I found tiny fireworks in my yard….

I found tiny fireworks in my yard….
Look behind trees while walking through the forest and you’ll find remarkable colonies of mushrooms:
Captured these webs on today’s morning walk in Vermont.
iPhone, edited with Snapseed
It’s just cold enough that the rain freezes instantaneously – time to bundle up in front of the fireplace and not leave the house!
I love how nature creates wonderful geometry:
I played around with macro photography to get some close-ups of this wintry remnant of a thistle in our backyard. Click on any picture to see them in slideshow format.
Canon 5D Mark II, 100mm macro lens
Shot these with the Hipstamatic pinhole lens – works great on small objects!
iphone, Hipstamatic app
A visit to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix provides some great opportunities for black&white shots. Click on any pic to view them in full-screen slide show format.
iphone, Hipstamatic
ISO: 32
1/580 sec
f/2.2
lens: John S
Film: BlackKeys B+W
Found these leaves frozen in a pond in the Vermont woods:
Canon 5D MarkII, EFL 24-70mm f/2.8
ISO 400
f/5.0
1/160 sec
Found a couple of mushrooms in our front yard that lent themselves for some experimentation with black&white processing. Click on any to see them in slideshow mode.
Canon Mark II, 90mm macro lens
ISO 500
f/4.5
1/80 sec
The sunset behind our house lit up this field of clover beautifully. A reflector helped me get the great lighting on the second shot.
Canon 7D, 100mm EF 2.8
ISO 100
f/8.3
1/60 sec
Found on Sanibel Island.
Canon PowerShot G12
ISO 320
f/4.5
1/80 sec
slight adjustments in Silver Efex 2
No – it’s just the sun that’s melting the ice and snow around our house – finally!
Canon 7D, EF100mm f/2.8 Macro
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/2500 sec
When it gets cold, photography turns indoors. Found these pine cones in the neighbor’s yard, so didn’t have to go far to find something on which to practice my macro photography.
Canon 7d, 100mm macro f2/8
ISO 1,600
f/6.3
1/100 sec
A rainy day lends itself to macro photography indoors. Here are two items I picked up on today’s walk:
Canon 7D, 100mm f/.8 Macro lens
All three were shot indoors with spring sunlight (finally!) streaming through the windows.
iphone, Hipstamatic
lens: Lucifer
film: BlackKeys
Spring is coming…slowly.
Canon 7D, EF-S 10-22mm
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/13 sec
Color adjusted in Nik Efex HDR
I found a dead baby horseshoe crab on the beach and decided to make it the subject of a practice lighting session. The underbelly was particularly challenging because of all the detail.
Canon 7D, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
ISO 100
f/8
1/50 sec
Thought I’d post a few close-ups I shot this summer while it’s snowing and howling outside.
Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens
Adjustments in Color Efex
These pictures don’t need an explanation: It’s COLD!
Canon 7D, 24-7-mm f/2.8L
ISO 100
70mm
f/2.8
1/250 sec
This mushroom looked to me like a sun umbrella for tiny creatures.
Canon 7D, EF 70-200mm
ISO 125
f/8
1/400 sec
On Saturday I participated in Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photo Walk by joining one of thousands of group, this one located in Guilford, CT. We spent a couple hours on the shore taking pictures and exchanging photo tips, and enjoyed ourselves despite the overcast weather. Which means it’s a good time for black&white pictures. Click on any picture to see them as a full-screen slide show.
I didn’t plan that, but it looked so delicious I just had to share it. I guess when you make the same breakfast every day, sooner or later a smiley face or a madonna is going to appear in my eggs….
Canon 7D, 24-70mm
ISO 1600
f/6.3
1/20 sec
I didn’t know until I looked at this picture on my computer that I had caught this little fly enjoying the hibiscus flower.
Shot with iPhone Hipstamatic
lens: Tinto 1884
film: Sussex
I was lucky enough to catch the one day when Horseshoe Crabs come to our town beach to mate. There were at least 15 pairs of these ‘living fossils’ (so-called by Charles Darwin because they look just like their fossilized ancestors) horsing around (pardon the pun) in the shallow water.
Camera: Canon EOS 7D, 100mm macro lens
Rainy day, so I spent it practicing indoor photography:
Canon EOS 7D, 100mm macro lens
ISO 100
f/5
1/10 sec
I shot a small piece of moss up close, and changed focus while the shutter was open, to get this effect:
Canon EOS 7D, 100mm macro lens
ISO 100
F/2.8
1/30 sec
A visit to the Essex Steam Train depot yielded some interesting photo opportunities.
Here are a few more. Click on any picture to see them in slideshow format:
Covered a lot of territory in DC over the weekend, here are some miscellaneous impressions:
iphone & Hipstamatic app
Tiny shells (1 cm long) on our local beach, shot with my macro lens:
Canon EOS 7D, 100mm 1/2.8 macro lens
ISO 100
f/3.2
1/400 sec
I can handle the cold when it’s nice and sunny (because you get nice pictures like these at sunrise):
Canon EOS 7D, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro
ISO 100
f/3.2
1/400 sec