Photography Lesson 1

One of the teachers at my school is giving me photography lessons. For the first one we talked a bit about light and aperture.  These were a few of my favorite pictures from the lesson.

 This flower was growing right outside my house. This is during the "good" light.

We thought this tree looked pretty cool. I was focusing on the similar lines the fallen branches make.

This ended up being my favorite picture. I love how the light in the background blurred so that it mimics the texture of the berries.

Little Things

I tend to take a lot of pictures of plants and such, but sometimes little things are pretty too.

Doesn't it look like it is smiling at you?

This shell was sitting on a fence post. I think this may be one of my favorite pictures to date. But I do wonder what happened to the snail inside.

Luckily I found another one. This guy was outside of the botanical gardens chilling near the bench.

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Odette and Siegfried

One time I was going through my photo gallery of pictures taken with my cell phone and I noticed I had a lot of pictures of my cats. Odette and Siegfried are a big part of my life but I never noticed how often I had photographed them. Most of the pictures were pretty bad too. However both cats decided to make themselves available for photos this morning while I was trying to take pictures for my pony blog.

This is pretty much why I only update once a week. Coming up with content is difficult in one way, as I've never been a great writer. I have ideas but they don't translate to paper/type very easily. But getting interesting photos is an entirely different challenge. By the way this is Odette, I figure just because I can tell the cats apart doesn't necessarily mean you can.

Here's one of Siegfried. Doesn't he look upset to be caught where he doesn't belong?

No I didn't think so either...

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Dew & Refraction Photography

I'll admit that high school science classes were quite a while ago for me but I remember a bit about refraction, better known as the thing that makes a straw in a glass of water look "broken". Refraction photography can be very pretty, though I feel the elements are often staged. One morning at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens I wandered into one of the shadier paths and sat down to take a photograph of something small. Near the ground I could see that the morning dew was still on some of the plants.

In the biggest water droplet you can almost see the purple plant that was next to this teeny, tiny plant. 

Later I walked into the greenhouse that holds tropical plants and happened to catch a bead of water rolling off the tip of a flower. Inside the droplet you can see a bright pink plant and how green the greenhouse was.

And this is a full-sized photo of the plant you can see in the droplet.

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San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

Recently I got a notice that my membership at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden allowed me to get free admission at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. I made plans to visit before watching Don Giovanni on a Saturday evening. The conservatory wasn't quite what I was expecting, as I didn't realize it is a greenhouse and quite warm. The building is also rather small, but free admissions means I can go back several times if I so desire. 

One of the first rooms is a wetland with some giant water lilies. Some of these can grow to be 6 feet across and hold a small child. None of them were quite that big, but still impressive. I think the little spikes on the pad are an interesting and unexpected feature. 

I honestly don't remember what flower this is. I just thought it was soft and tropical looking and I tried to take a close, but visually interesting picture. I think this one is a little more abstract than normal for me. 

One of the highlights of the conservatory is the orchid exhibits. There are tons of orchids all around the exhibit.  Of all of the orchid photographs I took, I particularly liked this one. 

Clever girl! Well I bet you weren't expecting this guy at the flower conservatory....

There is a special exhibit running that highlights prehistoric plants and there are some nice looking dinosaurs to go along with them. I think the eye is the most impressive part.

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The Sacred Lotus Blooms

One of the biggest and most beautiful blooms in the botanical garden is the Sacred Lotus. I was lucky enough to get a few shots over the last few weeks. While I've put them in chronological order according to the life of the plant, I believe this is actually two different blooms as I hear these only last for a few days.

Here is a lotus bud in the process of blooming. You can see another in the background that is not quite as far along.

 

I believe this is actually the first lotus picture I took and it is probably my favorite of the bunch. It just seems very peaceful and cheery.

If you look in the center of the flower you can just slightly see the squiggly inner bits. I am actually not a fan of the inside of the blossom, so I rotated a bit to try and block it out of the picture as much as possible.

And this is the Sacred Lotus in full bloom. I still don't think I like the yellow bit in the middle but I love the silky white and pink of the petals. 

This weekend I am going to a different garden which is supposed to have an amazing orchid collection so perhaps I will have some orchid pictures to share in the near future. 

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Butterflies and Bees

Today's post is all bugs!

My buggy coworker said this is a common swallowtail. It was flying around the botanical gardens.

This California Buckeye was also hanging out in the garden, but harder to get to.

I've read that California has a ton of different kind of bees. This was one of the fatter ones.

And these are the honeybees. Their wings are quite amazing, right?

I believe this is the same kind of honeybee out collecting nectar.

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Hummingbirds

One thing that is really cool about having a camera and looking for pictures to take is that I feel much more observant about the world around me. Okay, I still don't notice people, cars, or buildings, but bugs and flowers, and other pretty sights seem to catch my attention.

The camera makes you look at things in different ways though. It used to be that spotting a hummingbird on my walk to work was exciting. There's the flash of green/red and it might hover around the flowers for a second or two and then poof, gone. Experiencing a hummingbird is fleeting because it's by the nature of the hummingbird all flashes and glimpses. Having the opportunity to (try to) photograph hummingbirds is exciting and weird.

 I noticed on my trip to the UC Berkeley Botanical gardens that a few hummingbirds were zipping around the place. I got a photo of one, but I was determined to go back and try again with a little more patience. It was still pretty hard though. Keep in mind these guys are 3-5" long and fly about 35 miles per hour!

 I'm not sure if this is a female hummingbird, a juvenile hummingbird, or if the front of the hummingbird if just a little plain compared to the iridescent feathers on the back. 

Ah a side picture is a little more interesting. To be honest if I didn't see the same flowers I would probably not think that these are the same bird. I'm a little disappointed in the overexposure on the highlights, but the sun was already pretty high in the sky and strong by the time I took this photo.

I got incredibly lucky that the hummingbird decided to rest on the branches a minute. I was able to take more photos than I would have otherwise. I've also learned that hummingbirds pretty much always look angry. 

 Well I supposed they look angry and puffy. Also did I mention I love my camera? Look at all of the feathers and the spot of blue iridescence on the tail.

I think this is one of my favorites as you can see the hummingbird eye a bit more clearly and the fluffy tummy feathers are just cute.

This picture is fun because there are actually two hummingbirds in the photo if you look carefully, and one of them is making a peeping noise so their beak is open. I don't think I've ever seen a hummingbird with an open mouth before I thought it was pretty unique.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Part 3: Seahorses

I've finally got to the point where I can show off the pictures from my favorite exhibit in the aquarium. I've always had a fascination with seahorses. I'm sure part of that is due to the fact that they are called seahorses and also "seaponies" in the My Little Pony cartoon probably helped. I just think the bodies are interesting looking. They don't look like they have any soft tissue at all.

The exhibit had several different kinds of seahorses and their kin, but due to the lighting of the different tanks some of them were easier to photograph than others. I've always liked the solid yellow/orange seahorse but I was surprised to find so much variety with dots and spots. I think this is a female "longsnout" a variety which supposedly change colors from orange/yellow to pink/white  during courtship.

This little guy was one of my favorite seahorses. He's not quite so sparkly looking to the naked eye so I was really surprised when I saw the full sized photos later. I'm not sure what the "pearly" looking part of his skin is, but I thought it made him look a bit royal.

I just happened to be in the right spot photographing the seahorse above when another seahorse joined him and made a great photo opportunity for me. The yellow horse was rotating so I only had a split second to take the photo. I wish some parts were just a little sharper, but overall I was so happy to see this and catch it on "film".
 

This is my absolute favorite picture from the aquarium. The seahorse fills the frame in a dynamic way, the dark blue makes the yellow/orange of the body pop a bit, and the markings on the seahorse just look cool. I even like the bit of blur on the upper fin as if gives just a little sense of motion to the image. 

The leafy seadragon is a relative of the seahorse. They swim horizontally, unlike the seahorses and I think they have some of the coolest camouflage around. The seadragons are rather large and when two of them are together they just look like a tangled mess of plant life. I could probably sit and watch these guys all day because I find them really fascinating.

I hope you liked the seahorse pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them! I've taken a trip back to the botanical garden this weekend to make use of my snazzy new membership and I may have some fun hummingbird pictures to share.

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Monterey Bay Aquarium Part 2

Jellyfish are one of those creatures that are just kind of mesmerizing to watch. I'm not surprised the jelly experience was one of the most popular exhibits. Photographing jellyfish is a bit of a challenge though. The jellyfish room was all dark and had really weird lighting situations so photographing this exhibit was the most difficult. That being said, I think I still got some interesting shots.

I love how the colors turned out on this jelly. The blue background and the red/orange lighting on the jelly contrast each other nicely. The hyper blue background seems very "clean" to me.

This is the same kind of jelly but I think it looks very different the other side. There are actually two jellies in this picture. I liked how one had passed in front of the other and I could focus on the second jelly but still get some texture in the photo.

Is it terrible I think of cauliflower when I see this jelly? I think macro mode did a great job here as I don't remember these being all that when looking at them with the naked eye. I'll admit I'm a bit of a sucker for macro and those are some of the cheapest lenses. It's a little silly because I think insects and such are fun, but I'm a little afraid to get close to them!

Of course this is probably the coolest photo of the bunch. Doesn't remind you of space or aliens? And again the blue and orange/yellow combo just happened naturally. I think I also got lucky with the placement of the lacy bits that draw your eye across the photo. I think this is one of the few times I've gotten a picture that doesn't really follow the rule of thirds but still looks good. 

Is this guy upset to be included with the jellies or is he just a little camera shy? Seeing an octopus in real life is a little bizarre as they seem a lot baggier and stretchier than they did in my imagination. The most crowded exhibit, so I feel lucky to get a picture, even if this one isn't great.  Personally I think he looks a bit like he's telling all of us observers to "talk to the hand".


The next, and biggest update covering the seahorses should be up soon!

 In the meantime those of you on the email system remember you can't reply via email but feel free to comment on the blog at http://nikoncole.blogspot.com/

Monterey Bay Aquarium Part 1

As mentioned in the previous entries I traveled to Monterey Bay this weekend to visit the aquarium. My dad has always loved fish and I've always been a bit of a fish hater. I mean fish are kind of boring as a pet, and the few we tried to have generally died pretty quickly so I was a little wary of visiting the aquarium, but I figured adventuring with friends is generally a good thing.

I'll confess I was focusing more on photography than the signs marking the specific species in the tanks. I'm pretty sure this is an anemone, though I'm not certain of what kind.

Some of these were easier to photograph than others, as the other fish in the tank would often quickly swim past right when I took a picture. Also, it seemed a little like this one was watching me.

It's interesting how some of these look more like "flowers" and others like aliens. I thought this one looked like a tooth-monster.

The aquarium had a touch exhibit where you could interact with some of the animals. Starfish feel a bit more "rubbery" than I expected. It's a very interesting texture!

I forget what this thing was, but it was really interesting. It kind of looks like it got some kind of disease but that's just how it's supposed to be. It had a spongey feel and despite how the fleshy part of the animal looks I think the shell is quite pretty.

The last creature I held was the decorator crab. These are really cool, but difficult to photograph as they blend into their surroundings very well. This little guy "shook" my finger. I am guess that was actually him being kind of aggressive, but I thought his little claws were super cute.

I  have so many more aquarium pictures to share but I think any more here would be overwhelming. You'll notice this is just part one and I'm planning on at the very least having a post dedicated to jellyfish and another dedicated to seahorses (which were my favorite  exhibit).


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July 4th Celebration Special

Hurray for a day off on the 4th of July. It was a bit strange to have a holiday in the middle of the week this year. I think my brain is still adjusting to the fact that it isn't the weekend....yet.

Wednesday we started the day by going to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. They have a ton of plants and things are separated into different regions. (Africa, Mexico, California, South America, Mediterranean, etc) One of the most beautiful places was the Asia section and the Japanese pool. It was beautiful and calming and the are was filled with dragonflies.

As we were leaving the pool I heard a rustling sound and discovered a reptile chilling on the rocks. I'm honestly not sure what kind of lizard thing it is, but I'm glad he stayed somewhat still while I took his photograph.

I saw several butterflies at the gardens, but none of them were hanging out in one spot long enough to photograph. I did luck out in catching a hummingbird on camera though. She was quite a bit away from me, but I'm just thrilled to have actually gotten something more than a blur on film. I think this is a female Anna's Hummingbird.

We walked around the gardens for several hours and still didn't even make it to all of the regions. There's also a bamboo forest and a redwood grove. I enjoyed it so much that I purchased a family membership so that I can go back whenever I want and can take friends. (If Ben and I go twice with an additional friend we make back the membership price and I very much plan on taking visiting family here. )

After the gardens we went to the marina for fireworks, which are kind of difficult to photograph. However I liked a few of the photos I took because the reminded me of space and galaxies.

I think it looks more like something from the hubble telescope than from a gunpowder rocket.


I have been trying to update on the weekends as I have more time in the day to edit photos, but I may be away this weekend on my first trip to a real aquarium in Monterey. I guess this is supposed to be one of the best aquariums and I want to see if I can get pictures of seahorses (I don't find most fish that interesting...)

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