Jewelled...

... and scarily Autumnal

[finished version on my [url=http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1356376]Kinda Horrigans[/url] journal]

I had a bit of a 'that'll do' moment with my photography today... so this is taken with a Lensbaby Composer, f/5.6 aperture ring with a +4 macro.

Didn't even both editing the RAW file. Opened it in Photoshop and adjusted just a couple of things. Used a levels adjustment layer to pop the contrast slightly - you just bring in the arrows at both ends to where the curve begins. Then, flattened. Duplicated the background layer, and used the high pass filter set to 10 pixels and blend mode of overlay to sharpen the berry. Then... flattened and saved.

Oh, and if you're wondering what a Lensbaby Composer is - it's a type of lens which is manual and flexible - using a kind of bellows to move it about. You also select the aperture size yourself by dropping in rings of different size and once you've focused it, you can move the bellows bit to give a blur to everything other than the 'sweet spot' in focus. It's great for creative photography - it's basic, it's fun, it's kinda unpredictable - but it'll bring home to you what aperture size is like nothing else!

Tip of the Day:
This is on my list of 'things to try one day' - daytime long exposure photography - so this little link which gives some examples and explains the basics is a note to myself to have a go some time!