Kathy Libby Photography
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Wabi Sabi

3/30/2022

 
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Wabi Sabi - The art of finding beauty in the imperfect.

When I was first presented with the idea of Wabi Sabi and looked at the mostly dead daisies, I have to admit, I was challenged. I've always looked at broken items, rusted out things and dead plants as discardable--not photo-worthy. Now, I see them in a new light. There is something about these daisies that I am drawn to.

At one time, these were beautiful daisies, part of a wonderful display of flowers. Although they've been removed from their companions, I can see some of the daisies clinging to that life force--not ready to give up. I don't necessarily mean the 
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white petals when I talk about those that are clinging to that life force.​​ The whole time I was manipulating the flowers, trying to find just the right angle in which to photograph them, not one petal dropped. It was as though their story was not over yet. It was as though they were saying to me, "I am worthy of a picture. I am still beautiful, with all my scars and in my old age." I, then, found this angle and click the shutter. I saw the beauty, and I understood Wabi Sabi.
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What's a Long Exposure?

8/10/2020

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I confess… I love to make long exposures. It’s not something I do a lot, but I love the effect. The dreamy look of this photo is achieved by taking a long exposure. A long exposure is when you leave the shutter of your camera open for a longer period of time than the normal fraction of a second. In order to capture this image, I put my camera on a tripod and left the shutter open for nearly 30 seconds. This allowed the water to blur each time the ocean waves rushed towards the beach.

This sunrise photo was taken in Stone Harbor, NJ. It was taken before the sun rose—it was still quite dark and in order for the image to be seen, by the sensor, the shutter needed to remain open longer than it would have had the sun been up.

Had the sun been up, I would have used an ND filter to make the shutter stay open. An ND filter reduces the light hitting the shutter. It is similar to sunglasses for your eyes. It shades the front of the lens requiring the shutter to stay open.
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I like this picture because the sky is still in focus despite the long shutter. A lot of the time, the clouds would have blurred too (given that clouds move in the sky), but the sky was very still this day. As I mentioned above, I like the dreamy quality to the bottom half of the picture. It looks foggy around the rocks. I also like the colors. What do you think of this image? Do you like the long exposure—or would you have preferred to see the waves crashing? That would have been a completely different picture. What are your thoughts?
 


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Bokeh

5/29/2020

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When I first started out in photography, I thought one of the objectives was to get everything in focus and sharp. Then, I learned of a term called “bokeh”. Basically, bokeh is an artistic rendering of an image where part of the picture is blurred. It allows you to focus on the subject. When I learned how to do this, I immediately fell in love with the resulting pictures.

This photo of a rose bud was, recently, taken on the grounds of the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse. I decided to use a wide aperture (f/1.8) on my camera to take this image. I wanted, as much as possible, to focus JUST on the rose buds. I wanted the leaves to fade away and for the resulting image to have a dream-like quality to it. I wanted the image to be soft.
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For me, this image works this way. It is the opposite of what I do, most of the time, with my landscape images. For them, I 
​usually want as much in focus and sharp as possible. Thus, I use a higher aperture for landscapes. It’s a creative choice.

​Tell me, in the comments, what you think of “bokeh.” Does this image work for you? Do you like the blurry look around the rosebuds, or would you have liked to have seen everything in focus?

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