Sophie and a Few More

Today was another rainy day. The sun broke through briefly this afternoon, but then another storm approached with rumbles of thunder. Sophie loves to be outside with me, but she hates thunder. I looked around for her and had to laugh when I saw her hiding under the wooden pool steps. Taken with the 70-300mm lens, settings were f/9, 1/60, ISO 400.

My next door neighbor grew some cabbages in her garden patch during the winter, and a couple of the remaining cabbages have gone to seed, sending up spikes of yellow flowers. Settings were f/9, 1/200, ISO 400.

This is a silhouette of a mourning dove sitting on a tree branch against the gray sky. Settings were f/18, 1/200, ISO 400.

And a tomato photo. In this picture you can see the five biggest tomatoes, and there is a tiny sixth one inside the sepals on the right. Taken with the 90mm lens; settings were f/18, 1/30, ISO 200.

Another Rainy Day

It rained almost all day today. I took just a few photos outside when I got home from work and the rain had stopped. Here’s a raindrop on the fence, with a reversed view of the side of my neighbor’s house and palm tree. Settings were f/6.3, 1/125, ISO 400.

Today’s tomato photo–the largest tomato is almost marble-size now. Settings were f/6.3, 1/80, ISO 400.

And this was taken around sunset this evening. Settings were f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 400.

Tuesday Photos

It was overcast and damp outside all day today. I used the 90mm f/2.8 lens to take a few photos when I got home. First here is brave Bonnie, our 15-year-old sheltie mix, a bit wobbly on her legs at times and not hearing and seeing as well as she used to, but still standing guard and protecting our yard by the gate. Settings were f/5.6, 1/30, ISO 100.

The plants and flowers I put in last week all seem to be thriving with the damp weather. Here is a bright red verbena flower. Settings were f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 400.

And here’s a tomato update. The biggest of our tomatoes is now in between the size of a pea and a marble. Settings were f/7.1, 1/160, ISO 400.

 

Rainy Monday

Back to work today after spring break, on a rainy gray Monday. When I got home I went out during a pause in the rain to check on the tomatoes. They seem to be doing fine and there are five of them now, with more flowers opening. This is the biggest tomato. This was taken with the 90mm f/2.8 lens, and settings were f/6, 1/60, ISO 800.

And here’s one of the smaller tomatoes. Settings were f/5.6, 1/60, ISO 800.

When the rain started again I went in and changed to the 70-300mm lens, and took a couple of photos from the back door. Here is Sophie in the wet back yard near the palm trees. Settings were f/5.6, 1/50, ISO 800.

A mockingbird perched on one of the palm trees for a couple of minutes. Settings were f/7.1, 1/50, ISO 800.

Inside this evening, I changed to the 50mm f/1.8 lens and took a few indoor doll photos without flash. This is Lark by Helen Kish, a 16 inch jointed doll. Settings were f/1.8, 1/15, ISO 400.

Mostly Tomatoes

I was working today to finish up some projects before spring break ended, and didn’t have much time for photography. But I did take a few photos of our growing tomatoes. There are four of them now, though only the biggest 2 or 3 can be seen in the pictures. The first photo is a look through the leaves at the biggest tomato, with a smaller one in the background. Settings were f/6.3, 1/500, ISO 200.

And here you can see three of the four with a flower, though only the biggest one is in focus. Settings are 7.1, 1/250, ISO 200.

And this is a pine tree branch against the sky near sunset. Settings were f/9, 1/125, ISO 400.

Brown Anole

I haven’t seen the green anoles around on the fence for the past few days. Today I saw the probable reason why: a male brown anole seems to have claimed the fence as his territory. Brown anoles tend to take over green anoles’ areas, so the green anoles may have moved on. Here is the brown anole when I spotted him on the fence, taken with the 90mm f/2.8 lens. Settings were f/4.5, 1/500, ISO 100.

He kept an eye on me as I took pictures. You can see a little of his red-orange dewlap on his neck, which he’d been flashing in a territorial display. Settings were f/5, 1/320, ISO 100.

And here he is with his eyes closed for a moment. Settings were f/5, 1/250, ISO 100.

One reason I wanted the 90mm f/2.8 lens was for photos of anoles, and I can see it’s going to work out. However, I’ve got to get the depth of field figured out for anole photos. Here, for example, I focused on his head and wanted a background blur, but not even his entire head is in focus–I needed much more depth of field to get the picture I wanted. Settings were f/6.3, 1/250, ISO 100.

A crop of a photo for a close-up of the anole’s face. I’m pleased with the detail I’m able to get–look at the eyelids especially. But you can also see that my depth of field was too shallow to get the entire head in focus. Something to work on. Settings were f/5, 1/320, ISO 100.

In the meantime, the tomatoes continue to grow. Settings here are f/4, 1/200, ISO 100.

Tomatoes and a New Doll

Not much photography today. On one of our tomato plants we now have two little tomatoes growing. The one I found the other day is now a bit bigger, and there’s another tiny new one started. Here is our bigger tomato. Settings were f/5.6, 1/100, ISO 200.

And here is our tiny newer one. Settings were f/5, 1/400, ISO 200.

The My Twinn company was having a sale this week and today my sale dolls arrived. This is one of them, a girl with a variant of the Ariel face mold. I have a boy with this variant but didn’t have a girl, so I was hoping she would be that variant. I was pleased that she turned out to be just what I’d wanted. She has tan skin, black hair, and beautiful green eyes. She came in a low-cut fancy dress that doesn’t cover her fabric body at the neck and chest, but she’ll probably change into a more casual outfit soon. Settings were f/7.1, 1/60, ISO 800.

Lulu (and Sophie too)

My first photo today is of Lulu, who was lying outside on the bricks relaxing as usual. I focused on her and then asked, “Lulu, do you want a cookie?” Her head popped up and she gave me this head-tilted look. Lulu is a girl who loves her food! (And she did get a cookie afterward.) Settings were f/7.1, 1/80, ISO 800.

Sophie felt that she had to have her picture taken (and a cookie) too of course. Here’s Sophie, settings f/7.1, 1/100, ISO 800.

In addition to the mourning doves, we also have a pair of Ground Doves around our yard this year. They are small doves, about the size of a robin but plumper. I got a photo of one of them this morning. Settings were f/7.1, 1/500, ISO 200.

The last photo was taken close to sunset, a silhouette of a tree branch against the sky. A few weeks ago this branch was bare, and now there are good-sized leaves growing. Settings are f/7.1, 1/250, ISO 320.

Tiny Tomato

A blossom fell off one of our new tomato plants today, leaving a tiny new tomato in view–maybe a little more than 1/8 inch across. So we already have a tomato growing! I took a photo with the 90mm f/2.8 lens. Settings were f/7.1, 1/200, ISO 200.

Lulu was sitting out in the sun in the middle of the day and I took this picture of her. It’s got too much contrast but I still kind of like it. Settings were f/6.3, 1/125, ISO 200.

Here’s the pair of mourning doves that seem to be living in the big tree in the back yard. Settings were f/7.1, 1/320, ISO 200.

Bluebird

Today I thought I saw the tufted titmouse way up in a tree in the back yard and took some pictures with the 70-300mm lens. When I looked at the pictures on the computer, I could see it wasn’t a tufted titmouse–it was an Eastern Bluebird with rumpled tail feathers and downy fluff on its breast and flanks. We had bluebirds in our yard last year for the first time and I really enjoyed seeing them. I was very happy when I recognized the crooked beak on this little bird–one of my bluebirds from last year had returned. Settings were f/10, 1/400, ISO 800.

In this photo you can see the crooked beak. Settings were f/10, 1/400, ISO 800.

The bluebird’s return was the nicest thing today, but I also took a few photos of the flowers on our new Super Sweet 100 tomato plant with the 90mm f/2.8 lens. Settings were f/8, 1/500, ISO 200.

And one more photo of little oxalis flowers in the grass. Settings were f/10, 1/100, ISO 640.