A while back when I planted my nasturtium seeds, I posted a watercolor of nasturtium, because I had no pictures of one. Now my garden is full of these pretty orange or yellow edible flowers, so I spent some time Friday afternoon photographing one in particular. The shooting mode of this chosen photo is called “Aperture Priority.” Setting a lower aperture value blurs a bit the background behind the subject.
My neighbor grew these hibiscus flowers right next to my backyard so I could photograph them for Ruby Tuesday. Right? This is not the neighbor with the potted red plants, the one who paints the Jersey Shore. This is the neighbor who cooks with influences of North African, Persian and French cuisine. I have nice neighbors.
This was my favorite of a series of lily pictures I took at various camera settings. I have a Canon PowerShot 710. Settings for this photo: ISO=80, Colors=Vivid Red, White Balance=Day Light, Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/1600, Av (Aperture Value) 4.0. I lightened it in Photoshop.
This one’s the runner-up. Settings for this photo: ISO=80, Colors=Vivid Red, White Balance=Day Light, Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/500, Av (Aperture Value) 4.0.
These lilies are an example of how the photo looks if the camera settings aren’t right. Settings for this photo: ISO=200, Colors=Vivid Red, White Balance=Day Light, Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/500, Av (Aperture Value) 4.0. Setting the ISO to 200 was too high, so that’s when I took the two photos above.
Clarification: I’ve had this camera for over a year, but this is the first time I’ve had any success with the Manual settings. Other settings include Scene settings, like Beach (used that in Israel a lot), Kids ‘n Pets (I mostly use that one), Foliage, Night, Landscape, Indoor, Fireworks and Portrait. I mostly use those settings, and I use good ‘ole Auto, as well.
A friend suggested I buy a digital SLR camera. Maybe. I’ll think about it.
It’s nice to have a cheery photo at the top of my blog. This is a flower from the kibbutz we stayed at in the north of Israel, Kfar Blum. An expert in the comments (see below) has declared this a nerium oleander.
Instead of posting this little girl in the original photo, I changed the photo using Photoshop. I used the filter called “cutout” on most of it, but not on the face and arm. The cutout filter took out too much detail there, so I used the “colored pencil” filter for the face and arm. Did it work? Maybe. I wanted to take away some of the likeness. I have some other photos with faces that I may want to post, and this Photoshopping may help me feel like someone is less likely to recognize the person.
I took this photo of my neighbor’s potted flowers especially for Ruby Tuesday.
I was excited to capture this photo when we visited Rosh HaNikra, Israel. At first I declared: a scorpion! However, my son corrected me and said it was merely a crab. Good to have smart kids to set you straight.
Other animals have been posted around the world this weekend: visit at Camera-Critters.
Over 2000 years ago, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces breached the walls of Jerusalem after many years of siege. So today observant Jews around the world fast, a fast called the 17th of Tammuz. It is hard for me to be sad on this day; my family greatly enjoyed visiting Jerusalem recently, and I had the opportunity to photograph ruins such as this one. But I can be contemplative. Yes, contemplative, that is a good word for today.
Jameel has more bad stuff that happened today. And hope for redemption.
Black-eyed susans are the common name for these yellow petaled beauties that grace my front and back yards. My neighbors two doors down and across the street have lots of echinacea, purple cone flowers, and my goal is to have the yellow and purple flowers interspersed in my yard, instead of so much of the yellow.
All my Project Black posts
An early rudbeckia and my garden last year
What’s Project Black? Visit Anna’s photo blog.
I did the bottom one first. See all my Project Black posts. The top flowers are from a photo at Latrun, a military museum in Israel. The bottom flowers are from my friends’ backyard in Hashmonaim, Israel. The flowers are their neighbors and are draping over the wall in their backyard.
A similar theme in watercolor, no black at all.
What’s Project Black? Visit Anna’s blog.