Shoot The Moon

It’s the first full moon of spring and the first properly exposed photo of a full moon since I bought my new camera.  Aren’t the clouds floating across the surface of the moon stunning?  What a beautiful evening it was!

The Remains of the Day

Stop.

Sit.

Breathe.

Before the day is gone…

Best of 2007

It seems that many of the photobloggers I read are putting out their “Top Ten” this morning so I thought I’d give it a shot.  I bought my Canon Powershot S3 IS back in January, getting me as close to a DSLR as I could afford at the time and it has definitely done its job at helping me take my images to the next level.  Then, in late summer, I bought a copy of Photoshop Elements 5, took an online course and bought the indespensible book, “Photoshop Elements: The Missing Manual” and that also helped me take another step forward by changing how I post-process my images.  By the end of the year I was adding actions and presets into the mix and now I’m just beginning to see all the different ways I can creatively take an image I see in my head and make it come out looking uniquely my own. 

This next year I am going to do everything I can to get my hands on the Canon 40D and a few prime lenses and continue to delve into learning Photoshop layers. 

Here, then, are my pick of my top ten images of 2007.  (To see my top 100 shots for 2007, head over to my Flickr page and view the slideshow!)  *Click on images to see the full size photographs.*

My favorite macro shot of all my flower images, this one just filled the frame with upclose detail.

My favorite butterfly image from the 200+ I shot at the Butterfly festival in Powell Gardens on an August afternoon.  I cannot wait to go again next year! 

This has to be my best cloud photo of the year.  It was used by Stanford University for their brochure announcing a new weather major at their school.

Gotta be my best sunrise image for 2007.  The golden tones just blew me away that morning and it’s luminosity shined through in this photograph.

My favorite plant photo of the year.  Love the bokeh on this one and the contrast between the soft leaf and the hard-as-nails thorns.

This has to be one of my best insect macros of the year.  I love the bokeh on this one as well as the detail of the tiny hairs along his legs. 

I hate snakes…but this one got me over my fear as he posed for my camera in the driveway of my home.  This is the first snake photo I’ve ever taken where I didn’t cringe when I first saw it. 

I’m a leaf girl…no doubt about it.  It was a three-way tie for my favorite leaf image this year but this one won, hands down.  The texture of the mud against the texture of the leaf sealed the deal as I found it lying in the parking lot of one of my nearby state parks.

This one is probably more sentimental than anything else.  I have access to squirrels 24/7 what with the 16 trees in my immediate backyard and this image really did it for me this fall.  I was so happy with his expression, the angle of the shot and the great bokeh in the background. 

My favorite black and white of the year, this was my second favorite leaf image of the year.  It was my first attempt at taking a color image and converting it to black and white using PSE and I was very happy how it turned out. 

And there they are…the ten best of 2007.  

Blaze of Glory

There’s more than one way to catch a rising sun.

Sunny Side Up!

Rise up and greet the day!

Fresh Start

There’s just something about a beautiful sunrise to give you the feeling of a fresh start on life.

Feeding the Fire

I’m a sucker for a sunset photo.  The colors, the intensity of the light, the way it all glows over the surface of the water…it just makes me happy.  What can I do but feed the fire?

Gold Finger

The author, Annie Dillard, once wrote that she had seen a tree that seemed to be lit from within. This photo, taken this past February, is as close to her description of that magical tree as I have managed to come.

Moon Glow

I took this last winter when I woke around midnight and found a heavy fog hanging in the air, diffusing the moon’s glow as it hung over the trees.