Wandering Loss

Today's post is kinda related to my last post.

When you have major decisions to make and your future seems uncertain - so uncertain, in fact that you don't even know where you'll be the following month or what you'll be doing; that's when things can get scary and you really start to question where you're at. At times you might seem lost in the crowd, struggling to stand out and make your presence felt in one way or another - that's when things can get tricky. You have a decision to make - give up or carry on. Like I said last time, the right thing to do would be to carry. It's not going to be the easy thing to do because, I think, it's a lot harder to carry on than to even start in the first place.

As a Christian, one of the results of falling on times like this is it teaches you to rely more on God than yourself or people around you. It's never easy to hand over the reins to someone else but you've got to do it since that's what's best for you.

This picture had been lying on my drive for years and it wasn't until recently that I got to working on it. Each leaf, twig, branch is part of something so much bigger than itself and yet it's always lost among all the other parts that are almost identical to it. Sometimes life's like that. You're wandering and you're lost in the crowd. These twigs would have been lost too if I shot them head on but a slight change in perspective and a different angle and VOILA! it stands out and is separate from the others around it.

What if God's like a photographer and we're those twigs? We've got to let Him do His thing and carry on trusting Him.

I hope the people in Myanmar are OK. We felt the tremor hundreds of miles away from the epicentre so I can only imagine what it must have been like there.

Signs Of Life

This tree has been giving us fruit for a long time now and no one planted it. Someone must have just thrown papaya seeds here one must have survived to quickly grown into this tall beauty.

Tentacles

These are flower tentacles. Well sort of. This is another extreme macro flower shot. Hope you like it.

Under The Beautiful Sky

There are so many pictures I haven't processed so far. This is one I recently processed.

This was a really stunning sunset. One of best we had last year.

Growing In The Light

Trees need sunlight to grow and carry out various functions and processes. That is something we all know.

Now that I am done stating the obvious I'll tell you a little about the picture.

These "palm" trees kinda grow wild in our compound. The fruits are plenteous and quite tasty. Ok it's just the sap that is tasty but still, it is sweet.

They can grow quite tall and are always very thing. They sway dangerously in the wind but never actually break.

Pretty In The Dark

Many people say I come up with unusual captions and I agree with them. Truth is my captions are actually the first words that pop into my head just before I write my daily blog post.

Anyway that's that. Now for today's picture. This little butterfly was in an overgrown part of our garden. I had just gone out to check the lock on the gate when I noticed this butterfly in the grass. So I got my torch out and tried to take a few pictures but ended up getting frustrated.

Finally I resorted to using the pop-up flash. I didn't want to use the pop-up flash (I had to manually make it "pop-up") because that would result in some really harsh light and I didn't want that. But that was all I had and it got the job done.

Quick tip. If you want a more diffused and soft light then place a sheet of paper in front of the flash and then make it fire. You'll end up with some really soft light. Remember that the paper does cut out some of the light so you might have to increase the flash power.

Bearing Fruit

Yes, yeah. I know that's another cheesy title/caption for today's picture but I don't really bother about that too much.

Remember the "Bony Fingers" post? Well this is a picture of another branch of the same tree, taken on the same day. The "bony fingers" didn't have fruits but this one did.

The fruits aren't really popular here and most people don't even know that they are edible but once they get hooked onto these fruits they just go and finish them all :D

Bony Fingers

Sometimes the most mundane things can stand out because of something else.

Case in point - today's picture. There are these plants in our garden that have leaves like palm trees and have these tiny fruit that is 90% seed, 8% outer covering and only 2% sweet nectar. The branches on which these fruits grow only appear just before the buds come. Honestly, I hadn't given these branches a second glance because I was more interested in photographing the bees and insects that were attracted to the flowers and fruits so I got a new perspective one day when the sun was setting behind an overcast sky thus giving it a warm glow.

To me the branches looked that the fingers of a skeleton reaching out and beckoning to something on the ground. So the sky enabled me to see this in a new way.

Bugged

This again is one of the first 10 pictures I took when I got the camera back.

This little beetle was really busy. I don't really know what it was upto because I'm not sure whether beetles drink nectar or eat flowers. Do they?

It was gloomy day and thus the light was diffused which is pretty good for macro photography but since it was late in the evening the level of light was pretty low. I don't really like to use the built-in flash for macro shots because it produces really harsh shadows that don't really enhance the image most of the time. So I used a slow shutter speed and raised the ISO but not a great deal because noise is a massive problem with the SX50.

The challenge with nature photography is that most of the time you have to work with whatever light you can get and you have no control. It might take a while to get it right but it is worth it.

Just A Day Job

This was another pleasant surprise. I went to shoot the rose when I noticed this tiny little bee.

I sincerely apologise for not writing more. I've been really busy but I'll try and maintain the one-picture-a-day thing.

A Private Meeting

Insects fascinate me. They are so tiny, yet there is so much to them that you could easily just stare at one and  find something new.

I went out to photograph some insects and I saw these two on a lemongrass leaf.

They didn't seem too bothered with me getting close and I was able to get a few shots before my arms started aching and my back hurt from bending down.

Remember, try and get the eyes in focus. Of course there are exceptions to this so it's upto you, the photographer, to decide what works best.

It's In The Eye

There are a few coconut trees in my mom's garden and unfortunately they haven't been yielding fruit but I still don't mind then there. Why? The truth is because they attract a lot of birds. For some reason birds love to come a rest on the branches of these trees and you know that I love birds so this also gives me an opportunity to get a few good pictures.

There is a particular branch that is drooping and I think it's time for it too fall off. Every morning I just go to the balcony and look out at the fields, the sky and just everything in general so it is a bonus when I see a bird there. This spotted dove decided to sit on the branch that was drooping and this meant that it was closer to the balcony than usual.

I was able to grab my camera before it flew off and I was able to get this close up of the bird.

Notice that the eye is in focus. If it wasn't in focus you probably wouldn't be seeing this picture today because the eyes are very important.

I Don't Fit In

I'm sure most of you have seen this quite a few times. Did you know that the pink/white/orange (or whatever colour) "flowers" of the Bougainvillea are not the actual flowers? Those are just coloured petals! The actual flowers are the tiny white ones in between the larger coloured petals. Isn't that interesting? I know I found it really interesting (and probably a little weird) when my science teacher taught us this fact.

Have you ever felt like you don't fit into the world or in a certain place or among a group of people? The answer for most of us is "Yes"...plenty of times. This is an unfortunate fact and one that can make you sad. At least I feel sad and feel that I should change and become like everyone else but I stop myself just in time. Never try to fit in - you are who you are...you are unique! Just like this tiny, little, white flower in the sea of pink. You too stand out from the crowd! :)

On a more photography related note - are you on Flickr? Flickr just made a few changes. They are now giving free users 1Tb of storage for free. This is pretty cool but it does have a catch - ads. If you want to get rid of ads you have to pay. They also changed their entire layout. I feel that this layout is tons of times better than the old, out-dated layout. If you are interested here is a link to my Flickr stream.

I haven't changed anything from the default layout - I didn't even change the cover picture that Flickr choose because I think it made a pretty good choice. Anyway head over there yourself and tell me what you think.

Have a great day folks!

Keep the feedback, questions, comments coming :D

Upside Down

Yes, yes! I know the titles are getting worse. I apologise....sincerely.

Anyway I went out to the garden to shoot this spider but it was really shy or just too scared of me to stay in one spot for more than one second. I did manage to get a few shots but I had to search for a different subject to shoot because it was soon gone. I did find this ladybird (or ladybug...whatever you want to call it) and was able to get this shot. It was really windy and that made matters worse.

Truth be told I didn't see this ladybird/bug in the beginning. I only say it after I had taken the first picture of this plant. Fortunately it didn't move too much which did help a lot especially since the plant was swaying in the breeze.

Macro photography can be frustrating but you shouldn't give up. Keep at it. You will end up throwing a lot of pictures but if you have a digital camera then there shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway hope you are having a good day :)

A Private Moment

I hope these insects are reading this post because I must apologise for barging in on such a private and personal moment and then taking pictures of it. If you are reading this post, little bugs then I'm sorry if I disturbed you but I just had to take pictures. Anyway given the fact that neither of you moved when I was there or seemed even remotely bothered I guess you didn't really mind, did you?

Getting this shot was really difficult because of the wind. If you have dabbled in macro photography you know that you have to work with a really shallow depth of field which means you have to keep your camera really steady in order to get the right parts in focus. It was quite a challenge trying to get the eyes in focus. I could get both in focus because of the angle I was working at. I should try focus stacking. Is there a way to auto-align and focus stack images in Photoshop CS2?

Btw if you are on G+ let me know what you think of the changes there? I'll be writing a little about those changes when I upload this picture there shortly so you might want to check my profile as well. Basically I like what they've done. If you aren't on G+ then I suggest you create a profile immediately because you don't know what you are missing. I find myself spending more and more time there everyday. Why? Because I think it is better that Facebook in many ways - especially for photographers.

That's it for now. See you tomorrow.

Thanks a lot for all your feedback, suggestions, comments, emails and messages. I really appreciate it. Keep 'em coming! :)

Blooming Ahead

I guess I don't come up with good captions when I tired - for example today's title.

Ah well it is the picture that is more important than the title so here it is...

Yes, that is a flower :P I don't know what kind of a flower it is but it is pretty. It's a pretty small plant but with loads of flower on it which makes it pretty beautiful.

I didn't get the amazing depth of field in-camera because it is impossible with the SX50 HS so I used Photoshop. The Lens Blur filter in Photoshop does wonders. I've used it before and I love it. You should try it out too. Don't overdo it though because then it just looks fake.

All you have to do it select the area of the picture you want to add the blur to and then apply the lens blur filter to it. Try it out. If you have questions you know I'm always ready to answer them :)

A Piece From Nowhere

I admit that is another cheesy title but honestly I can't seem to come up with better ones so if you folks out there can think of something better I might even use it. I'll give you credit obviously!

I took this picture because this fungus or mushroom or whatever it is surprised me. Why? This bamboo has been in this very place and position for the past year or so and nothing has grown on it. All of a sudden when I was out shooting ants (with a camera) I noticed these red outgrowths from this bamboo. It is surprising because it happened all of a sudden after a very long time. Maybe there is a scientific explanation and maybe there isn't....either way I like the colours.

I'm going to keep today's post short because there is a power cut here and the battery on the UPS is draining...fast. Plus I think my blood is extra sweet today because the mosquitoes are having a feast!

Bloody Rivers

I don't mean for the title of today's picture and post to be offensive so please don't take offence.

There is a particular plant in my mom's garden that grows wild but we never really get rid of it because it looks nice. It has no flowers but the leaves have these red vein-like things running through then. When I was younger I asked my mom what the name of the plant was and she said that they called it "bleeding heart". I thought that name was pretty cool. Of course I now know that that is NOT the correct ID but I haven't been able to ID this correctly.

Anyway today's picture is a macro (close-up) of one of the leaves on said plant. To me it looks like rivers of blood flowing across a plain. Ok maybe I have a horrible imagination so if I looks like anything else to you do let me know :D

Hope you had a great weekend :)