Green Tee Readings

At the beginning of the year I thought it’d be good to have a goal of making at least one good image a month. I’d figured that I’d do a monthly recap of three or four shots that I was proud of and declare one of them that month’s winner. Clearly, that didn’t much happen (I do have a partial post for January in the blog backlog, but that’s not going to get published). Instead, I’ll take the beginning of July to post my favorite image for each month.

January:

My poor cat, being forced to starve for the sake of getting his picture taken. The flash was bounced off the ceiling for soft light and I’m in pretty close with the camera with a wide angle and a small, for me, aperture to get him in focus while keeping his food dish clear enough for someone to tell both what it is and that it’s empty. The wider than normal focal length (again normal for me, my natural inclination is to shoot with a big focal length wide open) gives a feeling of space between Orange and his bowl, and makes him loom in the image a bit. His expression is perfect.

February:

I love the pure simplicity of the shot, and this is where I started really to figure out how much light quality matters. It was taken with the sun low in the sky, coming in through one window. I didn’t like the warmth of that for this shot, so I cooled it in post, but I love the reflection from the wood table. I also enjoy how you can make out the entire tail, even though part of it is in pretty deep shadow, and that it curls back into focus for the tip.

March:

I don’t know if this is truly the best shot I took in March, or even if it’s my favorite as an individual image or photograph, but there are two reasons why I’m highlighting it here. Landscapes are a stylistic departure for me, and I normally hate the ones I do take. Second, being able to see mountains is a significant reason I’m living in Portland. The best days here are when it’s clear enough to see Mts Hood and St. Helens when I’m out and about. Someday I’ll have to try and do this shot better, and from a closer spot.

April:

This was a good month, and I had a hard enough time deciding what picture I wanted to feature that I put it up to a small vote. I’m very much not displeased by the result. I think I might like the picture of Orange staring out the window a little more, but I generally like a muted effect when working with a limited palate of colors, rather than the very bold that was the chosen shot. But that one is certainly bold and eye-catching, while also being blessedly simple, and the shape of the leftward flower is particularly nice.

May:

This is pretty heavily processed to get the purplish color alone, but I love how stark it is, there’s just enough grey bokeh to give the shot some depth, and I love the water drops. Definitely a favorite background image when it comes up in the rotation.

June:

Here, at last, an embrace of play, from two perspectives. First, a d20 is really a symbol of how much of a giant nerd I a, there is just no reason to own one if you’re not a gamer of some table-top variety. Second, this came from an extend bit of play with light, and with light modifiers. I learned a lot about shooting a lot of light through translucent objects, and about the different DIY flash modifiers I have. The shoot and result are very much the result of a natural 20.