Newest Nature photos + 1
Here are 5 of the 12 photos that I presented last week in my photo club.They loved them. Perhaps you might enjoy one of them too.
All were taken with my Canon T6i and a Sigma 50 to 500 mm lens.
The first 3 are somewhat difficult. They are of a flying hummingbird feeding from a flower.
They were at a huge garden, where there were literally thousands of flowers.
So, one has little idea as to when the bird would appear, or which flower the bird would feed from. In addition one needs to choose a very high shutter speed (these were taken at 1/3200 of a second) and thus a high ISO ( = 3200).
The next one was of a Monarch Butterfly.
However, while I was just about to press the shutter button, I noticed (something?)
out of the corner of my eye to the right of the butterfly.
So, I shifted the camera a bit to the right to include it in the picture.
I was very happy that the butterfly turned out very well and the other
tiny insect turned out well enough to at least get a look at it.
However, I still don't know what the heck that tiny insect is.
Lastly, I went to a jazz festival last month. Got right up front, center stage and met
a couple of the band leaders. One a female singer and the other one a terrific guitarist,
that I own several CDs of. His name is Mark Whitfield.
While I was taking photos, I sat right next to the guy the festival hired to take photos of the
event. I asked him if he was familiar with Mark Whitfield. He was not. I told him, that I had
never seen him in person, but I owned several of his CDs and that he is an excellent guitarist.
We both took hundreds of photos of each band. After Mark Winfield's band was done, the other photographer commented to me, "Man, he just gave us his all." I said, "Yeah. But the challenge with him, as I saw it, was that whenever he plays, he plays with his eyes closed." He responded with, "Well, I took a lot of photos of him. I'm sure I got several with his eyes open."
I then saw him go through all 84 photos he took of Mark, and not a single one had him with his eyes open. Because I noticed the challenge early on during his set, I got 11 photos of him with his eyes open. While I got plenty of his eyes closed while playing, I intentionally waited to the exact moment that he opened his eyes, to get several of those too, giving options for perhaps a CD cover. I did hand Mark my business card after the concert.
What the other photographer said next, made absolutely no sense. He said, "Well, we just looked at the JPEG photos. Some of the RAW ones probably have his eyes open."
I did not reply, because the RAW and the JPEG photos are exactly the same photos,
simultaneously stored onto the same memory card, except the way the image is stored is different.
I just let him 'save face' (pun intended).
Here's one of the photos of Mark, with his eyes & mouth open.
And here's a short little taste of some of his solo guitar work;
Comments (30)
certainly looks like one to me.
Wonderful photos.....I think
That is a Yellowjacket
Bee.....
Thanks for your guess. However, that yellow insect does not appear to be a yellowjacket;
The insect I photographed was about 12 times smaller than a yellowjacket
and lacked the black banding. Plus, unlike a yellowjacket, it has a proboscis.
It has a proboscis instead of the mandibles and is tiny.
Nice work
Hopefully, I will hear something sometime later this week.
When I do, I will update this blog.
They were at a huge garden, where there were literally thousands of flowers."
I've never seen a hummingbird but I've heard they fly backwards. An amazing feat when thinking about it. That's basically aerodynamics out the window. Where's neural?????
On average, it can take a person a time or 2 to visualize past the label I put on them
to protect them.
I find it ironic, that in all the years you've been on here, and the thousands of blogs I've posted, this is the only comment I remember you ever making on one of my blogs.
As for commenting on your blogs for 'years'? You're confusing me with someone else.
Do you know why kiwis are flightless?
They rotate their wings on an angle to do that.
If you go by times body length, they are the fastest fliers in the world
beating their wings very rapidly, which is why I
chose a very high shutter speed, so the wings were not excessively blurred.
Here's some other facts about hummingbirds;
As for commenting on your blogs for 'years'? You're confusing me with someone else.
Thanks for the info regarding kiwis.
"Ask your average paleontologist who is familiar with the phylogeny of vertebrates and they will probably tell you that yes, birds (avians) are dinosaurs. Using proper terminology, birds are avian dinosaurs; other dinosaurs are non-avian dinosaurs, and (strange as it may sound) birds are technically considered reptiles."
.... and you're forgiven just for today.
That little insect is a wanabe Humming bird.
Hope to get some shots of the moon this week.
ba - #1. I don't hate anyone. #2. We both have been on here long before Trump lied his way into power. So, your excuse is invalid.
Luc - perhaps. But, it was following a butterfly. So, perhaps it was a beewannabebutterfly.
D_L - That bird looks to be a relative to a cardinal. However, it lacks the coloring of a US cardinal. Is it a bird from India ?
riz - good luck with your new technological adventure. While I am not familiar with your particular camera make nor model, if you have general photo questions along the way,
feel free to ask away along the way of your adventure.
There are several controls you should be able to adjust and they all have to do with light. They include ISO, apurature, shutter speed, and white balance.
The ISO setting influences how sensitive the sensor is. The higher the setting, the less light you need for a good picture. However, the higher the setting, the more grainy the picture.
The apurature setting adjusts how narrow or wide the lens opens when taking a picture.
Obviously, the smaller the opening, the less light that reaches your picture. But, also the greater the depth of field in focus.
The faster the shutter speed the less light that reaches your photo. But also, the less blur of motion.
You can also adjust the white balance. This is useful in shade, or cloudy conditions and also when taking photos in unnatural lighting situations.
The key is to learn not only how to adjust these things, but how much of each to control different situations. If you want to take average photos, stick to the automatic settings.
However, if you want to take excellent photos you do the adjustments manually.
T - I'm glad you loved the photos of the hummingbirds.
house/home security installed also.
@Luke
Small rather tiny....bee
Or like mysterious insesct ..
I mean next to that ...butterfly...(photo)
Hope mails are working here::dunno:
wasn't sure which species it was, but it looked like a smaller relative of a yellowjacket.
I replied with "Fair enough" and thanked him for entertaining my question.
Jim, that car is long gone but since replace....
house/home security installed also.
However, unless the individual is close to any doorbell type camera, it's mostly useless.
My neighbor was recently visiting his father a town away, and while he was inside,
someone collided with the rear of his new SUV. A woman walking on the sidewalk behind the accident got video with her cell phone and my neighbor also obtained video from a corner place of business.
The videos were essentially useless in obtaining a license plate number. They just don't have the resolution.
On his behalf, I even tried adjusting the contrast, the color saturation and the light level
to no avail. There just wasn't enough pixels to get anything off the license plate with both videos.
If someone steals a package off of your porch, if the person isn't wearing a mask,
it would be good for that. If someone breaks into your home, it would be good for that.
However, once the distance becomes greater than that, they aren't as useful.
People should really ask about the degree of resolution before considering purchase.