freedom technique

That title should give you a clue that... I couldn't come up with a technique to consciously practice for May. My intention with photographs this month was actually to take a lot of them. I was successful at that! Below are my favorites for a variety of reasons....

This one might not be a well structured shot, but it is what I got as the moment presented itself: Mom blowing out the candles blazing for her 70th birthday celebration. I'd love to be more prepared for this type of shot - I wasn't conscious of my camera settings until it was too late!

Probably what I love most about this shot of Lily, a puppy I met at O'hare airport on a layover, has more to do with how sweet she was than any skill on my part. I was attempting to use as slow an ISO as I could and still do hand held camera work. We were inside under florescent lights - I got this with ISO 400 & f4.0. Believe me, I took many hand held's of Lily, plenty of which looked "airbrushed" like waterfalls!

Twilight riverside. Lamplights has just been lit and it created a wonderful opportunity to play with contrast.

Maple leaf funnel. Playing with close up work and framing fascinates me.

This one was more a an experiment in focusing, so many elements to play with: surface, depth, reflections. Used f4.5... a photographer told me that was the "sweet spot," if I wanted everything in focus. Actually he suggested a range of f4.5-5.6 for working with ISO 200, which was the speed of film used above.