Are Flowers Better in Groups of Two or Three?

So, last weekend I was out snapping like mad during the Astoria Garden Tour. I found some absolutely gorgeous blue thistles to shoot and couldn't decide which looked best--a grouping of two or a grouping of three. The advantage of the shot with two thistles is that the foreground thistle is slightly larger than in the next photo. Also, the relationship between the sharp foreground thistle and the out-of-focus thistle is very close. Someone viewing the photo is going to instinctively compare and contrast the two thistles.


The advantage of the photo with three thistles is that there is a little more balance and the relationship between the three thistles is a little more dynamic. I like both photos and I haven't decided which one I like best . . . But I know one thing for sure, both photographs were shot f2.8, which creates the terrific bokeh in the out-of-focus backgrounds. This was shot with a Canon 100mm macro lens on a bright, sunny day.

So What Do I Shoot When I Have to Shoot Indoors?

Last evening, I was in the mood to do some shooting. I decided to go outside: it was sunny and I thought it would be nice to spend some time outdoors. However, although it was sunny and the middle of July, it was only 60 degrees and a fairly strong, cold wind was blowing up the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean. After a few snaps, I decided shooting in shorts and t-shirt wasn't all that comfortable and I headed inside. I started to look around my kitchen and noticed a glass filled with water in the stainless steel sink.

The glass and the water were picking up some unusual bits of color from the sky. . . . So I grabbed my Canon 100mm macro lens and started shooting different compositions. Most of the compositions used the top of the glass as a way to help define the more abstract areas in frame. I shot about 200 of these in a period of 30 minutes with the light slowly changing as it approached sunset. And of course everthing I shot was wide open at f2.8!

Adrift in Ornamental Grasses

I shot this a few days ago wandering around the Astoria, Oregon Garden Tour 2008. It's a fundraiser for the Lower Columbia Preservation Society. I toured six local gardens and shot about 300 frames in less than two hours. I was shooting handheld with my Canon 100mm macro lens, and many of the shots, such as this one, were shot wide open at f2.8. By shooting wide open, there are areas of sharp focus seemingly adrift in a green, almost watery background. Shooting with more depth of field would spoil this impressionistic effect.

Test Driving My Lensbaby 3G

A few days ago, just before sunset, I was out in my yard shooting my Lensbaby 3G and found this cala lily. Of course, I was shooting wide open. I did a little editing of this in Photoshop and toned it sepia . . .