These have not yet bloomed, but I really like the shape and color of these. Though these aren't exactly the shots I had in mind, I still like them. I think that since I take so many photos of flowers, I tend to try hard to use a lot of different perspectives in order to make a better photo. However, I do sometimes focus on a certain idea that gets stuck in my head. (Since I am writing this post well after I took this shot, I can say that I tried these shots again, later on in May. For those shots I was more successful in capturing a shot that was closer to the image in my head.)
For my birthday I got a gift certificate to buy some camera gear. One of the things I bought was a collapsible reflector to reflect light onto whatever I am photographing. Well, today it arrived in the mail, so I went out to try to use it. The flowers above were back-lit nicely by the sun, but the stems and such were in the shade, so I positioned my reflector to add some fill light. This worked great, except for the bottom right corner of the photo, which is the reflector. I, of course, didn't notice this until later, but I am otherwise very happy with the photo, plus I like that I caught a bee flying by.
I've taken several close-up and macro shots of California Poppies, but no group shots. This year there are a lot more poppies out, including some really nice bunches. I really like this photo because I feel like the center flower really draws the eye.
Today we went on a whale watching trip from the Santa Barbara Harbor. Though we only saw one whale at a distance, we did get to see some bottlenose dolphins swimming alongside the boat. This was the coolest thing ever! They were so close that we could even hear them squeaking at each other. I took a ton of shots but they were moving very fast so it was a real challenge just to capture them in the frame. The two photos here are the best. The buoy at the bottom is at the entrance to the harbor and apparently is always covered in seals. All in all, it was a super fun trip, and, since we only saw one whale at a distance, they gave us a rain check. So we get to do this again!
Another red leaf with the sunlight shining through. I was a little bored and uninspired today while walking through the garden, but I like this photo.
There are some new roses in the garden! I love that I can just about point my macro lens anywhere on a rose and have a great shot.
Today was a busy day and I almost forgot to take my photo. I looked around the house for something to photograph, and after a whole lot of searching, I decided to try to take a closeup of the back of a compact disc and the light reflecting on it. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
Today we went for a walk down to the slough to watch the sunset and get some photos. We found some goats that were being used to clear out some vegetation. They were really cute and photogenic, but I didn't have my photo game on so the shot above was my best one. Then the sunset over the slough was amazing, complete with swans! The shot below took several tries. I really wanted to catch the reflection of the clouds on the water. I think I took about 30 photos of just this. Then I took just over 100 shots of the sunset and swans. It was a fantastic photo outing.
Another day in the garden. This time I was drawn to those cool blue flowers again. I randomly took the shot above without really looking at the photo until it was on my computer. I'm pretty happy with it, though it could use a little more depth of field. The shot below took several tries. I wanted the green and yellow background and a good composition.
Today I went across the street to photograph some very colorful flowers. My intent was to photograph the flowers from below to capture the light through the petals. I'm pretty happy with how they came out.
