This is taken with my Canon DSLR with a polarizing filter.

]]> http://www.cathsmith.com/photos/?feed=rss2&p=1053 0 http://www.cathsmith.com/photos/?p=1042 http://www.cathsmith.com/photos/?p=1042#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:25:01 +0000 Cath http://www.cathsmith.net/?p=1042  

Is there anything more spring-like than raindrops on cherry blossoms? I haven’t met it.

Taken with a point-n-shoot.

SxSW is starting in Austin this weekend, and it felt right to post an Austin-related picture. This is of the Blanton Museum on the University of Texas campus.

The light and the symmetry appealed to me when I first pulled out the camera, but it’s the two figures who really make the shot, I think. They break up that symmetry into something more aesthetically pleasing.

This was taken with a point-n-shoot and converted to black & white in the lightroom.

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park is just a few minutes away from where I work. The picnic area by Tinker’s Creek is one of my favorite spots to just go and sit. The park rangers (or possibly a friendly local) puts food at the foot of one of the trees year round, creating some fabulous photo opportunities.

I took about 80 photos of this little fellow one lunch break with an Epson point-n-shoot I keep handy.

I’m not usually a fan of image manipulation – I like my pictures to show what they actually are. But in the interest of *ahem* art, I decided to try it out. I tried adding a ‘grungy’ layer to an old photograph of the Headlands Lighthouse in Mentor on the Lake. The image is – well – interesting. I think it works, but I’m hard pressed to say why.

Image was taken with a point ‘n’ shoot back in 2006, and edited in Photoshop Elements.

The framing is unusual. I shot around the scene, framing and re-framing the image. Ultimately the best shot doesn’t strictly follow the magic ‘rule of thirds’, instead placing the focal point (my husband) squarely in the center. It’s more of an instinctive decision than an artistic one; I think the overall balance of the shot is better framed this way.

I used a digital SLR, then post-processed to convert to B&W and add film grain.

On a cold Cleveland evening, when the lake is starting to freeze, birds gather around the warm water venting from the local power station.

This was taken a few years ago, an opportune snap with a point-n-shoot.

It’s difficult to beat those magic hours in the morning for photography. The soft sunlight warms colors and makes them shine, and beads of dew shimer in the morning light.

There is no color manipulation in use here, thank you very much – this is a bluish pink rose variety called ‘Blue Boy’, a gorgeous hybrid that I’ve been trying to grow in my garden for the last two summers.

This was taken with a Digital SLR, a standard 35-50 lens and a steady hand!

These waterlilies were fabulous anyway, but when a dragonfly perched on one of them, I couldn’t resist snapping a picture. I’m reasonably sure is a Libellula incesta, also known as a Slaty Skimmer.

Did you know, you can tell a Dragonfly from a Damselfly by the way they hold their wings when resting. A Dragonfly will hold them out, like this, but a Damselfly folds them upright, more like a butterfly.

This was taken at Mayfield Park and Nature Preserve in Austin, TX, with a point and shoot camera.

Not all photography has to be art – sometimes a candid is just as revealing. And it’s not just people you can catch on candid camera. This picture of a peahen peeking over her wing to spy on the intrusive photographer (me) while she cleans herself is one of my favorite candids.

This was taken with a point-and-shoot in the Mayfield Park and Nature Preserve in Austin, Texas.