Beautiful Mornings

The weather this week has just been gorgeous. This week each morning has been below 60 degrees to start out and the sun is shinning in a cloudless sky. I don't think you could ask for more perfect weather.

This morning I got up and took off with my camera. The birds were just chirping and carrying on in the green trees and the flowers are just blooming everywhere. This is the time of year when it is impossible to stay indoors.

If you own a camera you just have got to get out and walk through the park or even just your neighborhood and capture some of the beauty.

Flower Portraits

I like to take flower portraits. I have found there are a few key elements to making a great flower portrait. You must have precise focus on the pistils and stamen of the flower and you must have a frame filled with the flower.

Use a tripod and a macro lens plus a plant clamp may be needed to ensure stability of your subject. The flower must be immobile.

Try to find a day with an overcast sky, this will make things much easier for the portrait.

I also found a new technique that can create a different type of look, an impressionist portrait. Take a look at this page and you will find an explanation of this technique.

Most important, have fun! http://www.squidoo.com/adviceonflowerphotography

Elusive Bluebird

We have an Eastern Bluebird that nests in our front yard every year. We have a cute birdhouse we bought at a flea market, it looks like a hollow tree trunk, and the bluebird seems to have taken out a yearly lease on it.

There are 3 babies in the nest now but the hole is so small I can not get a picture of the babies. She is very protective of the nest so it is hard to get near.

I try to get a picture of her but she is very camera shy.