Marilyn Botta Photography

Sunflower Field

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The Chicks that Click photography group went on a photo shoot to a sunflower field owned by one of the ladies. I tried out some of what we learned in our group: shoot in manual, choose F22, and focus 3/4 of the way in to get the entire image from front to the back in focus. The close up shots of the flowers were usually in Aperture Priority at a wide open F stop to blur the background. It was a good learning experience.

Sibley Mill

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We went to an old textile mill in Augusta, GA. It has been closed for many years but still has lots of charm and vestiges of what it was in it’s hay day.

Flowers in my Studio

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I have been experimenting with using studio lights to take pictures of flowers. Here are some Mother’s day flowers as well as some I bought. I like the effect.

Sunsets

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I was in the midst of an amazing sunset while I was in a  lighting class. I know I should’ve been focused on the class (and I was) but I was very distracted by the gorgeous sunset that was unfolding. It was a cloudy day and had just rained and, in my opinion, that is the absolute best time to get sunsets. When it is too overcast, it is hard to get a good sunset shot, but when the sky is full of roiling billowy white and gray puffy clouds, the colors of red, gold yellow, and orange mix in the clouds creating an amazing image. The first few were taken after a rain in, of all places, a parking lot. The next batch were taken at Brick Pond Park about 7:30 – 8 pm on a Saturday night. Beauty can be seen anywhere and a few of these were taken right in my neighborhood at sunset.

Birding

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A friend invited me to his house to shoot pictures of the many birds that frequent his front yard. I always wondered how he gets the super close up shots of these birds and the answer is that he hides. By that I mean that he has something called a Hunting Blind, which essentially is a small tent in his yard with a net in the front which is cut out to allow your long camera lens through. You must be extra quiet and not move too much. Basically just sit still and wait and wait and wait. To entice the birds to perch, he stocks a spot with lots of bird food. Eventually your patience pays off when these gorgeous winged creatures  perch to eat and, with your long lens, you get remarkably close up shots. I borrowed his long lens for this to test it out to see if I want to buy one for myself.

Peach Blossoms

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The peach blossoms are now blooming and soon those delectable sweet fruits will be available. So, one of the member of the Chicks that Click photo group invited us to her orchard to take photos of the gorgeous blossoms that are so very beautiful. What a treat it was to get shots of those lovely blooms that will be gone shortly.

Brick Pond in Winter

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Brick Pond park is so beautiful in the fall and I’ve gotten so many pictures of that time of the year. But, much to my surprise, it also has its own charm in the Winter. Here are several photos of Brick Pond in the Winter. It was a bit cloudy on the day I took these photos, which is better because you get the white fluffy clouds in the sky. It is prettier then if the sky were all blue.

Parrots

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Parrots are such beautiful birds. I happen to have two of them who literally own me. So, I decided to take some pictures upstairs in my studio of my beautiful parrots. They were very cooperative. I used a speed light, LED flashlight, shot into an umbrella. Cord attached to the stand with the speed light and to my camera hot shoe. I used a second umbrella on the other side with a reflector. No tripod was needed. I was pretty pleased with the results.

Columbia Zoo

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I took a trip to the Columbia Zoo to get photos of all these wonderful animals. I especially loved the super cute Koalas and Meerkats. The lions we gracious enough to pose for me. All in all it was a great day.[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”10″ gal_title=”Columbia Zoo”]

Fall Foliage at Brick Pond Park

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The Fall foliage has not been too brilliant this year. But it finally arrived, although not as good as last year, it was still nice nevertheless. Here are a few foliage pics taken at Brick Pond Park.

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