Young and old

A clematis flowering near the ground.

Well, the bud is still young and the open flower is getting old!
OK -- kind of a stretch isn't it.

I was experimenting in CS5 with the content aware feature and "fixed" the open flower where some critter took a bite out of a petal. It's pretty amazing. And there was a dead leaf in the upper left that I removed with a big selection and content aware --pouf!

And I'm still playing with making "frames" with loose brushes. This one isn't half bad...

Yellow -- and white

Honeysuckle growing near the river.

Wildlife

I think these are heron "babies" -- I don't know what you call young herons, so I guess I'll just call them "hatchlings".

I think I'm over the hump with the pneumonia so I went to the rookery today with my XSi and the 70-200mm lens -- and a monopod to help me hold steadier than just hand-held. I didn't like the monopod at first, but it really helps with the extra weight of that lens! I do have an extender. Maybe I'll attach that and try again on the next clear day.
We've been having April showers in May here...

But 200mm doesn't get close enough to the nests, so I did have to crop to show the subjects. I used Lightroom to crop and vignette.

Happy birthday dear Gregory!

Gregory's 7th birthday was Saturday!

He already had more than 200 HotWheels,
but you can see how delighted he was to get more!

And when we sang "Happy Birthday" he sang, too!

Droplets

Drops of rain on my rhododendron between rain showers.

Delicate

I was hoping to get a clearer shot of some apple blossoms, but I'm battling pneumonia and I haven't been outside much lately. I went out yesterday after the storm blew through and found that the wind and rain took most of the petals down. So here's the best of the lot from the last time I tried shooting apple blossoms -- the buds were just beginning to open then.

Blooms

I'm trying to decide which lens to take for a walk at the daffodil trail -- these are in my yard.
All shot with ISO 100 and sunny day setting.

First is the kit lens - 18-55mm. I think it's a pretty decent lens!


Next is a 60mm S lens -- but I need a tripod to use it. I like the glow in this one. Partly sun on the flower and partly just the color of the flower itself.


Then there's the new 70-200mm L lens -- I'm struggling with this lens. I have trouble focusing on what I want to focus. The depth of field hasn't given me much room and my eyes aren't very good. Anyway, it's pretty heavy for a stroll in the park. But it's anice lens and I think I'll keep it!


And finally, my old favorite walk-around 28-135mm lens. I think it's still my favorite for pick-up and go on a nice day.