Wildflower 4

Nikon D700, 60mm macro lens at f11 and 1/500th, ISO 1600, -.5 exposure compensation

Wildflower 3

Nikon D700, 60mm macro lens at f4.8, 1/1500, ISO 1600, -1.5 exposure compensation

This flower is VERY small, about 1/4 inch across and growing in my yard (some people might call these weeds, but any photographer will tell you differently). There is not much detail in the petals and if I had used a tripod when shooting I might have been able to get better detail,  I just thought the tiny hairs on the triangular shaped leaves were interesting.

Wildflower 2

Nikon D700, 60mm macro lens at f4.8 and 1/6000th, ISO 1100

Again a blend of 2 shots for more depth of field for this small flower.  It was about 1 and 1/2 inches in size.  If the shutter speed seems rather fast, it was necessary for handholding the camera in one hand and trying to hang on to 3 dog leashes attached to 3 very impatient canines with the other hand.

Wildflower Walk (Allergies Anyone?)

Nikon D700, 60mm macro lens, f11 at 1/125, ISO 1100

Well, that sounds better than "weed walk". I have no idea what the name of this wildflower is.  I spotted only a couple of these at the edge of the woods along Clear Creek where I walk my dogs.  It is pretty small, maybe 2 and 1/2 inches across and growing from the ground, not on a tree or bush.  I combined 2 shots to get the center and the petals in focus.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing

 

 or how about:

Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck.  ~Author Unknown

We Have a Visitor

 

Yesterday we were sitting on our back porch when this little parakeet flew by.  He let us get pretty close to him and I could tell he was really tired because he kept nodding off. There were 3 hawks calling and hunting all around our house so I knew he would soon be a meal if we couldn't catch him. Eventually we were able to entice him to eat some birdseed and Mike was able to get him to hop onto his hand and put him into an old cage I have.  So far we have not been able to find out who lost him.   When I was a child we had a parakeet for a while, but I have no desire to keep one these days, so would anyone like a very sweet (and tired) parakeet???

 

Seaside Survivors

Nikon D200, 70 - 200mm 2.8 lens at f3.5 and 1/1000th, ISO 200

This was my other submission for our Get Rhythm assignment.  While there are repeating elements in this scene, I am not sure about how "rhythmic" they are.  Maybe the varying heights of the fence posts are like notes going up and down on a scale...According to our assignment the definiton of rhythm is "an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements" and I don't really see that here but something about the posts being large in the foreground and the palm trees smaller in the distance gives me a feeling of strong main notes and quieter, staccato notes playing in the background.  I just knew I loved the weathered posts standing isolated in the golden grass and with my telephoto lens I was able to change the angle of view so that only the palm trees showed in the distance and not the several stories high condominiums just to the right of the trees.  I did clone out a very interesting little Japanese-looking hut on the left and a wooden bridge on the right, both were back in the palm trees and just did not fit with the theme of repeating elements that I wanted in this one version.  And while I really liked the golden light and the color, for the assignment I chose to covert it to black and white which seems to make the repeating vertical elements stand out more.  Below is the color version.