The Colour of Courage

Autumn's Feet

Autumn isn't seen in her branches alone. Look down and you will see a carpet of colours. Autumn shows herself all around.

I shot this image at 1/200 with an f stop of f/5.0. Getting low on the ground (and wet too!) I looked around with my eyes and then through my lens to see what I could see. The red creeper was perched just above the soggy orange leaves. Focusing so the creeper would be clear and not worrying about the orange below or behind as it blurred into the background made these scarlet leaves really come alive.

Autumn's Warmth

Today the landscape looks very different than just one week ago. Last weekend, we had summer heat in the autumn woods. This weekend we have snow and cold. Looking at this image makes me forget the icy chill if only for a short while.

I used my 60 mm macro lens for this shot. It was a sunny day so I opted for a fast shutter speed of 1/1600 to compensate for the large aperture of f/2.8 which I wanted for good bokeh in the background. The blurred background lends itself to the impression of dancing flames which only helps the warmth I was trying to capture in this image.

I do not have the leaf right in the middle but rather a little off centre, which I find to be a more interesting composition.

Fire

A Breath of Summer

A little break from the wintery shots...

Typical with Exception

Some sights are typical to the season at hand. The reds, browns and oranges found in the leaves and berries are familiar in autumn. But then, there is the exception. A pop of purple in blooms low to the ground surprise me. It is as though there are two seasons side by side. I guess that is so.

Orange Velvet

She has velvet petals, orange fading to yellow. The textures and tones do not work independently to bring beauty, but rather together. One without other would not be so lovely.

 

I used my 60 mm macro lens to capture this rose. Getting close and making sure many of the edges of the petals were sharp while allowing the rest to flow softly was my goal. Using the right depth of field was crucial.

Experimenting with aperture and taking multiple shots is the best way to find the right settings for each subject choice.

Once captured I brought it into Lightroom to process from RAW. I warmed up the hues and increased vibrancy for this final result.

Spotlight - Tiger Lily

Spotlight - Curl

Curl