Month: December 2012

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Red Reflections

I first saw reflections in water drops in a magazine – probably Outdoor Photographer.  The photos were fascinating, and I decided it was a subject/technique I needed to learn.  There were a number of failures over the years, until this photo.

On the day I took this, I was visiting Cherokee Prairie Natural Area.  In fact, I had been there for a while, searching the Prairie for just the right combination of water drops, grass tangles, flowers, and light.  I had no success, and was walking back to my truck, when at the very edge of the parking area was a perfect arrangement.  I set the tripod up in the short grass of the parking area, and made a number of exposures…

One of the problems with making these photographs is that all of the vegetation – grass, flowers, shrubs, briars – is connected!  Setting a tripod up without causing the water drops to fall is sometimes impossible.  Often, I get it almost just right, move the tripod – or the camera & lens – and bump or pull something, causing the water drops to disappear.  So, finding this at the parking lot was exciting!  Ever since that day, I always look around the parking area before heading off into the grasses of the prairie…

Wild rose reflected in water drops on grass

Wild rose reflected in water drops on grass
Cherokee Prairie State Natural Area, near Charleston, Arkansas

I have always like the sharpness of this image, but would like to have the same situation again; I think it deserves some different compositions, and would like to shoot it with one of today’s higher resolution cameras.  However, photographs are the reflection of a moment, then it’s history.  As much as we might wish to relive our past, we cannot…  😉

 

Minolta Maxxum 7D, Minolta Maxxum 100 mm macro lens, Manfrotto tripod.

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Reflections

Each spring, I look forward to going out to locate, and photograph dew drops reflecting, preferably, a wildflower.  Of course, any breeze, even one barely felt on skin, is the enemy.  So, we hope for no breeze, large dew drops easily photographed, and a colorful wildflower behind…

On this morning, I found a spiderweb covered in dew, and in the background was a black-eyed susan wildflower.  However, there was a nearly imperceptible breeze – just enough to move the spiderweb.  I took several photos, trying to time the exposure for the least movement.  Here is one of the best, but because of the air movement, I was unable to keep all in sharp focus.

Dew drops on a spider web reflect the black eyed susan flower in the background.

Dew drops on a spider web reflect the black eyed susan flower in the background.

 

I took this photo at Cherokee Prairie Preserve State Heritage Site, near Charleston, Arkansas, using the Sony Alpha 700, the Minolta 100 mm macro lens, Manfrotto tripod.  The shutter speed was 1/320th second, in an attempt to freeze the movement from the breeze, at f/8.