Posts in Category: yard
Apple Ice
Ice on one of our small Apple trees in the yard.
We had a few inches of wet snow overnight on Saturday into Sunday. After dawn it warmed just enough so the last of it fell as rain, but not warm enough to melt the existing snow…and it stayed just above freezing all day. By Monday morning, the snow was still there, and had a solid coating of ice. There was just enough snow to try my new snowshoes in the yard, and as I did I was captured by the ice on the Apple tree: strange, delicate sculptings, standing almost free of the branches. I had to go back in for my camera (shedding snowshoes and reattaching them on the way back to the tree.)
As I post this morning, I realize that what I am seeing here is the shell of ice that was on top of the snow that built up on the branches. Wind and sun have removed the snow layer, but the ice was too hard and now it floats apparently free in space. It looks, to me, like something from a gallery of modern sculpture…something both intentional and free…something crafted to capture and express the flow of the universe. And I have no trouble believing that it is. 🙂
And of course I offer it here, nicely framed, as just such an expression. With all credit to the original artist.
Sony HX400V in camera HDR/macro. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Icy Fantasy
Ice coating moss and grass in the front yard
We woke yesterday to a layer of ice over everything. I hurried my breakfast to get out as soon as there was light enough, and before the layer melted. I might as well not have hurried. When I went out at 6PM to run an errand I still had to chip a half inch of ice off the car before I could go. 🙂 I took lots of subjects, lichen covered branches, leaves, etc…as I walked around the front yard, but I particularly liked this set of macro shots of grass and moss.
Sony HX400V at about 60mm equivalent field of view from inches away. Using Program Shift, I dialed the f-stop down for greater depth of field and counted on the image stabilization built into the lens to cover the resulting slow shutter speeds. I also took a burst of images on each subject to ensure I got at least one critically sharp.
Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Photastic Pro on my Surface Pro 3 Windows tablet.
Good Morning Sky Thanksgiving!
Pre-dawn sky over the yard, Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving! Like most of the north-east, we got snow yesterday and into this Thanksgiving morning. We woke to trees heavy and ground covered. I got 3/4s of the driveway snowblown with our electric blower before the power went out. I fear there might be a lot of undercooked turkeys today 🙂
Being out, I could not resist the sky as the sun rose. The top frame is a sweep panorama. The bottom frames are in-camera HDRs. Sony HX400V. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet (finally back from repair). Assembled in Phototastic.
I am posting this, by the way, on the mobile hotspot I use for travel. Make do!
We have a lot to be thankful for today. In particular I am thankful to see this Thanksgiving (as a heart attack survivor). I am thankful for enough health and vigor to get out this morning with the snowblower! And for family: the ones who gather, and the ones who are spread, literally, from coast to coast this morning. And for the goodness of life. For snow heavy on the trees. For dawn light in the sky. And, hopefully, for the power coming back on soon. 🙂
Purple Finch!
Purple Finch
Just a quick post this am as I am on my way to New Mexico and the Festival of the Cranes. This is from the back yard on Saturday.
Sony HX400V at 2400mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom.
The spider and the dragon
”
When I went out yesterday to mow the front yard, there were a dozen or more tiny, late-season, dark-legged, off-colored Meadowhawks flying low and perching often. Most likely they were female or immature male White-faced Meadowhawks, but I can not be at all certain. As I was photographing this one close in under the eves of the house, it flew up and right into a spider web. I considered freeing it, but then the spider, which had been hiding under the lower edge of the siding on the house, scuttled out and attacked. So be it. Spiders got to do what spiders got to do. And I am almost as fond of spiders as I am of dragonflies. I think this is just one of the grass spiders…a funnel weaver of some kind, though the web seemed sticky enough at least to trap the dragon…or else its legs just got so well tangled that despite best efforts it could not free itself. An hour later the spider had worked the dragon almost completely up under the siding on the house. For scale here, the dragonfly is maybe an inch and a quarter long (3 cm) and I was shooting from about that same distance.
Sony HX400V. 68mm equivalent field of view, macro. ISO 200 @ 1/80th @ f3.5. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Morning Glory
I went to the kitchen yesterday morning for my tea, and was confronted by this in the backyard. Glory! I ran for the camera and snuck out on the back deck, still in my bathrobe, to catch a few shots. It was just the right combination of color, mist, and sun to make magic…to strike glory in the backyard. 🙂
Sony HX400V. In-camera HDR. Processed in Adobe Express on my new Surface Pro tablet.
Downy Woodpecker on the suet.
The birds have been coming to the back deck feeders more frequently over the past few days. Maybe there is a lul in the native seed harvest, or they are already feeling the urge to bulk up for the cooler weather coming all too soon. The is an early morning shot, with the sun still not fully up over the trees. Though the light was challenging for photography, I like the subtle detail.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. ISO 1600 @ 1/60th @ f6.3. Processed in Snapseed and Photo Editor by dev.macgyver on my tablet.
Hummer on Deck
I posted one of this series of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird working the flowers on our back deck late yesterday, but it is such a rare occasion that it deserves a more complete celebration. 🙂
Sony HX400V @ about 400mm equivalent field of view. ISO 80 @ 1/250th @ f4. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet. Assembled in Pixlr Express.
Sunflowering Bumblebee
I posted a shot yesterday on my Facebook and Google+ accounts from this series. I went out yesterday afternoon to cover my bicycle as a storm was about to hit us and found the newly blossomed Sunflowers by the back deck full of Bumblebees. Back in for the camera!
I am loving the macro ability of the Sony HX400V. I can get to 6cm at 85mm equivalent and to 3cm at 50mm equivalent. That makes for some very effective macros! This shot is at about 75mm equivalent. It gave me enough distance to work the Bee and the scale I wanted. 🙂 The Sony also makes Program shift just about as easy as it can be. There is a control wheel under your thumb which, in Program, controls the shift. That allows me to fine tune the aperture for depth of field in my macros and landscapes.
ISO 80 @ 1/250th @ f4. Processed in Handy Photo on my tablet.
Nasturtium: Happy Sunday!
Just walking around the yard with a new camera I could not resist this fresh Nasturtium with its amazing internal architecture and the two drops of water left from the rain of the night before. And the color of course.
Sony HX400V. 60mm macro equivalent. ISO 80 @ 1/100th @ f3.5. Superior Auto. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
And for the Sunday Thought: I am playing with a new camera. I was about to spend $1500 on two lenses, either one of which would have been more expensive than any single photographic implement I have ever bought before, and which would have brought my field kit to two bodies and three lenses…three bodies and three lenses for maximum flexibility. It is all the most compact gear I could find: what they are calling mirror-less compact system cameras, but it was still approaching 15 pounds of equipment in at least two camera bags. And I thought: “Whoa! This is just not who I am!” I love photography, but honestly, for what I do…mostly blogging and posting on Facebook and Google+…15 pounds and $2500 worth of gear is simply way more than I need (or want to carry on a regular basis). And then too, I think of myself as an evangelist for wildlife and nature, and wildlife and nature photography…I would like to see lots more people learning to celebrate the wonder of God’s creation with a camera in hand…and that kind of equipment is a barrier for many of the people who could most benefit from a close look at nature. It becomes too easy for others to say, “Yeah, of course your pics are great. You got all that expensive stuff!” Or, perhaps, “Me, I am not even going to try if I have to spend that much, and carry all that stuff.” I do want to be the everyman’s (and everywoman’s) champion of wildlife and nature photography. It is my niche, and honestly, I had fallen out of it. 🙂
So I canceled the order for the two lenses (though they are undoubtedly the best lenses I have ever used), and went back to using my Canon SX50HS superzoom…just to see if I could still enjoy it after my months in the “real camera” camp. And I found that I could. I have always said the best camera to have is the one you have with you when you see the picture. Still, the Canon is aging and due for an update. It lacks many of the refinements of the past two years, so I did a few day’s research, and bought another under $500 superzoom (which I actually got from Amazon Warehouse Deals for about $350). One camera, the Sony HX400V, to, hopefully, replace three bodies and three lenses. That is a lot to ask, more now that I know exactly what the larger cameras can do, and I know there will be compromises. But then I always knew there were compromises with superzooms.
I am still in the pixel peeping stage of new camera ownership…looking for the flaws in every image while I learn what the new camera can (and can’t) do. I am not certain if the Sony is the superzoom I will end up using, but I am already sure that I have refound my niche. Which is the same as saying I have returned to myself…to that person who most fully expresses my spirit, that bit of the one creative spirit the Creator has gifted me with. And this is good. I will get over peeping at pixels, and go back to simply enjoying and celebrating wonder with a camera. Like the amazing beautiful internal architecture of
nasturtiums.