Wedding Rings & Roses | KE365 | Day 102

My husband was so sweet to bring me roses on our anniversary, and for day 102 I thought it would be nice to capture some shots of them.

above image shot at 1/80s at f/5.6, ISO 400 with 50mm lens

above image shot at 1/250s at f/7.1, ISO 400 at 47mm with 18-55mm lens

Decided to get some shots of my rings as well. I have some images of them from our wedding but as the years go by and my love of photography evolves, so does my taste. I thought I would see how I might capture it now.

Silhouette in Bokeh | KE365 | Day 101

During my 365 project I have learned technical skills from studying my manual and various photography books. I have also learned a lot in the great deal of shooting that comes along with taking your camera everywhere, everyday. Some things you can't learn from your manual and you have to gain the skill from experience. That's why this project is so awesome because it keeps you learning in so many ways.

Day 101, working with shallow depth of field and more specifically with creating a bokeh effect in a different way. A bokeh is just the term used for the area that is out of focus in a shallow depth of field shot. Often you will see out of focus, beautiful circles or orbs... this is a bokeh.

For the shot below, I was working at dusk in a small amount of light. I focused back and forth until I had a streetlight positioned directly behind several of the plants. This created a silhouette form of the plants within the bokeh.

Shot with 50mm lens at 1/60s, f/1.8 & ISO400

Spinning a Web | KE365 | D96

My husband Joe would not be very pleased by this post, his serious dislike for spiders would keep him from enjoying it. While I don't love spiders, I do appreciate them and especially the fantastic way they spin their webs. It's kind of like he was just suspended there in mid air doing a sort of dance.

Shot with 50mm lens at 1/100s, f/4.5, ISO400

Simple Yet Complex | KE365 | D71

I love how something so simple can really appear so complex when you take a close look at it. So many little details go into making it whole.

Here are a more couple little tips for those aspiring photographers and those interested in improving their images, I often get asked how I get such cool angles and perspectives. Well, first off get on the same playing field as your subject, get down to their level. In this case, I was on the ground with the plant.

Second is something so simple, don't always center and take your image from square on to your subject. Tilting your camera to a slight angle often gives it that new perspective that takes it from being ordinary to unique. My graphic designer eye is also at work in the image above adding to that perspective. Since we read from right to left and top to bottom in the US, I composed the image to have the plant run from top left through the bottom right which helps pull the viewers eye across the image. Simple little tools add a lot to make a simple image a little sweeter.

Perfectly Imperfect | KE365 | D58

Just about every time I remember seeing an image of a daisy, it's nearly perfect. Sometimes it's nice to appreciate the imperfect...

with all the beauty & diversity that it actually creates.