[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250 Macro at 210mm f/6.3 ISO-2000 1/400sec]
I would have preferred the tip of the flower to have remained in focus as well. Those little flying critters just don’t give you a whole lot of time to work with.
[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250 Macro at 90mm f/5.6 ISO-400 1/160sec]
The next batch of pictures will be coming from my friend’s garden. We spent about a half an hour out there, photographing, until the threat of rain and the sting of mosquitoes drove us indoors for the remainder of the evening.
[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250mm Macro at 250mm f/8 ISO-100 1/400sec]
A trend for me this year seems to be managing to capture images of birds in flight and still have the picture turn out pretty decent as well. I’ll admit most have been accidental, but I’ll take what I can get. This particular bird was hopping around the brush on Harsen’s Island. At some point I may have to put together a little gallery on my main site to highlight these.
[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250 Macro at 45mm f/5 ISO-100 1/160sec]
60ft, to be precise. This is the view to the East off of the Mill Creek Trestle, a 640ft wooden bridge on the Wadhams to Avoca Rd Trail.
[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250mm at 250mm f/6.3 ISO-1000 1/400sec]
Pretty sure this is Rhus glabra, or smooth sumac. I’m rather enjoying trying to identify the things I’m photographing. Quite different than being at the zoo with a nameplate posted nearby.
[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250mm at 75mm f/5.6 ISO-1000 1/125sec]
With the amount of bugs swarming around, it shouldn’t have taken that spider too long to catch it’s meal.
[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250 Macro at 250mm f/6.3 ISO-200 1/400sec]
My new lens arrived while I slept yesterday, so I couldn’t wait to get home and take it out for testing. And for the most part, it did not disappoint. For those times when I can only carry one lens, this will be it. A wide range (18-250mm) and a short minimum focusing distance compared to my other lenses.
Today’s subject is a male Plathemis Lydia, otherwise known as the Common Whitetail. I wasn’t quite sure what he was when he landed near me, but I know I wasn’t thinking dragonfly, but now that I’ve done my research, I can definitely see the family resemblance.
[Sony A57 with Minolta 28-135mm at 120mm f/4.5 ISO-200 1/200sec]
Finally a morning that wasn’t raining and I wasn’t dead tired. I was going to walk the nearby Canal Park, but I’m waiting for what will hopefully be my new macro lens to arrive in the mail and as I tried to walk out the door my bike glared at me for having not ridden it since the group ride last month. I ended up in a local subdivision, nothing really catching my eye until I was nearly back to a main road and there was a bridge over a swollen creek or maybe a drainage ditch, likely flowing into the nearby Clinton River. Nothing too exciting, though I walked down the hill to the water, I spied these ducks further down. They didn’t take too kindly to my intrusion and retreated rather quickly.
Google says that was the Miller Drain which starts about 4 miles north and does indeed drain into the Clinton. I had no idea there were so many of these Drains. I’ve seen them here and there, but I was not aware they were named. Miller Drain even forms forms the northwest boundary of my apartment complex. I once tried to walk across one night on my way to Subway, stopping only a few feet from the water when I realized the greenery looked more like lily pads then weeds.
[Sony A57 with Sony 75-300mm at 300mm f5.6 ISO-250 1/500sec]
A shot from my balcony as one of the local geese came in for a landing.
[Sony A57 with Minolta 28mm f5.6 ISO-100 1/125sec]
Redbuds in bloom during at Lower Huron Metro Park. Like much of spring it was chilly and overcast, perhaps not the best day for a long bike ride, but that did not deter the group I was with. I wasn’t sure if my legs would hold up for the 20 miles we rode, but they pulled through just fine. However, I did purchase a seat with far more padding afterwords…
