overestimated my depth of field and didn't get as much of the key areas of the flowers in focus as I would have liked.

Bringing life to black and white

I'm experimenting with toning in black and white images. One of the best bits of post-processing advice I've heard is to apply an effect slowly until it is just noticed, then back off slightly. This seems to add warmth and life to my black and white conversions that, until this point, have seemed very cold and boring. The image is still grayscale, yet not void of color...if that makes sense.

These photos are from a recent walk around our neighborhood. At a high level there is nothing particularly striking about a suburban scene, but if you can remember to walk more slowly you discover that texture and pattern are everywhere, even in man-made suburbia. One of the best ways to discover this is to walk with children, who are not in a hurry and who do not pay attention to the same things that adults do. "What's that ladder on the road?" "This is bumpy." We trample right by and over these things all the time.

A long to-do list

Warmer weather is a welcome opportunity to get outside. As the melting of snow begins to reveal the once-green grass and lush vegetation, I'm reminded of the work to be done around the house this spring, summer and autumn: re-landscape gardens, repair the irrigation system, reengineer the window box, cut the grass, trim the bushes.

The list itself isn't terribly overwhelming, but I know it will grow and will depend on having time, some money and (hopefully) some helping hands. What I do hope, however, is to make these things fun and memorable and not take them too seriously or let my perfectionism allow mem to be too inefficient. From  the standpoint of family, I hope we can all play a part, and I hope I can remember that it all doesn't need to be done at once. My usual modus operandi is to draw the plans, buy the tools, break ground, sow, nourish, harvest, and enjoy all one day one...so to speak.

Photographically, my goals for the year are to see more detail. To zoom in, or better yet, take two steps closer. Texture and pattern and contrast are everywhere, and while I enjoy photographing the kids and events, I would like to add to my 'miscellaneous' and 'nature' picture albums. I should be able to intertwine this goal with the many projects we have planned for this year, capturing the before-and-afters. Committing to this blog should help keep me on track.

Noise

Miles is a noisy boy, which I can only hope is an indication that he'll be a singer like daddy. I am, however, going to have to teach him volume control if he has any chance of singing in a choir. But as much as his screeching pierces my eardrums, I can appreciate his effort. Here is Miles yawning after dinner at a wedding we attended a few weeks ago in St. Paul.

Noise in the photography sense is something I'm learning to appreciate, too, as my camera becomes more and more a part of the things I carry with me everywhere, like my keys, wallet and mobile phone. Dark surroundings call for higher ISO speeds, which translate to more digital noise. But who cares...I'd rather have something a little grainy than blurry.

I'm still very much an amateur photographer--a hobbyist at best--but if there's one thing I have learned it's that great pictures don't happen if you don't have your camera with you--out and ready to shoot. I've resorted to bringing my camera with me most places I go, and I've learned to ignore sigh's of "I hate how I look in pictures!" I feel pretty comfortable with my camera now...enough so that I can make it blend in to most settings and snap a few shots here and there without drawing too much attention to me or the camera.

Punch

Steve Paxton offers a generous dose of post-processing "how-to" at paxtonprints.com. His gallery, entitled "The Least of These" is not only informative but very inspiring. Be sure to read the details about each of the subjects photographed. I've used his processing methods a couple of times to add an edge or some punch to to some photos. Here is one of an emergency staircase in Long Beach, California.

Following the rules

Photography is so subjective isn't it? I mean, there are general "rules" that I've heard, when used, can make photos better, but when you consider the infinite number of variations a photograph can take--especially when you take post-processing into account--are there really boundaries?

In my earlier amateur photography days--not to suggest I've moved out of the amateur category--I used to be afraid of post-processing. It's quite a purist view of photography, I suppose, the notion that the final product should come straight from the camera. Those who can do that consistently, I would say have truly "arrived." The more photos I've taken and seen, however, the more I have come to believe that post-processing is just another step in the processing of making photograph. It certainly helps my photographs.

Probably the simplest enhancement to many of my photos is cropping. I can't tell you how many new photos I've made from larger shots taken some time ago. I thoroughly enjoy mouse-wheeling through a digital roll of photos and discovering a great detail once lost in a less-than-flattering overall composition. A new photo is born, and the viewer will never know.