Tag Archives: Florida Nature

Lensbaby Macro Photography – Welcoming Spring!

By Roxanne Sahlin | Published March 31, 2013

 

 

We made an early trip out to Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, Florida for a Sunday photo hike. We ambled around for the entire morning and into the afternoon on about 7 miles of hiking trails (with a few off-trail excursions). It was a magnificent day-the kind that lures people in colder climes down here and keep them coming back year after year. Chilly in the morning and in the mid 70s my noon with a soft breeze and beautiful light aided by the clouds.

These images were created with a Lensbaby Composer Pro, Edge 80 Optic and the Double Optic with the Close Up Filters (+4 and +10) and the Telephoto on top of that. The Edge 80 Optic has a macro mode that you engage by pulling out the end of the lens and this allows you to get closer to your subject. The Double Optic has a “sweet spot” of sharpness and with the optic inserted into Composer Pro you can rotate/bend the lens to aim your sweet spot to the area of focus you wish to highlight and the size of the sweet spot is determined by the Aperture Disc that you use-I was shooting with the f/4 aperture for my images. The Edge 80 gives you a “slice” of sharpness (instead of the round sweet spot in the other optics) which is controlled by the aperture that you choose-this optic has the aperture control on the optic instead of aperture discs. I shot at f/2.8 for most of my Edge 80 images as I wanted to go for beautiful bokeh and wonderful creamy produced by the optics.

We didn’t find the Easter Bunny but we did find the Easter Frog. He was a cute little Pine Woods Tree Frog that fit on the tip of my finger (I found this out when he hopped and landed there!) The amazing purple wildflowers are Blue Flag Swamp Irises. The spiny plant is a Purple Thistle. The tiny white wildflowers are Common Pipewort or Hat Pins as they are usually called. The black and white images are fallen, dried Saw Palmetto fronds.

If you have a Lensbaby Optic, join us on our Facebook Group, Lensbaby Artistry. April 1st, 2013 starts a 12 month Lensbaby photography theme challenge that is open to photographers. We have a great international group of 66 and we expect more to join us as the challenge heats up. Our monthly challenge images will be chosen by Craig Strong, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of Lensbaby. For more information visit our Lensbaby Artistry Group and see what it’s all about!

Roxanne Sahlin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check our our online paper Lensbaby Artistry Photography Daily 

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A Painted Rose To Banish The Blahs

By Roxanne Sahlin | Published March 4, 2013

I needed a bit of “Banish Mundane Mondays” therapy tonight.

I delved into my Lightroom Quick Collection and picked a Lensbaby image that was waiting to be processed. I loved the single pale pink rose the the deeper pink edging the petals and the wonderful bokeh I’d gotten with the Edge 80 Optic. But I wanted something to feed my creative soul and a way to give myself  a smile.

I brought the image into Photoshop CS6 and ran it lightly through Pro Contrast in Nik Color Efex 2 and then into RadLab from Totally Rad Software for some fun. I chose a couple of filters and adjusted them to fit the look I wanted and applied them.

I then opened Bridge and opened my Texture folder (I keep in my favorites so that it’s always easy to find). From there I chose a great neutral toned painted canvas texture from French Kiss Collections Artiste collection to add the look of a painting by using hard light blending mode-adjusting the opacity and fill percentages until I liked the effect. I then chose two textures from Painted Textures’ Butter Paint collections and applied the first and hard light blending mode and the second in soft light blending mode and once again did some adjusting in the fill and opacity and masked out a few areas to bring detail back to the rose. I now had a very painterly image.

I flattened and saved my image and then brought the original image back into Photoshop. I blended the two images to bring some detail back and to complete my texture painting I added one last texture from the French Kiss Collection’s 1872 Script Ephemera Collection-enlarging it and rotating it to angle the script on the page and applied it in linear burn blending mode-dragging the opacity down and keeping the fill a bit higher. I then masked out 100% of the text over the rose and most of the leaves and then dragged the opacity down to 28% and enlarged the brush and tapped lightly into areas that I wanted to soften and brighten a bit.

The beautiful rose, the wonderful textures and rich colors spoke to my soul and chased the Mundane Mondays away!

Roxanne Sahlin

Resources: French Kiss Collections, Painted Textures, Nik Software, Totally Rad Software, Lensbaby Optics

Both Nik Software and Totally Rad Software offer free trials so that you have the chance to fall in love with their great products. Use our coupon codes: 1407sahlin for 15% off at Totally Rad Software and dsahlin for 15% off at Nik Software!

 

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Changing My Point of View

By Roxanne Sahlin | Published February 19, 2013

Peering up from a bobcat’s point of view

I see the world from different eyes

Silently I move through the tall grasses

My world has been reduced to the space around me

I stalk through the palmettos

I am on the hunt

Many feet have traveled this path

Yet today I call it my own

I take the gifts that it offers

Birds call from the tall oaks

Squirrels call out in alarm as I drift past like smoke

Sun filtering through Spanish moss makes me wish for nap

Silently I watch the gnarled roots of the tree

I sense the small creatures sheltering there

Night will fall soon and I will own the woods once again

Roxanne Sahlin

Images shot with a Fujifilm X-Pro 1 with the 35mm f/1.4 lens

Processed RAW files in Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6 using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2

Images shot at Myakka River State Park

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Going Back To My Roots-Revisiting The Lensbaby Muse

By Roxanne Sahlin | Published December 31, 2012

THE HARSH FLORIDA WINTER

THE SNOWBIRDS HAVE FLOWN THE COOP?

WHAT LIES BENEATH THE MYSTERIOUS GREEN SURFACE?

A TRAIL OF DREAMS

My love affair with Lensbaby Optics began with an earlier version Lensbaby Muse before I moved the my current Lensbaby Composer, Composer Pro and Scout. Today I returned to those roots when I borrowed Doug’s spiffy new Muse for the afternoon’s shoot.

We made a brief trip to Stump Pass Beach State Park and then for a bit of a walk at Lemon Bay Park-both located in Englewood, Florida.

I brought the Composer Pro in case the Muse and I did not play well together but I ended up having a blast with the Muse and we bonded once again. The beauty of it is that it forces you to dump all other thoughts and to focus entirely on what you see and to spotlight the sweet spot of focus on the area where you wish to draw the eye. Considering that you have one finger on the metering button, one ready for the shutter and the rest manipulating the bendy little lens that looks like the cousin to a vacuum cleaner hose it is hard to worry about deadlines and solving the world’s problems. I felt like a spider weaving a web as my fingers did the Lensbaby Muse dance!

I think I may have to put a Lensbaby Muse on my wish list so that I’m not borrowing Doug’s all of the time now!

2012 has gone by in a blur-so what better way to spend the final day before 2013 shooting with a lens that embraces the blur!

Roxanne Sahlin

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Filled With Light

By Roxanne Sahlin | Published November 13, 2012

Morning meadow filled with light as the breeze makes golden grasses dance and sway.

Another magical morning at Myakka River State Park.

Roxanne

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