Daily Image - Sep 2014 Archive

All the Daily Image mailings for the month of Sep 2014

Labor Day. In each of the four times we have paddled our canoe around the entirety of Buck Lake, we have encountered a small grouping of Mallards at the northern end, more on the NE side than on the NW side, but in both cases primarily located where there is a substantial growth of cattails. At the NE section of the lake there are a number of logs jutting out into the water from the reeds and more often than not we find two or more of the birds either resting peacefully - until we intrude - or strutting their wares walking back and forth along the wooden platforms. This pair were in the process of negotiating a deal until we intruded. As we approached they kept a continuous watch until we got a wee bit too intrusive at which time they moseyed deeper into the reeds. The male on the left is still sporting his post mating colors, colors that are very close to those of the female to his right. At the end of the summer he will moult again and return to his pre-mating colors that you normally associate with Mallard Drakes. Mallards are somewhat unusual in the waterfowl group in that the male changes his outfit to match that of his mate during the offspring raising months; the rest of the year preferring to wear the more extravagant outfit. You may notice what appears to be bits and pieces of the summer wardrobe floating atop the water. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Shutter Priority; ISO 400; 1/800 sec @ f / 5.6.
02 Sep 14. Today's B&W submission might also come under the category of Thursday's theatrical approach in that I've modified one aspect of it just for fun. This is another shot taken on the trip with the cherubs out to Matsmats inlet on the day the outboard decided to give us a little concern. This shot was one I got while it was still running, and was just shortly before it quit for the better part of an hour, perhaps longer. Hard to keep track of time when you are having fun. The seals had been watching us rather intently, some on the rock, some in the water at a distance, and several more in the water quite near us while the outboard was not playing nice. Once we got it running again the close in group gave us some space and we motored over to the rock and made a 360 around it. In so doing all but one of the critters decided that being in the water was a better option than being "on the rock", and each, in turn, as we neared them, slipped into the water. The tide was running against us as we tried to enter Matsmats cove and the wind was doing its best to give us a little challenge as well. There was also a fair amount of cloud cover that was being blown around by the wind but not sufficiently so for the "effect" I wanted in this image, so I've "blown" on it some to give it a more wind swept look, like that of the '57 Dodge, for those of you who can remember back that far. And obviously I've converted it to B&W, otherwise, it is pretty much right out of the camera. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.
03 Sep 14. One of the reasons for making several trips around Buck Lake was to shoot the blossoms of the lily pads, both white and yellow. While there was an abundance of them for most of the trips, the numbers diminished with each visit. The full bodied ones were white, and the more bulbous ones yellow. There were also a few of the full bodied ones that showed a hint of pink, but just a few at most. Unfortunately, even though there was an abundance of flowers, they were all coated with a small black fly that left them looking like they had been the recipient of the falling ash from an up wind fire. I took a lot of shots of them even though they were not anywhere near what I would have liked to have seen, hoping that at least one of them would come out looking nice, but so far I haven't found that shot. Several of the yellow bulbous ones did however turn out O.K., and I've already shared one of them, with more to follow. The lily shot for today is from last year's visit to the Lavender Festival in Sequim, and was taken in a small pond on one of the lavender farms. This particular pond is quite small, measuring perhaps 20 feet on a side, and is "protected" by a fair amount of vegetation along its perimeter that makes shooting the lilies in it a bit of a challenge, albeit not all that big of one. I shared a B&W version of this image last year, and while it is one of those shots that works well either way, I think you will appreciate the color version more than the B&W of last year. At the time I took the shot I failed to notice the two insects on the flower, but I believe you will have no difficulty in immediately seeing them. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.
05 Sep 14. For today's macro shot we'll look closely into a lily that was on display in a local nursery. My goal in this shot was the obvious (that which is sharply in focus) as well as perhaps the not so obvious, the blast of color. This is once occasion where I think it possible to successfully have two centers of interest without them competing. In fact, I'm betting that when seeing the image, if you looked at it before reading this, the idea of two points of interest likely didn't cross your mind. I've taken the original and cropped away all but the very center of the blossom, however, the cropped off amount was very little as I positioned the camera to get as close a focus as the lens would allow and zoomed it out to 200mm which was an effective 300mm for a conventional film or full sized sensor digital camera. This made for a very tight composition. I also added a small amount of micro contrast enhancement which tends to amplify any noise in the image, and the small resultant amount I've left in, even though it wasn't in the original, to give the petals a bit more depth. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority;ISO 400; 1/2500 sec @ f / 7.1.