macro photography

a moment in reflections

Words written within ancient history seem to be a timeless knitting of souls as they flow through time.

Fujifilm X-T4: f/8 1/250 s 60 mm 640 ISO

I imagine poets of old listening to how their translated words resonate today and then chuckle at words defining lives unknown. Oh…unheard whisperings of ancients.

XDrive Photo Lesson – 12 – Shooting in Raw

For this xdrive photo lesson Raj introduces the reader to raw photography as well as explores the advantages and disadvantages of setting the camera to raw.

Some of the disadvantages of using raw are:

  1. size of files and required storage space
  2. requires editing
  3. sluggish burst mode
  4. software required to process files and convert to jpg
  5. sharing images while traveling

On the positive side, raw images allow the photographer to:

  1. recover areas in the image that may be over or under exposed.
  2. easily adjust white balance.
  3. make use of high-end image editing software
  4. ensure that original raw images are not destroyed during the editing process.

Nikon D750   f/7.1   1/400s   35 mm   ISO 400

EmptyName 5

sample of raw image

rawadjusweb2a

raw adjusted image

softwareeditweb

edited image in Nik’s Color Effects

The second set of images were created using:

Nikon D750   f/6.3   1/6s   40 mm   ISO 400

rawtojpgweb2

sample of raw image

rawadjweb2

raw adjusted image

EmptyName-203_HDR

3 raw images edited using Nik’s HDR software

xdrive photo lession – 8 – close up/macros

RAJ’s photo lesson about close ups and macros, encouraged me to create images with my camera set to manual focus, “Remember, only you know the story you are trying to tell, not the camera!”

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Nikon D750  f/6.3 40mm  1/4s  100 ISO

This initial exploration with manual focus brought to mind the summer between the 4th and 5th grade, when I put on my first pair of glasses (Cat Eyes). I can still recall the visual experience of seeing for the first time individualized leaves on trees and multiple shapes and colors of gravel stone…the world, sharpened and focused, was a moment of awe.  Corrective lenses was a means of normalization; yet, there are no words to describe and there are no photographs that can replicate the amazing bokeh of Christmas lights created by astigmatism and myopia.

Nikon D750  f/5  40mm  0.2s  100 ISO

The ease of using auto focus–a reliance upon technology–to create images that satisfy a self-imposed standard has me question if the advancements in genetic, genomic, and reproductive technologies, identified by a UC Berkeley sociologist Troy Duster as a back door to eugenics, to lessen human suffering will also nudge us into a world absent of human uniqueness.