Month: November 2014

A recent Flickr challenge was “parallel lines.” I realized a photograph I took on Saturday perfectly matched the challenge but, although I submitted it, it may not be accepted because I took it on Saturday and the topic was posted for Sunday; however, it was posted from New Zealand, so by my reasoning, at the time the topic was posted, I was simultaneously photographing Alcatraz from the Golden Gate Bridge even though it was technically the day before. We’re in a parallel universe of sorts—it’s one day here and another day there but it’s the same exact moment in time.

I sat out on the patio Friday afternoon with my camera in my lap enjoying the delightful fall breezes and mild temperatures. I was rewarded with some in focus shots of the hummingbird actually moving its wings and not just perched on the feeder. I had to use high ISOs because the patio was in deep shade and the sun was dipping low in the sky. I took all these shots just after 4PM. And, in verifying the time I took the shots, I realized that I had, once again, neglected to turn off the Daylight Saving Time setting on both my cameras last Sunday. Reason enough to move to Arizona I guess!

I used shutter priority to take these shots starting with 1/250 and an ISO of 800. That proved too underexposed so I increased the ISO to 1000 and decreased the shutter speed to 1/125. I still had to significantly increase exposure in Lightroom ranging from one stop to two full stops. I hope one of these days I’ll be comfortable enough just to crank up that ISO and not fret about it.

Not to anthropomorphize, but this scrub jay seems to be trying to read the sundial although it is in full shade and not indicating the time at all.

Focal Length 290mm, ISO 500, f/5.6, 1/60

I ran across the squirrel as I returned from the mailbox. He was still on the front lawn when I returned with my camera and spent lots of time posing and looking incredibly cute while keeping an eye on me.

My roses have exploded into their autumn bloom, a last gasp of sorts before they go dormant. This is Moonstone. Its blossoms are generally so heavy with petals that they turn brown and wilt before fully opening. I don’t think I have ever cut one of its blossoms to bring in until today. Most of its fall blossoms have opened fully and they are quite lovely. This half open bud caught my eye and I clipped it and brought it into the house. Since I hadn’t yet taken my blog photo, I decided this rose would be my subject. I spritzed it with water and decided I’d use my macro lens and try focus stacking again. This shot was created from 37 images so that I could get every part of the rose in focus.

Focal Length 105mm, ISO 100, f/14, 1/3s

I fiddled with focus stacking again. This time, I shot a dandelion on my front lawn. I had no control over the breeze which wafted the little seed pod in and out of the view finder. I switched to Shutter Priority and set the shutter speed to 1/640, then upped the ISO to 500. I tried to focus everywhere but a few of the photos had only half of the dandelion in the shot. Still, Photoshop managed to salvage a complete image from 26 that I gave it to blend into one. I can see in this image that a few of the seeds are floating and a few of the stems are misaligned but still, it does an impressive job. I gave it a mess and it cleaned it up for me, like magic.

The Placer Camera Club’s November topic is “leaves.” Even though I won’t be able to attend the November meeting, I still thought about what I might photograph for this topic. I always learn from the member discussions of my images so I’m sorry I won’t be able to go to the meeting but I’m not so sorry that I’d forego my trip. Since my trip involves several days in Barcelona, I dusted off my ancient English/Spanish dictionary and leafed through the pages. Then, it struck me that I wouldn’t have to search for the almost nonexistent fall leaf colors for a leaf image. The book I was holding contained lots of leaves, more than 600. Las hojas means “the leaves” in Spanish.

I placed the dictionary on my window seat with a black background behind it, OTT lights on either side and, a third light behind a diffuser. Then I turned on a little fan, riffled the pages of the book, and clicked away. The lighting was not ideal so I had to up the ISO to 500 and it was difficult to get the focal point of the pages in focus, but in the end, I liked this image.

Focal Length 36mm, ISO 500, f/8, 1/100

I always think of slugs as being, well, sluggish. When I noticed a slug slithering down the pane of my bay window, of course I thought it was a photo opportunity for me and that my macro lens was the perfect choice for a lens. Turns out, slugs can move fairly quickly and their body and head movements are constant, proving a challenge for a photographer with a macro lens. But I persisted. I set the tripod on the window seat and aimed at the traveling gastropod continually adjusting the camera position. Sharp focus proved elusive as the slug’s head and antennae were constantly in motion. This is one of the few partly in focus shots that I got, just as the slug readhered himself to the glass after twisting into a pretzel shape. It looks as if he was as curious about me as I was about him.

While I was photographing the lilies that I featured in yesterday’s post in the open patio door, the hummingbird flew up to the feeder and perched to feed, seemingly unconcerned about me standing just a few feet away, inside the open doorway. The hummer was unconcerned, that is, until I retrieved my other camera with the 80-400mm lens attached. Even though I didn’t step outside, as my exit was blocked by the camera on the tripod and the vase of lilies, the little bird seemed a bit wary that I might walk outside. He spent as much time drinking from the plastic flowers as perching upright and observing my position.

As I have stated in past blog posts, I never tire of watching, photographing, and posting photos of hummingbirds. I’m sure they seem a bit redundant as I rarely seem to get them moving their wings or flying but I love to look at these little garden gems and I’m always thrilled when I get perfectly focused shots of them. And, a recent Flickr challenge was “something to sit on” and I think the perch on a plastic hummingbird feeder would qualify as such!

The unusual orange lilies that I featured in my blog a few days ago grew more lovely before my eyes. Five days after I placed them in a vase, the overcast rainy skies made their beauty even more stunning.

I took these shots in the open doorway to get the most benefit from the light, with my camera above the bouquet, facing straight down. I set the white balance using my Expodisc and it resulted in perfect color. I wanted the flowers completely in focus so I set the aperture to f/22. Since I used my 24-70mm lens, the depth of field was deep and no focus stacking was necessary as I had to do when I used the macro lens.

Focal Length 70mm; ISO 100; f/22; 1/2s

Focal Length 70mm; ISO 100; f/22; 1.6s