Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: soft focus

  • Reaching Out

    Reaching Out

    100mm macro photo of a green silver-spotted skipper caterpillar on a dead purple coneflower.
    Reaching Out | 100mm | f/4 | ISO 1600 | EXP 1/200

    Laid up for the weekend with back pain is suboptimal. Press conference Joe Girardi would shrug his shoulders incredulous and declare it’s not what you want. Whatever your flavor there is never a good time for back pain. And to my brothers and sisters mired in low back hell, I slouch in solidarity with thee. May your heating pad and icy hot be forever in your reach.

    The good news to this story is that of this Sunday evening writing my condition has improved. Eager to product something of value I thought why not hit this neglected blog and publish a new photo on this website. The photograph is not new, per se, having made this shot in mid-September. True to form I have been slacking all year on getting photos out and into the world on any kind of schedule representing timeliness.

    Yet here is a sweet little macro of what I only learned minutes ago is a silver-spotted skipper in its caterpillar phase. That is one stylish looking insect if you ask me. Rock the neon glory if you’ve got it. Before its metamorphosis stride I made some macros of it milling about an old coneflower. No doubt contemplating what comes next in life.

    Presented with ample negative space this photograph has room to b-r-e-a-t-h-e. Loads of space and flat color bokeh teeing up all the wide ranging existential issues. So much room for the mind by way of the eye to sit and ruminate in a minimal motif stripped of stuff. Left hanging, we are as our little green friend: Stretched on the precipice of of existence in simultaneous reach to the Next Big Thing. As we cling to the familiar we hold battle with anxious apprehension when faced with undefined space. For those who recognize all possibility of the empty palette reach out to transform their lives.

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  • In and Out

    In and Out

    Soft focus 35mm photograph of spirea blossoms and bokeh.
    In and Out — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/2000

    So I made this spirea photograph on May 11, 2018, and here I am blogging it up on June 22. Six weeks later is been than forever weeks later, right? Right!?

    Last spring I made a spirea photo which served as a source of pride. I even printed, matted, and signed a few for Makers Fest, and it looked wonderful on photo paper. With a stout bloom thanks to ample rain, I was keen to get back in there to see I could conjure this year.

    In this photograph I am executing soft focus and bokeh. Allowing the frame to sit largely out of focus. A pronounced shallow depth of field brings a sliver of sharpness on two narrow planes moving diagonally from left to right across the frame. Falling off in either direction, the spirea blossoms and its lush leaves fade quickly from focus, drifting off to whimsy. This lends a fantasy quality to the image. I can imagine faeries tucking away a touch out of sight, using esoteric magic to float clear from focus. Their secret hides in the bokeh. Drifting out of range of prying eyes and surreptitious lenses.

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  • Prime Peony

    Prime Peony

    High key macro photo of a peony flower surrounded by bokeh.
    Prime Peony — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/320

    It was a great season for peonies in my neck of the woods—Ocean County, New Jersey. Backloaded winters aside, it seems extended cool, wet conditions are a peony’s friend. Check out the peony floral arrangements Eastlin Floral Design was busy putting together. This flower species is a serious boon to any bouquet.

    As for my yard, it boasted a few primetime peony blossoms in 2018. They made an excellent subject for my 100mm macro lens. Lighting conditions proved ideal for creating a dreamy, high key picture set in a cool tone. Had the late afternoon sun been direct, a yellow tone with strong shadows and highlights would have cast a far different look. A high overcast was pivotal here, keeping a standout rose pink color tone on the peony petals.

    To further maximize the high key effect from ample filtered ambient light I was at an open(ish) f/4 aperture at 100mm. Coupled with a close subject proximity this renders an airy focus and bokeh for days. The end result is a center weight flower macro evoking a calm, easygoing mood.

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  • Light Play

    Light Play

    Japanese maple leaves photographed in golden hour light with shallow depth of field producing bokeh.
    Light Play — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/400

    Soft gold lingers. Midas’ hand set gently upon wine dark leaves. A ruddy remnant of the enchanted wood. The familiar maple stands firm. A trusted friend with a gift for listening. Relieved and uplifted at once you sit beneath its boughs. Evening light touches down on tired shoulders, lending patience, love, and support. Through a connection that dives beyond words and conscience thought the maple hears. A knowing companion free from judgement and avarice. Another year older, another year stronger it stands ready to see you higher than ever before. Your friend grows strong beside you. Its sinew working into your bones grafting its fortitude within you.

    You have learnt much from this tree. A guiding hand of steady silence year upon year. An living monument to patience and strength. Shared with each storm and gale, lessons of flexibility and acceptance transfer. The tree knows how to weather the worst. How best to take it head on, branches open, free of tension and fear. Only when the driving winds have passed are you left with a stronger, healthier tree. Forged by nature, shaped and hardened for more. This is the teaching it passes on to you. It is when you gaze upon soft golden light suffusing its ruddy aura you remember.

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  • Cold Movement

    Cold Movement

    Salt marsh photo of wind blown phragmites at blue hour.
    Cold Movement — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/100

    I’ve been listening to Walter Isaacson’s, Leonardo Da Vinci, on Audible. While I haven’t enjoyed it as much as his biographies on Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin, I find I am connect more though Walter’s latest work. Being something of an interdisciplinary and a procrastinator there is a resonance with the famous Florentine. While at only a fraction of a percent on Leonardo’s scale I, too, have a wide array of interests powered by curiosity. A Jack-of-all-trades I want to know a little something about as many things as possible. Of course Leonardo took this to a mind-boggling level; a Leonardo-of-all-trades and the master of all. He stands as the pinnacle Renaissance Man, even if he left most of his work unfinished or unpublished. Of course, he was more interested in pursing art, mathematics, engineering, optics, fluid dynamics, and stage craft to acquire knowledge for its own sake. He was less concerned with finishing things and reaping external rewards that motivate many of us.

    Much of Isaacson’s biography covers Leonardo’s work as a painter. While I was a mediocre and frustrated painter at best who never enjoyed the practice, these chapters have sparked connection to my photography. Isaacson tells us Leonardo was a master of movement in his works. He instructs us that a work should not capture a moment as frozen and rigid. Instead it is necessary to convey what was happening one moment ago in the past transitioning to what will happen in the next moment in the future. This fundamental cornerstone built an emotional and narrative quality in Leonardo’s work. He wrote about its importance many times across the decades in his famous notebooks.

    Taking this maxim from the preeminent Renaissance master has me thinking I would do well to incorporate movement into my own work. I want to create photography that flows from one moment into the next. Better this than a stale image, emotionless and locked in time. In a weird way, armed with Leonardo’s thoughts on the matter, I can picture him judging my work with cutting critique. In this way I want to be sure I it will pass muster.

    Last night on the marsh I had my first chance at capturing movement under the auspices of Maestro. The first arctic air mass of the year arrived in New Jersey yesterday. With it a biting north west wind to serve as wake up call that winter is coming. The sky was cast with a deep orange-purple glow that only shows when a serious winter trough swings through. Set to this dreamy backdrop, invasive phragmites bent low before the stiff breeze; bowing in unified motion under the power of wind. Here was my chance at movement. Using my 35mm lens, soft focus, and a hint of blur the viewer can imagine where the phragmites were a glimpse prior. Now compare that with where they will be in the next eye blink. The movement brings action and reality to an otherwise still looking scene. This better conveys the cold, windy, unsettled reality on the marsh last night. This stands in narrative opposition to what could otherwise look like a placid blue hour on the marsh.

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  • Speak Softly

    Speak Softly

    Wisteria blossom macro photo with soft focus and bokeh.
    Speak Softly — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/80

    Speak softly and carry a macro lens. And that’s enough Teddy Roosevelt for this post. Besides, I’m quite a loud talker. Despite being sans computer for the better part of the past month I was still out in my yard making photos. I’m sure my Mid-Atlantic flower peeps noticed the stellar wisteria bloom that manifest this spring. It was something else. When these little beauties go they create one of my favorite flowering spectacles. Tentacles of blossoms unfurl with columns of flowers serving as would be suction cups upon chlorophyll tentacles.

    Centered in my backyard sits a small wisteria. It annoys me to know end come late spring; stretching without mercy to attach itself to most anything. These bad boys grow at an alarming rate. The only way to greet it is head on—trimming shears in hand—and on a regular basis. But during the years they bloom en masse, all the invasive conquest that comes later is worth it.

    As for the photograph above we’ve got a few things working here. Some good and some accidental. The good? The light play. Rich afternoon light set up ideal conditions to capture the petite blossoms. The accidental? I was shooting handheld with my 100mm lens and not paying enough attention I dropped a 1/80 second exposure. As a general rule I like my exposure to be greater than or equal to the focal length of the lens. In this case an exposure greater than (re: faster than) or equal to 1/100 second. Holding to this formula helps keep your handheld shots sharp. Yet in this case the accidental soft focus builds on the photo. It drops a layer of whimsy onto the frame; a warm glow calming the soul. Sometimes our mistakes work in our favor.

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  • New Beginnings

    New Beginnings

    Spirea blossoms photo with smooth bokeh and soft focus.
    New Beginnings — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/5000

    It was April 2010. After four reliable years with my first HP laptop—a machine which held together after drinking an entire Miller Lite—I moved onto my second HP. Loaded up with impressive horsepower this machine lacked the collegiate fortitude of its predecessor and left my services immediately following its second birthday. Fresh out of warranty I had a problem with the motherboard and my time was over with HP. It was here this lifelong PC user plucked an Apple from the tree.

    I was a first time homeowner when I took the Cupertino Challenge. I have not looked back since. My priors with Apple machines included a few rounds of Oregon Trail played on an elementary school Macintosh, and a second generation iPod Nano I bought in college—back when my HP was drinking beer. When my iMac arrived in spring 2010 I was smitten. This is the first piece of technology I fell for. Once large screen ensconced in world class industrial design born of perfection. From the moment I pressed power and heard the ubiquitous chime I felt part of the family. I was all in.

    For seven great years my 27″ iMac carried me. It’s been my digital partner through my entire photographic journey. While it finally began showing some age in 2016, it remained steadfast and reliable. A total workhorse through over a terabyte of photo storage and heavy processing. While not gone before its time, it finally called it quits in late April 2017. With a long expected iMac refresh due this fall I was hoping to get six more months of service time before pulling the trigger on its replacement. Alas that of best made plans.

    And so this brings me here. Typing out my first blog post to share my first photo processed on Apple Number Two. This a MacBook Pro. I decided to go with a laptop for what is something of a two part replacement solution. This machine will more than hold me over until the new iMacs conjure into existence. If all goes well it will provide me a much needed mobile solution once I do get another desktop in 2018.

    After near four weeks without a machine it feels great to be creative again. Back on the photo grind. Back on the blog grind. I missed it. I missed sending work out into the world. It’s good to be back.

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  • Scent to Delight

    Scent to Delight

    Lilac photo captured with soft focus in afternoon light.
    Scent to Delight — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/2500

    As if summoned by the light of spring and carried upon the wind there came a smell so sweet. A crown of purple sat atop lilac bushes standing straight and proud about the marches of my backyard. A royal guard if there ever was one. Fresh as new life full of possibility and untainted by avarice and poor choice. A smell so sweet garbed in purple so pure on a bud so fleeting. It will only be a few short days that my yard will border in such well dressed, sweet smelling attendants. Oh most welcome of guests, it is my hope you do enjoy your stay.

    But enough with the flowery language let’s get real. To start I am shocked that on this my 351 post to this website this marks the first lilac photograph. The first?! Suffice to say I would have lost this bet. Yet as I pored over empty archives reality set in. Better late than never, I guess. There are reasons. First, this is the best lilac bloom my yard has seen in years. Predating the January 2014 launch of this blog at least. Second, despite being one of my favorite flowers—both in look and smell—I find them a tough study. As a collective the buds grow to large size, while the flowers themselves remain quite small. This dichotomy has left me with many a mediocre photograph.

    Yesterday busted the slump. Decent afternoon light was spilling in from the southwest as the lilacs neared peak bloom. I first made a picture with my iPhone. And how about portrait mode, huh? Silky smooth background fade for the win. Phones today, they make some pretty great photographs, you guys. With the cell shot as inspiration I went inside, strapped the 35mm on the rig, and set aperture wide open for some real deal bokeh action. This brings us here—my first shot of spring 2017. More to come.

    To all my allergy suffers: I apologize on behalf of my friends.

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  • Backyard Bouquet

    Backyard Bouquet

    Square format low key cross processed photograph of a quick fire hydrangea crown.
    Backyard Bouquet — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/3200

    I am suffering from an itchy shutter finger. Photos have been few and far between lately, and once I saw a spot of afternoon light touch upon my backyard quick fire hydrangea I popped on the 35mm and squeezed off a few shots. I set my aperture to a wide open f/1.4 in hopes for soft focus and smooth, buttery bokeh. Going for a dreamy feel to wash over weary eyes I imported exposures into Lightroom where cross processing seemed the obvious choice—I wanted to bring out a red warmth through a diffuse hue. Intentional soft focus at the center fades away to increasing blur as the eye works out toward the edges in all directions. Up is down, left is right; a square format crop further facilitates this spatially agnostic end game.

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