Monthly Archives: October 2013
Old Falls Panorama
One of the fun things about a camera with sweep panorama is that, even when you are not after a true panoramic effect, you can still quickly and easily break out of the bounds of your widest zoom to catch more of the scene in front of you. At 23mm equivalent field of view, I had to choose the center, left of center, or right of center view of Old Falls and the foliage. With sweep panorama on hand it was a simple matter of flipping the camera up on end and sweeping it around from left to right to capture the whole scene. This is only about 100° and the vertical camera makes the image unusually tall for a panorama, so the effect is more super-wide. I like it. It gives the falls scale and includes more of the fall color.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Panorama mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7 and then reprocessed for a bit more impact on the laptop usinge the edit tools in Google+ Photos.
The Oaks are Last to Turn.
I was afraid this might happen. I was away from home for a week working in Alabama, and fall came and went while I was gone. I come back to Maine to find lots of leaves already on the ground and the oaks turning. Such is life.
On the other hand, the oaks this year are as intense as I have ever seen them. Some years they just slide from green to brown. This year they are blazing red. And never more so than in the low fall sun-light of a late afternoon. These are mostly in shade and they still glow.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Long-tailed Skipper
The Long-tailed Skipper is not an attractive butterfly as butterflies go…dull gray with few markings…but it certainly has character. In this shot, from coastal Alabama, you can see the proboscis inserted into the tiny opening in the tiny flower in search of what can only be the tiniest drop of nectar. Not an easy living, but the Long-tailed Skipper, with its long slender and flexible proboscis, is particularly adapted to it.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Program with macro. 482mm equivalent field of view. f5.9 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Suspended Animation
Along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, these dock/boat hoists are common. The tides are shallow and it is easy to simply lift the boats out of the water. This day everyone on the coast was watching the weather carefully as, out over that deceptively calm horizon, a Gulf hurricane was brewing. In fact two hours later when we drove back by this spot, the owner of this boat was on the steep shore frantically trying to lift the boat almost straight up on to its trailer for transport inland and away from the storm.
What attracts me here is the light over the water and the way it plays around the dock, the boat on its hoist, and the bird house. Then too, there is a tension in the suspended boat that matches the day.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone mode (in-camera HDR). Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Fritillary. An alternate view.
As I said a few days ago, there were Fritillaries every where in Coastal Alabama last week, and I brought back, as you might expect, a lit of different views. As the day progressed the wind came up and the Fritillaries had some difficulty hanging on the the waving plants to feed. They achieved some interesting poses, some of which I caught.
I like this unconventional under-wing view. It has a sense of arrested motion that appeals. And i lime the way the bright contrasty light picks out the details on the colorful bug. Or that is the way I see it.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. Program and macro. 200mm equivalent field of view. f4.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Roseate Skimmer. Happy Sunday!
On Friday I joined the Bayou LA Batre field trip at the Alabama Coastal Birding Festival. We visited several birdy locations in the Bayou La Batre area. I posted an illustrated trip report on gobirding.us. One of the highlights of the trip for me was the number of dragonflies bunched up along the coast as they migrate south for the winter. There were more Black Saddlebags than I have ever seen in one place at one time, a few Red Saddlebags, Green Darners (of course), and lots of Wandering Gliders. The best for me though, were the dozens of Roseate Skimmers I found in a drainage ditch along one of the roads we walked while looking for birds. We don’t get Roseares in Maine. I have only seen them in Texas up to this trip. Lovely bugs!
Canon SX50HS. 1800mm equivalent field of view. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
And for the Sunday Thought. With my growing interest in dragonflies added to my interest in butterflies it is becoming obvious that I no longer fit the traditional birder mold. On the Bayou La Batre field trip, I spent as much time looking at and photographing dragonflies and butterflies as I did looking at and photographing birds. I often found myself way behind the group as I was waylaid by an interesting bug. On the long (or short).stretches of trail or roadside between birds and likely birding spots, while the real birders truged and chatted, only half paying attention, I was still on full alert, checking out every bug I came across. I am sure some of the real birders in the group got tired of my pointing out Saddlebags and Skimmers, Fritillaries and Long-tailed Skippers. One lady asked if I were more of an entomologist than a birder. I had to explain that my interest in birds was a keen as ever, but I supposed it was fair to say that I was becoming more of a general naturalist, with interests in bugs and reptiles and wildflowers and trees…with the whole living world. If makes me the odd man out on birding field trips, so be it. If they are not interested in the Roseate Skimmers in the drainage ditch, it is their loss. 🙂
To me it is the natural continuation of the outward turn that birding is part of. Once you get your eyes of yourself and your inner drama, and focused on the wonder and variety of the Creation that we are emersed in, even if you begin, as many do, with birds, how do you stop there? Why would you stop there? There is so much to see and so much to learn. For the naturalist, there is, literally, never a dull moment in the field.
And if, like me, your interest is, in fact, your offering to the Creator God, an act of worship and fellowship, then certainly you would not want to miss the Roseate Skimmers in the ditch.
Happy Sunday!
Fritillary!
I like Fritiallaries. Big and showy, and with their metallic silver patterns on the under hind-wing, they are a treat to see anytime. In Coastal Alabama yesterday, where I am working a birding festival, they were everywhere we went. They are migrating right now and were apparently bunched up along the coast. Okay by me.
I had several good photo ops. I especially like this shot with the contrast of the pink flower and the lovely green bokeh.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ISO 500. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Blazing Star, Autumn Version
Blazing Star is a rare, fire-dependent, and spectacular plant of forest openings in New England, with a remnant population on the Kennebunk Plains. This was a particularly good year for them, especially in areas of the Plains that were part of the controlled burns of the year before. Come fall and all that is left is the seed heads, which are themselves somewhat spectacular.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. Macro. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Ah autumn! Maine.
The leaves are turning. The leaves are falling. It is that time of year again. I found this leaf, fallen in just the right spot to catch some late afternoon sun shining through, along the shore of Old Falls Pond between Kennebunk and Sanford Maine. It was curled to stand just so…and I put the camera on macro mode and placed it practically on the ground for the shot.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Another Garter Snake (Maine)
Well, it seems to the the season for Garter Snakes with prey inside…even though the last one I saw was in a bush in Ohio, and this one is on the ground at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport ME. Other than that, they could be same snake. Same size. Same size lump. Lump in the same spot. And before these two snakes I had never seen the pattern of white scale edges that the distension reveals. Interesting.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. Program and macro. 216mm equivalent. f4.8 @ 1/60th @ ISO 400. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
And one at around 500mm equivalent field of view.
