Let’s mess around.

I know that lighthouses are considered a cliché for photographers.  My answer to that is…..who cares?…..I love lighthouses. I especially like the light house tower. I have an entire collection of images that in one way or another, feature the towers. Below are just three.

Abstractions. There is an endless number of ways to abstract a photographic subject. One way is eliminate sharp points within the image. That is an iffy proposition to say the least. With nothing for the viewer to rest their eyes on, the whole image viewed at a distance, has to be captivating. Another way is to use crossing lines, with some lines being sharp, and others soft. In the image below of Foxtail Barley Grass I used that technique. We see a layer of sharp lines laying over the top of a series of soft lines. Your eyes travel back and forth between the crisp, and the soft. Maybe better said, our eyes travel in and out of focus as we peer deep into the image and return back to the front. The line of sharp grasses is very thin indeed.

The road less traveled. Where ever I went in my life, I tried to include many miles on the road less traveled. I would rather be on roads like these than even the smoothest highways with their restaurants, gas stations and traffic.  On one trip in the 1990s, I estimated that I drove for over 1,000 miles on dirt, gravel and sand roads.

We are moving into the insect season. Examining our smallest critters has always been something I enjoyed. I looked forward to the little critters as much as I did birds and flowers.

Tree Crickets are a favorite subject of mine as they tend to stay put while you setup and make your images. They also spend a lot of time on colorful flowers making for a nice background.

Of course identifying insects, even with good books can be problematic. I am not sure what this is but my inclination is that it belongs to either the Caddisfly, Lacewing or Clearwing families, although those fuzzy antennae leave me unsure

Strange bedfellows. Whenever I could get multiple insects together I was happy. I was elated if they were of different types like this bee (or fly), and caterpillar.

Of course caterpillars by themselves make great subjects. They are very slow and willing to pose for pictures. It took a lot of depth of field (f 32) to cover this fuzzy one with enough focus. My corresponding shutter speed was 1.1sec so a slow, quiet subject was necessary for a sharp picture.

The funny thing about caterpillars is if you are too aggressive they will run away from you. Well, not exactly “run”, but they will attempt to hide. When looking for caterpillars remember to turn leaves over and check the underside.

Close-ups of birds are very popular with anybody who loves bird images. This female Gadwall gave me a look close enough to use the minimum focusing point of my lens. The reflection was a bonus.

I often prefer the more distant views of birds. That works exceptionally well with a perched bird.  Double-crested Cormorant.

Of course there is nothing like a Meadowlark in full song.

Finally we have an intimate moment between a Sandhill Crane and its offspring. It is good (my opinion) to create images of traditional subjects like birds, that are untraditional in their perspective/composition.

Happy Trails,                                                                                                                                        Wayne