Tag: depth of field

A Loch

Up front, I use Pixabay frequently for their fine, royalty-free photos, whether as inspiration, or as an image to be painted.  Here, I used an image of a loch (found under the search term “loch” – how clever!).  I loved the vantage point and tried to catch it.

Here, the sense of being up above the rest of the world, in a field of flowers, on a beautiful day, is so well done in this photo, I just had to be there myself.  Scotland is one of those countries that is mystical and magical, and views like this only touch the tip of its beauty.

The daisies were especially challenging – so bright and white!  Negative painting and thin washes hopefully express them fairly well.  The DOF was another challenge, and it is a natural tendency to not leave well enough alone . . .

Yellow + Red = Orange

Yesterday’s tulips were accompanied by red and yellow flowers, some negative painting, and color combining. I used reds and yellows (which ones, I forget) and some Pyrrol Orange to make the flowers. Thinking of black-eyed Susans, I used black for the flowers’ centers on the daisy-like ones. What are the red ones? Good question!

What I did here was try to work from large masses of color to details, top to bottom, and having things dry to a certain point before adding more color unless I wanted them to bleed.  White space, too, was thought about.  Near and far, even with a rather shallow depth of field, was pondered, and the idea was to use cold colors – such a cold yellow or green – to make something recede – and warm colors to bring things forward.  Light and dark were also used in an attempt to achieve this effect.

Lens

As a birthday present – a bit early – I got the Nikon 32mm f1.2 for the Nikon 1 cameras.  I have the V1.  This lens, equivalent roughly to an 85mm lens, has a separate manual focus element on it, unlike the others in the Nikon 1 series.

Yesterday, I went to a local garden, and took a series of pictures.  Some I used the automatic focusing, on others I used the manual focusing.  I need to figure out how to use it.  The main, point, though, of the excursion was to simply evaluate the lens at f1.2, to check the bokeh, to check the accuracy, and to simply see how it worked.

Follows are some of the shots, with some post-processing, just because that is what I do, but I did very little sharpening because that was the main focal point – observe the depth of field of the lens.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the lens, but there is definitely a time and place for such a wide open f/stop.  Click on the composite picture below, then click again to enlarge it, if you want to see more of the details.

Nikon 32mm f1.2

So Much to Do!

And, of course, not enough time.

I admit, I love dawdling around and just following my inclinations.  I also like checking things of as Done! There are days when all I do is chores, none with any sense of pleasure; days when I am overwhelmed and cannot figure out where to begin.  This weekend, though, there are a lot of interesting things on the agenda beyond the usual chores of bills, laundry, housework.

One is the completion of a year-long project is in its last week.  Because of this, I have been busy doing all sorts of stuff, like editing HTML, playing with code in my haphazard way and getting it right (hooray!).  Another is one class is ready to launch into their externships, and a new class to begin in the classroom – always an exciting period.

With these two are nearing points of departure, doubtless, I will also find more things to swamp me, but I also will have more time to return to painting.  I have not written anything about it, much less done any, because I have been too busy to slow down.  Hobbies such as cooking or photography or knitting can be picked up for a minute or two, and put down as necessary, but painting requires a bit more focus, and it means quiet and solitude.  I also want to pull out my watercolor paper and reconsider painting in that medium.  Photography makes me want to see what I can do with light in painting.  “Suck” is the first word that comes to mind – but the allure is always there.

For fun, though, this week our little photography group met, and we did food.  How to light it.  How to make it sparkle.  How to choose positions and viewpoints and consideration of depth of field to emphasize the subject.  And how the hot lights make everything dry up!  Below are some of the images I took.

I like this one for its composition and cheery colors.

This one is simple in composition, and I like the bit of lace to the lower right corner of the photo and the bright white surrounding the rest of the cherries.

First shot at fresh papaya and blackberries – no glycerin or oil spray.  After about 10 minutes under the hot lights it looked pretty sad!

I like the perspective here, but see the mount under the left side?  That should not be in the photo!!

Papaya and berries sprayed with olive oil mist and drops of glycerin.  You should have seen it before . . .

Fresh salad, no glycerin or oil.

These are looking pretty tasty.

I just like this perspective of the salad.

Anyway, for our next class, the assignment is food, with both narrow and wide depths of field.  I think something for the Valentine season could be fun.  Our next meet will be outdoors at the local botanical garden, which will be wonderful for broad landscapes as well as plants of all kinds.