Post 24- Taking pictures in my Pyjamas

Around sunrise last Thursday I got up to make tea and noticed it had been raining overnight. Droplets of water were hanging from the garden chairs and from the washing line. I knew the sun would soon be reaching the back garden so got my camera and went out to try and get some interesting shots. I was still in my pyjamas. I took dozens of shots as the sun was rising.
I have been wanting to take shots which show the Bokeh effect in out of focus light spots and found that the washing line droplets were ideal subject. I am very pleased with the resulting images which I have stacked in Photoshop.

The images of droplets on the garden chairs were very different but worth keeping.

Post 23- Low Key

We went out to Felley Priory this week and found we were a few weeks too late for the flowers to be looking their best. Moy, however, took some wonderful low key pics and I am determined better to understand how to take this type of image. Moy learned the basics from fellow Ockbrook Photo Club Mick Govan and added her own magic touch.
I am very pleased with my first attempt but have a lot to learn before I match Moy's quality. This is it!

Typically I thought I would have a go to see if I could imitate the Low Key effect in Photoshop using layer masks and am quite pleased with the effects. They are not truly Low Key but I like them. Here they are.

I really must work hard to produce this very dramatic style in camera. A new project??

Post 22- Spiders and a new genre Macrop

I have become obsessed with Spiders. The garden is full of them and unlike other insects they make good subjects because they remain still for hours at a time. I have really enjoyed just snapping off a few shots and then going inside to select and process the files.
I am very happy with the quality of the images all of which have been captured on a conventional 55-200mm zoom lens. I have been able to crop these images to fill the frame with my subject and still achieve a very good level of detail. At this point I see no compelling reason to buy specialist Macro lenses.
I intend to coin the phrase Macrop Photography to describe this genre.

I have also produced a more abstract black and white version of one of the images and am very pleased with the resulting image.

Moy read that some people are using big telephoto lenses to take macro shots. All mine are currently taken with a 200mm zoom lens and I am pleased with the results. Maybe I will have a go with our 400mm zoom lens to seek what I can get?

Post 21- Getting Closer

I have just joined a newly formed Photography Group specialising in Macro Photography. I have been a slightly reluctant convert to this genre because of the need for specialist equipment. I have now realised that the equipment I have can produce close up images which certainly qualify as "Arresting Images".
I plan to do much more of this type of work and anticipate learning many new skills in the process.
Here are a few of my early images.

Post 20- A great reaction and help from a cleaning lady.

I am thrilled that so many people have chosen to view and like my new Facebook page Chris Pareidolia.
I have had many positive comments and will carry on exploring this new genre. I have even started to link sets of images together to form Videos.
They certainly fit the bill as "Arresting Images" which was one of my early goals on this journey towards greater visual literacy
Much more to come I hope.

I must tell you a story from today.

I spent an hour yesterday taking photographs of paving slabs for my Pareidolia Landscapes in Stone(s) Project. This regularly means people look at me as if I am mad. Perhaps they are right. Occasionally people stop and ask me what I am doing.
Yesterday a lady carrying a brush and dustpan stopped to ask and I showed her a few images on the back of the camera. She spent the next couple of minutes looking at the slabs around the Guildhall entrance and shouted out "Hey come and look what I have found"
She was thrilled and so am I with this lovely discovery.
#whatdoyousee