Tag: spring

Walking with a macro lens

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: < 1 minute

The bright sunny days in Spring are ideal to go walking with a macro lens. The sun is relatively low, the air clear, the plants all nice a new. I took all the following buds, flowers and seeds in a radius of a few kilometers. The fact that I was walking with a macro lens meant that I saw more. I was looking for original seeds and new growth. Unfortunately it meant that my walk took a little longer than expected.

This local park is typical of the scenery this time of year in the Yvelines in France. It is the only photograph that wasn’t taken with my 100mm macro lens.

There are new flowers and buds in the garden in Spring alongside the leaves and seeds from last year’s growth. There are more photographs of flowers and plants in my gallery.

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Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store or Pixels store.

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Natural gardens help protect nature

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

More and more we need to leave our gardens to grow unhindered in spring to help nature – birds, insects and plants. Natural gardens help protect nature in contrast to the over tendered lawn, fertilized flower beds and treated plants. This year I have been resisting the temptation to overwork the garden and I have tried to leave it as a natural garden.

Could I have a rarity?

This May may have been the warmest on record and it’s taken it’s toll on the lawn. It’s also meant that I’ve had to water some of the plants that I have planted. My potatoes, strawberries and tomatoes in particular. However there are some other plants that I never see normally that are thriving. Most impressive are 2 plants in the middle of the dry grass that must get mowed every year normally.

I am not an expert but a bit of research leads me to think they might be Pyramidal Orchids ( Anacamptis pyramidalis) Apparently, quite rare if it is. You can read more about it on Wikipedia (opens in a new tab).

Touring the garden

Having may curiosity piqued by such a find I set off to tour the flowers in the garden on a random May afternoon. I have planted tomatoes, fuchsias, geraniums, honeysuckle and roses. But there are many others. The hot sun kept the daisies closed but below are the others.

There are chives, some sort of tiny pea, wild strawberries and climber in amongst the honeysuckle.

Hopefully I can get as much pleasure from the natural garden, maybe save some time, money and back ache at the same time give nature a boost which in turn should help us all. Some of the wild flowers are discrete and you need to taker a closer look, but small is not necessarily less beautiful. We shall see how the garden develops. In parallel I will continue to look after my potatoes, strawberries and tomatoes.

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Some of these photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store. Or from the menu above, or even buy your art directly below.


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Other pages that may interest you

There is the Flowers and Plants album, and there are 3 blog posts relating to flowers

The role of white balance

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

This March has seen a wide range of weather, more than usual I think. Early Spring warmth and late winter coolness. Spring weather photography can inspire and to benefit we must always have a camera handy. There was even a good coating of sand from the Sahara giving exceptional sunsets. In March the sun is still relatively low in the sky which helps with the lighting. So why am I talking about the role of white balance? Because as I mentioned, the early spring warmth and winter coolness, and white balance is all about the warmth and coolness of light. Here are three examples where different lighting can make a big impact on the results.

Let me draw your attention to a camera feature that you may rarely look at: White Balance.

What is White Balance?

It can simply be put as the colour of the light, and this is defined by its temperature. If we use the noon sunlight to be the standard some light appears more orange, for example candles, and some appears bluer, for example modern car headlights. These are also referred to as being warmer, being orange, or cooler when bluer like a cold tap.

White balance values

Your camera, and phone are, by default, set up to take pictures using an automatic setting for white balance, AWB. You will find it in the menu, or expert menu. The role of white balance is to adjust the camera to compromise lighting conditions to take a good image in most circumstances.

The setting of white balance is creeping into everyday life too. This should make understanding it much easier. When you purchase LED lights they are defined by their temperature. Temperature is defined by 3 scales: Celsius (C), Fahrenheit (F) and Kelvin (K). Ice is defined as 0°C, 32°F and 273.15K. LED lights and White balance use the Kelvin temperature scale. For your cameras, a little counterintuitively, warmer candle like orange light has a lower temperature than the bluer clear sky. Typically the light from a candle will be 2000K and a cloudy sky 6500K.

How to set white balance

Why modify the AWB setting? Simply we want a white sheet of paper to look white when we photograph it. If we take the photo of the white paper in a candle lit room the paper will appear orange. The role of white balance is to tell the camera that this orange colour, the 2000K, is in fact white, which is about 5500K. The camera then has a simple addition/subtraction of some Kelvin to do to make our whites really white.

In the menu of the camera you may not find the Kelvin scale, but terms which relate to the typical light source for that temperature. So 2000K will be referred to by incandescent. 6500K as cloudy.

Using RAW is better

If you can take your photos in RAW, rather than JPEG, you have the added advantage that in post processing you can modify the white balance easily. This can be very useful, for example, when you are taking a series of photos of the same subject. A wedding is a classic example where the bride is dressed in white and you are photographing her in the garden, in sunshine and shadows, inside dark a building, around a candle lit table, in camera flash. All very different lights and therefore temperatures. If you don’t modify the white balance the dress will change in colour during your day.

Learn more

There are many resources on the internet which can explain all this in more detail and go further to explain how to set the white balance manually using the white object that you want to appear white in specific lighting conditions.

Take a look here, photographylife.com (opens in a new tab) for example.

Other photos

I have some other different lighting photos on my site, for example: Evening sunlight and lighting and shadows.

Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store or the link in my fine art store (opens in a new tab).

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3 stages in the life of a poppy

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

A purple poppy caught my attention. A change from all those red poppies we see everywhere. When I looked around there were a few in different stages of their lifecycle. I wanted to capture the delicate petals and a sense of the short time they flower. So here are three images that show 3 stages in the life of a poppy.

Opening

Prior to open the flower, all enclosed in green, swings upwards in a smooth curve. You can see 2 on their way up in this image. Here the petals are opening and this the first of the 3 stages in the life of a poppy.

In bloom

In the second image I wanted to capture the delicateness of the petals and the bright colour. There are only 4 petals. In this image I focused on the edge of the nearest petal. as the focal length is short the next 2 perpendicular petals are gently blurred. The final fourth parallel petal is almost lost. The details on the petal show the creases in the delicate petal as it unfolds. Origami nd laundry come to mind.

Seed distribution

Once the petals are gone the beauty of a poppy is not over. The next task is to distribute the seeds for the next generation. The final image of the 3 stages in the life of a poppy shows part of the reproductive system. The Stamen and Anthers (the home of the pollen and male part of the plant), have all fallen away with the petals after pollination. The Style and Stigma sit on the the melon like ovary which is the main part of the image. These three items together form the pistil.

All those lovely shades of green make a very calming image.

Technique

These photos were all taken using a 100mm macro lens, f/4.5 using ISO100 at 1/200s.

I have other posts about poppies and flowers, for example Catch them while you can about red poppy fields. I also have a gallery Flowers and Plants.

Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store or DepositPhotos store or the link in the menu.

Other posts that may interest you are:

Where to purchase my work

Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store or directly via the menu, below.


Walk along the Seine from the river Oise

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last week I walked along the river Seine towards Paris, starting in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Walking the in the other direction, towards the sea, Conflans is home to the confluence of the rivers Seine and Oise. So today I decided to walk along the Seine from the river Oise. There are few parking spaces at the confluence of the two rivers.

Both rivers have a path so you have to choose, today I decided to take a short walk along the Seine. The river Seine is a major transportation route and large barges are almost always moored in Conflans. Important road and rail links are also a feature of the town. Alongside the river, the landscape and nature I wanted to capture the transportation links.

The cycle bridge is part of the itinerary from Paris to London. The segment from Maisons-Laffitte to Chaussy, some 48.71km. The rail bridge is part of the RER A line running from Cergy le Haut to Paris and in Conflans fin d’Oise the station also serves the railway line from Paris St Lazare to Mantes la Jolie. From the footbridge you have a lovely view towards the historic town centre of Conflans Sinte-Honorine. You can also witness local birds looking for a meal.

HDR photos to bring out hidden features

I wanted to compare a colour photo of the underside of the rail bridge with a black and white version. Industrial sites lend themselves well to black and white images. I also wanted to capture the clouds and the metal structure. This called for a high dynamic range. Something that many cameras offer today. It builds a single image out of several, often 3, images of the same object. Each image is taken with different exposure settings to capture different lighting and details.

I also took a walk this spring around Villennes sur Seine, which is just a short distance away, on the way to the sea!

Going the other way towards Paris, I have a post about Urban Photography at La Défense.

Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store, via the link in the menu or directly below.


Spring walk along the Seine

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Spring is having a slow start this year. So when I took a spring walk along the Seine at the Quai de Gaillon, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine there was still a wintery look to the scenery. The trees were budding and the mistletoe was still clearly visible.

I was surprised to see a snail cross my path.

The walk down to the river seine banks is relatively steep. There are several routes down from the town to the riverside. This is the rue de la Fossé du Moulin. It is for the most part inaccessible to vehicles.

But the peace and quiet of an early morning walk along the banks of the river Seine is worth it. It was a great source of inspiration for the impressionists. Camille Pissarro did some painting there in the 1870s for example this one. This was probably painted in the summer nearby, rather than during a Spring walk along the Seine at Quai de Gaillon.

Here you can see mistletoe clearly in the tress on the far side of the river Seine.

There are also many areas to stop, relax, exercise. There is no doubt in my mind, in the summer it will be busier. Get there early if you want to avoid the weekend crowds.

Next week I will explore some other area of the town. The confluence of the river Oise and River Seine.

I also took a walk this spring around Villennes sur Seine, which is just a short distance away, on the way to the sea!

I have other posts about my visits along the River Seine, for example Capturing birds in flight, or going the other way towards Paris, I have a post about Urban Photography at La Défense.

Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store, via the link in the menu or directly below.


A spring afternoon walk around Villennes

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: < 1 minute

A cool spring afternoon was the ideal opportunity to take a walk in the park. Walk around the park and capture the quiet atmosphere at the start of lockdown. New year’s growth is just appearing. As a result; it is not swamped by the profuse summer leaves and flowers.

The small Paris suburb of Villennes-sur-Seine, in Yvelines, France has some wonderful architecture and parks. So I stayed in the centre of town and visit the Parc du Docteur Fauvel, the town hall and its garden and the river Seine. The river runs very close to town here. This spring afternoon walk around Villennes was in April.

These were taken on my Canon camera with either my 50mm or 18-135mm lens. I would recommend a Spring afternoon walk around Villennes as it shows you don’t have to be far from the city of Paris to be in lovely countryside. It’s a short train ride from St Lazare station. When you get off the train I suggest you start by appreciating the architecture of the old station building. However, If you come by car, parking in the town centre is limited and short stay. The town is not far from the A13 and A14 autoroutes.

My next walk will be a little upstream on the river Seine at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine

Follow this link if you want to see more of my photographs of Flowers and Plants

Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store, via the link in the menu or directly below.