Day 119 - Up with the birds 'n' the butterflies

And I also made a new friend while I was out shooting the sunrise.  

Day 110 - Scorching!

One of the days during the heat wave.  The effect wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.  I wanted the image a little bit hazy to depict the haze of the heat, but I couldn't spend enough time on this as the gull decided to take off after I'd fired my second shot. :-(

Day 101 - And the rains came

Been busy and not posting.. neither clicking everyday.. bad, bad, bad!

These shots are from 5 days ago!

I wish I could have had a better background to show off the raindrops in the last image but being limited to a small balcony corner didn't afford much option.  Enlarging this shot will probably make the raindrops a bit more visible.

Day 99 - Of birds and bees

Day 96 - By the river

Day 95 - The Baltimore Oriole

Saw this guy foraging for insects just outside my bedroom window.  As I've mentioned in my earlier posts, these little guys are extremely restive and aren't the perching kinds.  They just flit from one branch to the other without slowing down - very tricky to catch without a super telephoto lens either.  This is the best one I got through the glass window.  I blew out a couple others that could have been better handled.

Day 94 - Rainy day holiday

Since I have nothing to post for today, I'm going to post a couple from yesterday's shoot.  I love the summer for all the birds and wildflowers.  However, I'm yet to see many butterflies.  This was my first encounter with one. 

I was shooting in shutter priority mode as there was quite a breeze and I was having issues with getting a single shot with sharp focus.  

I accidentally forgot to adjust my high ISO on this one, so I had to fix the highlights a little bit in post-processing.  

I fixed the ISO for this next one though.  

This was taken with my 250 mm lens - a tiny critter, but the ray of sunlight illuminated a part of the wing really beautifully.  

Day 93 - Another spectacular dusk, but I was in a hurry

Taken with the 55 mm end of my telephoto lens.  Missing the wide angle view.

I tried to blur the main subject her and kept a small part of the foreground in focus.  

Day 92 - There will be sunshine after rain

I believe what Dire Straits said in their song "Why Worry":

"There will be laughter after pain,
There will be sunshine after rain,
These things have always been the same -
So, why worry now!"

And so there was - one entirely gloomy, rainy day and look at how the sun burst forth during the early evening!

This 1-banded snail was suddenly lit up by a single shaft of sunshine that somehow penetrated the deepest part of the forest.  I would have stepped on the poor guy, otherwise!  One lucky day for this little soul!  Hope he got out and away of the forest path.

I couldn't get the exact effect I was after.  But the wind was bouncing this in and out of my frame and I was afraid the droplets would roll off if I didn't get a quick shot.

Backlit wildflower with a gossamer web almost setting it's boundaries for it to stay within.

This flower was a little bit in the distance, but most importantly deep in the marsh preventing me from getting close to it.  But my attention was caught by this single flower with another single stalk a few inches away from it.  They seemed to have sprung from nowhere.

Day 91 - Little kitty

Saw this guy from my bedroom window.  I didn't have a lot of room to play with, since I had to almost wedge myself into a corner to be able to get a proper view.  The dappled lighting went in favour of these shots, I think.  Since my windows were cleaned not too long ago, I managed to get a decent enough shot from the second floor.

Day 89 - Crab apple tree after the rains

Day 88 - She sells sea shells.. no.. she just sees shells!

The shots didn't quite turn out the way I wanted them, but I kinda like the second and last shots the best.  I used a lamp with a "soft box" to illuminate the shell from below in the last one.  The other two shots are taken in ambient light.   The background turned out the best in the last one, I think - I love the soft diffused background and the 2 levels of reflections.  

Av, spot metering, f/6.3, exposure compensation of -1, ISO 200

Av, spot metering, f/6.3, exposure compensation of -1, ISO 200

Av, spot metering, f/10, exposure compensation - 2 stops, ISO 200

Day 84 - Planters

I was waiting for the rains to revive the flowers a little bit and found this one looking really fresh and perked up.  It had been a pretty gloomy day, but patches of sunshine peeked through towards the late evening.  These photos are from another exploration of the riverside, but this was in a different section of the island, and also unfrequented by people.  Very beautiful and very peaceful - I can see myself going back there again soon.

This last one was flashed at -2 stops to freeze the branch swaying vigourously in the wind, as well as to lighten up the really dark part of the tree I found this sprig in.  

Day 82 - Curved lines

Quick shots in the park.

Day 81 - Portraits

These are portraits I did a few days ago, but I finally remembered to ask for permission to post them.  Many thanks to you, Jim, for the guidance and excellent tips.

This is my second time trying portraits, but admittedly the first time that I did them with any amount of seriousness as far as lighting was concerned. But it was mostly some random clicking done only to see the light we could get by using ambient light and a reflector.

I have applied very minimal PP to the first frame, and tried my hand at removing a few blemishes on the second one.  I hope they still look natural.  I'd love to know which one you liked.

Day 80 - Snap-a-snack

I came back from work feeling all upbeat about another gorgeous day and wanted to go look for the ducklings I know I'd find on the pond.  But all of a sudden I felt exhausted and completely pooped!  So, I decided to give myself a sugary break with my fave home-made strawberry jam and a piece of toast.  And what better subject for a photo than my snack plate?

The light was extremely low in my dining room.  I used AV and that picked really slow shutters, ranging between 3.2 to 6s!  I played with the WB a little bit on the 3rd & last frames.  The 3rd one seems to have turned out a little bit better.