Photo Project | Water + Oil = Fun Photos

May has turned into the month of macro photography! I've been enjoying experimenting with it, and I still have a handful of macro photo projects on my list, so I expect my macro trend will continue for a little while longer.

I'm still getting the hang of my lens, plus I have limited experience with macro photography in general, so it seems like I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve.  However, I know it takes time and practice to improve, and I can tell it's getting a little easier with each sucessive attempt.

I have been struggling to get my images in tack-sharp focus, which is apparant in many of today's photos. Of course, I'm hand holding the camera instead of using my tripod (have I mentioned how much I despise using a tripod?), so that's probably the majority of my problem. I suppose I need to just bite the bullet and start using it instead of complaining about out of focus images, huh?

I really had a lot of fun taking and editng these photos.  I just love the bold, bright colors in many of them.  I had a hard time narrowing down my favorites for this post, so I went a bit overboard.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

These next two are favorites.  I just love the in focus area inside the oil bubbles...

I had to include these next two for my hubby, since orange is his favorite color...

If these images look vaguely familiar to anyone, it might be because I took similar ones a few years ago when I was experimenting with a macro lens I had rented.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

A Day at the Office

I took my camera and macro lens into my office last week to take some close ups of my equipment. (I am an optometrist, for anyone who doesn't know.) Then I played around with adding a fun contrast-y black and white edit to the images, and I'm quite pleased with the results. I think these images are a fun and different representation of what I spend most of my life doing.

I'm not sure there's much to say about the individual images, so I'll let them speak for themselves:

I've really enjoyed getting back behind the camera and I have been shooting a ton! I even have several sets of photos stacked up waiting to be edited. I have to admit that I'm really enjoying the freedom to shoot whatever I want, whenever I want, and editing the images in whatever order I please. It's kind of fun shooting just for myself (and my dedicated fans and readers, of course! Thank you to everyone who has returned to following me now that I'm back. I appreciate all of you so much!)

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Self-Portrait | May 2017

If you haven’t been by the blog since I up and vanished a few years ago, let me catch you up. Here’s what I’ve been up to recently:

• I published two old self-portraits posts from spring 2015 that were just hanging around waiting to be posted. I have no idea why I never published them back then, except to say that I was getting burned out and when life threw me some crazy curve balls I needed to turn my attention elsewhere for a while. I think (knock on wood) that things have settled down and I’m ready to return to some of those things I put on the back burners. If you want to check out those past posts they can be found here and here.
• I photographed a maternity session for my friend Amanda, (who may need her own blog label soon, as she’s been in front of my camera so many times!). I really enjoyed taking her photos and catching up with her. Not to mention that I owe her a huge thank-you for getting me back behind my camera and reminding me just how much I enjoy shooting. If she hadn’t asked me to do her maternity session, I’m sure I sill wouldn’t be back. Her session really is quite lovely, and Amanda is one gorgeous mama-to-be. Her photos can be found here, if you’d like to check them out.
• I announced that I was going to return to doing some shooting and blogging, and I created an Instagram account for my photography. As of right now that is where I’ve been posting some of my images along with links to the corresponding posts here on the blog.  I've still made no decision regarding if I am going to revisit my FB photography page or not, but for now it's still hanging out and I have posted a few things to it since returning.
• I took some new portraits of all of my fur babies. They are rather adorable, (but I’m not biased or anything). Zoe and Lexi’s can be found here, and Daisy and Gatsby’s can be found here.
• I also began experimenting with macro photography. So far I’ve posted some images I took of some scorpions using a black light, which can be found here, and some images I took of the landscaping in our yard, which can be found here. I’ve also taken a few other sets of macro images that I’m working on editing, so stay tuned for those soon.
• AND, I also managed to completely mess up my blog when I was viewing an alternative layout I was considering, so I’ve set it to this basic layout until I find the time to go in an reset all of the customizations again. Sigh. Please ignore my mess if you happen to pop over halfway through the edits.

Honestly, I’m still not sure where I’m headed with my photography. I’m hoping that my experimenting will lead to an area of photography that feels right to me. I’m hoping something will eventually just click and I’ll find a new photography home. In the mean time, I’m just going to keep experimenting and working my way through the lists of things I’ve been meaning to try but never found the time to do in the past.

I don’t know where my self-portrait series is headed, either. I’m not sure if I’m going to resume it as a monthly feature on the blog or not. In many ways I miss taking them, and I regret giving them up. At the same time, it was starting to feel like a burden doing them every month after so long. Only time will tell I suppose. For now, I’m just happy to be back behind the camera. It feels like coming back home after a long (but much needed) vacation. I’m going to try to let that feeling be my guide as I venture back in, and that feeling had me wanting to do a self-portrait this month. So that is exactly what I did...

Since photography has been occupying almost all of my time this month, I decided it was only fitting to include a photo of me shooting as May’s self-portrait. I took this image while I was taking some of the macro shots that I’m still working on editing. I was using a lighted make-up mirror as my light source and opted to focus in on my reflection for my photo.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes. 
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

A Walk Around the Yard

As I begin experimenting with other types of photography I feel like I'm a newbie again who has no clue what I am doing! I see these gorgeous macro shots or stunning landscapes that other photographers create, and then I see how blah and boring mine are in comparison and realize I have a long way to go to get good at something other than portraits. That's the crazy thing about photography, in my opinion. Someone can be amazing at one type of photography and completely suck at another.

I recently looked back through the first set of portraits I ever took. At the time I thought they were pretty good, but now I realize how awful they really were in comparison to what I can do now. I just keep reminding myself with tons (and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons) of reading, learning, and practicing I eventually got decent at portraits. The same thing will happen with other types of photography if I stick with it.

While my first attempts at portraits are buried in my archives, where no one will ever them but me, I've decided to share my early attempts at other types of photography with my readers. (Aren't you lucky?!)  So, here are some macro shots I recently took of the bushes, trees, and flowers in my yard:

I have no ideas for what to photograph next, which seems to be a common problem for me.  If anyone has any ideas or suggestions send them my way! Otherwise, I think it's time to start researching some photo prompts to inspire me.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter

© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC