Ripping Off Edward Weston

 

This picture of a yellow pepper was astonishingly hard to take.  There's a light inside the pepper that made the image look great in real life and in the camera but out of focus on the computer screen..  I ended up putting a card with text on it 1/3 of the way down the side of the pepper to take some test images to see if the thing was in focus or not.  It actually was in focus but just didn't look like it.  In an attempt to solve the problem I used a little flashlight to put a bit of catchlight on the pepper.  Not totally successful, in my estimation.  Anyway, the point was to illustrate picture styles.  This one is the "bright" style -- still doesn't actually capture the luminosity of the real thing.  If anybody has any suggestions about how to capture the almost unearthly luminosity, please let me know.  I need better problem solving skills.... ISO 400, f/32. 0.5 sec.

This image illustrates shape and repetition.  I find myself drawn to images with shapes that are actually made up of lots of smaller, repetitive shapes.  Here the Red Osier Dogwoods and the trees make up larger blocks of green and maroon.  The "X" made by the tree trunks didn't turn out as successfully as I had hoped -- perhaps because the left side of the "X" leans toward the left edge of the image.  I know I split the image in half horizontally, also disfavored, but the purpose of doing so was to balance the reflection in Elk Lake with the plants that were making the reflection.  ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/1000 sec.