Tag: PAUSE

Spring Outing IX

Land snail

MichaelStephenWills

Hepatica blossoms are the focal point here. Two land snail shells rested fortuitously below, a white and dark brown. The white shell (Scientific Name: Neohelix albolabris) is seen here. In life, the shell aperture reflective lip gives the species name, from Latin root words “albo” (white) and “labris” (lip), and the popular name, “Whitelip.” Look closely to see a series of ridges, an identifying feature apparent in this specimen. There was a live specimen in our yard, just yesterday. Busy with chores, no camera at hand.

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Hepatica Blossoms with shell

Click me for another Hepatica wildflower posting.

Gallery of Flowers in this series
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Spring Outing X

Please give your opinions of this experiment, via comments. Thank You

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Seconds after taking this shot, at f/4, I changed the f-stop to 29 and captured these blossoms with the environment in focus (yesterday’s posting). At f/4 focus is a challenge and I was not happy with the detail of the foreground blossom.

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before dual pixel adjustment
after dual pixel adjustment
Dual Pixel Raw comparison

I am in the experimentation phase of learning the new camera, so in spite of the 100% file size increase I turned on the Dual Pixel Raw feature. The two photos are from the same file. My impression is the adjustment improved the foreground flower details. Is it my imagination?

Click me for another Hepatica wildflower posting.

Gallery of Flowers in this series
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Spring Outing VIII

Sun catchers

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Hepatica Blossoms

Click me for another Hepatica wildflower posting.

Gallery of Flowers in this series
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Spring Outing VII

Groupings, 1 flora and 1 dangerous

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Hepatica positioned perfectly above the trail, sprouting from moss, a grouping of the plant and flowers.

Scientific Name: Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa. I found the two land snail shells this session, I identified it as Neohelix albolabris, and positioned it in this shot to lend interest. In a future posting you will see the shell where it was found.

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Hepatica Blossoms

Six unrelated young adults, all female and without masks, not following social distancing guidelines, passed as a group just before I set up for this shot. I heard them coming and made plenty of space between them and me. COVID-19 testing in Tompkins continues to find several positive cases each week.

Finding an appropriate combination of settings for this grouping was a puzzle. My goal was to bring the flowers and surrounding into focus with intermittent breezes. The f-stop needed to be high to accommodate the depth with minimal exposure duration as the flowers moved in the slightest breeze. The solution was a high ISO (2500) and f-stop (32), yielding a 1/3 second exposure (Not fast). The compromise was patiently waiting for a break in the breezes.

Gallery of Flowers in this series
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Spring Outing VI

Just opened wind-flowers

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Just opened flowers on long hairy stems, tiny anemones. A crawl and tripod we needed to capture these. The scene scale is revealed by the dried leaves from last autumn.

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Hepatica Blossoms

I call these anemones from the disputations among taxonomists. All agree there is some relationship and differ in the degree. Classifications add a designation “tribe” before genus (hepatica). Alternatively, the genus is designated Anemone instead of Hepatica . A common name for anemones is “wind-flower” for how the flower is sensitive to a slight breeze, on these long stems.

This is the first hepatica capture of the session. There was no breeze at this time and the ISO is 800, f-stop 29 (lending some definition of the background, less than I’d expect) and a relatively slow exposure of 1/4 second. The 100 mm macro lens on a tripod mounted camera.

Gallery of Flowers in this series
Reference: Wikipedia article, “Hepatica.”

Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Spring Outing V

Wildflower Groupings

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Red Trillium are early bloomers, along with Hepatica. I often photograph them together. Click me for a 2019 Red Trillium post of photographs from 2007 taken in Fillmore Glen Park.

Here we have two photographs from the end of the April 20, 2020 session. I finished a series of macro Hepatica and, tired (emotionally, not physically) and not wanting to step up the slope, captured the following grouping of a single Red Trillium, lit by a bolt of sunlight, White Hepatica, fern and the budding White Trillim from yesterday’s post. Not the same trillium, a continuation of all the individuals in bud.

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On the South Rim Trail of Robert H. Treman New York State Park. April 19, 2020.
Wildflower Grouping

These were 15 feet or so up the slope above the South Rim Trail. I used the 100 mm macro lens, with the spring breezes ISO set to 2500, f/5.6 for a 1/200 exposure.

Not far away, also upslope, was this flower grouping against a moss covered log. Park forestry leaves fallen trees in place to return to the soil. Camera settings are the same.

Lobe leaved Hepatica

Both photographs were handheld.

Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Spring Outing II

Lower Waterfall

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This series of posts opens with the ascent to where the wildflowers grow.

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Lower Falls

After just a taste of the climb to come, hikers are treated to an view of the Lower Falls of Enfield Creek. I call them the Wedding Cake. Summertime, a dam is erected, the water is deep enough to dive into the very cold creek water, lower than 70 degrees.

Enfield Creek from park bridge

The trail is on a beetling crag.

Enjoying a Falls View

Looking up Enfield Glen above the falls. Up to the trail, keeping distance was no problem. It is nowhere near as crowded as the trail to Taughannock Falls in February.

Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Spring Outing I

Revisiting a Socially Distanced outing

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Parks were open during Govenor Cuomo’s “New York State on PAUSE.” Still, as a member of the at-risk group I was reluctant to visit, unsure of how crowded it will be. On a Monday afternoon, bright with sun, I drove over to Robert H. Treman lower park to check out the situation.

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Social Separation Parking
Gorge Trail is Closed for the winter
Parking Lot

I carried the Sony in hand and packed in a Canon with macro lens and a Manfrotto travel tripod.

Enfield Creek from park bridge

The path to a trail that climbs up the south side of Enfield Glen crosses Enfield Creek via a bridge, wends through cabins……

…..then heads up stairs that can seem to be forever. The green sign with white letters is new. This the South Rim Trail avoids the cliffs that make the Gorge trail so dangerous November through May.

Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Hammond Hill Walk V

Facing the sun

MichaelStephenWills

I close this walk at the turnaround point, the high meadow, with a fireworks display of daisies.

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Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Hammond Hill Walk IV

“We Had A Great Ski — Tob”

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New since I was last here, this bench, made from local “blue” limestone dedicated to the memory of cross country skiing.

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Here are sounds you may experience while sitting here on a summer afternoon.

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Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills