Floral Day

I live about sixteen miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies. But due to the mountainous terrain it takes about forty five minutes to an hour to drive there. On Saturday Lenore and I made a leisurely drive over to the coast and had lunch at Sea Pal down in the harbor. They have some of the best fish and chips on the coast as well as harbor side seating to watch the seals and the fishing boats going in and out. Following lunch we headed down to the village of Mendocino. Lenore hit some of her favorite spots as we wandered around town. With the foggy weather it was perfect for photographing flowers so I took out my camera and macro lens and focused on the abundant flowers to be found. The coastal climate allows for a wide variety of flowers to be grown. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris All of these images were created with a Canon EOS 7D camera and a Canon EF-S 60mm macro lens. #teamcanon

All Alone

One of the sure signs of spring where I live is the blooming of the Daffodils. In our backyard we have about a dozen or so of them. This year only one of them bloomed all by itself. All alone in the big backyard. I wonder if it is lonesome? Blessings upon your day, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII and a 100 mm lens on a ground pod. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 5.0 at 1/1600th of a sec.#teamcanon

Great Guest Photographer

Today's images are provided by Lenore. She has got a great eye for photography. She has the ability to pick out details in a beautiful way. Here are some images from our trip to Mendocino and even one of a guy that looks like he should be working fishing instead of photographing. God bless, chris Images created with a Canon T5i anda Canon 28-135 IS lens. #TeamCanon

Gentle Rain

Yesterday was a no photography day. In the morning I pruned two of Lenore's rose bushes during which the rain started gently falling down. The rest of the roses will have to wait until the rain stops. This morning I ventured out during a break in the rain to photograph some flowers that I was using for doing some bird photography. I loved how the petals were slightly curled up and covered in droplets. I braced my elbows on a patio chair back and used a high ISO to keep the image sharp. Canon T5i and a Canon EF-S-18-135 lens at 115mm. AV mode, ISO 1600, F 5.6 at 1/400th of a sec.

Short Cure for Cabin Fever

Much of the eastern US and other parts of the world are stuck in the midst of winter. One way of bringing a little spring into your step and into the house is to go to the grocery store or florist and buy some flowers. Besides adding to the decor they can be fun to photograph as well. Here I took some carnations and put them in three vases all in a row on some kitchen chairs. At the end of the row I propped up a dark grayish brown piece of foam core on a chair to use as a backdrop. I bounced some light onto the flowers using a reflector. I focused my camera on one of the flowers in the first vase allowing all the ones behind it to go out of focus. I really liked the end result. A beautiful and quick cure for the winter time blues! Though I will say it is pretty nice outside here in Northern California. God's love and blessings to all, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a 100mm macro lens. Camera settings used AV mode, ISO 100, F22.0 at 1.3 sec. A Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead were used to support the camera. Natural light with a gold reflector used to lighten up the flowers.

Inside Day

The wind is a blowin' out there! It's an inside day and I'm working on cleaning up my office which is an all day affair because I'm not naturally neat. In fact I'm not very neat at all. I am however working on it because I do know that it makes it a lot easier to work when I can find things. I started the morning off by photographing Lenore's Fuschia. It wasn't in very good shape after I finished using it for hummingbird photography. It was a small spindly little six inch tall plant that I grabbed at the nursery one afternoon. Lenore has planted it in a good sized pot and it is showing its gratitude by growing into a good sized plant with beautiful blossoms. I photographed it beside our living room window in natural light with a green background. Such gorgeous little blossoms. Thank you Lenore! Well back to work. God's blessings and have a wonderful day, chris Images created with a Canon 7D and a 100mm Macro lens on a Manfrotto 055PROBX Tripod with a 3055 Bogen Ballhead. Camera was in AV mode, ISO 400. F stops and shutter speeds varied.

Lenore's Roses

Lenore's roses in the backyard had a profusion of blossoms this spring. I'm guessing one of the best. This morning I figured I had better create an image of some of them rather quickly as they are past their prime and will soon need to be dead headed. I cut four of the best and put them in a vase on the dining room table with a black background dropped behind the table. I lit them with a single snooted light overhead . I liked the simple elegance of it. God's blessings to all, chris Camera Equipment Used- One snooted Alien Bee 1600, Canon 7D,Canon 28-135 lens at 135mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- Manual mode, ISO 100,F16.0, shutter speed 1/200th of a sec. at f16.0

Puttering About

This morning I had no definite plan. I was puttering about the backyard photographing flowers and bees before the mosquitoes drove me indoors. Just a little bit later Lenore asked me about cutting some wood for an art project she had planned. While I was digging the wood out I found a scorpion. Always a fun subject. After cutting the wood I brought the scorpion into the studio and photographed it on a white sweep. I liked powerful sterile look of pure scorpion. Afterwards I took it out to the forest and set it free. I'm still working on the family computer until at least next week when I can take my computer to the big city to be repaired. It takes a bit longer for me to do things on this computer as I'm not always sure where things are. Working with Photoshop Elements is a big change too compared to Photoshop CC as well. God's precious love to all, chris Camera Equipment and settings- Canon 7D and a 100 mm Macro lens. Flowers and bee AV mode ISO 400, F8.0 Shutter speed varied. Scorpion Two Alien Bee 1600 studio flashes with 30 x 60 inch softboxes. 1/2 power, Camera on manual mode, 1/200th of a sec at f22.0

These Flowers Interrupted My Breakfast!

It was a beautiful morning and the sun was streaming in through the windows. I was really looking forward to sitting down and eating my breakfast. I had just taken but one bite and my eye caught the light shining through the flowers in the vase on the table before me. Wow, that's really nice I thought to myself. I also calculated in my head that it's not going to last very long either. This is one of the problems of being a photographer or being married to one. Life is a series of interruptions of things to be photographed. So what's a person to do? I pushed my plate aside grabbed my camera and a tripod. I photographed the flowers, put the camera away and went back to enjoy my breakfast. God's precious love to all, chris

Spring

All of the Daffodils are blooming in the yard and it's a beautiful day. Today is the first day of spring. This one daffodil caught my eye with the dark forest back behind it rendered black by the camera. Have a wonderful day and may God's blessings be upon you, chris

Spring is Just Around the Corner

The weather the past few days has been beautiful. We played tennis on Sunday afternoon and it was in the low seventies. I'm not sure what it got up to yesterday but it was "t" shirt weather in the afternoon. Some of our flowers are starting to come up. This morning I photographed an Iris blooming out in the front garden. The funny thing about all this is that we tend to get our biggest snows in March! We will see what the good Lord sends us. The forecast calls for rain tomorrow. Have a wonderful day, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D,Canon 28-105 lens at 105 mm. Camera settings- AV Mode, ISO 400, F8.0, 1/60th of a sec. Hand held bracing myself on a fence.

Perfect Perch

I'm always one for finding things and then putting them to use. This one isn't a great stretch of intelligence but it does give a slight insight of how my mind works. Yesterday while walking through the dining room I noticed that the flowers I got Lenore were starting to get droopy. The Chrysanthemum still looked pretty decent. "Why it would make a marvelous perch", I thought to myself. This morning with a Chrysanthemum in hand I went out to the backyard photoblind and created an image of a Chestnut backed Chickadee on a Chrysanthemum as a perch. God gives us simple gifts every day. We just have to be on the look out for them as they are all around us. chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS USM at 400 mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV Mode,ISO 400, F5.6 at 1/200th of a sec. E.V. -1

Starting to Bloom

This morning when I walked into the backyard the first thing I noticed is that the flowers are really starting to bloom. I could hear the bees and a quick look around the yard started to yield some color. I picked one of the Osteospermums(fancy name for African Daisies) to take back inside for a little photography.I had a couple of lighting ideas that I wanted to try out to see what kind of effects I could create. I had a great time and the dogs loved being involved by just lying in the way and being told to move. They make lousy assistants. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy and God bless, chris

Bouquet

As a photographer I'm always looking for interesting patterns of light and colors, silhouettes and shapes that will catch my eye to make a fantastic image. This morning as I was getting ready to photograph birds in the backyard I went to grab one of my portable backdrops leaning against the window seat.I almost picked it up when I realized. "Wow, what a cool looking silhouette was being cast upon it. I immediately grabbed my camera and put on a new lens to photograph this wonderful new found image. I tried several images both horizontal and vertical. This one was my favorite. I hope you enjoy it. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Steppin' Out

Today was just a beautiful spring day. I went out into the Little Lake Valley to the Burris Ranch and did some bird photography.While I was in the photoblind waiting for the birds to come out I envisioned an image of walking through the pasture. God bless, chris

Stuck Inside

Today the rain poured down for most of the day as promised by the National Weather service. I stayed inside and edited some images. Later on in the morning I sat in the back bedroom and photographed some of the natives coming to the backyard bird feeders.The only bird of some interest was a Red Breasted Nuthatch. While waiting at one point I photographed a vase of flowers on the windowsill.Time to get back to work on my book. God's precious love to all, chris

So "B" It!

Yesterday I finally gave into the honey bees swarming around my hummingbird feeders and flowers. I grabbed a macro lens and some flashes. Then I set up some flowers and photographed the bees while I was barbequing shish kabobs.They were delicious! Not photographing from my photography blind out in the open was a bit more interesting though as I kept having bees land on me and buzz around my face etc. My biggest problems though was having too many bees on the flowers at one time. On one of the daisy images you can see that. The Honey Bees were such amazing creatures when you look at them close up. Oh and I stopped by my pond and threw in a dragonfly image for you to look at as well.

God's light and love to all,

chris

The Iris are Blooming

In my travels over the past week I have been seeing splashes of blue and purple. That means the iris are up and blooming. This morning I took the time to stop and photograph a bloom. I just love that intense yellow with the purple blue. God's light and love to all, chris

Almost There

From concept to image. Today I was working on one of those images that I could see clearly in my mind. I wanted to create an image of an Oriole with out of focus yellow orange flowers behind it with a background that had an orange hue to it. This morning after setting it up and spending a few hours in the blind I almost got what I was visualizing in my head. I'm almost there. It will be fun to keep trying. God's precious blessings and love to all, chris

Got the Blues

I wanted to create a series of bird images that had a blue flowers with a light blue background. This morning I spent about two and a

half hours in the photoblind and this is the result. God's love and blessings to all, chris