katieanandaphotography

Marigold in the Rain

SONY SLT-A65V

settings

Aperture f/4 ISO 800 Shutter 1/160 Focal Length 300/10

upload_date

Sep, 2015

Views

350

Likes

+11

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Behind The Lens

Location

This was taken on the deck at the back of my house in Clayton, North Carolina, right after an April rain.

Time

It was a mid-afternoon in April, when the sun is pretty much right over the Southeast corner of our deck and right above the planter that had these marigolds.

Lighting

It's hard to see on the computer, but I have a 30x30 canvas of this hanging on my dining room wall and you can see the reflection of things on my deck in the raindrops. That introduced some other colors, but with subtlety. it also made the raindrop inside the stamen pop. As mentioned above, the sun is right above this planter mid-afternoon so it is perfect for reflection off of water drops, but the planter is somewhat protected by the shadow of our pergola and eaves. So fortunately, the only glare was an effective one!

Equipment

I used a Sony A65 DSL camera (I now have an A77) with a focal length of 30 and an exposure time of 1/160. I have a 55mm-300mm telephoto lens that I used for most macro shots, but I also have a macro lens that I use for food, bugs and other tiny creatures.

Inspiration

I have Lupus and Fibromyalgia, so it is often hard to get off my property, but there always seems to be something I can shoot because I have woods surrounding me. We always have lots of birds, dragonflies and butterflies, plus a large fenced in yard where I can take action photos of my dogs. I try to have flowers on my deck every year, especially ones that will deter mosquitos and attract hummingbirds!

Editing

I have 3 different programs, Lightroom, Photoshop and On1 Photo 10. Lightroom is the one I use the most. In this instance, everything was in my favor, so very little post editing needed to be done, but if I remember correctly, I added a little high-definition to it.

In my camera bag

My back is killing me thinking about it! LOL I have Sony A77 Mach II, but sometimes carry the A65 with me so I don't have to switch lenses. I always carry my telephoto lens, macro lenses, and prime lens, as well as a wide-angle lens, an external flash, extra batteries and battery charger, lens cloths. I have a backpack that houses all of these things and room for my laptop for when I travel.

Feedback

My advice to every single person who tells me they can't take good photos, is, yes you can. If you take shot after shot, there will be some gems in there. Lighting is very important, but post-editing resolves many issues. I have yet to be terribly successful at night photos, but I just haven't made time to experiment as much as I should. I would advise taking a photo of the same thing at different times of day in order to see what lighting works the best for each subject.

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katieanandaphotography

Marigold in the Rain

Behind The Lens

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