Exploring the wonders of creation through a 50mm lens...and other lenses too.

I didn’t realize how similar this photo was to last week’s image until I saw them next to each other in my Flickr gallery. And because of that similarity, I almost didn’t even post it this week. It felt like I should have something a bit different, perhaps grander or with some kind of deeper meaning or symbolism to kick off the new year. Anything but what basically amounts to a re-skinned version of the same shot I put up last week.

And yet, here we are :) Why? I’m glad you asked! And while I’m at it, happy new year! It’s only been about a week since 2026 started, but I hope it’s been a good one for you and portends good things ahead as well.

So about this photo. See, the thing is, in a lot of ways it’s very much a classic Weekly Fifty photo: a single easily-identifiable subject in the center, a simple color pallet, an interesting out-of-focus background to add context, and the usual trappings of the kinds of images you’ve seen on here many times over the years. It’s the kind of picture I like taking and, hopefully, you like looking at. Some would say this isn’t real art because it’s not courageous or challenging or whatever, but, to those I would say…it’s my blog and I get to do what I want :)

The thing is, this is actually quite different in some notable ways. Subtle, perhaps, but notable nonetheless. For one, the light source on the subject is entirely artificial which is a significant departure from most, if not all, of the flower-in-the-center-with-blurry-background photos I have ever taken. I shot this early in the morning while walking across campus on the way to work, and noticed this single rose stretching upwards towards a waist-high fixture illuminating the sidewalk below. I had my usual combination of Nikon D750 and 105mm f/2.8 macro lens, and thought that the flower itself would be an interesting photograph just because it was early morning and the combination of artificial light and deep shadows in the background would be interesting in its own right.

But then, as if I had stumbled into a Billy Mays infomercial, I found more. I realized that two additional sidewalk lights in the background could be used to add a whole new dimension to the photo. I crouched down with my camera and moved around from side to side until they were framing the subject in the center, and took a handful of shots at f/2.8 to see how things turned out. I was not super close to the rose and wanted the lights in the background to be big, bright, and blurry so I figured f/2.8 would be just right.

And in the process I learned, once again, that when shooting photos like this, how easy it is to over-do it on the depth of field. The initial photos I took had just the tiniest sliver of the flower in focus, with the front and back being little more than an orange blur. Sure the lights in the background were huge and bright, but it was definitely not worth the tradeoff. I took one more picture at f/5.6, packed up my stuff, and headed to work. And that final shot, uncropped, is the one you see here. Aside from just a bit of standard Lightroom editing (shadows, highlights, etc.) I used the AI Denoise feature to turn an ISO 2800 image into essentially an ISO 100 image. I really like that tool :)

The end result is a picture that bears some significant similarities to many that I have taken in the past, but differs in some interesting ways too. It was a fun photo to take, and I hope it’s a welcome addition to 2026 for you.

I don’t usually do timely or topical photo here on Weekly Fifty (case in point: last week’s shot of a purple leaf with a raindrop, which had pretty much nothing at all to do with Christmas) but I did think that this one might be fitting to close out the year. Not in any literal sense, since sunflowers and the end of the year don’t typically go together, but mostly because what this photo represents to me.

This has been a year of growth and change, but for many people, a year of uncertainty and even anxiety. Conflicts around the world as well as here at home, political unrest, economic uncertainty…the list goes on and on. And yet, the sun still rises. In dark days, such as the thick of winter when, in the northern hemisphere, daylight wanes and temperatures drop, the sun still rises. In difficult times, the sun still rises. Through it all, the sun rises as the earth turns, night gives way to day, and the blessings of the Lord are renewed each morning. This sunflower, as with most of its kind, looks to the light of dawn and unfurls its green shroud to greet the day with a sense of hope, purpose, perhaps even joy. (Though as I have said many times here on Weekly Fifty, I know very little about plants so that last description might be stretching things just a bit.) And that is a good reminder to me, and a bit of reassurance that even in the midst of challenges and difficulties, there’s always something to look forward to.

Which is why I thought today might be a good day for this shot :) I took it earlier in the year with my Nikon D750 and 105mm f/2.8 macro lens while walking across campus on the way to work, and specifically composed it in such a way as to get the blurry lights just behind and to the left of the yellow petals. It might seem like a simple thing, but those bits of bokeh, which were coming from the back of a delivery van, made a big difference in how the final shot looked. They gave it a sense of vibrance that was missing when I positioned myself differently with the lights out of the frame, and I’m glad I was able to get the shot looking like this. There’s also some fun bonus bits in the shot if you look carefully, such as a spider peeking out from a yellow fold and some wisps of webbing connecting a couple of petals on top, but even if all you see is just a yellow flower, then that’s just fine with me :)

And so that brings us to the end of another calendar year, while looking ahead to what comes next. Whatever is in store for you for 2026 I hope it’s good, right, and salutary, and your quiet moments bring peace, reflection, and perhaps even prayerful meditation rather than worry and anxiety. Hold on to what you can change, let the Lord take care of what you can’t, and in between it all, keep your camera in hand, and go out and take some cool photos.

YouTube link in case the embed doesn’t work.

Note: I was wrong about 14 years! The first Weekly Fifty photo was posted on March 5, 2013, which means this year will be 13 years.

One thing I have come to realize about myself as a photographer, or rather, the kinds of photos I enjoy taking, is that close-ups of things involving water are really cool. Some of my favorite shots over the years were captured after a nice heavy rain when the earth is coated in a high-gloss shine that lets things gleam and glisten in a way that they just can’t do otherwise. Earlier this year I did a whole series of posts that featured photos I took at the local botanic garden one rainy spring morning, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of taking these kinds of pictures. Of course I also hope to continue learning and growing as a photographer, branching out into new areas and trying new things so I can keep exploring areas of this art but at the end of the day, there’s a simple logic to why I keep taking macro photos on a rainy day: I enjoy it. And as Brian Shea so eloquently put it, Joy is reason enough.

The last time I got a photo like this, it wasn’t one single image but about a dozen that were stacked together. It’s interesting going back and reading my post about that single drop, because I said something that I’m not sure I entirely agree with:

the only way I could get the image I was going for was to just combine lots of exposures together.

As James Rebhorn’s character said in Independence Day, that’s not entirely accurate. One way, of course, is to use a large aperture and take lots of photos and stack them together. But another way is, well, to use a small aperture and take a single photo. The resulting images will differ in some key aspects, notably the out-of-focus areas (note how the 2023 image has a dreamlike quality to it, with all but the water drop being out of focus) but the single drop of water being sharp and in focus is very much present in this week’s photo despite being one single exposure instead of many stacked together.

I shot this at f/22, 1/200 second, ISO 1250, and I’m super happy with how it turned out. I’m particularly pleased with the subtle details lik ethe texture of the leaf, the handful of tiny water drops that are both in and out of focus, and the blurry background with sparkles shining like Christmas lights. I don’t know what kind of plant this is, but the way the leaf structure creates a surface that resists water and, as a result, causes drops to form large pools like what you see here…it’s just really cool. (Pardon my notable ineloquence, if you will. I’m just a blogger.) I’m planning to return to this spot in the coming months to see if I can get more like this, if for no other reason than I enjoy it. And that’s all the reason I need.

Over all the years I have been actively and intentionally photographing the world around me, as opposed to casual snapshots without much thought behind them (which should not be misconstrued as an implication that such pictures are inherently devoid of meaning and purpose) there are two things I keep coming back to that need to be in place for me to take a good picture:

1. I need to have my camera with me. Preferably one of my DSLRs, but any camera will do.
2. I need to actively seek out photo opportunities.

Other things help, for sure, but without those two things in place it’s not likely I’ll get much in the way of a good photograph. Or any photograph at all, if I don’t have a camera.

That, then, offers a bit of background, or perhaps context, for today’s photo. When I left for work on the morning I saw this scene I saw my camera sitting on the table and thought to myself “Do I really want to take the camera today?” A few reasons to answer with “No” included the usual slate of excuses:

1. The camera is too big and heavy
2. I might drop it
3. I don’t really want to today. Maybe tomorrow.

None of these, obviously, have much in the way of substance. And while it’s possible that I won’t get a good photo if I have my camera, it is not possible to get a good photo, or any photo, if I do not have my camera. So, being fresh out of excuses, I grabbed my D750 and 105mm f/2.8 macro lens, stuffed it into my bag, and headed out the door.

The sun was already up, but not by much, by the time I parked the car and walked a few blocks through campus to get to my building. Since I had my camera with me, I was actively looking for photo and not 30 seconds after leaving my vehicle I saw this scene:

Nothing special, right? Just a tree in front of the Business School building. Not so! It was actually an chance to take an interesting picture: the sunlight behind me, the green and brown leaf in front of me, and the lights on the building in the background, all combined to create an interesting, and quite fleeting, opportunity of which I was able to take advantage because I had my camera with me and was looking for interesting scenes to photograph.

A few clicks of the shutter later and I was back on my way down the sidewalk heading to my building, but with a fun image that I was glad to be able to capture.