Category: Patterns

Flowers in Northern Virginia

4/8/2014

Holmes Run Stream Valley Park, Annandale, VA.

This park is a mix of ball fields and forest. I really didn't find anything amazing to photograph related to the park, and my telephoto lens wasn't getting anything, so I put on the macro lens for some flower shots.

First up is a shot with the telephoto lens before I switched. Spring has been late coming this year, but here is a bee on a flower.

Bee on a yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum)

So I put on the macro lens and took a few more pictures. I'm not known as a great flower photographer, and that is true here. But this was the only interesting bit going on.

The lesser Celandine (Ranuluncus ficaria) is an invasive species, and quite common along the streams and floodplains.

This is a Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), a native plant that flowers in the early Spring.

And not a wildflower, but a shrub, the Forsythia are starting to bloom as well.

Which is where I should end this, but I took one pattern shot that isn't awesome, but worth adding.

Electricity!

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First day of Spring

3/20/2014

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First of all, that title is accurate and misleading. It is the first day of Spring, but my post isn't full of robins and daffodils. More of a photo tip for publishing or sending around pics

What I do want to demonstrate, is the idea of photos competing against themselves. Lots of folks post multiple pics of roughly the same thing on websites, Flickr, whatever. But by posting multiple shots you degrade the whole bunch of them, as they compete against each other.

My example is kinda artsy, but I like patterns and took a series today. Planned to post one. But figured to use the series to show that is is always best to post your favorite and not the whole set.

So, here is a pattern shot I took and I like.

geometry of a fence

So, that is a likable image. It's not something to go on your living room wall, but has some power and interest.

I should leave it at that, but to continue...

more geometry of a fence

Another pic of the fence, a bit wider.

I really like this pic. The pattern and color is just right.

So go back and think about what you thought of the first photo, and now look at the three photos. If I just posted the first one, most folks would find it nice. Now with competing photos, none look all that amazing. They compete against each other instead of against other photographs.

Now let's add an element...

geometry of a fence with the sun

Again, different but the same. This pic solo would get much more reaction than here in a series. Something to think about when putting up photos.

As a final bit, I have a very short video of the sunset on the first day of Spring. It was finally close to normal high temps, around 55 degrees out, with sunshine today. People were out and about, and was at a park at sunset.

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Accotink Creek

1/29/2014

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Accotink Creek, near Wakefield Park, half frozen over on a very cold day.

A geometric of a sound barrier between the park and the Beltway.

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Three unedited pics, from one chair

1/2/2014

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It's been busy, we've had company, and I haven't taken many photos in the last few days. So today, while waiting in an office and sitting in a chair, decided to take three photos (exactly three photos, no second chances), do no editing whatsoever in-camera or with Photoshop, and post them. All had to be taken while sitting in the chair, so very limited photo angles and photo subjects, and all three would be posted no matter how they looked.

So here is the result of this little experiment. Note that the only adjustment to the photos was to re-size them to 1080 x 720 pixels, so they are small enough for the blog.

My first photo was of the kid sitting next to me. Again, this is right out of the camera and not adjusted in any way other than to re-size it. When you limit yourself, you have to make the camera do more. Here I got a somewhat wild shot, which probably isn't usable in any way, but managed some cool effects with some lens work during the exposure.

Kid going into Warp speed.

Second shot was to shoot a geometric of the floor tiles. Fail. Without mobility, I could not get the angle right and this just isn't a good photo. And by limiting myself to just three photos, I couldn't try again.

Failed geometric of floor tiles.

The third and final shot was of a little statue of a fox. It's actual purpose is as business card holder (that part not shown), but I found just the right angle from my chair to make the head into a reasonable picture. It took some fiddling with the camera settings to get the exposure right with the background blurred, but while kinda pointless this does seem to be a pretty decent photo.

Foxy lady office statue.

So now you have a seen some marginal photos and have a better understanding of how I spend my time when there aren't any of my preferred photography targets around. I still take photos, but some are fails and some just are not awesome while some might make the grade.

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Geometric for the New Year

1/2/2014

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This is a photo of a rock wall. It looks like a series of stains until you get just the right focus and see it in 3D.

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More geometrics

7/15/2013

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Railings at Columbia Plaza with blooming flowers in the background.

A bit of symmetry near the China Town metro station.

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Metro travels

7/14/2013

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The Metro station at Rosslyn.

A geometric created by a block window at Pentagon City Mall.

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Easter egg hunt

3/23/2013

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Lots of plastic Easter eggs after the hunt. Each had a bit of candy in it, and all the kids scored very well on the sugar index.

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Geometric for fun

2/11/2013

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The space-time continuum does not seem to be flat after all

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moss pattern

12/29/2012

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Looking forward to fireworks on New Year's Eve, I found this photo an interesting bit of nature's fireworks.

OF NOTE!!!

I have been compiling the votes and whatnot , and have decided to put up the "best of 2012" photos on Monday, December 31. As always, I will do this rather late at night here in Oslo, so depending on your time zone, might be best to check New Year's Day.

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Flowers in Northern Virginia

First day of Spring

Accotink Creek

Three unedited pics, from one chair

Geometric for the New Year

More geometrics

Metro travels

Easter egg hunt

Geometric for fun

moss pattern

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