Posts in Category: flowers
Texas Wildflower Action
After a day of setting up the booth and then tending it from noon until 6pm at the Galveston Feather Fest yesterday, my shutter finger was getting so twitchy that I begged off on the evening’s dinner plans at Bennos Cajun Seafood in order to visit Corps Woods Nature Reserve for a hour or so while we still had light. Corps Woods is a patch of, basically, waste ground along a ditch and a seep across the road from the Coast Guard compound, with a few taller cottonwoods to justify the “woods”. There is a Bushwacked trail and two short boardwalks to observation decks along the seep. Though the birding was pretty slow…there were a few wildflowers to entertain. And I did manage a few shots of a Yellow-crowned Nightheron through heavy brush. All in all my hour there was certainly as satisfying as Cajun seafood 🙂
We have here, I believe, two varieties of Blanket Flower (bottom), Cardinal Flower (upper right), and Lantana. The Lantana was a difficult shot in deep shade using my screw on macro lens on the Sony NEX 3NL. The wind was blowing the flowers around so even though I took multiple shots I did not get one that is totally sharp. The others were framed in full sun at the long end of the 600mm equivalent zoom on the Olympus. The Cardinal flower used the 2x digital extender as well for a 1200mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Snapseed on my tablet. The Lantana has some additional processing in Photo Editor by dev.macgyver. Collage assembled in Pixlar Express.
Going-on Easter Cactus
We have a Christmas Cactus that blooms faithfully every Christmas season. It has a second bloom, generally close enough to Easter to call it our Easter Cactus as well. 🙂 For some reason it has started it’s second bloom early this year. There are a few buds, and even one open flower already.
As it happens, I just got a set of “macro attachment lenses” for my Sony 16-50mm zoom lens. The 16-50 focuses relatively close, but it is certainly no macro. Screw-on macro attachment lenses are cheap…$16 for set of 4 from Vivitar in their own little protective pouch…and I thought it was worth trying them out. They actually work amazingly well! This was taken with the +10 diopter attachment lens at 50mm equivalent from about 2 inches away. And, it was taken hand held at ISO 3200. Not too shabby! At macro distances the Sony was able to auto focus with the attachment lens in place, even in this low light. This little set of attachments, or at least the lens I end up using most, are definitely going to become part of my regular field kit!
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. ISO 3200 @ 1/60th @ f5.6. Processed in Handy Photo on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Abstract of Paradise
Bird of Paradise flower that is. One of the treats of my yearly San Diego trip is always the Bird of Paradise plants in full bloom. They are just so outrageously vivid. I like the flower, and I like the individual parts of the flower. This close-up turns the contrasting colors and shapes into an abstract composition.
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. Macro mode. ISO 200 @ 1/200th @ f7.1. 75mm equivalent. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. Cropped for composition.
Wet Hibiscus
Isn’t that the name of a move? No? It should be (or maybe a band).
Anyway, every yearly late February/early March trip to San Diego, I go a little crazy with the flowers. Bogenvelia, Bird of Paridise, Hibiscus, Pepper Tree, and all the annuals planted around buildings! I mean! Perhaps I can be forgiven since at home I am enduring the next to last month of winter (which, to be honest, has its own charms): it has been along time since I saw flowers in any quantity, and it is still weeks away from the first crocus in the yard (sometime after the feet of snow and ice melts). Flowers in February are, so to speak, a sight for sore eyes. At least for me.
In 11 years, it has only once before been totally rainy during a San Diego Birding Festival, but this is a strong second. California certainly needs the rain, and I will not begrudge them a drop. I just took my umbrella out yesterday morning for some wet flower shots. This Hibiscus is growing on the grounds of the Comfort Inn where I am staying. I mean, is that red or what? (And you can count on Bird of Paradise to follow!)
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. Macro Mode. ISO 320 @ 1/160th @ f5. 45mm equivalent. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
The Poinsettia that ate the kitchen :-)
So, I was looking through the manual for my Sony NEX 3NL the other day (I know, it diminishes my manliness to admit to looking at the instructions, but I am old enough not to care anymore…when I want to know something I do resort to the manuals!), when I came across the HDR Painting Mode.
What?
Yup, my new camera will automatically produce the over-the-top, over-cooked, surreal, badly done HDR effect…just set it and forget it 🙂 So of course I had to try it. I grabbed the camera and went in search of a suitable subect. It was 5 degrees outside (or something equally dire) so my search was limited to the insides of the house. I found this Poinsettia in the kitchen. I had seen it there before of course. It was there when I got back from my week in Florida, dominating the corner of the kitchen and blocking a good portion of the sliding glass door. As you might expect, it has a story. It was rescued from the Christmas church decorations when it’s time as a decoration was up, and brought home by a family we know. It outgrew their kitchen. They still have kids in the house and need the space, so my wife took it off their hands, rather than seeing it end it’s life at the local landfill. She is kind that way. And besides, our kids are now all exploring life elsewhere, and we do, presumably, have room for a giant Poinsettia in the kitchen.
So I put the camera on HDR Painting Effect and shot the Poinsettia. I tweaked the image somewhat in Snapseed, but this is basically what it looks like…over-the-top, over-cooked, surrealish paintingish. And automatic too! But it is, I think, kind of interesting for all that. I like the crazy mix of colors here (the blue milk carton really makes it), the patterns in the snow and ice left on the deck outside the window, and the texture of the faux-wood floor, and the angles of the chair. It might not work as a photograph…but as an image it maybe has something to say for itself. 🙂
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
I do suppose I will wake one morning to find that it has completely swallowed that corner of the kitchen…but, all things considered, I can’t consign it to an ignoble death by landfill either. 🙂
(And now we return you to your regularly scheduled program of nature photos.)
After Christmas Cactus
Our Christmas Cactus is in full bloom now, and I have been tempted to a few more natural light shots. Some of the blossoms hang down in front of a mostly black speaker grill, so it is possible it isolate them against the fabric. With some tweaking in post-processing, I can get a solid black background. Natural light preserves the delicate shades of purple in the flower, but makes hand-holding the camera a challenge. The efficient IS on the Samsung helps.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. ISO 400 @ 1/8th second @ f2.9. 28mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Christmas Cactus
I have not had anything to share for Floral Friday for months now. It is certainly the non-flowering season in Southern Maine, and I have been concentrating on other things…birds and bugs…on my trips further afield. But this week, our faithful Christmas Cactus, now many years old, proved it was worth tending it during its long dormancy by bursting into bloom…just in time for Christmas!
I have been playing with natural light shots. This is from a fair distance, 4 feet or so, using the long end of the zoom on the Samsung Smart Camera WB800F and Smart Auto Macro. Dedicated Macro Mode on the Samsung auto sets the zoom to about 28mm, but Smart Auto Macro allows similar results at all zoom lengths. Go figure. ISO 800 @ 1/20th @ f5.8. 408mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. Gamma decreased slightly in dev.macgiver’s Photo Editor. Cropped slightly for composition.
Giant Sulphur
We will drop back a few weeks to my trip to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. The trouble with November is that I get to go to two of my favorite places for photography…the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico…and when you consider that both these trips closely follow a few days in Cape May, New Jersey during fall migration…well, the images just kind of pile up. It is part of my photographic discipline to process as I go. It is a very rare day when I have not selected and edited and uploaded the images I want to keep from that day’s shooting, but then there they are, on Google+ at least, and often on Smugmug as well, waiting for their moment in the sun when I post them publically. Of course only one in ten actually gets posted. In November and on into December (when I generally do not travel), I have to make a conscious effort to go back and pick up the more outstanding images from the previous trips.
This shot is from the National Butterfly Center south of Mission Texas. It is a Giant Sulpher butterfly hanging on Turks Cap. The Turks Cap is a native species in Texas, and goes by many other names…Wax Mallow, Mexican Apple, Bleeding Heart…etc. I like the shot in part because of the tiny beads of moisture on the flower (it was early in the day), and the way the brightly lit flower and bug are set off against the dark background. And, against all odds, it is correctly exposed! The Giant and other Sulphurs are among the hardest butterflies to photograph in the sun as the yellow will often block up completely and all detail will be lost.
Canon SX50HS in Program with -1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. ISO 250 @ 1/1000th @ f6.5. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Bird of Paradise in Texas
Leaving Bosque del Apache for the moment, just taking a break, here is something for #floralfriday and the day after Thanksgiving…aka Black Friday. A little color to break the shopping gloom (shopping madness?). I always love Bird of Paradise. It is such an outrageous plant. I was, therefore, delighted to find one in bloom outside my hotel room in Harlingen Texas while there in early November for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. I generally only see them in San Diego in February and March. And this plant, with just a few blooms, was well exposed and easy to photograph, unlike the often tangled masses of BofP in Southern CA. Had to do it.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Macro mode. f2.9 @ 1/45th @ ISO 100. 28mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
American Ladies in the Daisies
The American Lady butterfly suffers an interrupted migration. They head north in millions to repopulate North America, well up into Canada, each spring, and in fall they turn around and head south. The fact is none of them make it back to Mexico. Once upon a time they probably did. It is a classic migration pattern still followed by the Monarch. But American Ladies repopulate North American with a new generation each year.
This past weekend in Cape May, the American Ladies were everywhere, and that is not an exaggeration: Anywhere there was a flower still in bloom…from the humble Goldenrod to the giant dasies in front of the hotel where I stayed. Many were well worn…missing trailing wing edges…but still eagerly feeding, not yet ready to give up the fight. Clearly they have no idea that they won’t see Mexico again.
And, among the dasies, they certainly make a brave show, and some interesting images.
Canon SX50HS in Program with – 1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f7.1 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.