Blur

Ever since I started to take photos with a digital camera I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to get sharp images. It's a special challenge to do this digitally because the smallest unit of color digitally is a pixel whereas with film, the smallest unit is a molecule of whatever photosensitive chemical is used on the film. And, while a pixel is pretty small, a molecule allows for much finer detail. But along with this quest for increased sharpness I have grown aware of the beauty, variety and uses of blur and now, in addition to my ongoing search for increased sharpness, I also try to gain more control over blur. Today's photos are results of some recent attempts to produce a very shallow depth of field (lots of blur) by shooting with a wide aperture (between f1.4 and f4) and using a short extension tube. My underlying goal here was to isolate the subject of the photo by having everything else blurry. My favorite kind of blur is very smooth and creamy as in the photo above. But I also like the more patterned blur as in the photo below. Either, however, serves to isolate the subject of the photo and draw attention to it. The more proper photographic term for the out-of-focus areas of a photo is bokeh and Wikipedia has a good article on it.

Above is a species of Usnea lichen, probably Usnea filipendula. Below is the remains of a seed cluster from English Ivy (Hedera helix).

Celadon in Nature

I took the photo above because the mushroom blooming here among the lichen is the smallest I've ever seen. This photo was taken using a 50mm lens and an extension tube, which gives considerable magnification. The cap of this mushroom is about the size of the head of a pin. Below are some old friends amongst the lichen family. They are probably Pixie Cup or False Pixie Cup (Cladonia chlorophaea). Click here to visit a good page on some common lichens and mosses. One of many reasons I love lichens is their wonderful and unusual colors. Looking at today's (and yesterday's) photos reminded me suddenly of that subtle, pale green celadon glaze found on ancient chinese porcelain. Now I know why that color looks so natural and true.

1,000

Today's post of a photo of some lichen is the one-thousandth daily post I have made on this blog. While it's a purely arbitrary milestone, it seems like an appropriate time to re-define and re-focus Victoria Daily Photo. There are still many aspects of life in Victoria I have not touched here. For example, individuals (except for buskers) have largely been absent from this blog. So I would like to begin to feature some of the normal residents of the city. Some of you may visit some of the other City Daily Photo blogs (link on the right). It is interesting to see how the different city blogs deal with the population of their cities. Some cities are apparently devoid of residents. The photographers clearly wait to click the shutter until the scene is empty. Other city blogs are full of street photography and candid shots of the citizens. Some others are very direct and here I will recommend (as an example) Steffe's blog, Photos from Haninge. All his posts and photos are interesting but the direct way he approaches people, interviews them and photographs them is an inspiration (and a challenge) for me. Click here to see a recent example of this. There are some other changes coming that I hope will keep this blog fresh for me as well as for you.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who visits here regularly. Photography is interesting to me but mostly as a means of communication. It is important to me that people visit this blog and look at these photos. I hope it is not too metaphysical to say that in some sense, these photos do not exist until others look at them. I really appreciate the time that visitors spend here and any comments that are made. I hope to keep it interesting enough to bring you back for the next 1,000 posts.

Electric Lichen

I went out this morning when it was still dark, hoping to catch some nice color with sunrise for some further experiments with waves and water. When it got light, however, there was a thick blanket of cloud so decided to focus down on some of the smaller plants I pass every day. Here is a lichen that caught my attention by its brilliant yellow color. It seems to be one of those plants that is thriving in this cold, wet weather

Bouquet for Lichen Lovers

We live in a world defined by the limitations of our sense organs. Yet if we could focus down to two or three times the resolution of our normal eyesight, what worlds of strange and extraordinary beauty we could discover. I can't afford a true macro lens so I have lately been experimenting with a reversed 50 mm prime lens that provides considerable magnification and the photo above is a first experiment. It is Victoria but a very small part of Victoria, located in my back yard, in a little grove of lichen.