Final post of 2013 Happy New Year!

Christmas lights and ornaments 2

Christmas light Bokeh 2

Christmas lights and ornaments 3

Last sunset of 2013

Christmas light Bokeh 3

Last sunset of 2013 3

Christmas light Bokeh

Christmas light Bokeh 4

Last sunset of 2013 2

Christmas lights and ornaments

Christmas light Bokeh with ornament close up

Less of a nature photography post, more artistic, unless you count the fraser fir (Abies fraseri) Christmas tree the lights and ornaments were hung on. If you open the aperture wide and are far enough away you can get a nice blurring of the lights. The Japanese call this bokeh which means “haze” or “blur”.  If you keep the aperture small you can get the star like effect from the lights. If you look around online there are other neat effects you can do with cut outs and such.

Lastly the last sunset of 2013 was particularly nice, though I find it hard to shoot in a suburban setting with houses and power lines everywhere.

Happy New Year everyone!

Winter Wonderland December 2013

Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) foraging in the snow

Snow on rosemary (Rosmarinus sp?)

Best guess is this is a cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii)

Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii)

Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) about to fly away

House sparrows (Passer domesticus) feeding in the snow

Snow falling on the trees

Snow on the branches

House sparrows (Passer domesticus) on the hedge

Snow piling up on branches

The day after

Close up of snow along the hedges

Close up of snow along the hedges with better background

Final posts of the year! I split this into two with the first half covering our December 8, 2013 snow storm. According to local meteorologists this storm dropped more snow in a day than all of last winter here outside of Philadelphia. The house sparrows were out in force foraging despite the falling snow. The surprise came as I was doing dishes and saw larger bird swoop down and up into a tree. Racing upstairs with my camera was able to snap a few shots before it flew out of sight. My best guess is that it’s a cooper’s hawk, although it could be an immature red-tailed hawk. Unfortunately I didn’t get enough shots to allow to me to be certain.

The day after, the sun was shining and the snow on the trees was quite beautiful!

Best of November Nature Photos

Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis)

Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) 2

Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) 3

Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) 4

Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Really only two subjects for this month, a Chinese mantis that was on my grandmother’s porch an eastern gray squirrel. Trying to wrap up my posts for the year with the hopes of getting out more in the new year.

Here’s a link for some tips on distinguishing between the Chinese and European mantids, both of which can be found around Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Best of October Photos

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum sp?) or mum close up

Dog days of October

Geranium (Geranium sp?) close up

Fun with a fish eye lens 1

Mums

Close up of a bonfire

Fun with a fish eye lens 2

Fall maple leaf colors

Some of the best of October here today. I did some experiments with a fish eye lens and capturing fire through the camera. Next up, November!

Flight Home!

Flying over southwestern fields

Clouds of a storm front 1

Clouds of a storm front 2

Flying over the Chesapeake Bay 1

Flying over the Chesapeake Bay 2

Flying over the Chesapeake Bay 3

Final series from our trip to Arizona and New Mexico.

Last day in Tucson

‘A’ Mountain Tucson Panorama

View of Tucson from ‘A’ Mountain 2

Sunset exposure 1

Saguaro in foreground, Tucson in background

Tucson Sunset HDR Practice

Sun set lighting up tree

Solar farm outside of Tucson, AZ

Sun setting through a tree

View of Tucson from ‘A’ Mountain 1

Sunset exposure 2

Blue Angel (F-18) on display at Pima Air & Space Museum

View of Downtown Tucson from ‘A’ Mountain

Sun set lighting up tree 2

Planes at the nearby 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), also known as the “Boneyard.”

Sun setting through ocotillo

Sunset exposure 3

Sun setting through a tree 2

It may be snowy outside here in Philadelphia, PA, but back in early October in Tucson, AZ it was sunny and warm. On our last day in Tucson, we visited the Pima Air & Space Museum at which you definitely could spend an entire day and still not see quite everything that they have to offer. Adjacent to the museum is the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), also known as the “Boneyard” which is part of the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base that we drove by. Also snapped a not so good drive by of one of Tucson’s solar farms.

Finally, we took a drive up ‘A’ Mountain or Sentinel Peak to catch the sun set over Tucson. I took a bunch of different exposures to try and capture the foreground and the colors of the sunset and in the hopes of practicing with High Dynamic Range (HDR) in Photoshop. I’ve included one of those attempts that turned out alright.

Landscapes and Plants of New Mexico Day 2 (and Arizona)

Sunset at Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area 2

While this is amusing graffiti it’s still a shame to deface nature

Might be a nymph stage of a green stink/shield bug

Drive by landscape 1

Close up of ocotillo (Fouquieria sp?) 2

Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) at Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area

Agave on Boothill Cemetary in Tombstone, AZ

Might be a eremopedes katydid (Eremopedes sp?) 1

Beautiful view from a rest stop 1

Might be a northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Beautiful view from a rest stop 2

Might be an immature white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)

For some reason these signs amused me, granted there’s nothing amusing about a dust storm

Unknown thorny shrub close-up

Might be a eremopedes katydid (Eremopedes sp?) 2

View of Sheep’s Head Mountain outside of Tombstone, AZ

Cross-section of a petrified tree

Drive by landscape 2

Cactus growing out of a petrified log

Close up of ocotillo (Fouquieria sp?)

Sunset at Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area 1

Hope everyone had happy holidays (for those in the US), I’m working on getting caught up with my posts and finishing out my Arizona and New Mexico set. For this post we left New Mexico and returned to Arizona so there are many drive by landscape shots. Before leaving Las Curces, NM we stopped in at the Zuhl Collection which is part of New Mexico State University. It’s a free and only a couple of rooms, but beautifully laid out with a large collection of petrified wood cross-sections, fossils, and minerals. On our way back we detoured down to Tombstone, AZ which is better known for its history, but there were some nice southwestern views and plants at the Boothill Graveyard, including one for which I just had to throw in the towel when trying to identify it. Finally when returning to Tucson we went up to Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area to try to catch a Southwestern sunset.