Day 3 of Black and White Challenge: Redberry Elder

Redberry Elder

This is Day 3 of my 5 Day Black and White Challenge that I accepted from my friend, and fellow photographer, Rosemary Morrison, of Rosemary Kaye Photo, who's work I admire. I am supposed to post 1 b&w image for five days, as well as challenge a fellow photographer each day that inspires me.

I am challenging my grandson, Michael Gineo, Jr,  who is in the U.S. Army, stationed in South Korea, who's work I feel is outstanding. He has grown (photographically) so much in the last 2 years. I would like to see what he can come up with.

This shot was taken today at Abercrombie Park in St Petersburg, FL. I'm not positive of the name of the red berries. We have so many different types of red berries in the wild here that are so similar. I have a hard time identifying them. If anyone reading this post knows what they are for sure, I'd like an ID, if you can.

Red Staircase

Red Staircase

This photo was taken in Rockport, MA in the Bearneck Skin area. I like the red staircase and the dappled light against the rough cedar shake shingles.

In the background, you can see part of the Rockport Inner Harbor.

Click on the photo to get a better look.

Dahlia

Dahlia

This was taken at my son and daughter-in-law's house in their back garden. They have many different gardens on their property, each with its own theme. Visiting them and walking around the yard is like walking around botanical gardens. This one was one of my favorites.

There are 42 species of Dahlias, along with many hybrids. This particular species is called, Dahlia (Dahlia rosea) because of its red color. Some are round, some flat, they come in different sizes, shapes and colors. They are native to Mexico and have been used as a source of food. Their hollow stems were used to make water pipes, and they've been used as medicine, specifically to treat Epilepsy.

I especially like this particular variety because of its pom-pom shape.

Indian Blanket Flower

While playing around with my macro lens at Veterans' Memorial Garden at the Safety Harbor Marina a couple weeks ago, I came across this beautiful Indian Blanket Flower and couldn't resist a closeup of the stamen. (Click on the photo to see better detail.)

This flower is also known as Blanket Flower or it's proper name is Gaillardia. The scientific name is Gaillardia aristata. It is in the Compositae family and named after Gaillard de Marentonneau, a French magistrate and patron of botany.

Gaillardia is a herbaceous perennial that comes in many varieties; but this one is my favorite. I love the colors and the fact that they can be found most anywhere in Florida. I've even seen them growing wild on the side of the road. They are one of my favorite flowers and they're right up there with Day Lilies.

Crab-like Spiny Orb Weaver

This Crab-like Spiny Orb Weaver is one of my favorite spiders to photograph. I like their smiley faces on their backs and their colors.

These spiders are fairly common in this part of Florida. I can see them on most any days in my backyard; which is where I spotted this one. They're pretty small, only about 3/8" in diameter, but their webs are distinct, so they're easy to spot. They can be found in woodland edges and shrubby gardens and their favorite food is small insects.

Settings used for making this image are as follows: ISO 400, partial metering off the spider in aperture priority mode; 1/250 at F10 for greater depth of field and +1 2/3 exposure compensation because he was backlit against the sky and I wanted to retain detail in his head. I used fill flash at -2 exposure compensation to keep the whites from blowing out and I used my Tamron F2.8 90mm macro lens. This was shot hand held; but I recommend using a tripod whenever shooting macro shots. In this case, this spider was quite a bit over my head, so a tripod wasn't practical.

Yaupon Holly

I thought by now you're all getting sick of my birds, so I'd post something a little more in season.

This is Yaupon Holly. Although the leaves don't have the traditional points that you'd expect to see, it is definitely in the Holly family. It's also one of the more seasonal-looking plants that one would find in nature. I found this during my meetup at Lake Seminole last Sunday. The bush was pretty full, so I got under the branch and shot up at the sky. This way, it eliminated the busy background, and it helped to make the plant stand out more. Yaupon Holly can be found in Florida growing in upland woods, streamsides, pondsides, dunes and pine flatwoods.

Settings used for this shot were, Aperture priority, with partial metering on the plant, ISO 400, 1/80th @ F5.6, -1/3 exposure compensation. I chose ISO 400 because it was very cloudy and their wasn't much light as you can tell by the settings used. The -1/3 exposure compensation was to keep the sky from blowing out.

This is another shot with a loss due to jpg compression for the site. This is much brighter not compressed.

The Vinoy Tower

I shot this image during the same meetup as the last photo I posted. Rather than showing the entire photo of The Renaissance Vinoy Hotel, I chose to show only the tower. People who have visited the area know this tower well, so there is no doubt where it was taken.

The beautiful cascading Bougainvilleas on the arbor was what initially attracted me to this site. It's the only place to find "Fall" color in this part of the country. I didn't want the scene to look tropical, but rather like the season. Hopefully, I've managed what I have envisioned. Fall in New England has always been my favorite time of year. From the photos my son sent me from CT the color this year was spectacular. It must be all the rain we've had all summer long.

This was made at around 10:00 am and the sun was pretty strong. I had to be careful of extreme contrasts while not blowing out the whites. I chose F11 to get plenty of Depth of Field (DOF) at 1/320th second because even though my lens is Image Stabilized (IS), I wanted to be sure there was no evident camera shake. I used Aperture Priority mode with pattern metering at ISO 200 and a 55mm focal length with my favorite walk-around lens, a Canon 55-250mm IS lens.

Mr and Mrs Chicken

While at my Newbie Workshop Meetup last night, we always end our lessons with a little shoot to practice the skills I've just taught.

To my surprise, at Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa, Florida, these two chickens were wandering around the park. I couldn't believe my eyes. I don't know what kind of chickens they are but these two look like show chickens, judging by their coloring and grooming. Either they "flew the coop" or someone got tired of listening to this rooster and let them go in the park.

They were fairly tame because they didn't mind us getting close to them to photograph them. The just seemed to go about their business, completely ignoring us.

I'm in various nature parks throughout the Tampa Bay area at least once a week, if not more with my friends. While I'm always looking for something different to photograph, never in a million years did I ever expect to find chickens in a nature park. What a surprise!

Unknown Bird Species

My grandson and I went to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, FL today. One of the first places we visited was the Free Flight Aviary where I spotted this bird.

Usually I take a photo of the signs so I know what kind of bird or animal I'm photographing. Today I didn't bother because Lowry Zoo always had each bird and animal identified on their website. Wouldn't you know, they've changed their website and no longer have photos and names. What a shame! I'd love to know what kind of bird this is.

He's sitting on top of his nest box about to go in. It looks like he might have some feed in his mouth for either the nesting female or maybe even chicks. There are a lot of new chicks at the zoo in the aviary. I refer to this bird as a he since he's so brilliantly colored and most of the time the most colorful is the male.

I made this image using fill flash at -1 stop. It was a little bright so I toned it down in Lightroom. The next time I think I'll use - 1 1/2 stops. I used Aperture Priority at + 1/3 stops at F 6.3 to ensure I'd have enough detail in the bird while blurring out the background and 1/250 shutter speed to stop any action on the bird's part. I used my 55-250mm lens at 250mm.