Barbed Wire, Spiderwebs, and Red Sky

I am hoping you will enjoy these images from the Parkway.
The fog was thick as I left the house well before sunrise. It scattered just enough to allow me to see some really nice color.

On the way back I grabbed a few macro shots of some barbed wire near the house.



A soft landscape shot at 1.4




More 1.4 Landscape

 

A classic North Carolina Scene taken by sticking 3 images together.  Shot with the Sigma 50





I am under the impression that young spiders, new to the web-making scene, use these barbs as practice:)





Refraction... I shot this with apertures 14, 6.3, and 2.8.   The 2.8 image left only the largest drop in focus, with everything else out of focus.  6.3 allowed a few more of the drops to come into focus, but still not the results I wanted.  At 14, the shape and detail of the barb shows just enough while not being distracting.



Thanks for looking:)  Feel free to leave a comment or a question(no need to log in)

Cumberland Knob Macro Photography

Yesterday I had the whole day off!!(sort of).  I took the gf to work, grabbed the camera, and headed down to the Cumberland Knob in North Carolina.  I made sure to bring my almost functioning Tokina 100mm 2.8 Macro(I got it sandy at the beach and now it won't focus to infinity:(.
 The Cumberland Knob is located just south of the V.A./N.C. line on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  There you will find a large picnic area, a 2.5 mile hiking trail, an awesome little creek at the bottom of a ravine, and TONS of macro opportunities!  I also had the (soon to be replaced) Canon 24mm 2.8, and the Sigma 50mm 1.4.

I like shooting macro for a couple of reasons... One is, the 'Grand Vista' doesn't happen as often in the Southeast as it did back home, so I try to 'focus' on different, smaller things.  The other reason is that I when I look through a macro lens at full magnification, I feel like I can see the backbone of our entire ecosystem, and that is pretty cool.  Enjoy...



Close Focus with the Sigma provides wonderful bokeh




It's difficult to match up the plane of focus with the subject sometimes(notice the blurry edges of the web)




A single strand of webbing crosses in front of a completed web in the background.




The green here is holding on strong, but the yellow is showing its face in spots..






Some TINY mushrooms growing on top of a stump.



This was fun to photograph.  I used live view and the Canon Depth of Field Preview to help me select the perfect focus point and aperture.





I had the pleasure of watching a spider make one of these tightly wound webs.



He hangs in a heart:)

DUN DUN DUN!!!  Fall is coming!!

A colorful leaf(shot with 24mm)

(shot with Sigma 50mm)

A mushroom and a rock sharing some space on the forest floor.

A splash of bright yellow in a dark green forest.

This little photo walk got me super excited for the fall!  But I will take the warm weather as long as it feels like staying:)

A new dress, a new lens

The gf recently got a new dress, so I got a new lens to match the occasion.  After going back and forth for quite sometime, I ended up purchasing a Sigma 50mm 1.4 over the Canon 50mm 1.4.   It's kind of a gamble when you buy third party lenses, but I feel like this one paid off.  The images are awesomely sharp, the bokeh is very creamy, and the lens feels nice mounted to the camera(bigger/heavier than the canon).  I have shot with the Canon 50mm 1.4 multiple times and have nothing negative to say about it, but lets face it, after almost 20yrs, Canon should consider an update:)

Among other lenses considered were the Ziess 50mm 1.4, and the Canon 50mm 1.2L.  I had almost decided on the Ziess, but its straight aperture blades and manual focus were a bit of a killer, especially since it retails for $300 more than the Sigma.  I briefly considered the Canon 50mm 1.2L, but realized that with that much cash($1350), I could purchase a lens, a tripod, and a plane ticket out west:)  This was a no brainer with my current photography habits:)

Here are some images of my wonderful girlfriend Ashley:)  All shot with the Sigma 50mm 1.4.  And all shot mostly wide open.  Enjoy...

The Camera You have with You

"Your best camera is the one you have with you"- a gazillion (correct) people

I remember when I first started enjoying photography, I would carry my camera everywhere.  I always had my bag around my shoulder.  As my life has gathered other responsibilities(like a real job) I use my phone more and more to take photos.  A camera phone will never replace a stand alone digital camera(at least not until they put an actual lens into them) but having the ability to snap, edit, and share photos on the go is something that we all have come to enjoy... and with good results.  Here are a few images shot with a Samsung Charge smartphone. 

I left some of them in full resolution, so you may have to scroll to see the entire image.  Unless you have a high resolution screen(unlike me:)

Ashley at Devil Canyon(in camera panorama)

The Green River, UT

Macro Fun

A tunnel in Billings, MT

Lady bug next to a HUGE PITFALL

The Neighbors across the street.

Just down the road

Plants plants everywhere here..

The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, UT

Life's a Myrtle Beach

 Recently I had the opportunity to meet the gf and her Sister's family down in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., where they rented a condo for a week.  The waves off of this beach are always awesome, and the weather is usually sweet.  The sunrises are nice because, not only are they beautiful, but you get to experience them with less people.  There is something cool about being in a commercial area while the park/hotel employees are getting ready for the hustle of the day(setting up umbrellas and chairs, beach cleaning), and early morning runners and walkers are the only folks out and about.




 


A couple hotels right on the beach(the condo we rented was just behind them)




Ashley watching the sun peak out..

Ashley Soaking it all in..




You like to boogy?





 

Panorama at Sunrise


 

Storm clouds off the coast



A little lightning after sunset



Have a great week everyone!