Recently, I’ve been attempting to see patterns and light before taking a black and white image, and I seem to be seeing them everywhere we go lately. Sitting at a stoplight, driving down the road, walking down the street. It’s everywhere!
This week’s Monochrome Madness entry was taken in the early evening when the sun was lower in the sky. The light was beautiful as it danced off the leaves and I love how my 300mm lens achieved that nice bokeh.
The entire challenge can be found here on Leanne Cole’s Site “Monochrome Madness” so please check it out. It should be up later today. Hope to see you all there commenting away!
Dance of Light
Laura Macky Photography 
June 3, 2014 at 5:54 am
And there I am, back in the Japanese Tea Garden reading Haiku, sipping jasmine tea. I love that your photos take us places!
June 3, 2014 at 5:59 am
I’m so glad you like to come along for the ride! 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 5:54 am
Gorgeous image Laura, Simple but perfect. The afternoon sun gives a nice golden light which I love, I am sure this shot looks equally stunning in color. The bokeh really works well, its something I have not yet tried. 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 6:00 am
Thank you! The color was pretty too actually. 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 9:16 am
Bokeh photography is something that I am interested in and want to get more practice at doing. I found an excellent eBook that the author does a good job at explaining the processes of getting some good photos with bokeh. Definitely worth it if you want to get into that.
http://christopherodonnellphotography.com/art-of-bokeh-guide-shallow-depths-landscape-photography/
June 3, 2014 at 9:19 am
Thanks for the link…I’ll check it out. 🙂
June 4, 2014 at 12:15 am
Cool, Thanks Justin, I will check it out 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 5:58 am
Funny how photography changes the way you see the world around you. Light, shadow and everything in between. Good work!
June 3, 2014 at 7:06 am
Thank you Robert! It sure does! Thank you. 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 6:00 am
I really like this Laura! I especially like how you brought out the contrast between the light in the leaves and the background. Makes them really stand out. Brilliant work 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 7:06 am
Thank you Dan! I appreciate it!
June 3, 2014 at 6:09 am
Beautiful
June 3, 2014 at 7:06 am
ty 😀
June 3, 2014 at 6:12 am
Wonderful, perfect shadow highlights.
June 3, 2014 at 7:06 am
Thank you Victor. I’m liking B&W.
June 3, 2014 at 6:13 am
Nice work.
June 3, 2014 at 7:06 am
Thank you!
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June 3, 2014 at 7:07 am
You have the feel of a macro shot with all the nice compression of a telephoto. I love the Bokeh in this too. I can imagine it sparkling in the background as you framed this photograph.
June 3, 2014 at 7:13 am
Thank you Rich. It was indeed sparkling. I do love that lens!
June 3, 2014 at 7:10 am
What a magnificent photo… great capture…
June 3, 2014 at 7:14 am
Thank you so much 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 7:10 am
Gorgeous Laura! I love taking photographs of this subject. Light dancing off and through leaves, so beautiful. I love the beautiful circles of light in the background of your image too. So lovely.
June 3, 2014 at 7:14 am
Thank you so much Carrie! I love it when I get the bokeh too. My favorite part!
June 3, 2014 at 7:14 am
You are a light capturer! Very nice!
June 3, 2014 at 7:16 am
hahaha I love that! Light Capturer!! Thank you!
June 3, 2014 at 9:10 am
Looks great, the light shines, and the boleh in background looks good in B&W
June 3, 2014 at 9:12 am
Thank you Ritva 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 9:24 am
To echo what other’s have said, I bet this looked nice in color as well. I hope you decide to post the color version at some point.
I know what you mean about when you start to practice at seeing the photo before you decide to capture it. I’ve been following Zach Arias’s photo assignments that are on his website at dedpxl.com. It really gets you thinking about the different elements in the photo. I have learned to look for lines, repetitive shapes, and also differences in contrast for monochrome images. I notice now as I drive or am walking somewhere, even around the office building, that I see a lot of photo opportunities that I would have never noticed just months ago. I think it is a way of opening your artistic eye to be able to visualize a photo before even attempting to take a shot. It also helps with lowering the amount of photos you need to sift through on the computer.
I also just submitted my first photo for the monochrome madness and hope to have one to submit each week. It really is an inspiration.
June 3, 2014 at 9:26 am
Great! I’m glad you submitted for MMC. I’m loving the challenge too for the very reasons you mentioned. The color one…perhaps I will post that one next. I have a few in the queue. 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 10:14 am
I think the first step in photography is learning how to use the tools. Some say that the first 10,000 photos you take are throw away as they are learning pieces. I find this saying interesting as when I first really got into photography last January, I took about 10,000 photos before I started to really understand what I was looking for when I went out to photograph. I did a lot of processing, had a lot of disappointment, and just wanted to give up at times as I didn’t know how to get what I wanted with the tools. Through patience and a lot of learning I have finally gotten much better, but still have much to learn. I am now to the point that the photography 101 lessons aren’t helping much anymore so I am trying to learn more of the advanced things they only teach in photography school at the higher levels. It’s hard to find that information on the web but I have a few books in my Amazon shopping cart that are recommendations from various people in forums and what not. I’m hoping to at one point purchase them as I have the time to get into it more. It seems there are a lot between paintings and photographs that are very similar as far as the elements that make them.
A couple things I want to learn how to work with and practice at are finding specific shapes that work with each other and colors that complement each other. It’s one thing to know this and another to actually see it on the fly like it’s natural. I started another blog shortly after my main one to talk more about photography but have a hard time trying to find the time to keep up with it so it hasn’t really gotten anywhere. It would be nice to share with others what I envision from start to finish for some of my photos though.
June 3, 2014 at 10:19 am
I was even looking at complimentary colors like blue and yellow for instance. Honestly, I don’t know that much about the rules other than basics like golden ratios, and not to produce halos anymore in my HDRs. It’d be great to have a blog to follow that gives more advanced info. Not that I’m advanced lol. Heck, I’m not sure where I am in the scheme of things but I do know I’m improving ever so slowly. Most of what I do is just based on my own eye. Let me know if you ever get that blog going regularly….I’d love to follow it.
June 3, 2014 at 10:28 am
I have a couple posts on there that may contain some helpful information. http://jtaveryphotographyblog.wordpress.com/. I considering integrating some how to or informational posts in with my photo posts rather than having a different blog. I think it may be easier. I also started a health blog as I am trying to improve my health due to some recent events. I think 3 blogs is way too many with barely having enough time to keep up with 1, but there’s so much information I wish I could share with others to help.
June 3, 2014 at 10:30 am
That link in there that you mentioned about the assignments looks interesting. I followed the blog btw. I also have another blog that I abandoned. It was just too much with google+, facebook and here. I mean, I have to LIVE once in awhile lol! Thanks much for all this. I appreciate it.
June 3, 2014 at 10:42 am
Thanks. And yes it is interesting. Although I have opinions on how Zack Arias judges landscape and nature photography vs. portraits, I think it is a great set of assignments as it helps us open our eyes. But he is purely a portrait photographer and is good at what he does, just not so much at judging the types of photos he doesn’t do.
June 3, 2014 at 11:11 am
omg i’m cracking up. Zack says “get the hell out of your archives” LMAO!!!!!!! I can’t stop laughing. How true is that! I’ve actually stopped doing that lately and am getting out more lol.
June 3, 2014 at 12:56 pm
I’ve never had that problem yet. There are photos that I want to go back and redo but am always wanting to work with new photos as it is not just the processing I want to work on, but actually taking better photos as well. If you watch the critiques he does on the assignments it’s kind of funny because he gives them grades and anything with exif data that shows the photo was taken in the past, it gets an ‘F’. Even if it was a great photo. But that’s part of the assignment is to get better in the field, not to be able to spot these things in old photos.
June 3, 2014 at 1:20 pm
LOL…that’s ruthless.
June 4, 2014 at 10:28 am
Just noticed that Zack posted the next assignment…Shadows. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to partake in this assignment as I don’t remember shooting anything with the primary subject as shadows and as I’m looking around, it is a very difficult assignment as well as shadows aren’t usually something I’m accustomed to looking for when shooting photos.
June 3, 2014 at 9:29 am
Reblogged this on Click And Color.
June 3, 2014 at 9:35 am
Thank you for the generous reblog. I really appreciate it! 😀
June 3, 2014 at 9:31 am
Beautiful in its simplicity, Laura! It’s amazing what happens when we stop to look at and appreciate the everyday in a different light.
June 3, 2014 at 9:36 am
Thank you…I love looking for the light now. You’re right…the little things become so much more important.
June 3, 2014 at 10:37 am
A cascade of leaves, beautifully backlit…..nice capture Laura
June 3, 2014 at 10:49 am
Thank you Mark, I appreciate it 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 11:35 am
beautiful Laura, you’ve captured the magic!! and yes great bokeh!
June 3, 2014 at 11:41 am
Thank you so much! Hmmm…I’m having deja vu! 😉
June 3, 2014 at 11:37 am
I like the shape and form of the leaves as well as the delicate details you can see highlighted by the light shining through them. THe Bokeh creates a nice separation and is not too distracting leaving the focus on the leaves. It is a nice shot. Can’t wait for Leanne’s blog post and see the other entries.
June 3, 2014 at 11:42 am
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. I’m excited too! I love viewing them. 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 12:25 pm
I like how you are open to learning new methods and new possibilities. Your photos are truly encouraging just from a picture perspective, but they have so much “story” behind them too.
June 4, 2014 at 9:32 pm
Thank you Beth. To think I can convey a story or move someone is the highest compliment I could receive! 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 12:28 pm
Beautiful! Love the glorious bokeh. Perfect in black and white too.
June 3, 2014 at 1:19 pm
Thank you so much Gracie 🙂
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June 3, 2014 at 3:42 pm
This challenge is getting huge! I can’t believe all the entries and how diverse they are. I’m consistently inspired from this challenge and everyone’s talent. And Leanne….I know how busy you are and you are a real GEM for doing this! Thank you!!!!
June 3, 2014 at 3:03 pm
Another great entry to the challenge Laura. It feels like spring time.
June 3, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Happy dance! Thank you 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 3:12 pm
Just gorgeous Laura 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 3:44 pm
Thank you Sue. I just noticed Leanne put the challenge up and it’s huge! I’m going to go be amazed now. 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 3:53 pm
Gosh, Laura, everyone has used all the good words already, pertaining to your photo. 😛 It’s quite alovely photo, you know? 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 4:06 pm
Aww thank you Robert! I appreciate you saying so! Seriously. 🙂 I’m in the challenge now checking out all the awesome images!!!
June 3, 2014 at 5:37 pm
It is a really gorgeous shot Laura, you really caught the light with it.
June 3, 2014 at 5:40 pm
Thank you Leanne 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 8:17 pm
Light, leafy and lovely! 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Love the alliteration ! Thank you 🙂
June 3, 2014 at 8:59 pm
I love the bokeh on this photo so much! Great photo!
June 3, 2014 at 9:03 pm
Thank you! I’m glad you like it. I do too 🙂
June 4, 2014 at 5:17 am
Thank you for your part in the MMC. I so look forward to each week’s gallery and the diverse work that is presented. Thank you for sharing your beautiful leaf image. Totally dig the leaf on leaf shadow effect. Keep watching and shoot leaves – sometimes you get a small insect shadow in there also – like a bonus. 🙂 Thank you for your support and participation in making our WP community of photographers a welcoming and exciting place to rest and have visual feasts.
June 4, 2014 at 6:32 am
Why thank you Dawn. I’m glad you liked the leaf image. Good point about a possible insect! I am really loving WP and I love seeing others’ photos because it helps me get better. Thank you again for your wonderful comment!
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June 4, 2014 at 12:23 pm
I like this, it’s simple, but still playful on lights & shadows. I like the bokeh too.
June 4, 2014 at 9:34 pm
Thank you! I’m sorry this is delayed. I thought I responded earlier.
June 4, 2014 at 2:58 pm
This is absolutely beautiful! I love the dance of light and shadow. For some reason your blogs do not show up in my “freshly pressed” section even though I follow you. Bummer….I need to make an effort to get over here more often…love your work!
June 4, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Thank you so much for liking and reblogging! I’m not sure what those things mean believe it or not. 😦
June 4, 2014 at 2:58 pm
Reblogged this on B.E.S.T. Arts Gallery and commented:
Gorgeous work!
June 5, 2014 at 11:17 am
For some reason, it reminds me of waiting for fall. Excellent shot!
June 5, 2014 at 12:13 pm
Hmm it kinda does except I know how summery it is here right now.
June 8, 2014 at 6:44 pm
This is such a great picture Laura: the shadows, the light, the balance. That early morning or early evening light is absolutely the best. Lovely 🙂
June 8, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Much appreciated Andrew :))
June 8, 2014 at 10:22 pm
My pleasure this time 🙂
June 9, 2014 at 6:32 am
😀