Em's 52 for 2017 - You added

[d00d]

More lovely macro. I'm not sure I want to see both eye, it's effective like this.

 

[Emja]

Nice capture of the face of the damselfly Emma, nice focus and great detail

Thanks Dave

It's well captured, bit of a shame some of the face is lost behind the stalk but I've spent a bit of time photographing these and know how hard it can be.

I don't think I mind it in this shot...sort of peek a boo, but they were definitely a bit skittish that evening!

I like it Emma, almost as he is peering from the behind the stem, well captured, nice composition too.

thanks Michael - I was pleased with the position of the wings - I haven't got any shots like that.

Yay !!! I have seen a few of them this weekend

Liking your choice of angle Em, with the face dead square on, the wings in the background fill the frame up nicely too, a real nice composition

Thank you Dean

Another good macro shot. Whole face, half face, i not fussed.

Cheers Dominic...me neither!

Love the colours in the amber bead, all warm and lovely. Good one for face too, love the colours on the damselfly. They just look like some kind of alien to me

Thank you Very happy aliens I think Georgina!

Lovely Em, Ive been trying a few of these critters and they are harder than they look.....

Thanks Mark - they can be very flighty for sure

More lovely macro. I'm not sure I want to see both eye, it's effective lick this.

Thanks David

 

[Emja]

And one more as it happened to fit the theme too. I caught this lovely marbled white at jut the right time of evening this week - late enough to be very calm, but warm enough to be spreading its wings. It let me get incredibly close - a real treat

a close encounter by Emma Varley, on Flickr

 

[Fuji Dave]

Liking face Emma, you have caught the Marbled White very nicely, good sharp eyes and good dof If it had been mine, I would of got rid of the oof seed head.

 

[LC2]

Hi Emma,

Tiny - Amber beads for me. I like the colours and shallow DoF.

Face - Lovely blues against the green background, and the focus looks great. I know it's nothing like it really, but I can't help seeing the pink panther in it's face.

 

[Manxmaid]

Hi Em, another catch up from me as I'm doing poorly with images and commenting this year.

It was well worth the second thoughts about Minimalism as I think the background was too busy in the first, whereas the second has just enough of a hint of location without distracting from the main subject, which is lovely and well positioned in the frame.
Progress is a good idea, something all parents and children would recognise as a progress report from school and therefore spot on for this theme, and the shallow DOF works well
The water drop and sparkling light on the Daisy really makes your image for Pleasure, and both images for Tiny are again great for the theme, with my favourite being the Amber because of the beautiful colours and more great use of shallow DOF.
Face - wow, I love these kind of shots and I know it's something you do well, and this is perfect. Colour colours on the damselfly itself and a super little face; well done

 

[Emja]

Liking face Emma, you have caught the Marbled White very nicely, good sharp eyes and good dof If it had been mine, I would of got rid of the oof seed head.

Sorry for the late reply Dave - I think you're right about the seed head, it makes a cleaner shot. Thanks for spotting it

 

[Emja]

Hi Emma,

Tiny - Amber beads for me. I like the colours and shallow DoF.

Face - Lovely blues against the green background, and the focus looks great. I know it's nothing like it really, but I can't help seeing the pink panther in it's face.

Lol...now I can see it too! Thanks for the comments Tim

 

[Emja]

T

Hi Em, another catch up from me as I'm doing poorly with images and commenting this year.

It was well worth the second thoughts about Minimalism as I think the background was too busy in the first, whereas the second has just enough of a hint of location without distracting from the main subject, which is lovely and well positioned in the frame.
Progress is a good idea, something all parents and children would recognise as a progress report from school and therefore spot on for this theme, and the shallow DOF works well
The water drop and sparkling light on the Daisy really makes your image for Pleasure, and both images for Tiny are again great for the theme, with my favourite being the Amber because of the beautiful colours and more great use of shallow DOF.
Face - wow, I love these kind of shots and I know it's something you do well, and this is perfect. Colour colours on the damselfly itself and a super little face; well done

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on so many shots Andrea. I'm hopelessly behind myself too and am hoping to catch up slowly!

 

[Emja]

Catch up time!

Week 27 'agriculture'
A very cliched shot I know, but I've never done it before The sky was threatening a storm and I liked the grey of the sky against the pale grain.

Week 27 'agriculture' by Em's TP 52 2017, on Flickr

 

[Emja]

Week 28 'graceful'
I was going to post a shot of a very beautiful friend of ours as the most graceful bride I've seen for a long time. Unfortunately there was an ugly hotel radiator ruining an otherwise nice photo...so it's back to the graceful butterflies I'm afraid

a moment to linger by Emma Varley, on Flickr

Or perhaps raindrops on a spider's web making graceful lines?

hidden worlds by Emma Varley, on Flickr

 

[Emja]

Week 29 'fruit'
A few windfall cherries I managed to rescue from being catapulted by our son!

windfall cherries for macro mondays 'three' by Emma Varley, on Flickr

 

[Nostromo]

Graceful
It's the butterfly for me. Although I do like the rain drops, what could be graceful than a butterfly?
Fruit
A really well composed shot and good contrasting colours and great dof.

 

[Fuji Dave]

Agriculture, really do like this shot, great sharp focus on the seed head, and love the moody oof sky. Graceful butterfly is nicely on theme, as they are graceful critters. Fruit, like the low angle of the shot and the two back oof apples. The pick of the lot though for me is, agriculture it`s a great shot

 

[Dark Knight]

A great catch up Em, a real nice set of photo's, all very muted tones that go great together, and tough for me to pick a favourite... but I'm going for the fruit in the grass, no hang on, it's the butterfly shot, such a wonderful negative space that sets off the delicate butterfly

 

[rpn]

Very well done for catching up, love all three of them.

Agriculture; like the moody sky background, I would like to see a lower viewpoint with the grain against the gray sky.

Graceful; love the shadow dof with the butterfly against the blurry background.

Fruit; another great shot, personally I like to see all three cherries in focus.

 

[Emja]

Graceful
It's the butterfly for me. Although I do like the rain drops, what could be graceful than a butterfly?
Fruit
A really well composed shot and good contrasting colours and great dof.

Thanks Dom - I was quite pleased with the butterfly...I've been a bit taken with them this year!

 

[Emja]

Agriculture, really do like this shot, great sharp focus on the seed head, and love the moody oof sky. Graceful butterfly is nicely on theme, as they are graceful critters. Fruit, like the low angle of the shot and the two back oof apples. The pick of the lot though for me is, agriculture it`s a great shot

Thanks Dave

 

[Emja]

A great catch up Em, a real nice set of photo's, all very muted tones that go great together, and tough for me to pick a favourite... but I'm going for the fruit in the grass, no hang on, it's the butterfly shot, such a wonderful negative space that sets off the delicate butterfly

Thanks Dean - I've processing a lot of shots like that lately - I like the effect especially on the insects and botanicals I've been doing a lot of

 

[Emja]

Very well done for catching up, love all three of them.

Agriculture; like the moody sky background, I would like to see a lower viewpoint with the grain against the gray sky.

Graceful; love the shadow dof with the butterfly against the blurry background.

Fruit; another great shot, personally I like to see all three cherries in focus.

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback Stan. I don't mind the blurry cherries, but it was a bit of trade off with the background as the bokeh was too sharp and distracting with much more dof. I did take a couple with the grain against just the sky - this one's probably the best of them :
agriculture2 by Em's TP 52 2017, on Flickr

 

[Bebop]

Agriculture: I love both of the shots you've posted. I stopped the car when I saw a similar stormy sky a couple of days ago, but failed to get anything near as good as these. Not cliched to me. Love the colours and depth of field.

Fruit: I love the depth of field you've chosen with just the one cherry 'dimple' in focus. I feel like I'm down there in the grass with them.

Graceful: It's a great shot of the butterfly with lovely background blur and the butterfly nicely in focus. Nice composition too. If I had to choose between the two, I would probably go with the web as it is a more unusual shot. My eyes are drawn to the sharply focussed raindrops. Really nice.

 

[Allan.H]

All good and you can tell they are yours, I would straighten the horizon on the first, minor point but I do really like the 2nd Agriculture the BG works really well

The butterfly Is a fantastic shot, nothing more to add

I dont mind the OOF cherries it s certainly your style

A very good catch up

 

[d00d]

Emma ... your work is truly first rate, amazing.

Makes me want to abandon my current streety fad and rush out for one of those macro lenses.

 

[sirch]

I'm envious of your butterfly shots, I've been trying all year and haven't got anything close to yours. The wheat is spot on for agriculture, may be straighten the horizon but I quite like it as it is. Those cherries look goregious, lovely shot

 

[Emja]

Agriculture: I love both of the shots you've posted. I stopped the car when I saw a similar stormy sky a couple of days ago, but failed to get anything near as good as these. Not cliched to me. Love the colours and depth of field.

Fruit: I love the depth of field you've chosen with just the one cherry 'dimple' in focus. I feel like I'm down there in the grass with them.

Graceful: It's a great shot of the butterfly with lovely background blur and the butterfly nicely in focus. Nice composition too. If I had to choose between the two, I would probably go with the web as it is a more unusual shot. My eyes are drawn to the sharply focussed raindrops. Really nice.

Thank so much for the kind comments. I'm glad you liked the web, there's something I really like about this shot too.

 

[Emja]

All good and you can tell they are yours, I would straighten the horizon on the first, minor point but I do really like the 2nd Agriculture the BG works really well

The butterfly Is a fantastic shot, nothing more to add

I dont mind the OOF cherries it s certainly your style

A very good catch up

Thanks so much Allan - that is really lovely feedback. I do seem to be settling into this very shallow dof dreamy thing at the moment. Good point on the horizon - the field slopes quite steeply so it didn't even occur to me, but as the barley is sloping too straightening it would make sense!

 

[Emja]

Emma ... your work is truly first rate, amazing.

Makes me want to abandon my current streety fad and rush out for one of those macro lenses.

Aw shucks David...those are very kind words. Thank you
Please don't abandon the street though - you do it so well!! I guess I'm just photographing what's on my doorstep too - time pressures mean I never get too far!

 

[Emja]

I'm envious of your butterfly shots, I've been trying all year and haven't got anything close to yours. The wheat is spot on for agriculture, may be straighten the horizon but I quite like it as it is. Those cherries look goregious, lovely shot

Thank you so much Chris - it seems to have been a good year for butterflies here and they're so close to home I've had time to spend trying to get better shots.

 

[Manxmaid]

Another great catch-up, Emma. Your images do seem to have a signature 'look' and this latest set is no exception

Agriculture is just lovely; that one 'ear' in pin sharp focus and the rest of the scene OOF but painted by the super colours and bokeh. Really, really nice.
Graceful - I would be happy to have taken either of those images. The butterfly clinging to the single curved stalk is perfect for the theme, but then you add #2 with the green delicacy of the sipder's web and I can't decide between them!
Fruit - contrasting but complementary colours, and lovely bokeh with OOF highlights. I have a love-hate relationship with my f/2.8 macro lens but you makes yours sing!

 

[Hertsman]

Love your Gracefull butterfly Em, great colours and details.
I much prefer the second Barley picture as I think its less cluttered.

Really is some nice stuff from you lately.

 

[Emja]

Another great catch-up, Emma. Your images do seem to have a signature 'look' and this latest set is no exception

Agriculture is just lovely; that one 'ear' in pin sharp focus and the rest of the scene OOF but painted by the super colours and bokeh. Really, really nice.
Graceful - I would be happy to have taken either of those images. The butterfly clinging to the single curved stalk is perfect for the theme, but then you add #2 with the green delicacy of the sipder's web and I can't decide between them!
Fruit - contrasting but complementary colours, and lovely bokeh with OOF highlights. I have a love-hate relationship with my f/2.8 macro lens but you makes yours sing!

Thank you so much Andrea for your lovely comments. I do love my macro lens, but it is a bit of battle with that wafer thin focal plane at times!

 

[Emja]

Love your Gracefull butterfly Em, great colours and details.
I much prefer the second Barley picture as I think its less cluttered.

Really is some nice stuff from you lately.

Thanks so much Mark - I think you're right about the barley - it's funny how you just don't see it sometimes when you first choose a shot

 

[Emja]

We've had a few days away with family and friends in the weird and wonderful festival world of Womad. I took so many photos and was trying to look out for vehicles, but with slippery mud slowing me down and so much colour and detail in the backgrounds it was hard to get exactly the shot I wanted. These little wagons were certainly the most common vehicles at the festival...great for lugging gear and little legs around all day. I loved the bright colour of the first and the joy on the dad's and little boy's faces as he explores the mud. The second is a shot of some of our gang making their way across the arena. I tried to tone down the backgrounds in Lightroom a little - a bit of a clumsy job, especially as I was shooting jpeg - but I quite like the slightly cartoon look it gives to the second

Week 30 'vehicle' by Em's TP 52 2017, on Flickr

Week 30 'vehicle' by Em's TP 52 2017, on Flickr

 

[Fuji Dave]

That does look muddy indeed, I like the #1 most as like how the father is watching his son enjoy himself

 

[Allan.H]

Not going to pick one as they both work, good festival weather too

 

[Manxmaid]

They both work well for the theme, Emma; I love the interaction in #1 and the colourful procession in #2. Looks like a muddy time was had by all!

 

[SteveSc]

Been a while since I've had chance to comment,

Agriculture - the original one is my preference, while I like the smooth background on your second shot the first one works best for me. I like the way you have isolated just the one head and the way it stands up over all the others and the stormy background adds good context to the shot.
Graceful - The butterfly one is beautifully sharp yet with such a smooth background and the colours work very well.
Fruit - I love a really shallow DOF and you've got this one lovely, the reds of the cherries works very well against the grass.
Agriculture - I like the boy and all the mud in the first one but prefer the second for the story and context it has.

 

[d00d]

#1 ... all engaging ... serious mud, and I like the tilt.

 

[susiejb]

Hi Emma ...you have absolutely mastered the art of those wonderfully delicate shots, I love them all.
What a contrast with the Womad mud field super bright red cart with the little boy looking so contented paddling in the mud, but I really like the second one too, the boy bringing up the rear swinging his bag looks so carefree and happy, the background flags and big wheel really add to the atmosphere...well captured.

 

[Emja]

That does look muddy indeed, I like the #1 most as like how the father is watching his son enjoy himself

Thanks Dave - it was great seeing so many families having a good time together

Not going to pick one as they both work, good festival weather too

Thanks Allan...definitely a muddy one - I've just about finished washing our clothes!

They both work well for the theme, Emma; I love the interaction in #1 and the colourful procession in #2. Looks like a muddy time was had by all!

Thanks Andrea...I don't think our wellies have ever seen so much mud (or use over three days!)

Been a while since I've had chance to comment,

Agriculture - the original one is my preference, while I like the smooth background on your second shot the first one works best for me. I like the way you have isolated just the one head and the way it stands up over all the others and the stormy background adds good context to the shot.
Graceful - The butterfly one is beautifully sharp yet with such a smooth background and the colours work very well.
Fruit - I love a really shallow DOF and you've got this one lovely, the reds of the cherries works very well against the grass.
Agriculture - I like the boy and all the mud in the first one but prefer the second for the story and context it has.

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on so many pictures Steve...I'm certainly a sucker for shallow dof too!

#1 ... all engaging ... serious mud, and I like the tilt.

Ah yes...the purposeful tilt Possibly the result of the pint of excellent real ale I'd just had...but glad you like it!

Hi Emma ...you have absolutely mastered the art of those wonderfully delicate shots, I love them all.
What a contrast with the Womad mud field super bright red cart with the little boy looking so contented paddling in the mud, but I really like the second one too, the boy bringing up the rear swinging his bag looks so carefree and happy, the background flags and big wheel really add to the atmosphere...well captured.

Thanks so much Susie - it is lovely to have you back!