“Gardening Gone Wild” is having as their “Picture This Contest” this month a fun challenge entitled “Macro in a Mason Jar”. The contest will be judged by renowned photographer David Perry of “A Photographers Garden Blog”, whose photographs just fascinate
a gardener and photographer want-to-be like myself.
His photography makes me say , WOW!
The idea of macro shots in a mason jar sounded like a
fun idea to try and your imagination can run wild with
all the different possibilities.
I attempted to take a few pictures with flowers in mind.
Having nothing now in bloom and to even find a bloom
to try to capture in a jar was the first challenge.
The only thing I had around that was in bloom was a
my poor little violet and after playing around with it
for a little while it did not take long for even that bloom
to get bruised and wilted. So I think I will entitle my
attempts at the experiment as “How Not To Take A
Macro Picture in a Mason Jar”. LOL!
Well in all it was a very cold Sunday and I had nothing
pressing to do but play so…….
I tried to picture of violet blooms on a bed of green
glass marbles which looked pretty and it did not look
like it was even in a mason jar which may be one idea
of the experiment.
Then I tried to capture an old fashioned romantic
look by placing the jar on a crocheted doily. Not too
bad until you see the letters on the jar in the lower
right hand corner.
By the time I got the bloom onto a Madison Begonia
leaf it was starting to fade. Poor little thing.
So I got some fresh violet blooms and tried it
with a few glass marbles around it as a border.
This did not get it either.
The dried hydrangeas were too close and just
looked really dry and yucky. Not a pretty sight
at all.
What about taking a macro in a blue mason jar?
Different but nothing that makes one go ewwww.
Wilted violet blooms left behind a gardener
breaks all the rules and goes for artificial blooms.
Still nothing to make ones eyes pop out of their head.
I tried flower seeds, hard candy and different
mediums but I was not pleased with any of them.
All of my attempts were not good and sort of brought
back memories of the picture challenge with the
idea of flowers placed on ones scanner and scanning
a beautiful floral photograph.I failed miserably at that
one even with a garden full of flowers with which to
work with. I just lack the imagination, depth or artistic
inspiration to live up to these types of challenges so I
have no entries.
Now that ends my lesson on “How Not To Take A
Macro Photograph in a Mason Jar”. LOL!
So all kidding aside……
For those of you who have all sorts of artistic flair and
imagination this contest will be a cinch and you will
create some beautiful macros shots. Those that have
already been entered into the contest are beautiful
and creative.
The deadline for entries is 11:59 PM Eastern time on Monday, January 24, 2011 at “Gardening Gone Wild”.
Until Next Time,
Lona
21 comments:
Today marks my third day to try this technique..I am having fun with all types of strange backgrounds. I believe several of these are worthy of entering. The first one on the green marbles is very pretty and though you do not like the dried hydrangea one, I think it has all the lighting and textures needed...think about it again.
Haha, this was a fun approach to the challenge. Love that you ended up with artificial blooms! Actually, I think all of your shots are absolutely splendid! That watery effect on the edges created by the glass is just stunning.
Lona, it looks like you had fun. Some fun. I learned your lesson and I don't even try. I like the hydrangea, by the way!
hi Lona, I too have had a bit of a block on doing something for this challenge. I like your dried blue hydrangeas..especially the first one. A photo this time of year is hard to come up with subject matter, but I think you have some good ones.
I couldn't do it either, so don't feel bad. I like the attempts with your violets the best. I don't even think most days about remembering to blog hop lately so I don't know a thing about all of the contests and stuff anymore. I keep myself way to busy I guess, but I suppose that means I'm feeling much less depressed than I used to so it's all good.
Lona girl I wouldn't even have a glimmer of a clue on how to try to take a picture that way so you did GOOD girl !! .. I like them all : )
Joy
I was thinking the hydrangea didn't look half bad. i just got a new camera, and I'm trying to learn how to take normal shots; I'm afraid a mason jar may be too much of a challenge!
I laugh Lona because I spent the weekend playing with this technigue. I came across it on someone's blog and thought it sounded like fun. I really like your photos. Maybe I will get brave and put some on my blog this week. V
You are too hard on yourself, I think your photos are fabulous. Great job.
I like the artificial blooms, they actually look quite real! I've given up on GGW and their photo contest, it's way to hard to break into the professional photographers ranks there. It's gotten so big that the little guys don't stand a chance!
Actually Lona, I think all of your images are quite lovely! I have bvben playing around with the idea too...perhaps we are our own worst critics because I don't like any of mine, either?! I think yours are as nice as any that have been entered by anyone so you should definitely submit one. I'm trying to decide if I will or not but it's fun trying new things, right? I never did try the scanner photo idea and would like to do it eventually, just to see what I can come up with.
Having a flower to photograph at all would definitely be the first challenge. I think the first one is really pretty, the marbles look good as the background. The fun part is trying and maybe this summer when you have lots of flowers to choose from you can try again.
What in interesting project! I thought your pictures were great. It looks like fun!
o you so funny! I love this idea. I think it is good for capturing creatures that moves too quickly for us to take a good shot. In the bottle they can't go anywhere and when they are too tired to move that's when we can get a good shot he he... just a thought ;-)
Glad it's not just me struggling with this challenge! I used a square jar (doh!) which pretty much destroyed the whole point.
And I agree with the other posters here - your hydrangea one is great: it may not be pretty, but it has texture and interest, which is what I think the competition is seeking.
Those are very interesting shots! I like the first one the best. Wish I could send you some fresh flowers though I think wilting ones do have their own beauty.
Great macro shots of both flowers even though they are artificial and dried..
I do like your photo with the marbles. But even if they don't meet your standards it looks like you had fun on a wintery afternoon.
I started trying the canning jar macro after first reading about it last summer. During the holdiays I used stemware instead of canning jars and liked the look. I used sugared cranberries in the bottom of the glasses. I have nothing blooming, so I must buy some flowers before I give this a go and enter the contest.
Your first attempt was quite lovely.
Lona so glad you posted this...I tried today to play with the macro in a mason jar and I couldn't even find a jar that my camera would sit in! I think my macro lens might be a disadvantage in this contest because it was too long for any of the jars I have. Your images are really pretty though...I like the color and texture of the hydrangea too. You should enter...you never know unless you try! At least you could get your camera to focus ;)
Your photos are GREAT! I like the hydrangea best. Go for it - You can still enter!
Post a Comment