Autumnal Days

It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. ~P.D. James

Autumn's light was perfect for this shot. Summer's temperature made it easy; no chilly fingers to contend with.

I shot at f/7.1 with a shutter speed of 1/60. 1/60 is about as slow as I would opt to hand-hold my camera. Any slower and the risk of camera shake increases.

The path brings our eye into the picture and guides us through it, without allowing us to leave the scene. Once we reach the top of the image, the yellow leaves welcome us and then the evergreen brings us back down to the foreground brush. And then we begin again on the path...

Community

Though at times they are thought of as flying rodents, I maintain that these geese are beautiful in appearance and community. I love how they gather each autumn to journey together.

Sometimes we cannot get the crop of the photo we want in camera. There is no shame in going in with the scissors in processing! Both of these images were much better presented once their ratio was changed. Knowing this is available to me, I shoot with the crop in mind and finish the composition on my computer.

Both images were shot at the same settings. I used f/5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/200. ISO? You guessed it...100.

Flight

Sometimes, choosing black and white to show texture and contrast is more effective than using colour. Here, the contrast between the solids in the geese and the texture in the grasses allows the geese to stand out a little more.

I shot at a focal length of 70, f/5.6 adn shutter speed of f/5.6. The speed was fast enough to stop some of the birds' movement yet allowed the wings to blur. Being able to show both makes this motion composition more interesting. We can almost feel the wind their wings create.

Indian Summer

These next few days are supposed to be very warm and sunny. I guess this might be our Indian Summer. I'll take it.

Old School

I shot this image at f/2.8 with a speed of 1/60 using my 24-70 mm lens. Getting close and eye level brought an interesting perspective and allowed for the focus to be drawn to the uneven edges and beautifully aged paper of this vintage book.
I decreased the saturation in Lightroom and also added a layer in Photoshop to soften the lighting.

But Is It Random?

What if life is not as random and happenstance as it sometimes seems?

Last Bits of Summer

The sunflowers have been pulled from the garden. This bloom escaped the garbage bag to sun itself a little longer. After taking her picture, I left her to warm for at least another day. The last bits of summer remain and I cannot bag them up and put them on the curb. Not all of the bits. Not just yet.

The warmth of today made it easier to lie on the grass and take this shot. Getting low, face to face with the bloom, I shot with my 60 mm macro lens. The bright sunny day meant I had to use a faster shutter speed or smaller aperture. I wanted a shallow depth of field for this image, so I chose to use f/2.8 which also meant a shutter speed of 1/800 so it would not be overexposed. If you've been following my blog, you've come to assume that I chose to use ISO 100...and you are right.

Autumn...

...the evening of the seasons...

Climb

Beholding Beauty

Just before I was about to cross the Louise Bridge this morning I made a quick decision to pull into the parking lot for the boat launch by the river.

The leaves are starting to change colour and drop...the skies are a deep grey today. It is the last day of summer and it feels like autumn is already here. I'm giving summer her due and am posting today's picture in sepia tones. We'll keep autumn in the waiting room for another day.

I used my 24-70 mm lens for this shot. With a speed of 1/200 and aperture of f/5.6 I kept the ISO at my predictable 100.

Choosing to shoot from a lower perspective resulted in an interesting composition. The trees seem taller and more bold. Or...I feel smaller...in awe of what I am beholding.

Pulling the colour allows for this scene's subject to be something other than autumn. If the strong yellows and oranges remained, fall would dominate, rather than the scale of the trees in relation to me.