Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: cross processing

  • Heart of Rebellion

    Heart of Rebellion

    100mm 1:1 square format macro photo of two bleeding heart flowers hanging back-to-back.
    Heart of Rebellion — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/200

    4 May 2025. May the Fourth. Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you. Etc. Etc. Etc.

    Chat, anyone out there watching Andor season two? Two arcs deep—six episodes in total—and this political thriller keeps me on edge. Unsettling in the best way possible, it’s a welcome, if not uncomfortable, treat to be dropped into the early world of the rebellion olds like me grew up on with a story centered around—and explicitly intended for—olds like me. Andor picks at the raw under belly of the nascent rebellion’s leadership, exploring the insidious loss of humanity that corrodes slow and sure in the darkest corners of dying souls. A cause may be righteous; its effect on its people is not. And yet some fights must be fought—irrespective of the costs.

    Photo details

    • Photographed: 3 May 2025
    • Lighting: Late afternoon
    • Weather: Partly cloudy
    • Location: Ocean Acres, New Jersey
    • Time: ~1835
    • Tripod: No
    • Exposure: One at 1/200

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    Hey ChatGPT

    Riffing on the theme of the day, the thing that was hiding in the bleeding heart’s shape slapped me right in the face. The Rebel Alliance starbird is made to fit tattooed onto this flower. Brain gears begin to churn—let me see what ChatGPT can do. My suggestions proceeded as follows:

    Me: Yo chat, happy Sunday. If I send you a jpg of a bleeding heart can you embed the Star Wars rebellion logo inside the heart-shaped flower?

    ChatGPT: Yo! Happy Sunday to you too. (Smiling sun emoji.) Yeah absolutely — send over the JPG of the bleeding heart flower, and I’ll embed the Star Wars rebellion logo.

    Me: Uploads above photo

    ChatGPT: Shares first image

    Me: Now try it with the logo inverted

    ChatGPT: Second image, which is the same as the first image

    Me: Abandoning the inverted starbird idea: Create the logo in the street art style of Sabine Wren

    ChatGPT: Third image

    Me: Nice job recreating the goated Sabine Wren. Now, can you have the spray paint logo follow the contours of the flower?

    ChatGPT: Final result below

    ChatGPT aided creation. AI added a Sabine Wren inspired Rebel Alliance starbird superimposed on a 100mm macro Greg Molyneux photograph of bleeding heart flowers.
  • Hi, Biscus

    Hi, Biscus

    100mm macro photograph of a dark purple hibiscus stamen and pistils. Low key cross processing and buttery bokeh lend an air of mood to the tone of the image.
    Hi, Biscus — 100mm | ISO 100 | f/3.5 | EXP 1/200

    It is 31 December and I am out of days. It looks like this will be the last backlog photograph I get to post in 2023. So let’s roll back to 5 September and my backyard hibiscus. Not a ton of floral macro work this year, so it feels good to close out the year with this low key, cross process shot.

    2024 is mere hours away. Let’s get after it. Be excellent to each other.

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  • The Way of Walking Alone

    The Way of Walking Alone

    100mm macro photo of a dutiful bumblebee collecting pollen atop a fresh daisy blossom. The image is cross processed to give it a more moody tone.
    The Way of Walking Alone — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/1000

    Or The Way of Self-Reliance (Dokkōdō).

    I’ve started listening William Scott Wilson’s translation of Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings on Audible. As something of a budding Japanophile, and a person long into all things history, the study of The Way and Samurai culture rings true to my soul as a monk’s bell meditatively struck in morning. In the forward, Wilson translates the final lesson handed down from Mushashi to his disciples: 21 precepts outlining The Way of Walking Alone. The teachings of Japan’s sword-saint are open to us all, and I thought I’d share a bit here.

    • Do not turn your back on the various Ways of this world.
    • Do not scheme for physical pleasure.
    • Do not intend to rely on anything.
    • Consider yourself lightly; consider the world deeply.
    • Do not ever think in acquisitive terms.
    • Do not regret things about your own personal life.
    • Do not envy another’s good or evil.
    • Do not lament parting on any road whatsoever.
    • Do not complain or feel bitterly about yourself or others.
    • Have no heart for approaching the path of love.
    • Do not have preferences.
    • Do not harbor hopes for your own personal home.
    • Do not have a liking for delicious food for yourself.
    • Do not carry antiques handed down from generation to generation.
    • Do not fast so that it affects you physically.
    • While it’s different with military equipment, do not be fond of material things.
    • While on the Way, do not begrudge death.
    • Do not be intent on possessing valuables or a fief in old age.
    • Respect the gods and Buddhas, but do not depend on them.
    • Though you give up your life, do not give up your honor.
    • Never depart from the Way of the Martial Arts.

    Second Day of the Fifth Month, Second Year of Shoho [1645]
    —Shinmen Musashi

    Shout-out to Digital Dao for providing the online text as I did not transcribe this from the audio text.

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  • The April Fool

    The April Fool

    Moody 35mm photo of a yellow daffodil blossom shot wide open with a bokeh rich shallow depth of field.
    The April Fool — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/320

    The April Fool tramples his path
    Running roughshod through this world
    Joyous conceit
    Close-minded and haughtily assured
    Gilded, unperturbed

    Dazzled masses froth over such trappings
    The success, the power, the sprawling paper card manse propped up on the hill
    How do I get mine?
    Follow the April Fool
    For he knows not he knows nothing

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  • Dahlia Dreams

    Dahlia Dreams

    100mm macro photograph of a pink dahlia blossom with soft focus and smooth bokeh creating a dreamy look.
    Dahlia Dreams — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/125

    Serving up a soft focus dahlia on a Friday afternoon. Smooth and inviting this flower grows to soothe. When viewed through a macro lens we come close to the tiny tubular petals emblematic of the dahlia. These petals are numerous as they are fascinating. There must be 50 our more making up each full flower. This late season dahlia came to me by way of another splendid Eastlin Floral Design bouquet. As ever, Erin expertly plies her craft.

    I am going to miss photographing flowers. As we pivot to autumn the opportunities grow fewer. As is the way of things. As I reflect back on this years floral work, I am satisfied with some of the photographs I have made. I have said it before and will again, were it not for flower macros I would never have learned to handle myself with a camera. The broad, sweeping landscapes would have never come to be. It is good to stick to roots that bear fruit, and I am happy to stick with my floral friends. Looking forward to honoring you again next year.

    My heart grows a little bit softer remembering the inexplicable tragedy that struck 19 years ago today. May we all find a little more ease in troubled times.

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  • Lilium Inter Spinas

    Lilium Inter Spinas

    100mm macro photograph of an unidentified yellow lily. 6 stamen with prominent anthers circle about the flower in an even pattern, blended by smooth bokeh.
    Lilium Inter Spinas — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/400

    The lily among the thorns. As it is in Latin it is in life. Beauty bounded in time. The glove of power sleeved in subtlety. The self-governed restraint necessary for functioning freedom. Dualities of life shaded in paradox. Polarities bring balance. Gifting equilibrium to produce a harmonious stasis. Yet there is discord. An episodic if unpredictable dissonance that plays in temporary favor to tip the scales. Here there is emotion, often times uncomfortable and burdensome. It is here we are watered. It is here we learn to grow. I caution you yet, resolve not to reduce everything to a binary—it will prove a crutch. For life is seldom so simple.

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  • Green Sight

    Green Sight

    35mm square format photo of a lilac blossom. Shot wide open at f/1.4, it features soft focus and smooth bokeh, cross processed to a green hue.
    Green Sight — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/6400

    Were I to see into the future would I make this photograph?

    Would we do anything were we to see it beforehand? More so, would we have in our possession the power to stop ourselves? When and where would we even want to?

    Does our seeing a thing stop us from tracking it? Does our knowing a thing irrevocably change its course? Does its future sprout a new one?

    How can we know when our future is here? When the heart lifts and the gifts are easy, and you well know a place you’d swear you knew before.

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  • Home Again

    Home Again

    100mm macro photo of six pink hyacinth blossoms on a single plant. The image is cross processed and features soft focus and bokeh.
    Home Again — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/100

    No one needs me to explain how COVID-19 has left us homebound and siloed throughout much of 2020. Whether in isolation like me or hunkered down others, we’re riding things out void of the communal comings and goings we took for granted. Who would have thought sitting in cafe sipping on a fresh cuppa would no longer be a thing? Yet here we are. Chastened and changed, and I sincerely hope for the better.

    All this time home has brought with it both new and familiar things. Each appreciated in their own special way. The principle return to past glory is coming in the form of macro photography. I’ve discussed here before how formative macro photography was to learning The Way of the Camera back in 2012. I unloaded thousands—tens of thousands of exposures on the plants and flowers hanging about my yard. Sure hope they signed those consent forms. Anyway…

    All this time at the 2020 homestead is reconnecting me to my roots and my local plot of earth. I’ve lived in this home since July 1993 (bought it off my parents in 2009), and I am back exploring every inch of the property. If for no other reason than my own sanity. I use the term property loosely as it’s not a big yard by any stretch. Yet my parents being the hobbyist green thumb enthusiasts they are had this place teeming with extensive flora exquisitely maintained. I let it go over the years (understatement), but this year, banked by Covid time, I’ve been putting in work about the place. Setting to rights a decade of neglect. It’s still unworthy of its prime, but it’s no longer an unmitigated disaster and that is something!

    With the cleanup has come better conditions for flower and plant life to thrive. Giving me ample opportunity to make beautiful photos without having to break any kind of social distance mores. Insert win-win corporate jargon complete with stilted laughter here. It’s been years since I have spent this kind of time with my trusted macro lens. The 100 millimeters that have been there with me since the beginning. This old friend helped see me out of a heinous depression, and I will never forget how she’s here for me once again in my time of isolation. Thanks so much for teaching me patience, peace of mind, and self-reliance. And of course the ultimate thanks for gifting me a passion that keeps on exploring.

    Yet I cannot wait for my first real chase of a smoldering sunset out on the marsh. In its own way that, too, will be a trip home again.

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  • Color, Please

    Color, Please

    100mm macro photograph of a pastel pink hyacinth flower blossom with smooth bokeh.
    Color, Please — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/100

    I sourced this one to the people by way of Instagram story poll. A choice between black and white and color. For insight into my own proclivity, I immediately began hammering away a post built around the black and white theme. I did this despite suspecting color would would carry the day. As a humble yet unelected representative of the people I must render unto them that which their votes beseech. So hyacinth in color it is.

    Followers of my work may notice my macro photography always features targeted areas of focus. What is a targeted area of focus? Areas of the photo that have sharper focus juxtaposed to the soft blurry areas—referred to as bokeh. By shooting close in on your subject at a large aperture your lens produces a shallow depth of field. Thanks, physics! What is an aperture? Well that’s the diameter of the lens diaphragm that allows light to pass through into your camera and onto your sensor or film. Larger apertures have a bigger opening allowing more light to pass through. The result: a faster speed, shallower depth of field, and softer focus. Great for producing dreamy flower photos. Smaller apertures feature the opposite: slower speed, deeper depth of field, and sharper images. Ideal for producing detailed landscapes with sharpness throughout the image.

    Either your camera body or the lens itself features f/stop numbers. The lower the f/stop, f/2 for example, the larger aperture. Whereas f/22 is a very small aperture, something like a pinhole. Understanding this scale and building your feel for aperture and f/stops is essential to effective execution of your creativity. Now get out there and start experimenting with different f/stops. Even the latest smartphones allow you to do this. So next time you go for that banging selfie, lower the f/stop and achieve some of the algorithmically staged blur!

    I don’t write much about that how-to of photography, but if you found this helpful let me know and I can work more tutorial type posts into the rotation.

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