A Celebration of Color, Day 3 - Green

My goal when I began this series earlier in the week was to give me something to look forward to, until I'd have time to shoot additional content. That hasn't changed; rather, it's evolved. I've been able to take a good look at my prior work, understand parts of my portfolio where I'd need to expand, and enjoy myself all around. Not bad!

As it turns out, green is a color I shoot quite often. This isn't a surprise - I love leaves and plants. Here are some examples:











I think my green shots are the best ones that I have.

The first one is a nice, subtle green. I love the texture and the subtlety. Here, I made sure to stay in the shade, but not so much so that there were shadows on the leaf. My macro lens f/stop was relatively high (f/10), so as to capture all the detail. I experimented with the ISO, and 400 worked here. I had to keep very still, but that wasn't too difficult for this shot.

I took the second picture at home, on my glass table on my balcony. Here, I wanted to capture a nice glow. I placed this glass ring and tried different angles. Because I had full control over my environment, I was able to ensure I was on a stable surface, and able to experiment. I moved the ring around the table and tried various angles until I got this shot. So, don't hesitate to experiment in these types of situations. You can do whatever you want!

I did NOT have any of those luxuries with the third shot. I was in a crowded butterfly garden in high humidity, and using a macro lens set to manual focus. I had to move quickly, and I didn't have much time to make decisions. Basically, I worked on composition and technical focus at the same time. What helped was that there was good light, and I didn't need to do much with f/stops, white balance, or shutter speeds - I went with standard settings, and was good to go. The shutter speed was 1/1250, and the ISO was 200. I wish, though, I'd gotten closer - although I'd cropped this picture several times, the butterfly STILL isn't really the focal point.

The next picture is so interesting to me, because it looks like it was taken in the rain and the mist. However, it wasn't - it was taken on my aunt's balcony in the middle of a hot, sunny summer! How did I do it? I got up very close, made sure that the background was "clear", and a relatively low f-stop - 3.5. This way, it ensured everything was slightly blurry, and therefore, misty-looking.

This last picture is an oldie, but a goodie. Again, a low aperture (f/2.8) and a steady hand were important. Here, the reflection of the light helped me, as well as some post-processing (brightening, saturation, etc.). it's a nice simple shot that I think is framed well.

Till tomorrow!