26 Dec 12. As we were watching the Christmas DVD this afternoon Jan made the offhand comment that this is her favorite of all the insect photos I've taken this year, so I figured I'd share it with everyone. Always looking to get the perfect insect shot, I shoot them whenever the opportunity arises. This particular shot has a couple of features that are exactly what I'm looking for in the perfect shot, but several aspects that are not. I probably should just crop it really tight, you can do it yourself to see what I mean, to include just the top central third of the shot. In fact, that idea sounded good enough that I did it for you. Now we loose a lot of perspective, but as most of us know the relative size of a honeybee, and probably recognize the flower as a cone flower, some decent perspective remains. I watched her as she crawled up the flower shooting the entire time as she made her way to the top. This is my favorite shot of that series. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 8.
27 Dec 12. For as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of dragons, especially the kind one encounters in the movies. So for me the releases of Dragonheart, Avitar, and How to Train Your Dragon have been a delightful "gift." These three just identified are my all time favorites, and each is of equal ranking but for different reasons. The image for today came about as I was trying out a piece of software to see what it might tell me about the subject in the original shot. As I was working with different effects I thought of the Dragonheart movie and its star, Draco, who of course is a dragon with Sean Connery's voice. If you've not seen it I highly recommend it to you and it is the end of the movie that connects with the image I've created. Draco, for those of you who remember the movie, and it is also true for those of you who haven't yet seen it, becomes a constellation in the heavens and my "cancer," in its own way, reminds me of having created my own constellation. It is a bit of a stretch, but then, when looking to the heavens to find the different constellations, I often think that whoever named the groups of stars as they did were often making some very large stretches! Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/100 sec @ f /10.
28 Dec 12. We spent some time today with the cherubs visiting the Poulsbo Marine Science Center. The slide show on the linked page has a number of very nice images which are better by far than what I was able to capture while we were there. Part of the problem had to do with the environment and an even bigger part with operator error. Something along the line of what a good friend's father is fond of saying, "blame the Indian, not the arrow." Didn't realize until I was departing the Center that I had forgotten to check the ISO on the camera and ISO 1000 wasn't what I should have been using. On top of this were badly scratched surfaces on the tank sides requiring significant post processing image repair and very difficult lighting conditions. But in the process I did get a few usable images and the crab I'm sharing was among them. Now this crab is far different from the one I shared yesterday and is of a crab who is displaying very aggressive mating behavior. He was at the very edge of the tank and looking straight at me with both claws snapping, as if he were saying, "put your dukes up biddy." I couldn't resist taking the shot. All-in-all the experience was one which will have me returning often, but with a few additional pieces of equipment to overcome the challenges. If you are in the area it is worth a visit! Nikon D300s; 18 -200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1000; 1/6 sec @ f / 8 hand held.
