Month: March 2009

Flowers Flowers Everywhere!

kanniduba42 Comments

The conversion of my yellow daffodil to black and white gave Shrew an idea that I’d like to pursue here!  The text of her comment can be found in this thread, but I copy it here:

Both are a great shot…flowers are interesting in B&W especially when they are known for such a specific color like the daffodil you have captured.

Removing the expected color from the bloom draws the viewer’s eye to the lines and texture variation within the flower. I know I marked the color version as a favorite on flickr because it is a terrific color macro with lovely DOF. I wonder if you tried to force a more shallow DOF on B&W compositions of flowers what kind of series you would have. Truly, the color is the common thing amongst all daffodils, but each one has it’s own unique line and texture…even a rip in a petal becomes the stamp of individuality.

Hmmmmm….you gave me an idea friend…How about a mini-challenge? A series of unique character sketches of flowers. They must be the same type of flower within each series, so you could do daffoldils or roses, I could do tulips or carnations. ALL must be done as B&W to look for the unique character in the structure of the flowers. And we post them here like Monday-ish.

WHAT do you think?

What do I think???  I think it’s a GREAT idea!!!!  So, to that end, a mini-challenge begins NOW! 

As we do over at Scott’s, please post a link to your photos in the comment section of this post by Monday, Midnight Eastern time,  and I will do a recap midweek.  The more the merrier, so please join us in the challenge!  I would love to see some work from some of our “silent” readers.  🙂

That Ol’ Snapshot Vs. Photograph Thing Again

kanniduba2 Comments

So, I was doing some organizing over at Flickr…went into my Flowers set, and the whole “snapshot” vs. “photograph” discussion hit me square in the face while looking through my set.  I think it comes down to deliberateness.  If that isn’t a word, it should be.  I looked at some of my older photos.  I distinctly remember taking most of them.  “Oooh, pretty!” *SNAP*  “Ooooh, that’s pretty too!” *SNAP*  “Oooo!  I like that color!” *SNAP*  The change has been gradual, but now I look at something and I think, “Oooh, pretty!  How can I best capture the beauty of this?”  And I look, and go around the subject once or twice, and I look through my viewfinder, and I change my framing, and I go in closer, and I move back farther, and I go down low, and I climb up high.  Most of all, I pay attention to my background,  literally moving anything out of the way that is distracting, or I move the subject itself if that’s possible.  Deliberateness.

You tell me, which are snapshots, and which are photographs?

 

Even this photo, though deliberate, had a distracting background that just bugged me.

Thus the crop…

If nothing else, I am learning to be deliberate in my “snapping.”  I take fewer photos, but the ones I do take are intentionally taken the way they were taken.  Biggest lesson, watch those backgrounds, or a beautiful flower looks like this:

I could have easily bent this flower over a bit and changed my position in order to use the sky as a background.  All I see when I look at this is a missed opportunity.  Dang it.

When Ya’ Got it, Ya’ Got it…

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I bring to you a Flickr highlight this morning…KevKev44’s Photostream.  I’ve been following Kev’s photos for about a year now after finding him through our mutual love of all things Disney.  He’s still a teenager, yet has the vision we all wish we had, and the persistence to learn that we all SHOULD have.  His talent was evident when I found him a year ago, and his growth throughout the year has been remarkable.  Please hop on over to Flickr and see a young talent at work.  Enjoy!

St. Paddy’s Day Just Isn’t St. Paddy’s Day Without a Hunk o’ Boiled Meat

kanniduba6 Comments

(This post is dedicated to Music Maven, who loves boiled meat the most!)  😉

So, you take a slab of corned beef  (I prefer the eye round cut which is more expensive than the brisket, but yummier.)  Stick it in a big pot, and fill the pot with water to cover the beef well.  Add a teaspoon or two of minced garlic, and a couple tablespoons of pickling spices.  If you don’t have pickling spices, throw in a couple of bay leaves and a tablespoon of peppercorns…whatever else you want.  Rosemary might be nice? 

Bring it to a boil, then simmer that hunk o’ meat for about two hours.  Then you add your carrots and potatoes (I use whole baby reds) and continue simmering for 15-20 minutes.  Then add your cabbage and continue to simmer for the last 15 minutes.  Easy peasy one two threesy!  That’s it!

Serve it up!  Douse that cabbage in butter, salt and pepper—vinegar is good too…(just put it on a separate plate if you’re using vinegar or your whole dinner will taste like vinegar.)  Dijon mustard is good on the corned beef, but I prefer it all on it’s own.  (Shrew, this is the point at which you put on your blindfold.)  Dig in!

MmmmMmmmmmGooooooood!  🙂