Single Glass

When I’m Encouraged to Eat My Models – Lensbaby Blog Circle

Published: Tue, Apr 30, 2019
Written by GizellaN
8 Comments
Categories: Blog, Food photography, Lensbaby, Lensbaby Blog Circle, Photography, Single Glass, Sol 45
Tags: blackberry, blueberry, broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, food photography, kale, Lensbaby, lettuce, Low-carb, low-carb diet, strawberry

A few days ago I hinted that I was going to bring up a topic and a related project I started working on. The topic is a life style change my husband and I decided on at the end of January, and it involves a diet change. We have been eating a lot less carbohydrates and minimized the sugar intake as well. We are not following a “brand name” diet, we have been just making more educated choices when it comes to our food. I don’t want this post to be just about the diet, but I do want to say that in addition to losing a lot of weight we are also feeling full of energy.

Eating a low-carb diet means that our vegetable intake has increased, and our fruit choices have changed as well. A few weeks ago I thought of a photographic project I could start that involves our new lifestyle. I want to photograph the food items that we are encouraged to eat, and therefore we have them at home almost all the time. In order to make these images a bit more interesting, I also started learning about food photography just recently. Hopefully, you’ll see an improvement in my food photos throughout this project.

A few days ago I posted some strawberry images. Strawberries are one of the recommended low-carb fruit, and I’ll repost two of my favorite images from the set:

Lensbaby Single Glass at F5.6

Read More

Strawberries Up Close

Published: Thu, Apr 25, 2019
Written by GizellaN
No comments
Categories: Blog, Double Glass, Food photography, Lensbaby, Photo Technique, Photography, Single Glass, Sol 45, Twist 60, Velvet 56
Tags: food photography, Lens comparison, Lensbaby, strawberry

I was supposed to post this yesterday (to keep up with my daily posts), but it was a very busy day for me. I’ll tell you about that in a different post later.

I chose this project for three different reasons. One is that I have been learning a tiny bit about food photography, and I wanted to try out some of what I had learned. Secondly, I haven’t done a comparison between lenses experiment for a while, and I want to find the best lens(es) for what I want to start now – which would be the third reason for the project. But I’d like to share that with you at another time.

This is what I tried yesterday:

I set up a plate of yummy strawberries on my dining room table, since I get the most natural light there. I used two white reflectors to bounce some of the light back on the fruit. I then used the following lenses with or without macro attachments and at various apertures: Nikon 50mm, Lensbaby Velvet 56, Single Glass, Double Glass, Twist 60 and Sol 45. I am going to show you the images that I liked the most – for different reasons. Some, because they somewhat resembled an image I would see in a magazine (with more props or better composition perhaps), others because of their very unusual looks and feelings. I’d be happy to know which images you appreciate the most.

  1. Nikon 50mm with 12mm macro extension tube

Read More

Irvine Katie Wheeler Library Grounds – Lensbaby Blog Circle

Published: Sun, Jan 06, 2019
Written by GizellaN
4 Comments
Categories: Architecture, Blog, Double Glass, Lensbaby, Lensbaby Blog Circle, Photography, Photowalk, Single Glass, Spark 50mm
Tags: 50mm, Double Glass, Irvine Ranch Historic Park, Katie Wheeler Library, Lensbaby, Single Glass, Spark

On the last weekend of November I suffered from a stress related back injury, and pain in different areas of my back has been troubling me since then. Unfortunately, this also meant fewer photoshoots in the past five or so weeks. Last week I did have a short photowalk on the grounds of one of our city libraries prior to picking up a reserved book, and I’m happy to share the images I took there with the Lensbaby Blog Circle readers.

The library is located at the Irvine Ranch Historic Park in Irvine, California. It is a replica (2008) of the Irvine family home, which was originally constructed in 1876. The park itself was established in 1996, and it houses 24 original ranch structures that represent the agricultural history of Orange County.

The double rows of palm trees seen on the fourth image were planted in 1906. The park has many trees, flowers, and it has a section where they are rejuvenating avocado trees.

Read More

A Bit of Fall at the LA County Arboretum

Published: Thu, Dec 20, 2018
Written by GizellaN
2 Comments
Categories: Blog, Burnside 35, Double Glass, Landscape, Lensbaby, Photography, Photowalk, Pinhole, Single Glass, Sol 45, USA, Velvet 56
Tags: Fall colors, LA County Arboretum, Lensbaby

In mid-December I was able to make another visit to the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Since my daughter started high school, visiting places that are somewhat far from us has become quite difficult due to her very strange drop off and pick up schedule. But this day provided an opportunity to spend some time farther away from home, and I chose the Arboretum for my destination.

I have been using my Lensbaby lenses a lot more than my auto lenses. One exception was a fundraising project at my daughter’s school theater program, where I documented their creation of a play throughout two weeks of rehearsals, and made the images available to purchase for the parents, which resulted in some extra funds for the Theater program. When it comes to people photography, catching moments on stage – especially with youth actors – is what I really enjoy to do.

Now back to my Arboretum visit. I first walked though the Aloe Trail, and towards the end of it I found this gorgeous succulent in the shade. (Velvet 56)

Read More

The Shoreline Project (Laguna Beach, CA)

Published: Mon, Nov 05, 2018
Written by GizellaN
No comments
Categories: Blog, Burnside 35, Double Glass, Landscape, Lensbaby, Photo Events, Photography, Single Glass, Sol 45, Sweet 50 or 35, USA, Velvet 56
Tags: Elizabeth Turk, Laguna Beach, Lensbaby, Shoreline Project

On Saturday, November 3rd, 2018, Laguna Art Museum hosted an event on the Main Beach of Laguna Beach, CA. Entitled the “Shoreline Project” was a community project based upon Elizabeth Turk’s art work. Hundreds of volunteers held led-lit umbrellas that featured Seashell Mandalas by Elizabeth Turk and moved around with them.

My friend and I arrived more than an hour prior to the start of the event and set up our cameras in a good vantage point. We were able to see the whole beach from the cliff; unfortunately the volunteer dancers did not move much away from their original location. I only took my Lensbaby lenses with me, and just one 85mm prime lens.

While we were waiting for the event, I captured the late afternoon beach with various LB lenses. On some of the following images you can see the group of volunteers dressed in black on the left side of the pictures.

Sol 45
Double Glass
Read More