Neil Smith - Landscapes and a moth

[guppiecat]

Sorry I'm a day late here, I didn't have LJ access yesterday (oh, the horror).

This is a continuation of the Neil Smith set, and is mostly just landscapes and some macros of a moth (maybe a drab butterfly (no feathery antennas)). In other words, the landscapes have issues because I don't have much experience with landscapes and don't have a very wide lens for them and the macros have issues because I didn't bring my tripod with me so I shot them handheld. That said, clicky if you want to see them.

(For those who don't know, "macro" means close-up, so if you don't like close-ups of bugs, you likely want to skip this one.)




Lake - Just an experiment with landscapes.


Pond - Another experimental landscape.


Pond - I was going for a mirror-ish effect here. It would have worked better with a tripod, but I don't think it's bad as is.


Tree - It would be a better shot without those other trees around it, but since I didn't have an axe, this is what you get.


Moth and Dandelion - This moth likes the dandelion...


Moth and Dandelion - This moth REALLY likes the dandelion...


Moth and Dandelion - This moth is somewhat apprehensive about sharing his dandelion with this ant.


Moth and Dandelion - The ant is gone... but so is the moth's mouth!

Comments

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Yes, a moth. Lovely.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I like the colors in the pond shot, too, except for the burned-out cloud tops.

The moth macro shots are very nice, I think. I think I'd pick the third (last); it somehow looks surprised.

[guppiecat]

Yeah, the burned out cloud tops are because I was forcing a long exposure to get as close to a "mirror" on the pons as possible. I didn't do the exposure right, and got burned. I *finally* understand why landscapers use gradiated filters.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It was the Lake District in England that lead me to the land of grad ND, but yeah, they're pretty much necessary sometimes if you're limited to one exposure.

You really should look into stitching techniques (solution to some instances of too long a lens) and HDR; though the base forms of both won't get on with clouds being blown across the sky very well. But some of the manual combining techniques will. That whole area has lots of useful things.

[guppiecat]

I've looked into both stitching and HDR. I love the flexibility and what it offers. However, I got into photography, in part, because it's something I can do away from the computer, but my computer skills are still useful. I an very hesitant about extending my "hobby" further towards the computer, as I spend too much there (here) as it is.

I may look into it again in another year or so, if I feel limited by low-tech solutions.