{"id":1276,"date":"2012-07-04T21:00:46","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T01:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gorga.org\/blog\/?p=1276"},"modified":"2012-07-04T21:41:04","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T01:41:04","slug":"odes-toads-and-garden-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gorga.org\/blog\/?p=1276","title":{"rendered":"Odes, Toads and Garden Flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found some time on Sunday (1 July) and Tuesday (3 July) to get out and photograph.<\/p>\n

On the day in between (that would be Monday, 2 July for those keeping careful track), I made a round trip to SE Massachusetts to install my “Life Cycle of Dragonflies and Damselflies<\/a>” exhibit at the Pembroke Public Library<\/a>. It will be there for the month of July.<\/p>\n

Joe Kennedy<\/a>, my friend (and stalwart commentator on this blog), helped me with the installation and we enjoyed lunch after the work was done. Thanks Joe!<\/p>\n

Sunday’s crop:<\/p>\n

[nggallery id=150]<\/p>\n

The insect in the second photo was hovering\u00a0 for long periods (tens’s of seconds) right about eye level.\u00a0\u00a0 In between its hovers, it would make rapid forays in seemingly random directions. I assume that it was hunting for other insects. Thus I was able to “capture”\u00a0 it during one of it hovers. I got lucky with the light in this frame. The other three or four photos I made had the critter in deep shade.<\/p>\n

I discovered the small (thumb-sized) toad because I noticed the vegetation moving in an odd way. Kneeling down, I spied the toad. The photo was taken lying down on my stomach.<\/p>\n

The last two images in this series illustrate the power of digital photography. They were both made at ISO 3200 in very dim light; did they even make ISO 3200 film?.\u00a0 The photos were very noisy straight out of the camera but cleaned up well with the right software tool.<\/p>\n

The vesper bluet photo also illustrates another big advantage of digital.\u00a0 Let me set\u00a0 the scene…<\/p>\n