Where there's a will, there's a way

And Mother Nature ALWAYS has a strong will.

She can even encourage moss to grow in as inhospitable an area as a rusty old truck's running board.

Fall colours

This one I played with a little bit in post-processing.

This scene and therefore the image already had great colours. Late fall gave the gorgeous reds and oranges, and the sun was setting, leaving the pinks on the left. The water was quite still, giving a very beautiful reflection. So, what did I do to this?

First, I cropped it. I actually cut out most of the sunset, because that isn't what I wanted to focus on. Then I added some "warmth" to the picture. It gave the sky a slightly odd cast, but I think it made the rest of the colours pop even more. Third, I increased the saturation a bit, again, just to bring out those gorgeous colours even more.

I love this picture.

Sure, that's a path...

Framed Duck

Almost perfectly framed by the grasses at the edge of the lake. But not quite perfectly. Which makes me sad.

1/160 sec, f/5.0 aperture, ISO 80, 35.6mm focal length

Wordless Wednesday: Frog/Toad... Amphibian!

Do not photograph me.

1/60 sec, f/5.7, flash used, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

American Crow

He could be a bit sharper. But I love the profile, I love how he seems to be looking out from behind the tree. I love how soft and out of focus the background is, with the sharp leaves in the foreground.

1/200 sec, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

Contrasting colours

More killing time while waiting for people to walk by! I loved the contrasting colours between the pale leaves and the rich berries.

1/50 sec, f/4.0 aperture, ISO 80, 16mm focal length

Great Blue Heron

Absolutely at the distance limit of what my camera could manage clearly. But it is very obvious that this is indeed a Great Blue Heron. We actually followed him for quite a while, unintentionally. When we got too close (which wasn't close at all) he would take off, and watching him in flight was just breath-taking.

1/160 sec, f/5.7, ISO 80, 100mm focal length

Pretty Butterfly

Had to track this one for quite a while before it settled enough for me to get this picture. And I'm very pleased with the results of my patience! I'm of two minds about whether I should crop this one. On one hand, I'd like to focus in a little more on the butterfly, but on the other hand, I love the contract with the rocky ground.

1/640 sec, f/5.7, 100mm focal length, ISO 160

Plains Bison

A Plains Bison. (And I have learned that buffalo is not the singular of bison, it's a different species.) This shot was taken from the safety of a large van. I was not the driver, and he was ready to bolt if this guy had looked bothered by us. He never showed any care for our presence.

1/320 sec, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 80, 19.8mm focal length

Blue Dragonfly

This guy was not feeling well, so pictures were easy to get. I got him off the road by coaxing him on to my bus pass, and then after a while I moved him to the grass, where I thought he'd be safer. Anyway, his lethargy gave me the opportunity for an amazingly clear and close picture!

1/30sec, f/5.0, focal length 62.5mm, ISO 80

Too good to miss

This duck was diving for lunch under the water. The view was priceless - including the feet visible beneath the surface of the water! Strangely, I actually like that it's off-center. Usually I'm not fond of it, but this one works. Maybe that's because it's only a little off?

1/125 sec, f/5.0 aperture, ISO 80, focal length 41.4mm

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset over Lake Astotin

0.4sec, f/2.8, exposure bias -2/3, ISO 80, focal length 5.2mm

Bumblebee

Lovely shot of a bee taken while waiting for people to clear out so I could put a geocache back in to hiding! I need to crop this one to bring the focus more on the bee, since it's quite sharp and the wings are fairly detailed.

1/400sec, f/5.7, ISO 80, focal length 100mm

A long absence

A long time since the last post! Between having a broken computer for several weeks amd yhe amount of time spent on my two new favourite hobbies, the blog has fallen by the wayside. (Those hobbies are playing with/teasing the puppy, and Geocaching.) My camera does provide great cover though, when I'm trying to be stealthy in hunting for a geocache. I've gotten some great shots while waiting for people to walk past, so I can dive back in to the bushes or a tree!

Like this one! It probably breaks a million "rules" - like rule of thirds, since the bird is smack in the middle of the shot. But for me, it works.

Roses are pink, in Alberta

This was taken on the same day as Just buzzzzing along.

Our provincial flower is one of my favourites. There's just something about it that hits a chord with me. In this shot, I love how it's peeking between two fuzzy, out of focus leaves. It looks kind of shy. I also really like the way the pink pops out from among the greens and browns. It really stands out!

0.01 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, 100mm focal length, 200 ISO

Rainy day

Cue sequence of events: Dog starts to bark like crazy. Woman gets up to look outside and see what's going on. Woman sees nothing of note for the dog, but a lovely photo opportunity. Woman gets camera, and does her best to get the shot without having to go outside in the rain!

As I've said before, I love my SX10, but every once in a while, the lack of true manual focus drives me to distraction. Today, I could NOT get the autofocus to do what I wanted, so here we are - this is what I could eck out with the limited manual focus the camera offers. Overall, I'm quite pleased with it. The focus may not be razor sharp, but it is very good. the background is beautifully blurry, to make a muted and not-distracting canvas for this pretty iris leaf.

And did I mention I shot this through the window? (which is a little smudgey, and that might contribute slightly to the sharpness issue.)

0.02 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

Just buzzzzing along

I am thrilled with how this picture turned out! I stopped to take some pictures of these beautiful Alberta Wildroses at the same time as a couple of bees were visiting. Normally I hate bees, but I decided to gather my courage and take this fabulous opportunity. And my efforts were rewarded! The bee is perfectly in focus, you can even see the detail in her wings. The flowers are sharp, but the background quickly drops away to a soft, fuzzy green. I'm thrilled!

Focus Control

On this particular day, I was working on controlling my focus - my camera has a great ability to put everything in focus, but I want to be able to be more selective.

A brilliantly sunny day, an aperture of f/2.8, and a 5mm focal length (macro) gave me these bright pink flowers in lovely focus, with the conference centre in the back a recognizable but out-of-focus object. I think the shape of the building adds to the picture, without taking the shine away from those beautiful flowers.

On the flip side, here I had fun looking through a tall, grassy plant that is blurred, while the hillside on the opposite side of the river is clear and sharp. Aperture f/4.0, 15.5mm focal length. (Note the horizon isn't actually crooked, the hill just isn't straight. I should have pretended it was and tilted the camera slightly to compensate.)

In both cases I tended to focus on what I wanted to have clear, and then recompose the image to get the shot just how I wanted it. This is a neat trick I learned from my last instructor, and I really like it.

Wordless Wednesday: Moon

1/400 exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 59.2mm focal length (to eliminate background items), ISO 100