Macrocosmos

Petapixel made a post on clever things you can do with a smartphone camera, and I was especially excited about the water drop macro lens.

First attempt: strawberries. I found it really difficult!

Apparently the water droplet is for very extreme closeups only and magnifies quite a lot more than a regular macro lens.

I tried again with my Hero 9296 fountain pen and was really pleased with the results.

For comparison, this is what that pen looks like in normal photography:

So it's a fun technique, but a bit difficult to control. I look forward to playing with it more.

holiday at la paperie

It's the holiday season in New York City, and I was lucky enough to be in town! Here are some pictures of Kate's Paperie in Soho, decked out for the holidays.

a spider in the garden

Took this photo while at lunch. The garden outside our window had the most beautiful spider, which I'm putting under a cut so as not to frighten any arachnophobes who might read this blog.

Photos: Mount Kanlaon (active), Negros Occidental, Philippines

I've made this flight more times than I can remember, but somehow we went by a slightly different route. I don't know why, but I'm glad. This is the first time I've looked down a volcano's throat.

This mountain range has lurked in the background of my hometown my whole life, with its looming crocodile shape. I've seen it from above quite often, but I've never had this spectacular a view of it before. I'll never think of it the same way again.

How lucky to have a camera at hand just when this view passed under my window!



The above photo is my favourite shot, although it's not as carefully composed. Staaaaaaaaaaare into the Pit...it yawns.

Clouds pouring over the ridge...I love the variations in texture.

Sometimes even a lifelong routine can become an unexpected adventure. What a lovely surprise! And just right for Earth Day--which was when these pictures were taken.

(I do realise I've practically foursquared myself with this post, but hopefully none of my stalkers are in the area. j/k)

Colombina Fuoco - Study

Messing around with a Mag-Lite and an oldish Sony Cybershot and some props…

Ok, there's a lot of photographers on my friends list and you all know this already, but I just want to make a note to myself: flash-off setting + strongish focused light source = better picture, especially with a sub-standard camera.

I also wanted to play around with retouching on Photoshop, and making some tiny changes with levels and so on seemed to work very well. Especially since I didn't have a black cloth to drape as a background.