I am back from Japan, and don’t know what time zone I am in. I’ve been wandering around the yard to see what is new. There were a few, but not many wildflowers (and weeds). The remaining Rhododendron was fully in bloom. Much of the rhododendron shrub fell down last winter, so I glad to see these blooms. If I am lucky, I will see some clearwing butterfly moths like last year. I was glad to see significant growth of plants on the Garden Towers. It looks like the electric fence charger kept the raccoon away while I was away.
Moths Mating. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 60 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Brick Sidewalk Progress. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 60 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Walkabout with a Leica T camera and 18-56 mm zoom lens. Rhododendron flowers, wildflower daisies flowers, and poppies buds about to open. My most hated weed — the “Mile-a-Minute” vine. The vine is not native, and was probably brought in by the deer. It gets its name from how fast it grows. In the last few years it has killed and destroyed many of my trees. I am trying to find wildflowers that grow faster and will keep the vine from further expansion. Also, some insect appears to be nibbling on the leaves of the vine — just not fast enough.
My most hated weed — the “Mile a Minute” vine. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 18-56 mm lens (ISO 100, 21 mm, f/5, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.
Rhododendron blooms after a rainstorm. Composite of 17 stacked images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 60 mm f/2.4 macro lens. Images processed using Capture One Pro 7 and Helicon Focus.
Rhododendron Blooms. Composite of 17 stacked images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 60 mm f/2.4 macro lens. Images processed using Capture One Pro 7 and Helicon Focus. (David J Mathre)
After several days of cold, cloudy skies, and rain things cleared up for a bit. The clouds turned pink at dawn (only for an instant). Later on I saw a robin hunting in my backyard. It found a caterpillar for breakfast. One less butterfly this year… (check out a similar image from three years ago 03-May-2014). I took a cluster of rhododendron flowers inside to practice focus stacking. It was too difficult outside with the wind moving the flowers. I used a 9-cm focus rack. For the first two, the images were taken after adjusting the camera in 0.5 cm increments. For the third one, the camera was adjusted 6 cm in 1 mm increments. The images were processed using Helicon Focus (ver. 5.3) software. Let me know if you like method A (weighted average), B (depth map), or C (pyramid) for processing the images
Pink clouds at dawn from my back door. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 11-23 mm lens (ISO 100, 11 mm, f/3.5, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)Robin with a caterpillar. One less butterfly this year. Image taken with a Nikon N1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.
