““Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”
~ Rachel Carson

Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

“Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”
~ John Updike

“A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.”
~ Frederick The Great

Unedited except to crop. Natural light.
Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm 1/4 lens, f/1.4, 1/80, ISO 200, manual, spot metering, Manfrotto tripod. Converted from RAW/NEF to B&W jpeg using Nikon’s Capture NX2.

This is a closeup looking up at the tiny, tiny fruit of a cyclamen flower—a round pod that opens with 5 flaps at maturity and containing numerous sticky, amber seeds.

Such fine tiny beauty doesn’t need any editing by me. These are unedited shots, playing with extension tubes and joy.

Cyclamen is a genus of 23 species of perennials growing from tubers, valued for their flowers with upswept petals and variably patterned leaves. Each flower is on its own stem, bent downwards 150-180° at the end. There are 5 petals, connected at the base, bent outwards or up, and sometimes twisted.

And now a word from another sponsor. cyclamen photos (I had to add this to try another website.)

That’s a lot of pink and magenta for someone who didn’t notice flowers or like those hues rather recently. Something’s happening, and I don’t know where I am going. Do you know what changes will occur for you?

Meanwhile, the extension tubes are fun and the hills (mountains) are with the sound of buzzing mosquitoes as we approach the summer equinox. Sunset at 11:40 p.m., or 19 hours and 19 minutes of daylight.

The days become shorter slowly and then rapidly gain speed—five minutes of lost light a day. But then snow! Yippee!

Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens, 105mm, f/3.5 and 1/6sec, -0.3ev, IS0 100, manual exposure, manual focus. Manfrotto tripod, SB-800 flash slaved with attached Honl grid from left. Converted from RAW/NEF (14 bit) tojpeg using Nikon’s Capture NX 2.2.4. Using 36mmm extension tube.

This closeup used:
Nikon D300 and Nikkor 105mm macro lens, 105mm, at f/22 and 5 sec, -0.3ev, IS0 200. manual exposure. Manfrotto tripod, softbox lighting. Converted from RAW/NEF (14 bit) to jpeg using Capture NX 2.2.4. Just a bit of de-saturation, since the poppy seemed too orange–at least to me.

The drenched poppies seemed bent and flattened; I felt only small qualms about plucking them. This is a very shallow (f/1.4) shot using a softbox to light them.

Rule of Thirds (suggested, not really a rule)
Because the human eye (in English-speaking countries, primarily) more readily goes to a point about two-thirds up a page, divide a photo into nine blocks and place the main subject(s) on the intersection points rather than in the center of the image.

Landscapes could look more pleasing to the eye using the Rule of Thirds and a low or high horizon line.

The Rule of Thirds means that the frame can be divided into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections. The intersection of the horizontal and vertical lines makes an ideal location for the more important parts of one’s picture. By locating the main subject at one of the four intersections, the subject has more emphasis than if it were in the middle of the picture. (Picture Control)

And, if the area of interest is land or water, the horizon line could look best, according to suggested rules of composition, two-thirds up from the bottom. If the sky is the area of emphasis, the horizon line could appear one-third up from the bottom, leaving the sky to take up the top two-thirds of the picture. (Photography composition)

Diagonal lines

Diagonal lines generally work well to draw the eye of an image’s viewer through the photograph. They create points of interest as they intersect with other lines and often give images depth by suggesting perspective.

They can also add a sense of action to an image and add a dynamic looks and feel. Also, rather than making a line go from the very corner to the opposite corner it’s often good to make them off-center and lead to either side of corners. “As with both horizontal and vertical lines, diagonal lines that are repeated through out an image can create very effective patterns that can easily become the subject of a photograph themselves. A recently plowed field or the ridges on a sand dune might be good examples of this.”

Read more about diagonal lines here.

Leading lines

A good leading line lures the eye deeper into a picture or to an important subject. Straight, curved, parallel, or diagonal lines help to promote interest. Examples include roads, rivers, streams, bridges, branches, or fences–lines with perspectives or vanishing points.

Lines pull one into the picture, toward the subject, or on a journey ‘through’ the scene. There are many different types of line—straight, diagonal, curvy, zigzag, radial, etc., and each can be used to enhance the composition.

–more tk–

Writing with fountain pens—a disappearing style, do you think?

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“It is one of the secrets of Nature in its mood of mockery that fine weather lays heavier weight on the mind and hearts of the depressed and the inwardly tormented than does a really bad day with dark rain sniveling continuously and sympathetically from a dirty sky.”
~Muriel Spark, Territorial Rights, 1979

“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.”
~Kin Hubbard