Thursday, April 7, 2011

Featured Guest ~ Exploration Thursday!

"Feathery Sunrise" by Christine Kapler
(1/1250 sec.@ F/3.8, ISO 400, 105mm fl, macro, Nikon D300)

Today's blog is with a special guest. Last week I mentioned macro photography. Well today's guest has continuously mesmerized me with her magical macro images of feathers, rain drops, and flower petals, as well as her bird photography. And I knew I had to share her photographs with all of you and her evident passion for what she does. Her name is Christine Kapler, and here she is to explain a bit about the type of photography she loves; 

"Macros or close-ups come to me quite naturally. I don't really take landscape or people photographs at all. With the exception of birds in the wild, macro is what I love to do.
Rain and sunshine are my friends. Once I see something what looks unreal at the other end of my lens I'm thrilled and I can't keep from photographing it. Anything can be turned into some kind of abstract when photographed with a macro lens. I use a Nikkor 105mmf/2.8 VR lens. This lens is my work horse."

"There is another side of me, that gets excited as well. When I see a bird in action, I get the same thrill and I can't help but photograph them. I'm not a morning person, I like to stay up late. But when I'm on holidays I get up as soon as I see the sun coming out and I'm out too with my camera waiting for some action. However, if there was any rain during the night, I will be out with my macro lens taking pictures between petals, grass and leaves."

"The important part of my photography is post processing. I shoot only in RAW format; it gives me flexibility to work on my pictures later in Lightroom. All my pictures are processed only in Lightroom, they are not photo shopped. I play with light and white balance. I move sliders until I get the look I have seen through my lens when shooting."

"The picture "Feathery Sunrise" was taken a while ago; I didn't like it at the beginning, as I wasn't able to pull the right colour. Then I went back and did it two months later. A tip from photo pro Bryan Peterson's book helped me get the desired color.The feather I used in this picture is a natural bird feather I found outside when photographing birds. I sprayed it with water to make the overall image more interesting and to have something to focus on."


"Hanging There in the Wind"
(1/200 sec.@ F/4.2, 105mm fl, Nikon D300, macro lens, -1/3EV, ISO 200)

"The other picture "Hanging there in the wind" was taken in Mexico in the morning after night rain. It is an edge of secretia leaf covered with raindrops.
I cropped it a little to make a nice composition and the rest is basic adjustment in Lightroom from raw to jpeg."

.... Macro photography. Like stepping into another world. Be sure to see Christine Kapler's photostream here. Look for her incredible bird images on her flicker page as well. And you can catch her profile here for more info. You can also contact her through flicker if you wish to purchase a print!
Huge thanks to Christine for allowing me to feature her work here, I am constantly impressed with her eye for creative possibilities. I find her images very inspiring, and it's my hope that you will too.
Thanks for tuning in today for our guest post! Have a great day folks!

7 comments:

  1. Amazing work! I am going to go check out her work on Flickr.

    dave

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  2. I enjoyed reading your blog about Christine Kapler's photography. She really is in a class all her own. I see her photos daily on flickr and I'm glad to see that someone recognizes her talent.

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  3. Her images are wonderful, I agree... glad you had a chance to read this post Dave! Thanks for all your comments, I always appreciate them!

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  4. Welcome to the blog Trudy! Lovely to have a new visitor :-) It was my honor to feature her here... her images make me want to try new things. And to see things differently. Glad to have your comments! Been quiet here the last week ;-)

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  5. Christine has been a good friend on Flickr. The excellent work that Christine creates is some the best seen with in being in the field for 50 years as amateur and professional for network Television in News and doc. Marco photography is trying and take a lot of adjusting to get the images just right,Wild life none better.
    My hat go off to Christine as one of the best in Canada.Robert Herron ex CTV senior Cameraman

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  6. Thank you Robert for adding such a lovely comment concerning Christine's work... her photographs are one of a kind, and shows the skill of a very talented artist. Great to have you visit the blog! Have a great day!

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  7. I was also amazed by the sample photo! I love this kind of photography too. It really captures the features of the focused object.

    http://www.cococontacts.com/

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