Over the weekend we went on our second photowalk with our friends Ron and Melody in the Taipei Flower Market. The theme of the photowalk was Macro photography. As per wikipedia: "Macro photography is close-up photography of usually very small objects. The classical definition is that the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject"
The Sphere
This Sunday saw us with our friends Ron and Melody going on a photowalk through the Taipei Flower market under the highway on Chienkuo South Road. The theme of the photowalk was Macro photography. As noted above, Macro photography is the art of taking close up pictures of objects where the image and the object are roughly the same size. It was an interesting learning curve to say the least and both our cameras have a Macro function which makes it easier to do. Well, my camera certainly did have some limitations and the images below, as per Ron, are not all Macro pictures but we tried and, most importantly, we all had fun and awesome day. All the pictures below were edited in the "ViewNX 2" suite that came with Queenie's Nikon P7000. I was using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3.
The pictures below are taken by me. Queenie will post her pictures when she has some time.
The laughing Buddha face was a close up of a wooden sculpture. The picture is cropped to show just the eyes, nose and mouth. I liked the definition in the lines on the wood and also the fullness of the face in the frame. I think it could have been cropped better as I don't like the dark patch in the top left hand corner.
Wooden Scultpture of Buddha
The frogs below are ceramic and normally used as decorative items on indoor water features. The were positioned above a small water fountain and seemed to make a nice picture.
Balancing Frogs
The picture below is a close up of the bottom of a water bottle held up agains the light. The picture is cropped and the original wasn't too bad either. I did modify the birghtness, contrast & color on this picture slightly and I think it came out ok.
Bottom of a Plastic Bottle
I liked these cherries, and yes they were plastic. Was trying to get in as close as possible but as you can see, the cherry in the foreground is slightly blurred.
Plastic Cherries
This was just a cute ceramic sculpture. I think the picture says it all. Once again I got as close as possible but not sure it came out the way I wanted it too. Still liked the picture and the way it came out though.
Sunflower Child
The close up of the bird I also liked. I did enhance color and contrast on the picture but once again it came out a bit blurred, which is the challenge of identifying how close I can actually get to an object with my lens and understanding how to use the light.
Bird on a Stand
The trinkets shown in the image below are about the same size as the trinkets themselves (or close to it) so I suppose in that sense it would be a macro picture (although I may be corrected). Once again color, contrast and brightness have all been enhanced in this picture, as well as sharpness.
Trinkets
The "flower organs" picture below is a heavily cropped picture. The actual picture included the entire flower and the some of the background leaves. I cropped all that out just to get a picture of the inside of the flower and also did some additional enhancements.
The Heart of a Flower
More trinkets on sale. These are actually pretty cheap plastic items but I liked the color contrast between the gold extrerior and the red interior.
Trinkets
I just liked the way the stem here is framed by the leaf and also the soft green tinges.
Nature Uncut
This is possibly my favorit picture of the day. Very little modifications were made on this picture. I love the symmetry of the leaves and the rich color of the leaves.
Leaves in a Circle
This picture at first I didn't like. It seems a bit blurred but the lines on the petal are fairly sharpe and the light that comes through the petals of the flower helped make it better in my mind. I did enhance the brightness of the image a bit and I think it makes it look a little better.
Light through a Flower
Just a basic close up of some small fruit growing on a tree. I did enhance the sharpness, the color and the brightness in this one.
Fruit on a Tree
All in all it was a pretty awesome day. Both Queenie and I enjoyed it and we certainly learned a few things. So thanks again Ron for taking the time to show us.
