All My Blogs

Top of wings (main) and bottom of wings (inset) of the Queen butterfly. Yes, it even fooled me.  The first one of these I saw was the inset photo I took during my first week in Palm Springs.  The familiar orange and black stripes with white spots led me to conclude that this must be a monarch butterfly.  It was only later, after photographing the queen butterfly during my second week in Palm Springs that I was to realize my error.  From the top, the two species look fairly different, but not so much from the side. The monarch butterfly (photograph below) feeds on milkweed plants as a caterpillar.  Milkweed contains a nasty poison that causes illness in birds and mammals if ingested in small amounts, and death if enough is consumed.  Adult monarchs retain the toxins from their larval form; any bird or mammal eating one will soon get very sick.  Birds, which have excellent colour vision, learn quickly that the orange and black pattern on monarch wings re...

Painted lady adults photographed in Palm Springs, Oct, 2023 One of the things I enjoyed about the trip we took this year to Palm Springs was the number and diversity of butterflies we saw.  One of the most common was the painted lady.  According to the website Butterflies at Home , the painted lady is "one of the most common butterfly species in the world."  They are found throughout most of North America and they migrate towards warmer climates as temperatures decline.  A relatively large and colourful Lepidoptern, I was eager to get as many good photos of them as I could.   The larval form of the painted lady feeds on a variety of plants, including thistles, which makes it a beneficial insect.  On the other hand, they also will eat hollyhock and sunflower plants making them a bit of a pest.  You can see a picture of the caterpillar by clicking here and scrolling down.  The adults, however, are beneficial pollinators and the added splash of ...

Female Costa hummingbird hovering near a nectar-producing flower. As a kid, I can remember a ruby-throated hummingbird visiting vibrantly coloured flowers near my home in Ontario.  Ever since then, I have been fascinated by them and photograph them frequently.  I have captured half a dozen species on film or digitally since then.  Most photos are done without flash, but all of them are done utilizing fast shutter speeds.  But how fast is fast enough? The above photo was taken in the Palm Springs area a few days ago.  I used a D7100 and kit 55-300 mm lens to get the image with a wide open aperture (f/5.6) and a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second.  The kit equipment did a reasonable job, although the focusing speeds were slow and I could have used more magnification.  I decided to search my images for other photos I have taken and put together a composite image featuring different shutter speeds of the birds while flying.  You can see the image be...

The purple sand verbena, also called the pink sand verbena or the beach sand verbena, is a plant native to Western North America and is found in arid, sandy regions such as the Palm Desert near Palm Springs, California.  It is an annual, meaning that it dies every year and is repopulated through seeds produced from the previous generation.  While out walking amongst the plants I found that many insects were visiting the vibrant purple flowers.  The seeds are small and have papery wings that facilitate dispersion through wind action.  You can see a photo of the plant itself below. Purple Sand Verbena photographed in the Palm Desert. It was amazing to stroll through the desert scrub and look for a scene that would photograph well.  I like to be out early when the sun is at a low angle, and the sand fences provided compelling shadows that added to view.  The mountainous background and sand rippled added to the shot; I especially liked using the fence and rippl...

The Silk family - a family portrait I took while camping. Stuff.  It's nice, but it doesn't last.  We buy gifts for birthdays, Christmas, or a myriad of other occasions and hope that they mean something.  Those things, all that stuff, inevitably end up in the trash.  Not that the final destination reflects on the feelings of either the giver or receiver, but the truth is that plastic breaks, technology becomes outdated, and fabric degrades through wear and tear.  Even for ourselves, we make purchases meant to pacify our wants and desires.  Those things too don't last.  The most we can hope for is a short-term sense of gratification for them or us. It turns out the perfect gift isn't all that expensive, and it can last a lifetime.  And it is something each of us can offer another.  It is time.  Partly because it means developing a relationship and partly because it means building memories.  It's those memories that are with us every ...

A male praying mantis on a cactus flower. I am reminded of the jingle, "Two great tastes that taste great together" when I look at this photo that  I took earlier today.  Not that I literally passed my tastebuds over the items seen within, but that here I had two great things that would go together nicely in an image.  I hadn't foreseen either opportunity, little alone them both together. Things do not flower readily in the desert.  In spite of that, I discovered a cactus in bloom earlier in the day and felt a strong urge to capture an image of it.  I got off a few shots but was underwhelmed by the results, so I headed off to look for other photographable fares.  I came across another cactus, without flowers, but it had something even more interesting.  A praying mantis was nestled securely within the spines.  The thought of combining my new find with the previous one immediately entered my mind and I went about extracting the insect from his ensc...

Black phoebe photographed in Palm Springs, October, 2023 Some birds, such as the rock wren I photographed earlier this week, can be found in both western Canada and the United States.  Other birds like the black phoebe are only found south of the Canadian border; I would never hope to see one unless I was travelling outside the country.  Having said that, the rock wren is native to southern BC, but I have never seen one.  It just so happens I was at a place where both birds co-existed, and I got to see them. Although I do enjoy birding wherever I go, there is a certain thrill associated with seeing something I haven't personally witnessed before.  Bird watchers call these first-time observations "lifers".  I don't personally go by this and do not keep a record of what I see where and when, but my photographs record much of that information.  For me, a "lifer" is an endearing moment when I get to witness a marvel of creation for the first time, and it doesn...

Eric and Kathryn (left) and Howard and Lori (right) in a coalesced image. It is not always easy to take a photo of everyone in your group, including the photographer, when you don't have a tripod handy.  In the past, I have tinkered with various immediately available platforms such as rocks, plants, or structures in order to secure the camera.  The height has not always been right, and inevitably the odd stone or stick was added to facilitate a desirable orientation.  If luck held, the rigged structure would remain in position.  The click of the shutter inevitably causes camera motion to unhinge everything and the whole thing would tumble to the ground. Instead of trying to rig such a contraption, it seemed wise to take two photos and combine them later using the magic of Photoshop.  The two original shots, shown at the bottom of the above image, were taken and processed in post.  Flash was used as the scene was backlit.  The two photos were combined b...

Kathryn posing at a creek at Indian Canyon near Palm Springs Photoshop CC has an interesting masking feature that allows you to select different areas effectively.  I have found it excellent at selecting skies and subjects.  It also has the ability to add graduated masks like what you could do in the older CS version.  The changes are done in the Camera Raw program and then imported to the main Photoshop program where further adjustments can be made.  You can see the side menu and masking window in the image below. Masking control panel with the various adjustment options. In the above photo, the original image had a range of shadows and highlights that made it difficult to process both aspects of them together.  Masking allows you to select one part of the image and work it without affecting the other part.  I use HDR to work with complicated lighting situations, but I find that I can often get good results by using masking instead.   After corre...

A rock wren, photographed in Palm Springs, October, 2023. I like to photograph wildlife and then identify it.  Both aspects have their own set of challenges, vastly different but they can be nonetheless daunting.  It's the identification part I want to talk about today. I recently discovered an app that helps with that process.  Available for Android or IOS platforms, the Google Lens app offers a unique way of identifying stuff.  Not just wildlife, mind you, much more than that, but I want to focus on the app's ability to determine species. We have been in Palm Springs this week.  It has been a welcome change of pace from the busy world of regular day-to-day living and I have had a chance to dust off my cameras.  Morning walks have been rewarded with the chance to photograph bird and lizard species I don't normally get a chance to see.  Once I capture an image, I like to take it back to my computer and identify exactly what it was I shot.  That is...

F84F Thunderstreak jet at Palm Springs Air Museum shot with (left) and without (right) polarizer filter.  One of my favourite filters is the polarizer.  They are modestly expensive, especially for camera lenses with large filter rings, but they are well worth the investment.  If you have several lenses, consider buying one for the lens that has modest wide-angle and telephoto capabilities.  This often is a kit lens, something with a 28-80 mm zoom range.  Although you can use them on any lens, I find there are limitations for ultra-wide angle lenses and they adversely affect shutter speeds in long lenses. You'll notice that the photo above has a distinctive left and right side.  Both sides were shot with a polarizer filter on the camera lens (a 24-70 mm lens on a full-frame mirrorless camera); the left photo had the polarizer ring rotated to produce the maximum effect.  While on the right side, the ring was rotated to produce the minimum effect.  I...

When I first saw this lizard, I thought it was a collard lizard due to the black neck ring it sported.  Later research proved that wrong, however, and I determined it was a spiny lizard instead.  There are a variety of spiny lizard species, this one being a desert spiny lizard.  They are relatively small, having a snout-vent length of about 5 inches.  The tail is usually longer than this, producing a full-grown adult longer than 10 inches.  This one was probably 6 inches from tip to tip. These lizards feed on a variety of insects but will also take leaves and berries.  They are diurnal, meaning that they are active during the day.  They will, like most lizards, seek out shade or sun depending on their core temperature.  By moving from one zone to another, they can maintain a desirable body temperature.  This method of controlling their internal body temperature is called thermal regulation. I was hoping to find more in the way of lizards wher...

Photographed in Palm Springs, California. Everything I learned about roadrunners I got off TV.  Cartoons, that is.  You know the one.  A starving coyote, with an apparently endless budget for Acme products, uses his wiliness and cunning in an attempt to capture dinner.  Forever thwarted, the roadrunner outsmarts and outruns his nemesis, usually with fire erupting from behind it. The truth couldn't be farther from this, although it is nowhere near as funny.  The greater roadrunner, the bird which the cartoon character was modelled after, is primarily a ground dweller but can fly, albeit only short distances.  It is very fast on its legs, but also is stealthy and can sneak up on unwary prey.  Yes, you heard right, the roadrunner doesn't eat birdseed, it is a carnivore.  Lizards, snakes, mice, and even other birds all are on the menu.  They will also take berries and seeds, although this does not form the bulk of its diet.   It could b...

Waterfront Park, Kelowna The above photos all come from the same image (the one on the left).  Each one was cropped according to something that the images provided.  The left represents the full frame as was displayed in my viewfinder.  The middle-top image was cropped to accentuate the colourful flower display.  The far right image follows the rule-of-thirds and leading-the-eye compositional guidelines.  The bottom image captures the long rows of flowers decrease in size relative to distance.  Each shot emphasizes something different. The point of the blog is to say that you don't have to get the photo exactly right in your viewfinder; you can play with composition after the fact.  This is where cropping comes in, and it allows you to improve, adjust, emphasize, or remove different aspects of the shot for its betterment.   When shooting, I am always cognisant of capturing the best image I can at the moment but also aware that there will be p...

Photographed at Rotary Marsh Park, Kelowna. Chlorophyll, the dominant photosynthetic pigment in most plants, is green in colour.  It is green because it is the one colour of the visible light spectrum that the plant doesn't use; it reflects it.  Chlorophyll is not the only pigment found in plants however; they also employ carotenoids (which includes xanthophylls) and anthocyanins.  Carotenoids are yellow in colour while anthocyanins tend toward the red end of the spectrum.  Although present in leaves, their colours are overwhelmed by the presence of chlorophyll. The interesting thing about anthocyanins is that their colour is affected by pH.  A good example of this is found in hydrangea flowers.  Soil pH affects the colour of these flowers; low pH (acidic) produces blue flowers while higher values (more basic) produce purple flowers.  Red leaves may vary in colour depending on the soil's pH. Chlorophyll is easily broken down.  The plant has to con...

Downtown Kelowna in early October - HDR with 7 photos. HDR (high dynamic range) allows you to capture highlights and shadows beyond what a single image will give you.  Although raw images are able to capture an impressive range of shades, sometimes it is just not enough.  This is especially true if you want to capture the sun in your shot and not overwhelm the sky with blown-out highlights. You can actually do a lot with a single raw image, but you have to dip into your bag of tricks.  Photoshop comes with a great masking feature that lets you effortlessly select the sky (see below image).  I took a single image, applied a mask to the sky, and processed the sky and the terrain separately.  It came out not too bad, although I like the HDR photo better. Single image masked and then processed. The advantage of HDR is that you can pull a lot of detail out of shadows and highlights that a single image just can't manage.  The trick is to take a lot of photos over...

  Modern cell phones have the ability to capture images on par with their much larger DSLR and mirrorless cousins, sometimes.  Their convenience and proven portability have made them by far the main way people take pictures today.  The quality of the images also is very good.  The caveat is that there has to be a reasonable amount of light and you don't want to zoom in too much or shoot at a slow shutter speed in bright conditions. There is a way around these limitations.  It involves using clip-on filters and lenses.  These peripheral devices are relatively inexpensive, especially when compared to their previously referred to counterparts, and expand the abilities of mobile cameras.  Clip-on lenses make ultra wide-angle and telephoto relative focal lengths possible.  If you want to get slower shutter speeds though, you have to consider a special type of filter. A neutral density (ND) filter is akin to sunglasses for your smartphone camera.  ...

Kelowna, BC. As a photographer, I like the fall for shooting landscapes.  Sunny days, early mornings, some water and a polarizer all help to make some very attractive photos.  Often I will look for attractive scenes that are enhanced with fall colours, and on my sojourn this morning I found a number of pleasant spots.  As I was heading home, I noticed a beautiful band of clouds paralleling the mountains behind West Kelowna.  I wanted to capture that scene. The clouds form because of a phenomenon called the lake effect.  Winds blow across the lake, still warm from the summer heating, and pick up water.  As the moisture-laden air hits the other side and rises with the curves of the land, its temperature and pressure drop cause condensation and produce clouds.  The result is a band of clouds that parallels the rising ridgeline.  It was a beautiful spectacle to behold. Photographing it from a lower elevation did not produce any heart-moving images....

There are certain times of the year when identifying birds takes a little extra effort.  Fall is one of these times.  Adults may have recently moulted off their breeding plumages and are now attired with their non-breeding feathering.  That in itself is a bit of an issue, primarily if you rely on a bird field guide that shows only adults during the breeding season.  Well-illustrated books will have both winter and summer examples of the various species.  It becomes even more complicated when you are trying to identify juveniles. I took the above photo yesterday at one of my favourite birding haunts (Munson Pond in Kelowna).  I photographed one bird, a Lincoln's sparrow, and needed help in finally identifying it (thanks to Ian Walker from British Columbia Birds Facebook group).  As I was examining the rest of my images, I came across another bird that I was unfamiliar with.  Yellow beak, rusty cap, eye stripe, and wing bars - what could it be?...