Some Knots by Edwin Honig
Like eyes coming out of the wood,
out for an airing,
a look at
what’s been lying around
all these years—
then not
being able to make it back,
leaving these holes, a never
before known emptiness,
behind.
Filed under: Home, Photography | Tags: Home, Hummingbirds, Learning, Photography
Ugh, I’m frustrated with my new camera (the Nikon D7100)~not really it but, rather, my slow learning curve with it. I just finally fired off a bunch of shots this afternoon but I have a lot of settings I need to change because I’m not happy with these shots.
I sort of prefer manual focus but these were all done auto focus to take advantage of the 51 points of focus that is touted in the reviews. But now I know I have some things not set optimally and have to change them.
I also shot in the 1.3x crop mode but I still further cropped in post processing so I don’t like the look of these.
Oh, well, this little guy is cute and was trying to be a good model for me. If the sun had caught his head right, you could see all the red but it didn’t. He’s a male Anna’s hummingbird, I believe. You can catch a glimpse of red in the 3rd photo and a little bit on the top of his head below.
So, it’s back to reading more and messing with the bazillion settings again. I need a one-on-one coaching session.
“Tell us what’s happening.”
“More tuna for me?”
“Are we gonna have a catnip party?”
No…the buzz is…much as I love my trusty Nikon D80, I’ve now added a Nikon D7100 to my gear lineup. My D80 will be my backup body so I don’t have to change lenses much and so that Tony will have a camera to play with when we go on shoots. The higher resolution and 1.3x crop feature will, hopefully, allow me to have closer, sharper wildlife shots. I’m totally impressed with the reviews and totally overwhelmed with all the features. I spent some time this weekend doing online tutorials and I still feel confused and lost. Oh, well, once I actually start shooting, maybe it will become less muddled…hopefully. So far, I haven’t been able to bring myself to use it…
“Oh, that’s the buzz…big deal.”
Our hawks drop in from time to time although they don’t seem to have set up residence again in our immediate neighborhood. This guy was surveying his realm in our neighbors’ palm tree. Click for sharper images.
Oh, no, not that loudmouth again!
Get away from me or I’ll eat ya, creep!
Mockingbirds are very aggressive. You wouldn’t think they would want to taunt a hawk but they taunt cats, too, which isn’t always smart. Hawks usually prefer to snack on smaller birds than mockingbirds but I’m sure he could have taken him if he really wanted to. He mostly seems to just find him annoying.
I’m gettin’ outta here…
Free, at last!
Oh, crap!
Filed under: Home, Phoenix | Tags: Butterflies, Flora, Home, Phoenix, Scottsdale
This isn’t the first butterfly I’ve seen this year but it’s the first one I’ve been able to photograph in my yard. And it’s another one that is new to me that I had to ID on the internet: a Checkered White!
Hi, there!
Click for better detail on any of these.
Like many places, Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden has a butterfly exhibit every spring as well as a Monarch exhibit every fall but I’ve never been. I guess I assume it would be so crowded it would be hard to shoot. But I also like the challenge of finding them on my own, au naturel, in my yard, mostly, and then trying to identify them.
On May 25th, a whole new butterfly experience is coming to town, in Scottsdale, very close to where I work, Butterfly Wonderland: A Rainforest Experience. It looks interesting so I’m sure at some point, I’ll drop by.
Meanwhile, my yard is my favorite place capturing these assorted beauties. Here’s part of my collection from the past:
Gulf Fritillary~Painted Lady
Variegated Fritillary~Giant Swallowtail
Gray Hairstreak~Skipper
