365 Project - Day 253

"Your results are the product of either personal focus or personal distractions. The choice is yours." John Di Lemme

This beauty was a surprise. As my husband, insensitively, filled this section of my garden with mulch he told me that if my lovely Calla Lilies had not reappeared by the time he was ready to mulch, they were not coming back. Boo-hoo!

In my garden, however, my plants persevere with amazing fortitude. Not one can be called "done". They have all survived little attention, a horrendous winter and now, being completely covered by muck. It is wonderful to see the Callas burst forth out of the mulching muck to emerge stronger and more beautiful than ever. If only we should persist as such, huh?

I photographed at twilight. And just for fun, I chose to minimize the amount of the flower in focus and fade out the background. This was my attempt to illustrate the need for focus on the right things in our lives, despite the amount of noise the rest may make. Too often we let the muck steal our joy and our focus, losing sight of what is most important.

So from this day forward, I am choosing to minimize the distractions caused by the muck so that I can major on things that create joy and beauty and peace. Join me?

Best wishes!

Today's Photo: Pinpoint Focus

“Be on guard. The road widens, and many of the detours are seductive.” David Foster Wallace

365 Project - Day 122

In the spirit of "sharpening the axe" and strengthening my skills, I pulled out one of my old 35mm books. It's actually a pocket guide. As I was flipping through the techniques, I came across something I just had to try - soft focus. Now what actually caught my eye, was trying this by using nylon stockings. So I started off the morning by examining each pair of nylons I have stuffed into my dresser to find pairs with holes or runs that would be perfect for my "artsy" project. As usual I humored myself during this exercise. On a normal day if I had to wear them, 50% of the nylons would have holes. Of course, I only found a few this time, but I only needed 1!

I cut off the lower leg portion of the nylon, pulled it over my 16-85mm zoom and tied a rubber band around to keep it tight. I then went outdoors to roam around the yard in the bright sunlight. Frankly, the snow has withered away much of the excitement in our garden. I went back indoors and chose to shoot this orchid. In capturing the image below, I combined the effect of the nylon with post processing the clarity slider in Lightroom to -100, pushing the soft effect to the extreme. Furthermore, I bumped up the exposure a tad just to take this to the edge. While, I'm fairly happy with the results, I'm also clear that this will appeal to some and not to others. Regardless, I learned that two things are important in capturing soft focus in this manner: bright sunlight / overexposure and keeping aperture open, at or below f/5.6. I also had to choose whether to appeal to the masses or appeal to my own interest in learning. I chose the latter.

Best wishes!

Today's Photo: Soft-Souled Orchids

"Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious." Rumi





EXIF: Nikon D7100
ISO 200
80mm
f5.6
1/8