Bee and Flower

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Umm. Wow. Been awhile, huh? Well, here’s one to hold you over until I decide to start blogging again.

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Yellow Rose

Monday, July 18, 2011

Man, I really thought I had already posted this picture before, but my rudimentary method for keeping track of this stuff suggests that I haven’t. So, maybe it’s a re-post, maybe not. Doesn’t really matter, I’m sure even if it is, you don’t remember it from last time. In fact, I could probably replay the first 250 pictures that I posted and nobody would say a thing. Perhaps I’ll do that someday. But not today. No sir, this is not that day.

This is a rose. It’s yellow. Thus, the title of the post. I took it on a cloudy day last year, in the rose garden at Woodland Park. I’ve found that cloudy days work a lot better for rose pictures than sunny days, because you get a truer representation of the color than when you’ve got bright sunshine everywhere. It can be a bit challenging because of the lack of light, but it can make for some nice shots.

This one was taken with my Minolta-mount Kiron 105 macro that I found on eBay. If you’re the kind of person that likes to scour eBay for old lenses, I *highly* recommend trying to track one of these guys down. I’m always amazed at how nice the shots come out of this guy. It’s been awhile since I’ve busted it out, probably since around the time I took this picture. Man, I gotta get on that.

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Kiron 105mm macro (Minolta mount). 1/160s, ISO 200. Aperture unknown.

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Daisy

Monday, June 27, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2531

I’m going to call this a daisy. It might not be a daisy, I don’t really know. I don’t even remember for sure which lens I took it with, so the one listed below is not much more than just a somewhat educated guess. Educated in that I know which lenses I own, so there’s a pretty good chance it was one of those.

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200. Focal length: 50mm.

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Echo Lake

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1631

Yeah, I forgot to upload those pics again. Sigh.

So, instead, here’s a picture of Echo Lake, with Mt. Evans in the background. This is in Colorado. You can actually drive to the top of Mt. Evans, and it’s paved the whole way. That’s noteworthy, because you can *also* drive to the top of another sort-of nearby fourteener, Pikes Peak, but *that* road is *not* paved the whole way. Pikes Peak is right outside Colorado Springs, which is where I grew up. Now you know.

So, right, Mt. Evans is not Pikes Peak, so that’s the last mention Pikes Peak will get today. Mt. Evans is near Idaho Springs, which is a little ways up I-70, west of Denver. Echo Lake is on the way up, but it’s before the spot where you have to pay. Because yes, you have to pay to drive up Mt. Evans. It’s worth it though. If you’ve got an afternoon to kill, it’s a great way to get up into the high country. And you can get some really nice photos after only barely getting out of your car. My kind of place!

Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. 1/60s, f/18.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 65mm.

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Bee and Poppy

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2515

Well hello there, folks. Looks like Tuesday never happened, huh? That’s too bad. This is the picture I was planning to post, before the day just kind of got away from me. Remember on Monday how I was talking about taking pictures of bugs that were flying? Yeah, turns out it’s hard.

The focus is really the hardest part. I mean, sure, you could just zoom way out and all that. But (in case you didn’t notice) I have a bit of a macro obsession. I want to get in close. I want to be able to see the little hairs on the bug’s body. I want to see the romantic bits of flowers. Actually, that’s jumping ahead a little bit. But since it’s done, I’ll go ahead and mention that: I figured the only way it would be even kind of possible is by hanging out near flowers. That is, hanging out near places where there’s a good chance they’ll be landing and/or taking off. Then you can at least try to just focus on the flower, and then be quick on the shutter when a bug flies by. There’s still a good chance that the focus will be a bit too close or far, but then you at least stand a chance. But it’s still tough, because bees like to go to where there are hundreds of flowers. Meaning, if you decide to just focus in on one in particular, you’ll probably be sitting there all day while they land on every single flower there except for the one you’re focused on. It’s annoying.

So, I compromised a bit. I didn’t get in as close as I’d like to, because then it would have been just plain impossible. I zoomed out a bit, and then I just took lots and lots of frames. And then a couple of them turned out okay. It was also annoying that the sun which I had been counting on disappeared behind the clouds as soon as I went outside. Meaning, I had to crank the ISO a bit in order to keep the shutter speeds fast enough. (That’s another problem. Those suckers are MOVING – so if you’re using anything less than like 1/1000s, you’ll get motion blur.)

So, right. It’s hard. Here ya go.

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens. 1/1250s, f/5.0, ISO 400. Focal length: duh, 90mm.

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Ant on Lupine

Friday, June 10, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1733

Hey, lookie here, this is the 5th post this week! I actually did it – I actually posted one picture here per day on, umm, the picture of the day. I think I deserve a pretty serious pat on the back for that one. Also, I’ll probably over-compensate now by not posting anything else for a month and a half. Hmm.

These are lupine flowers. You see them a bunch up in the mountains here in Washington. That’s an ant. You see them a bunch just about everywhere in the world I’ve ever been. Okay, that’s all I’ve got.

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. 1/200s, f/6.3, ISO 200. Focal length: 300mm.

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Bee and Flower

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1961

Let’s go with this one today. It’s (yet another) bee with (yet another) flower. But it’s Wednesday, and this makes me 3 for 3. I think these are lavender flowers or something? Hmm, whatever, not important. They’re nice enough to look at.

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens. 1/200s, f/5.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 90mm.

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Pink Flower

Thursday, May 12, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2326

Hey, I’m back! Sorry I missed the past couple days, I was out of town for work. Here’s a flower to make up for it. As usual, I don’t know what type of flower it is, anybody got any suggestions? I feel bad because I haven’t yet worked up the motivation to go out and take any flower or bug pictures yet this spring. There are definitely things blooming, I just haven’t felt like taking any pictures, kind of sad really. We’ll see if that changes anytime soon I guess.

Also, I can’t remember what lens I took this with. I’m fairly sure I used my old (Minolta mount) Kiron 105mm macro. The EXIF data (which I usually use to remind myself what I used) claims a focal length of 50mm and f/1.4. I’m pretty sure that’s what my camera tosses in there by default if you’re using a lens that doesn’t communicate that kind of information, and that’s the only lens I have that doesn’t communicate that information, so I think it’s a pretty good guess. But I’m still not sure. (And, to be fair, that’s also the result I’d get if I either used extension tubes or my reverse-mount, so it’s not quite as much of a slam dunk as I made it sound.. But if I was using either the tubes or the reverse mount, I’d be quite a bit closer in.. so…

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Kiron 105mm macro (I think). 1/160s, aperture unknown, focal length unknown. ISO 100.

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Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Friday, April 29, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2465

So, today’s post wraps up the month of April. Another month, come and gone. Man, I should have something poignant to say about that.

This is (I think, although I haven’t verified) the last weekend of this year’s Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. they bloomed late this year, so I’m sure it’ll be fantastic up there. (And, the tulips will probably last past this weekend, but I don’t know what the deal is after the festival officially ends.) I was up there earlier this month, right after they started blooming. As you can see, a lot of them hadn’t opened up all the way yet (and there were a lot of steps that were still totally green.) So, I think I’d recommend heading up there later in the bloom cycle (like, say, *now*) as opposed to hitting it at the beginning. But, take what you can get I guess. The weather’s looking good this weekend though, so if you haven’t made it out there yet, just freakin’ go!

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Canon 55-250mm IS lens. 1/500s, f/7.1, ISO 200. Focal length: 250mm.

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2011 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Monday, April 18, 2011

http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2459

Hey everyone! It’s tulip time here in the northwest, so in a rare break from my usual behavior, I’m actually going to post a picture here to the blog that was actually taken in the last 24 hours. Crazy, right? Totally.

So, as you’ve probably guessed by the title of the post, this was taken at the 2011 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. I can’t tell you exactly where I was at the time, because I was just walking around some random field of tulips that was off the side of the road. But it’s tough to go wrong once you get up there – just find some flowers and go look at them.

Sadly, this was about the only good picture I got this year. I’m not sure why, but I have a few theories. First, I just wasn’t really in that much of a picture-taking mood this year. So, I snapped a few, but my heart just wasn’t in it. Then of course there was the problem of this freaking annoying cloud that was just hovering right there between me and the sun for most of the time I was there. It wasn’t blowing by like most clouds should, it kept billowing around and reforming right where it was the most inconvenient. So about two thirds of the time I was there the light stunk. Probably the biggest problem was that I didn’t really think through ahead of time what kinds of shots I would want to try to get. I did that last year, and correspondingly I got a lot of shots I was happy with. This year, I of course fell back on some of the same ideas I used last year, but since I already got them last year, I didn’t really try at all this year, and thus the ones I did get were junk. So, umm, whoops.

I still totally recommend that you go check it out yourself – especially if you’re a photographer. As I’ve mentioned in the past, there are TONS of great themes you can play around with. But, it’s definitely worth the time to do some planning. I realize that may be tough if you’ve never been there before and don’t know how things are laid out, but it’s still worth doing. Just sort of make a mental checklist of things you want to play around with, different ways of putting all the elements together. Some of the primary themes are of course the expansive fields of color, all made up by mostly-repeating (but all subtly different) patterns and flower-shapes, the orderly rows of flower beds, the contrasts between plots of different types of tulips, and of course the external elements (like barns, mountains, trees, and clouds). But beyond that, there’s lots of things you can do, lots of different lines and colors and elements to work with. It’s can be a great time.

Unless you’re lazy, like I was this year. Then it’s just meh. But, do go check it out. And plan on traffic being a bit annoying. And plan on paying 5 bucks to park each time you stop. Plan on hitting a few different fields, to get different combinations of colors. And, definitely plan on seeing plenty of people, and having to be creative to keep them out of your pictures. If you go into the experience planning for those things, you’ll have a much better time when you’re there. (Oh, and head north to Highway 20 on the way out, otherwise you’ll be hating your life.)

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Canon 55-250mm IS lens. 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 200. Focal length: 194mm.

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