Friday, April 13, 2012

She Sells Sea Shells

Mollusk Shell
Carol went to South Carolina with her sisters last month.  She brought me back some sea shells to photograph.  I love them and hope to do more of them on rainy days.  

Mollusk Shell
She asked my why I do closeups of them.  I don't know if I made it clear but I wanted to show them  without the cracked parts.  I liked the lines, textures and even colors they contain.  Mostly, the answer is that I enjoy it.

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Reminder to Self: Always Look Back

Gorman Nature Center

I love to watch the sunlight just before and while it hits the trees behind the pond.  It is an exciting few minutes for me and I need to really be alert to capture everything going on.  It happens fast!

Gorman Nature Center
I remembered to turn around that day and view what was producing that light.  As you can see, the sun is shining through the trees so that the light is less harsh than it will be when it rises above the trees.  I try to remember to look behind me when ever I am shooting like this.  I want to learn from the light and capture all that it offers.

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Wild Cherry Bark

Wild Cherry Bark
I happened to notice the bark on this Wild Cherry tree the other day.  I think that the portions which stand out are from when the tree was younger.  I look at this tree all the time but had never noticed this before.  I also shot it at a slightly greater distance.

Wild Cherry Bark
I think that I like this one better, although I really like both.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Carol's Flower

Orchid
Carol went to South Carolina with several of her sisters last month.  She was gone for over a week.  This is the flower I gave her upon her return.  I learned that the way to care for it is to put four ice cubes in the pot once weekly.  It does not particularly need to be in a window and it cycles through to more blooms.  The current blooms wilt and eventually new ones form. 

They tell me that it is an air plant.  It has roots that obtain nutrients and water from the air.  There is not soil in the pot, only a means to stabilize it.

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Monday, April 9, 2012

American Toad

Mating American Toads
Merrill Tawse demonstrated the trilling call of the American Toad the other day.  He wondered if I had heard them.  I had not but started listening.  Two days later I heard it.  They were in the the Frog Pond.  I set up my Sony D50 recorder beside the pond and walked around to the other side where it would not pickup the sound of my shutter.

American Toads Mating
I was looking for the source of the trilling sound.  I never saw it.  I noticed the activity in the middle of the pond and photographed some of it.  I was familiar with this type of activity.  The frogs do it.  I initially thought that it was the frogs.  I later decided that it must have been the toads since they were the ones calling that day.  Merrill later confirmed what I suspected. 

I later learned, again from Merrill, that the way to catch the source of the trilling is to go at night.  Night is not my time and so I doubt that I will capture the toad with the expanded air sac under its chin.  I did get a good recording of the trilling toads and I hope that you will listen.  It is at the bottom of the page.

I was recently listening to GNC Nature Sounds and noticed the same trilling.  It was recorded near the forest edge in August.  I had initially thought that it was a different cricket sound. 

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Sunday, April 8, 2012

An Easter Gift

Cast Plaster Bunny

I found this figurine last fall when looking through a box of things from my mother's house.  I put it up so that I would remember to photograph it last winter.  At the time, I thought that she had painted it but closer examination revealed that it was purchased and probably given to her by one of her piano students. 

I used this as a learning opportunity for lighting.  I used two 420 EX slave flashes, one on either side.  My 7D has built in control for the flashes and I have been learning to use it.  I spent time figuring out the settings.  Finally, I got what I wanted.  I thought that the flash on the bunny's face should be brighter than the one on the backside.  I achieved that balance and then noted that the back wheel of the trike was not lit sufficiently.  I decided to add another light.  It was low, to the right of the camera and further back.  It lit the back wheel but caused too much light on the backside (see above). 

Setup
The third flash has the Stoffen Diffuser on it since it is hitting the bunny directly.  I found that this recreated the excessive lighting on the backside of the bunny.  I place the scrim to block lighting to the backside but allow light through for the wheel.  I found afterwards that my effort was not completely successful and I had to darken the backside with dodge/burn.  I think that the reason this happened is because some of the light went around the scrim and through the soft box to the bunny backside.

I felt good, exerting control over the lighting in this way.

Painted Plaster Bunny

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