Lilies

Here are a few more macro shots that I took of some lilies at a friends garden. His garden is quite beautiful and my first attempts at capturing all the wonderful green thumbed work he has done is a bit lacking. I'll need to go back and get more shots. The lighting on the day I went was overcast which can be good in some circumstances, but I think some filtered sun light would have been better.

The Daisy & Lightroom

Here's another shot with my new Sigma 20mm. So far I'm still quite happy with the lens. I'll be heading up to the North Shore in mid-August and I'll be doing (hopefully) quite a a bit of photography. I'm looking forward to birding with my mother and father, and shooting a bunch of landscape shots with the 20mm. Anyway, here's the shot:



By the way, for those of you that use Adobe Lightroom, Version 2 was officially launched last night. We're quite proud of it, and are very pleased to have finished this release. As you can imagine, this is where much of my time has been spent over the last few months. :)

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Carlos Avery Landscapes

I spent some time shooting with my new Sigma 20mm F/1.8 on Thursday. I got it mainly for landscape shooting, and more specifically Black and White photography. I'm pretty happy with these shots, I hope you enjoy them. As I shoot more with this lens I'll report on it. So far I don't haven't shot that much with it, so it will take a while to figure it out.

Butterflies

When I was out in Carlos Avery on Thursday there were quite a few butterflies and moths flying around. I know absolutely nothing about these creatures, and I think I'm going to need a new field guide. :) Anyway, from what I can tell based upon an Internet search and a little help from the Minnesota Zoo Butterfly ID chart, this is a Great Spangled Fritillary. (If this is the wrong ID, please let me know.)

Great Spangled Fritillary:

Bank Swallows

I was able to get out of work a little early today so I took a drive up to Carlos Avery. Overall the theme of the evening was bugs. The Deer Fly were by far some of the worst I have ever seen. I didn't see many birds, just the usual suspects at this time of year. Kingbirds, Sandhill Cranes, Sparrows, and a lot of Bank Swallows.



If you look close at this photo you'll notice that not all of the birds have the distinct dark line across there breast, but some of them do. I'm inclined to think that those without the line are this years birds. (If you think differently, please let me know.)

Whitetail Deer

We have deer regularly in our yard, but this year we've frequented by a couple of this years deer. We normally see them just before sunset, but this time they were foraging in the trees during the middle of the day. There are 2 of them and I took a few shots of each, but this was the only one that turned out half way decent. I felt like I was disturbing them so I backed off and let them go about their business.

Hibiscus

Another flower shot taken just after a heavy down pour of rain.

Hibiscus:


Treatment of the photo done in Lightroom.

Back Yard Birds

So this little guy landed in my yard the other day and at first I wasn't entirely positive on the ID. After looking at it for a while and comparing it against my field guides I believe this to be an Eastern Wood Pewee which would be a new yard bird for me. Let me know what you all think on that ID . . .

More Flowers

OK, I'm still working on getting out for more bird shots, so more flower shots from our garden will have to suffice for the time being. :) I'm still working on depth of field and focusing with these macro shots . . . it's honestly quite tough to do . . . but I am enjoying the challenge.

Astilbe:


Flowering Bush (not sure of the name, I need to ask my wife):

Lilies

So I've been spending a little more time in the garden with the Macro lens. I've really been enjoying this new endeavor, although I have to admit that I'm missing getting out to bird, but that will come soon enough. Right now, I'm just taking the time to stop and smell the flowers. Here are a couple more shots.