Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“The earth laughs in flowers.” ―
I’m a little bit late: September was Self-Improvement Month. Whether we realize it or not, we all learn something new every day. This is something I’m conscious of and always try–although I may not always make that goal–to try to learn something new each day.. Self-Improvement Month encouraged us to make an effort to improve ourselves. The basis for any self-improvement goal is about learning. Whether it’s mastering a new skill, improving our photography or overcoming an obstacle, we need to learn to try something, anything really, to make that improvement. For example, improving my macro photography skills is something I’ve been working on for the past several years.
Colorado’s state flower is the Rocky Mountain Columbine Aquilegia caerulea aka Columbine to us residents but also known as “granny bonnets” to some. The genus name Aquilegia comes from the Latin aquila which means eagle and refers to the spurred petals that many believe resemble an eagle’s talons. These flowers can vary in color, ranging from a pale blue, as in the species name caerulea, to white, pale yellow and pink. Most commonly the flowers are bi-colored with the sepals a different shade from the petals.
How I made this photograph
This image was shot in the front yard of my former home, proving that, yes indeed, there are photo ops available right in your own backyard. It was made using a Pentax K100D while I was working on the Magic Lantern Guide: Pentax K100D / K110D. The lens used was a Pentax DA 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 ED SDM lens at 200mm. The popup flash was used to punch up the contrast and make the colors pop. The exposure was 1/180 sec at f/13 and ISO 400 with a plus one-third stop exposure compensation. I liked the way this image was framed but my wife, in her ongoing ability to keep me humble said, “the flower looks a bid faded.” I still like it and hope you do too.
The image was processed in Photoshop using the Tonal Contrast filter that’s part of the Color Efex plug-in, although the Columbine photograph that appears in the book is in black and white for reasons I never understood but probably had to do with keeping printing costs down. By comparison, my Magic Lantern Guide to the Canon EOS Elan 7 and 7E that I co-authored with Artur Landt has many color images. The cover photo shown on the Amazon listing for the Canon book is the German language version, which shows Mr. Landt as the sole author. You can see the cover of the US edition here.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat Joe to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($3.50), click here. And if you do, thanks so much,
Copies of the Magic Lantern Guides: Pentax K100D / K110D book are still available from Amazon for $23.40 with used copies starting around eighteen bucks. No Kindle version is available. So if you or a friend owns this useful camera, you might want top pick up a copy, while supplies last, as they say.