Photographs by Frank

14 June 2015

Backyard Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,The Yard,Wildlife — Tags: — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Friday (12 June) I notice two yellow (i.e. female or immature male) calico pennants in our yard.

Yesterday there were a dozen or more… enough so that I dropped what I was doing and picked up the camera.

There were a few four-spotted skimmers in the mix. The usual chalk-fronted corporals were also “out and about”.

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12 December 2014

Backyard Birds

Filed under: Birds,The Yard,Wildlife,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 6:00 PM

This morning dawned partly sunny and cold and I was hopeful for some good skies for landscape photos today. Alas, the overcast moved in by noon so I switched plans.

About 2 o’clock, I geared up (warm clothes, camera, tripod and chair blind) and headed out to photograph the birds by the feeders. I set up about ten feet from the feeders and made my first exposure at 2:30.

By 4 o’clock the light was gone, the temperature was dropping and I had filled a memory card. I headed back inside. Twas, an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.

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11 December 2014

“Cheating”

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,The Yard,Wildlife,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 4:00 PM

We have had a stretch of cold, gray weather. Monday’s “wintery mix” turned into Tuesday’s rain…nothing like a 35 degree F rain! Yesterday (Wednesday) nothing fell from the sky but the sun still did not make an appearance. I awoke this mornring to snow flurries which continue as I write this in the mid-afternoon.

So why is this post titled “Cheating”?

Well… you see that small “tree” upon which the birds are perched? It is actually a dead branch I picked up in the woods in the beginning of November and specially prepared for bird photography. I mounted the branch on a stand made of lumber so that it is more-or-less perpendicular to the ground. Around the back-side, I drilled a series of one inch holes.

On Monday, I packed the holes full of suet and stood the whole thing out back near the other bird feeders. (It is probably about 25 feet from the house.) I retreated to the warmth (and dry) of the house and photographed thorough the glass of our French doors.

See what cheating will get you!

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28 October 2012

An Afternoon Visitor

Filed under: Autumn,Mammals,The Yard,Wildlife — Frank @ 9:00 PM

This afternoon we were doing some chores around the yard when my CWS* motioned me to be quiet and pointed out towards the large oak tree in the middle of the yard. There, about three feet off the ground on the oak trunk, was a juvenile porcupine.

I backed slowly away and went for the camera.

By the time I got back the little “fellow” was on the ground rooting around in the leaves and grass (Photo #1) . He wandered around the yard allowing me to get as close as I needed… so I could fill the frame with my 300 mm lens. At one point he climbed into the bush in the middle of the yard but did not stay long (Photo #2). Eventually he climbed up the apple tree next to the garden (Photo #3) and settled in for a snack and a nap (Photo#4). Last I knew he was still there.

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*Chief Wildlife Spotter (a.k.a. Joan!)


10 December 2010

Massachusetts Wildlife

Back in September, I entered ten images in a photo contest sponsored by Massachusetts Wildlife magazine, a quarterly publication of Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

I had pretty much forgotten about the contest and my entry. However, I was pleasantly reminded about it when I recently received email informing me that four of my photos have been given awards!

According to the email from Peter Mirick,  the editor, there were “1,137 entries received from 183 individuals living in 149 cities and towns, some as far away as Florida and Arizona.”

No large cash prizes! Just a subscription to the magazine and a few extra copies of the  issue in which the images will be published.  However, it is nice to have ones work recognized this way.

Here are the four images that were selected:

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And here are the other entries:

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Thanks for “wandering by”.


12 September 2010

Caterpillars

Filed under: "Camp",Other Insects,The Yard,Wildlife — Tags: — Frank @ 10:31 AM

And now for something completely somewhat just a little different…

Twice over the past week, Joan alerted me to the presence of interesting caterpillars in the neighborhood.

Of course, as a husband photographer who wants to keep on the good side of my wife chief wildlife spotter, I came promptly with my camera sporting a 90 mm macro lens with a 32 mm extension tube in both cases. Off camera flash was also used in both cases, flash with softbox, set to 1-2 stops under ambient, and lying on the ground nearby.

Both of these “fellows” were found literally with in feet of our front doors… the brown furry “guy” at our “camp” in NH over Labor Day weekend and the multicolored “guy” at the house yesterday.

I have no idea on their identities, but here are the photos:

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29 August 2010

Praying Mantis

Filed under: Other Insects,The Yard — Tags: — Frank @ 10:32 AM

On Friday, I spent the late afternoon doing yard work; one of the chores was “weed whacking” the overgrowth in a bed that Joan had decided not to use this year. You can only imaging how high the weeds were after a summer of utter neglect!

After I finished this chore, I headed into the house to work on getting dinner ready. A few minutes later Joan announced that she had seen a praying mantis in the bed where I had just cut down the weeds.

Of course, dinner preparations were put on hold as I grabbed the camera (with the 90 mm macro lens) and headed back out to the yard… now you know what my priorities are!

As I was photographing one individual, Joan spotted a second individual a few feet away. Both were very cooperative, staying mostly still and posing politely!

Here are the resulting frames:

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26 June 2010

Flowers At Close Range

Filed under: The Yard — Tags: , , — Frank @ 12:00 PM

After my experience with using all three extension tubes for photographing ants and aphids, I decided to experiment a bit more with using all of the tubes (36 + 20 + 12 mm) on both the 70-300 mm telephoto lens and the 90 mm macro lens. In all cases I used the “dragonfly rig” for the flash.

To conduct this experiment I headed out the backdoor and explored Joan’s flower beds. My basic conclusion is that this is hard work!

The depth of field is very small, the range of distances that can be focused is also small and small movements of the tripod make huge changes in what you see through the view finder. No wonder serious macro photographers using focusing rails!

Anyway, here are some of the results…

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Note the mottled white/gray background in a couple of the images. One problem with flash is that sometimes the backgrounds “go black” which is usually not desirable. When this occurred, I used a crumpled up tissue that I happened to have in my pocket as a background. I hand held it behind the subject as I tripped the shutter. It looks pretty good in my opinion… “interesting but not distracting”.


12 June 2010

Ants Herding Aphids

Filed under: Other Insects,The Yard,Wildlife — Tags: , , — Frank @ 9:11 AM

Yesterday after work Joan went out to inspect her vast flower beds. At one point she stuck her head back in the door to say “There are ants herding aphids out here.”

I have learned over the years that when your wife spotter announces a find I am required go get the camera and investigate.

For those of you who have not heard about or seen ants herding aphids, it is an example of biological mutualism. You can read more about it here.

As you know, ants are very small (these were about one quarter of an inch long) and (most commonly) black. This makes for a difficult photographic subject. Thus,  I had some experimenting to do.

To get high magnifications, I used my extension tubes… this was the first time I had a need for all three at once.  The camera was mounted on the tripod… no hand holding at this magnification.

Light was provided by an off camera flash diffused with a soft-box. This was lying on the ground off to one side or hand held off to the side more-or-less at the level of the subject.

This  photo was taken using my 70-300 mm lens with three extension tubes (36 + 20 + 12 = 68 mm):

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For this photo, I switched to the 90 mm macro lens and ended up using just the two larger extension tubes… all three tubes gave too much magnification:

[singlepic id=86 w=300 h= mode= float=]


6 June 2010

After the Rain

Filed under: The Yard — Tags: , — Frank @ 10:24 AM

Yesterday (Saturday, 5 June) I awoke to a thunderstorm. After breakfast, it looked like the rain had stopped so I made a circuit of the yard intending to take photos of Joan’s flowers… she certainly has enough of them…  decorated with raindrops.

Here are the results:

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File under: “Make photographs wherever you find yourself.”


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