A Personal Photo Challenge: Trees

Well, no new photos of trees at the moment- but I saw the monthly prompt and knew at once which three photos I would choose- so I'm putting up these ones from my archives. The trees are in that slightly mangy stage here at the moment- their few hanging leaves make them look like scruffy dogs, shedding their coats. These photos however capture them at their most majestic, stark and skeletal and also lush with new growth.

The top one is my favorite tree in our yard- or two trees, sister Manitoba Maple trees- growing up together to form one magnificent canopy. So far they've been untouched by storms and I hold my breath each time the winds blow hard.  The hoar frost almost makes winter worth it. In the middle is an old scraggly maple, more as a backdrop to the lentil sprouts from last summer, and then the bottom, my big five year old when she was only 3, walking on top of the snow in march, with it's crazy tough top, and the trees ready for spring sheltering her.

These photos are not technical exceptional at all- except possibly accidentally- but I think the composition makes such a difference, I figured out while taking the ones with N that a lower horizon line makes the enormity of the trees clear. Before I figured that out I was never happy with my trees, they always looked too short, not leggy enough under their branches. I think also they're helped by having something small in them- (the lentil sprouts, and N) to help give a sense of scale.

When you're trying to make them seem big that is...

Joining in with a personal photo challenge again this month- I've been away from the blog- but I did miss it- so I'm back I think!

August Photo Challenge: Animals

Wow- if kids are hard to photograph Kittens are impossible! These were the results of an hours session- and finally I remembered the advice to use toys to keep their attention- it worked somewhat- I should've put my camera onto an action setting- that would've taken quicker shots- as it was as soon as I'd focused they were on to something else- usually just as the camera snapped!

I think the first one captures Lolly's adorableness, and Sasha (the tabby) well- that one's a tiny tiger in the making- always stalking something. We've named these guys thinking they were girls- but now that they've grown we see they are both boys! Sasha is adequately manly we think- in a Russian sense anyhow- but Lolly is a bit feminine. The girls and I are content to call him by that sweet little moniker, though, with a face that cute I think it suits him!

joining in with the monthly Photo Challenge- check it out here

Monthly Photo Challenge: Stormy Skies

I've had to reach into the archives for this one- no photogenic storms yet this year- I thought about including a photo of my little ones with their stormy faces- (we've certainly had our share of dramatic storms on that score...), but settled on this photo of Lobelia after a storm from 2012- not quite the directive- but close I think, artistic licence and all that. The Bike photo is one of my favorites from the summer of 2013, and the Hoar frost covered tree is from winter of 2013, it's my favorite tree in all the yard I think- so stately and gracefull.

I'm joining in with a Personal Photo Challenge  for June- check out the other entries over there it's fascinating.

A Personal Photo Challenge: Close up/Macro

This is my first time joining in with The Personal Photo Challenge. It's a monthly challenge- which is just about perfect for the amount of time I have to work on something 'extra'- this month's prompt was closeup/macro- which I haven't done a lot of - on purpose anyways. I usually do get pretty close to small objects- but usually I just get close focus and shoot- and don't really think about the composition.

I think it makes a giant difference when there's something in the background- I took some photos of tiny rocks- and they were great- but they could have been boulders for all you'd see in the pictures. I use Irfanview (it's free and fairly easy to use, plus it's a download so it's more convenient that pic monkey I think- though it doesn't have as many trendy filters) for photo editing, but I'm usually pretty basic with it- I just cropped the first one, sharpened them and re-sized the images.

My camera is a Fuji Finepix S basically a glorified point and shoot-  I mostly use c (custom) setting so that I can control the shutter speed- I used an iso 100 on these to let in lots of natural light- because my camera was mostly blocking the light.  I also used the super macro button- no tripod- just me on my belly trying not to breathe at the wrong time!

I'm Linking up at A Personal Photo Challenge.