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all creatures great and small

birds and bees,flowers and trees, dogs and cats and things like that...
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dsc_5245 foraging in a purple world
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dsc_5245 foraging in a purple world

natureflowersbumble bees pollinatingBrooklyn botanical gardensNYCBrooklynspringinsectscatmint

  • Taking my brand new camera along with me during my pleasant afternoon stroll, I was also looking for something to photograph that would give me an indication if this newest incarnation of Nikon's 105mm micro, was as sharp as my magnificent old manual focus 105mm f4 micro was. For as many springs as I have walked along the shoreline here at Silver Lake I don't recall seeing these particular type of leaves growing in as many places nor looking as vibrant and lush as they did in the spring of 08'. "They will make a perfect subject for my first test" I surmised. Well it turns out that this auto focus version is indeed as good at capturing fine details and color as my old all time favorite lens was, though it's a much bigger beast of a lens to tote around all day.<br /> <br /> But at least on days that I find room enough in my bag to bring it along I know I can get shots like this with it. Now I'd just love to know what type of plant this is...
  • I saw these foxgloves at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and noticed all the honey and bumblebee's pollinating them and I really, really wanted to get a shot of one flying into one of these spotted beauties. After walking back and forth for a little bit, I chose the best group of flowers from an aesthetic point of view and then picked out which 3 or 4 of them would probably present the best opportunity to capture a bumblebee flying into one (the honeybees were just too small to make any impact on this kind of shot from the distance I was standing). Then I spent the next few hours taking what turned out to be tons of out of focus shots of bumblebees entering the targeted bulbs. A few shots came out sharp, and this one was DEFINITELY the best of the lot. My trick here was zooming out to ease my response time as trying to let my camera autofocus for me just wasn't working, so I took to moving my head back and forth instead. Hence the 2 hours, much of which was spent rubbing my neck and stretching! (I would have loved to use my tripod, but understandably it's not allowed on these narrow walkways). Once I got home I cropped the picture back down on my computer.<br /> <br /> As I've told some of my admiring friends before, what often separates people who enjoy shooting nature photography from those who don't is, those that lack the qualities of patience and persistence never survive the trials and move on to some other hobby.
  • Again the Central Park Zoo is a great place to take pictures. This day I was trying out a small diffuser that fits over the pop up flash on your camera. Most of the glass in this tank is simply too dirty to shoot through on the bottom where most of the action is, and most of the shots suffered because of it. Then months later as I sifted through my many un-edited photo's, this lone clear shot of this blue poison dart frog surprised me.
  • I spotted this pop of purple color growing at the base of a fallen log early one spring at my beloved Clove lake and spent much time finding a suitable composition to do them justice. Thanks Roxane for the identity, I looked them up and indeed they are periwinkle!
  • While my Sigma zoom had me pulling my hair out with it's awfully un-sharp results from medium distances out, I discovered it does take really great macro shots. Here as I was walking down an off road at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens I saw this pretty shot, and I knew that this was a scene my lens would do justice to.
  • dsc_ 2766 mushroom bed
  • dsc_ 3016 snowflakes in the spring
  • As people walked by my tripod they looked with admiring curiosity at the shot I was taking of these rhododendrons after the rain had finally stopped. I let all of them look through my viewfinder, and got lots of oohs and aah's each time. <br /> <br /> This shot is more proof that my 18-50mm f2.8 takes first rate macro shots. Now if only my non-macro shots with it came out this well.
  • dsc_ 3259 lily of the valley
  • I've walked past this spot in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens many many times over the years, but on this occasion the apple blossom pedals filling the bog combined with the open shadows from the overcast sky made this spot shine for the very first time that I could remember.<br /> <br /> This was actually a test shot for composition and exposure. But as I turned to reach for my tripod bag, I saw tons of flower petals being knocked off of the trees in front of the Visitors Center a hundred yards off in the distance. It was from a fast moving rain storm and a moment later I was drenched by the sudden downpour, and the rain didn't stop coming till after the Botanical Gardens closed for the day. So my test shot of this picturesque scene was all I got of it that day.
  • While the rain halted many of the shots I hoped to get this day, it did create others.
  • Shot with my Nikkor 105mm VR f2.8 micro lens. It is a worthy successor to my all time favorite lens, my manual focus 105mm f4 micro. Now does anyone know what type of flowers these are??
  • Blue mist clematis
  • Up till now I focused the vast majority of my shots the way I did with my old F3 and FA - manually, as I was having a devil of a time getting used to a camera that focused for me. It constantly wouldn't snap the shutter when I wanted it to. Then with the camera slung back over my shoulder it would snap 6 shots of my feet, while I was walking away in disgust. This day I was determined to incorporate auto focus or die trying. I finally met with great success when I moved the focus point to one spot in the viewfinder, then looked for areas in the field of flowers that had a clear patch of space with a solid green background behind it nestled in a photographic grouping of flowers. Fortunately bees were everywhere in this field and I didn't have to wait too too long for one to happen by a spot I'd camp out in. Now with the focus point already where the bee was, autofocus was a snap. There were many great spots composition wise in this field, this was one of the best I came across.
  • dsc_ 5139 honeybee feeding nef
  • DSC_5127 honeybee feeding
  • dsc_5150 bumblebee foraging
  • dsc_5245 foraging in a purple world
  • My next door neighbor Sally (love you girl!!), had to take her car into town. Later when I looked outside, I saw that the rain had stopped and I took my camera out to the rose bushes in her driveway that were just starting to burst with flowers. When she arrived back home she didn't even ask me to move when she saw me with my camera and tripod sitting where her car normally would go, and she happily parked a few feet further back. Isn't she the best!!
  • dsc_5414 Sally's bushes after the rain
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