![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/May-3-Fence-Details.jpg\" "\\"May")
<\/a>If you don’t want to deal with Photoshop or other processing programs you can do some creative tweaking in camera.\u00c2\u00a0 For example I like to change the white balance.\u00c2\u00a0 Often I will set my white balance to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flash\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when I am not using a flash.\u00c2\u00a0 This acts like a welcomed warming filter (81B)in many nature settings.\u00c2\u00a0 On this fence the metallic knob was almost a flat cobalt-blue color, but with the morning light and the white balance set to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flash\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it brought out the rusty-orange which I prefer in this image.<\/p>\nDetails and abstracts of larger views create a new world in which you often cannot determine the actual scale of the things in the picture. This tends to hold the viewer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attention when she or he is trying to figure out what they are looking at.\u00c2\u00a0 And all the more better if they never figure it out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Wild Columbines are difficult to photograph because their stems are so thin and long that even the gentlest of breezes will set the flower in rapid motion.\u00c2\u00a0 Using a flash can help greatly so that you have a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion caused by the breeze.\u00c2\u00a0 This way you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to shoot wide open which gives you very little depth-of-field.\u00c2\u00a0 Better to let the background go black, due to the distance the flash is able to land on, than to have a blurry image.<\/p>\n In fact I like\u00c2\u00a0a black background occasionally with a wild flower.\u00c2\u00a0 Although your viewer might not know the image was captured in the wild.\u00c2\u00a0 Positioning the Columbine’s stem in a diagonal from left to right (like the fence crack and rivet) provides drama and excitement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fences with rusting nails and rivets, peeling paint and metal spikes on brick corners can make for interesting abstract images especially when illuminated by early morning light.\u00c2\u00a0 This series of details is on the fence enclosing the PG&E pump station … Continue reading <\/a>Returning to a familiar location can often pay off especially if the changing weather disrupts a predictable bloom.\u00c2\u00a0 That was the case for me when finding a few wild columbines blooming at mile marker 12.43 on the Fairfax Bolinas road heading toward Stinson beach.\u00c2\u00a0 A month ago the grasses, plants, scrubs and branches had been cut down along the road and it looked like these plants would only be blooming down the near cliff slope.<\/p>\nBeautiful is the red crimson columbine<\/address>\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 like a fire cracker ablaze in the forest<\/address>\nDancing to a mellow tempest<\/address>\nBlooming the orange-gold smiles<\/address>\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 of the waning spring<\/address>\nEdging the roadside of wonder<\/address>\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 and bringing joy to the soul<\/address>\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 of earth and her two legged travelers.<\/address>\n