Nature Undisturbed Update

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that Okefenokee Joe would be appearing on family day (April 26) during Nature Undisturbed.  I need to update that he will not be able to make it.  The bird of prey show is planned for that day.  Bring the kids -- bring your cameras and come see the birds!

For more information on the birds of prey show check out the Winged Ambassadors website.

Vanishing Point

One more of the peach orchard -- I just can't seem to get out of these rows and rows of peach trees!

The photo on the blog today is another of the orchard -- showing the trees -- but also showing something that many photographers seek -- a vanishing point.  The term 'vanishing point' is the visual phenomenon that tricks your eye to think that two parallel lines will meet far off in the distance.  

Looking at this photo you would think that the trees (or the rows of trees) at some point come together.  They don't.  We know they don't -- what farmer would angle rows to meet?

Many photos that show a vanishing point involve railroad tracks -- another one that anyone who knows anything realizes the rails are always the same distance apart even if they look as though they meet (and maybe cross) at some point far away from the extreme point that we can see.

Since I am such a macro person -- preferring to work more on close subjects -- I don't have a lot of vanishing point photos.  Some people 'collect' these (I guess like anything -- you gravitate to what you like).  Now that I have this shot -- I really like it -- I may search out more opportunities.

My biggest obstacle of these photos -- the other opportunities -- is that I have seen so many of the railroad tracks and highways.  I have an obsession to be different.  If I have seen photos of certain subjects -- I will almost obsess about staying away from any photo that would look anything like the ones I have seen.  I strive to have my own vision.  I don't want to do something that someone else has already done.  Repeating something you have seen has its place -- to learn a little -- but I would never repeat someone else's work to keep and show.  

So back to my orchard photo on the blog.  I am sure I am not the only person who has ever taken a photo similar or even just like this -- but I haven't seen it.  I took this because I was standing there -- in that spot and liked the view.  

Great points of the orchard -- it was a different subject for me -- it was a stretch.  I got out of my usual box and really like a lot of the photos I got that day.  Getting out of your usual box will always be a good exercise. 

 

Minimum Focus Distance

Since I am such a macro photography freak, minimum focus distance is a very important for me to know.  I will admit -- sometimes I know how close I can get and other times I find out by pushing it -- getting so close that I can't focus -- so I do have to back off a little.  

If you know your minimum focus distance you have a good idea of how close you can get.  But -- do you know -- visually -- what 17 inches looks like?  I don't.

The photo on the blog today is another from last Wednesday.  This is a close up of one of the peach blossoms.  This was also taken with my Tamron 14mm lens.  The photo from the blog entry last Thursday was a wide landscape shot taken with that same lens.  You can see by comparing these two photos -- the close up and the landscape just how versatile such an ultra wide angle lens can be.

Usually I don't use this lens much.  Like many other photographers, I feel I stereotype this lens as being good for great wide open landscapes and not much else.  I purposely used it in the orchard and also, purposely got super close with it to see what it would do.  The minimum focus distance for this lens is 8 inches.  Who carries a ruler in their camera bag?  Not me.  So I got close -- really close -- and some times too close.  When I knew I was too close -- I backed up a little.  Just a little -- just enough to allow the lens to focus.

 The aperture for this shot was f/2.8 and the shutter speed was 1/4000.  Pretty darn fast shutter, huh?  Well, just think -- when the aperture is open that much -- as far as that lens would allow -- more light comes in so the shutter can work faster.  A super fast shutter was becoming important to me as a breeze was picking up.  The blossoms were not blowing much -- but the petals were.  Just a little breeze when you are working that close can ruin a photo.

I really like the shallow depth of field.  Also -- as with the other photo -- I love the spring colors presented to me that day.  This photo was taken in bright sunlight at almost high noon.

Photo Wednesday

Last spring (and fall) I would head out on Wednesday mornings to take photos.  Most of the time my Wednesday is a free day.  A friend of mine and I went out a lot last year.  Over the past weekend we were talking about how we need to do that again.  Yesterday was the first "Photo Wednesday" of 2009.

When we would do this before, we usually had a specific location in mind.  Some of the places we visited last year -- when it was much warmer -- we decided it would be best to come back during cooler weather.  Another spot was so overgrown -- we decided winter and less weeds would be better.  During our conversation last weekend -- we concluded that we had not been back to any of those places.  The weather is warming and weeds are starting to grow.

Our main goal destination yesterday was the place that was overgrown last year.  It was OK -- and I took a bunch of photos.  But, I think my photos do not live up to my expectations.  This happens a lot when I remember a place from months ago and build up this excitement that I am going there -- and the photos are going to be wonderful.  I need to remember to build low expectations and then sit back and allow the place to wow me when I get there.

While we were near the main destination we found a couple other spots of promise.  I am sort of happy with some of the images.  One grand find was a nice stand of bamboo that had a great greenish yellow color.  I have not processed any of those photos yet -- but I plan to spend some time with them.

Another spot was an old church.  I am thinking of going back at a different time of day to take more photos of this place.  It is very interesting -- a lot of angles, windows, adornaments.

Then I had an idea -- I thought I remembered something.  As we were approaching what I thought I remembered -- well -- it was not what I remembered.  It must have been some other two-lane country road.  Who knows.  But, by the time we drove that far -- we were close to another spot I knew and had planned to return to in the spring.  We decided to go a bit further to check it out and perhaps make a plan to return soon.  

Why had I wanted to return?  For one thing the place was very interesting to me.  I posted a photo of this little roadside cemetery back in September, 2008: Zebulon.  The cemetery is interesting and I remembered seeing through the trees behind it was a peach orchard.  You can see the peach tree when you are standing in the cemetery.  I had thought a great photo would be the blooming trees in the distance with the tombstones as the main subject.  So yeah, I took that photo -- it is fine -- it is wonderful.  But the peach orchard all alone was prime photo opportunity!

Yes the peaches were blooming already!  I had not expected that.  In fact, I told my friend -- "I want to see how close the trees are to blooming so I can come back in a week or so."  As we neared the spot you could see the pink peach blooms and we thought wow!  We also thought -- lunch will be late today!

The sky yesterday was gloomy -- fog and overcastness (is that a word?) did not burn off untl I had already taken quite a few photos of the trees.  I have some from the overcast time that I like -- but when the sun began to break through -- it was wonderful.  Those huge white puffy clouds, blue sky, hot pink blooms, and the green grass made a beautiful 'Welcome Spring' photo!

Since I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity, I used the Lensbaby 3G, my Tamron 18-250 zoom, and the Tamron 14mm in the field.  I was so glad I had the 14mm with me.  Not only did I take the opportunity to play with a variety of lenses, I played with a bunch of different aperture settings.  The photo on the blog today was taken with the 14mm.  My shutter speed was 1/320 and the aperture was f/9.  The photo was taken right at about noon.  I would love to get back to take more -- at a better time of day for lighting.  But really, with these, the sky was excellent.

All in all I uploaded 348 photos yesterday -- I have not even started looking over most of them.  I was most excited about many in the orchard -- they get priority.  I took more than 348 photos.  Some of them were deleted in camera before I ever uploaded any.  I love digital.