*Project 52* weeks #13, 14, & 15 / Austin, Texas Photographic Art

Ahem....
I have been keeping up with my weekly photo project but I've done a dismal job blogging about it this spring. Time to catch up!

So....getting right to it.....I'm limiting it to three images per post so as not to overwhelm. More to follow shortly.

Week #13: 'M is for Moth'.
But not just any kind of moth! This is a Hummingbird Moth, aka Sphinx Moth, and these suckers are not only beautiful and quite large, they are FAST. It was a humbling task to capture just one good shot. I couldn't get too close because they are a bit elusive, so I had to use a long lens—my 70-200mm, which is heavy. The additional challenge was that I only saw them at dusk, so there was not a ton of light to offset the fast shutter speeds that were required to photograph them. Fast critter + long/heavy lens + low light (even with high ISO) = a lot of missed shots.
Here is more information about this one in particular: the White-lined Sphinx.

Week #14: 'N is for Nest'.
Never fear, this is a 100% staged setup; no live eggs were used for this image, nor were any birds disturbed. The nest itself belonged to a Golden-cheeked Warbler in the past (those are Ashe Juniper strips constructing it), and the eggs are rather old, store-bought quail eggs. My son held it with a piece of white foam board as the background, and I think the resulting image is sweet; it's a solid springtime shot.

Week #15: 'O is for Opal'.
As an October baby, the opal is my birthstone. I have a few opals, and I purchased this one in Australia, the country for which opals are known. As fragile as they are, this gemstone would do well to be set in a necklace rather than a ring. I've had it for nearly twelve years, though, so it may just stay in its box and remain an objet trouvé. In reality it is a white opal with a lot of fire, but I decided to play with the lighting and exposure to make it look like a black opal. I left it in its box of black velvet and used a simple flashlight to skim light across it at the left, with something white (a plate? I can't remember what I used!) to bounce some light back in from the right. As you may safely assume, I employed my macro lens for this image.

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*Project 52* weeks #11 & 12 / Austin, Texas Photographic Art

Oops. I am on the day of the week that transitions from one week to the next in my *Project 52* series (2014 began on a Wednesday). And I've been absent from here for almost three weeks. Time to get caught back up!

Actually, it worked out really well to combine weeks 11 & 12 because they go hand-in-hand. Check it out.....'K is for Key' and 'L is for Lock'.....and together they're a solid problem-solving pair.

Pretty straightforward as far as images go. I used my 60mm 2.8 macro lens again (which I cannot seem to remove from my camera, as it's my favorite these days!), employing natural light on an overcast day. I love the soft shadows in contrast with the lightly gritty surfaces of the lock & key. My favorite of these three is the lock by itself, whose background I embellished a scoche with some texture. This set belongs to my younger son, who was into locking up his private stuff for awhile.

Onto week #13....

In the meantime,
Enjoy!

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*Project 52* week #10 / Austin, Texas Photographic Art

Keeping it simple this week....
'J is for Jar of Jellybeans'

I may skip next week due to spring break and double up the following week.....or I may try to do something creative using my iPhone....
In the meantime,
Enjoy!

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*Project 52* week #9 / Austin, Texas Photographic Art

The letter 'I' had me stumped before I finally googled photos of words starting with I for inspiration. Well, let me tell ya, there were some good ideas. Which led me to this week's image:
'I is for Idea'.

It was either that, or 'incense' or 'illusion' or 'ignite' (all of which I will probably do at some point).

To illustrate 'idea' as a photograph, I recruited Zach, who agreed to help me, albeit begrudgingly. Matthew flat-out refused. I'm not sure why.....what tween-aged boy wouldn't jump at the chance to dress up all dapper, with slicked hair, bow tie and 'smart' specs?  ;-)

Clearly this is not a single photograph. Matthew helped me by holding the light bulb so I could capture it for this composite. Then Zach did his part, and I spent the afternoon putting it all together. I think it looks more like he is surprised than receiving an idea, but maybe it's a surprising idea. Those are fun, too.

So here ya go!
Enjoy!

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*Project 52* week #8 / Austin, Texas Photographic Art

Last week I swapped letters so I could use 'H' for heart in celebration of Valentine's Day. This week it's back to 'G' with:
'G is for Glitter'.

In the past few years I've seen several images of people blowing glitter from their open palms, and I've been wanting to capture such an image myself. I had my younger son do the honors for me, and this is the result.

If you're guessing that our driveway was very sparkly and colorful afterward, you would be correct.
Until next time,
Enjoy!

*Project 52* week #7 / Austin, Texas Photographic Art

In the interest of celebrating Valentine's Day, I'm swapping 'G' for 'H' in order to feature the predictable 'H is for Heart' this week.

Actually, this week's image is entitled 'H is for Heart of Hearts'. Clever, eh?  ;-)

My younger son is doing the highly-anticipated Valentine's Day card/candy exchange with his class this week, and he decided on the ever-popular 'Sweethearts' candy message hearts to accompany his cards. Did you know that they have been around for almost 150 years? The very first conversation hearts were created by Daniel Chase in 1866, and the first factory-produced candy hearts came along 35 years later, courtesy of NECCO founder Oliver Chase (Daniel's brother). You can read more about it here and here.

Anyhoo....those candy hearts made this week's assignment way too easy not to indulge. I dressed it up a little, but it's pretty straightforward and quite fitting for our annual heart-centric holiday. BTW, I did not eat a single one of them. Their appearance is far more appealing than their taste, imho.
Here ya go:

Have a Happy Heart Day, and may Love bless you this week in ways unexpected.
Enjoy!

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*Project 52* week #6 / Austin, Texas Photographic Art

'F is for Football'
I was struggling a bit with what to do for this week's image, and it hit me as we were on our way to watch the Super Bowl with some friends: FOOTBALL! It just happened to fall on the right week—YAY!
Having two boys and a husband who love sports, we own lots of sports equipment, including several footballs. This one here belongs to my husband; I think perhaps it's from when he was in high school. It's slightly deflated but still has enough air to give it the proper shape, and I love how worn it is on the surface.....enough to show it's been used a lot, but not so much that it needs to be retired. It's actually great the way it is to teach kids how to catch because it's so easy to grip.
For those interested in the particulars, I captured this image with a Nikon D800 and a 60mm/f2.8 macro lens,1/80 second at f/4, ISO 1600, handheld with support, lit by north-facing window light on the left and with a white board angled from the front right to bounce some light back onto the football. Starting with the RAW image, post work included basic tweaks and conversion in ACR, then refining it in Photoshop with Nik plug-ins (Dfine, Viveza, Color Efex and Sharpener Pro). I wrapped it up with some layered textures that I purchased from a couple different suppliers.
Until next time....
Enjoy!

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