The Cormorant, the Dragonfly, and the Bee: redbud

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Macro Mardi

Macro Tuesday is not so alliterative, so I thought I'd throw in a little French to keep the theme going from yesterday's blog post. The Spanish "Martes" would have worked nicely as well. Thanks to Deb for the idea. Yes, though not a common event, we discussed the title of this blog post during breakfast this morning.

Bottom line is I have many more macro photos of spring buds and blossoms to share.

How about a lime green background! This is the way the "bokeh-ized" grass in the background came out of the camera. I understand lime green is this year's favorite designer color!

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry

Sand Cherry Blossoms

It has been fascinating to watch the progression of the Redbud buds: from red, to red and magenta, to red and magenta with white blossoms. Also, they are sparse no more.

Redbud Minnie Mouse Ears

Since deer love to eat tulips, Deb cut a few from outside and brought them in. This way we can enjoy them before they're suddenly gone. Turns out they grow and last just about as long inside as outside!
This next shot is indoors with regular room lighting at ISO 1600.

Tulip Colors

Back outside again...

Tulip Sex

Normally, I prefer a nice blue sky, but this day was completely cloud covered. These are cherry blossoms from a different cherry tree than the one appearing in my recent "Cherry Blossoms" post. I used an exposure compensation of plus 3 f-stops! This forces the sky to be solid white and brings in the shadow detail of the cherry blossoms.

Cherry Blossoms Against a Cloudy Sky

White on White

Crab Apple Blossom

Open Crab Apple Blossom

For these next two shots, I had the camera essentially on the ground in the grass.

Splendor in the Grass

Violet Attention

The Tickler

Upper Hand

Blossom Radar Dish

Monday, May 1, 2017

Macro Monday

The buds and blossoms of spring merit a closer look. Actually, a really close look.
Today's post contains some recent favorite shots taken with my 60mm macro lens, some at 1:1 magnification. All photos are taken with natural light and with no props to modify the light; all photos are handheld except for one taken with a tripod.

Our redbud tree is remarkably enjoyable to observe this time of year. Here's a sample taken after a recent rain.

Redbud Water Drops

Azalea Performance

Soaking Up Some Sun

Skywards

Paperbark Curl

While walking around the Ashland Reservoir, I met a woman walking in the opposite direction who told me to look for this turtle she saw a few minutes earlier on her walk. No way I would have noticed this small creature, an inch in length, had I not received a warning. She told me about it because she saw I was taking pictures. The turtle's color was extremely dark, so it made for an extra photographic challenge to take some of his highlights out of the shadows. Needless to say, the end of my macro lens was larger than the turtle and less than an inch away to take this photo.