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Posts Tagged ‘Alexandria VA’

A different kind of spider

Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, family Tetragnathidae, Huntley Meadows Park, Long-jawed Orb Weaver, Long-jawed Orb Weaver spider, long-jawed spider, spider, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 17, 2014| 10 Comments »

When you think of a spider, what kind of body do you imagine? I realize that most people don’t even want to think about spiders—they find them to be creepy and frightening. For some of us, though, spiders are beautiful creatures with some amazing features.

Still, I don’t usually think of a spider as having a long, thin body, and most don’t. Last week I encountered one that had such a body, which I think is a kind of long-jawed spider from the Tetragnathidae family. In addition to the elongated bodies, these spiders have legs of varying lengths, with the front pair appearing to be really long.

Spiders apparently come in all sizes and shapes. Who knows what new ones I’ll see in the coming months?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mama duck redux

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, ducklings, Hooded Merganser, Hooded Merganser ducks, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, Mama duck on May 16, 2014| 8 Comments »

Several weeks after I first spotted a family of Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus) at my local marsh, I continue run into this single mother and her adorable ducklings. (Click here to see the original posting.)

The ducks seem to hang out a lot in one flooded, shady area of the marsh that is relatively shallow and doesn’t seem to have the snapping turtles that plagued similar families last year. The light is limited and the ducks start moving as soon as they sense my presence, so getting photos has been a challenge. Here’s a selection of some of my favorite shots to date of this cute little family.

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Mama duck gives a reminder to the ducklings to stay together and follow her.

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Trying to move out, but some of the ducklings want to look back toward me.

Mama duck takes up a rear position to ensure there are no stragglers.

Mama duck takes up a rear position to ensure there are no stragglers.

Grainy close-up shot that shows some of the personality of the ducklings.

Grainy close-up shot that shows some of the personality of the ducklings.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cartoon blackbird

Posted in Art, Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, blackbird, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird on May 14, 2014| 10 Comments »

Although I wake up to the sound of birds loudly chirping at this time of the year, it is getting increasingly difficult to see most of them as the trees regain their thick covering of leaves. The male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a notable exception, because he does not hide behind the foliage. Instead, he seems to choose the highest point in the open from which to boldly make his loud calls—there is not timidity or shyness in this bird.

The blackbird puts so much energy into his “singing” that at times his perch becomes precarious. I captured this blackbird in one such moment, when his position seems so awkward and distorted that looks like a cartoon to me.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Immature dragonflies

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Whitetail, Common Whitetail dragonfly, dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, immature, immature male dragonfly, Plathemis lydia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 13, 2014| 14 Comments »

As we move deeper into spring, dragonfly nymphs are emerging from the water and starting their transformed lives as acrobatic flyers. This past weekend I spotted some young male Common Whitetail dragonflies (Plathemis lydia) in different stages of development.

Not surprisingly, adult male Common Whitetail dragonflies have white tails—it seems like most species are named after the characteristics of the male. Check out one of my postings from last year to see what a mature adult male looks like. When they first emerge, however, the males have the same body colors and patterns as the females. Fortunately, it’s easy to tell them apart, because the wing patterns are different in the male and female whitetails. (For more information about these dragonflies, take a look at the pages at bugguide.net.)

The dragonfly in the first shot is well on his way to becoming an adult and was bold enough to be flying over the water. The one in the second shot is younger, and seemed to content to remain in the vegetation at a distance from the open water.

A "tween" male--the abdomen is beginning to turn blue, but the adolescent body pattern still shows

A “tween” male–the abdomen is beginning to turn blue, but the adolescent body pattern still shows

An immature male, with the body pattern of a female and the wing pattern of an adult male

An immature male, with the body pattern of a female and the wing pattern of an adult male

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Luck and skill

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, flower, Huntley Meadows Park, luck, skill, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 12, 2014| 18 Comments »

I was on my hands and knees last Friday, trying to get a shot of a small wildflower growing on the forest floor, when a bee landed on the very flower on which I was focusing. What are the odds of that happening at the moment when my eye was glued to the viewfinder and I was focusing manually?

The flower was only about four inches (10 cm) tall, which gives you an idea of the low angle from which I was shooting. After a second or two on the first flower (shown in the second shot), the bee moved to an adjacent flower, and I took the image I presented first. It’s interesting to note the narrowness of the depth of field—in the first shot below, I managed to focus on the bee’s head, whereas in the second shot, the focus point was more on the center of its body. I like each of the images for somewhat different reasons, but I am still shocked that I managed to get them.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than skilled.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Damselfly eyes

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, damselfly, damselfly eyes, eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, odonata, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 11, 2014| 8 Comments »

This is the last image in my mini-series on insect eyes from this past Friday—a close-up of a beautiful little damselfly at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland where I take many of my nature photographs.

Photographing damselflies is particularly challenging for me, because they are so long and skinny (not to mention the fact that they are really small in size). About the only way to get their bodies completely in focus is to be absolutely perpendicular to them. When I took this image, I couldn’t get into the optimal position, thanks to a sharp, thorny bush, so the lower half of the body was out of focus. That is one of the reasons why I chose to crop this image as I did, though the main reason was to focus viewers’ attention on the eyes.

This image shows the wide separation of the damselfly’s eyes, which is one of the ways to tell them apart from dragonflies, the other members of the Odonata family. Dragonflies have eyes that are very close together or even touching each other.

If you missed the earlier postings on insect eyes, check out the images of a fly’s eyes and a dragonfly’s eyes. In all three cases, click on the images, if you want to get a higher resolution view of the insects’ beautiful eyes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Dragonfly eyes

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Whitetail, Common Whitetail dragonfly, dragonfly, dragonfly eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, Plathemis lydia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 10, 2014| 11 Comments »

Yesterday, I seemed to be particularly fascinated by insect eyes and did a posting on a fly, whose compound eyes were pretty amazing. However, dragonflies have the largest compound eyes of any insect and I was thrilled to be able to capture this face-to-face shot of a Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia), peering right at me over the edge of a leaf.

A dragonfly’s eyes can have as many as 30,000 facets, known as ommatidia, that contain light-sensitive proteins, according to an article in ScienceBlogs. Although, humans also have these kind of proteins, called opsins, we have only three (red, green, and blue), whereas a dragonfly has four or five, giving it the capability to see colors beyond human visual capabilities. A dragonfly’s eyes also wrap around its head, giving it an incredible field of view. For more information and a more scientific explanation, check out a posting entitled “Super-predators” that Sue did last June in her Backyard Biology blog.

I took this shot in a wooded grassy area adjacent to a pond. It seems that the Common Whitetail dragonflies are hanging out there early in the season and not too many of them are patrolling over the water, as I commonly saw them do last summer. The fact that the dragonfly was not perched on a branch coming out of the water proved to and advantage as I was able to approach pretty closely to it in order to take this shot.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Six-spotted Tiger Beetle

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, beetle, Canon 50D, Cicindela sexguttata, Huntley Meadows Park, metallic green, Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Tiger Beetle on May 10, 2014| 12 Comments »

Some insects blend in so perfectly with their environments that they are difficult to spot. That is clearly not the case with this Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) that I spotted yesterday at my local marsh.

The beetle’s metallic green body glistened in the sun and made it stand out against the bark of the fallen tree on which it was perched. It flew away several times when I got close to it, but kept returning, eventually remaining in place long enough for me to get this shot. Click on the image to get a higher resolution view of the beetle, including its textured body and multi-segment antennae.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Fly eyes

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, close-up, fly, fly eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 9, 2014| 16 Comments »

After a week in an urban setting with only a point-and-shoot, I couldn’t wait to get back to my marsh with my trusty Canon 50D in my hands. I kept my macro lens on my camera for most of the time, because the insects seemed much more active than they were only a week ago. Even flies seemed to be good subjects. I photographed this fly hand-held at really close range, which gave me a very narrow depth of field.

The first image is cropped, in order to give you a good look at the fly’s eyes—the second photo is the same image with a much less severe crop.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Blue Corporal dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue Corporal, Blue Corporal dragonfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, dragonfly, ephemeral spring dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Ladona deplanata on May 4, 2014| 6 Comments »

Some of the common species of dragonflies are around throughout much of the summer. Other dragonflies, sometimes referred to as “spring ephemeral” dragonflies, are around for only brief periods of time in the early spring, like this male Blue Corporal dragonfly (Ladona deplanata) that I spotted last week on the boardwalk at my local marsh.

I had never seen this species before, but fortunately my fellow blogger and local dragonfly expert, Walter Sanford, was able to assist me with the identification. Check out his blog to see some awesome shots of dragonflies and other nature subjects.

I would love to be able to photograph this species the next time in a more natural environment, but I am pretty excited any time I have the chance to get a recognizable photo of a new species.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Early May damselfly

Posted in Dragonflies, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, blue damselfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, damselfly, damselfly in May, Eastern Forktail, Eastern Forktail damselfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Ischnura verticalis on May 3, 2014| 8 Comments »

Most folks are familiar with dragonflies, but damselflies, the smaller members of the Odonata family, are equally impressive. I spotted this little beauty yesterday in the pond debris at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland area where I take many of my nature photographs.

I don’t know damselfly behavior very well, but noted that the very end of the damselfly’s tail is in different positions in this series of photos. In the first image, the tip is curved upward and then gradually returns to a more straight position in the final shot. Sometimes movements like this indicate that the damselfly could be laying eggs, but I haven’t been able to determine yet the gender or species of the damselfly. There seem to be a lot of different species of damselflies that are blue. (If I had to guess, I’d say that it looks like a female Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis), because of the color, the forked end of the tail, and the two-tone eyes).

Although this looks like a macro shot (and the subject was really small), this is another case in which I was able to use my telephoto zoom lens to get macro-like results. Click on any of the photos to get a higher-resolution view of the damselfly and you may be surprised to see how many of the details the telephoto lens was able to capture.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Red-eared Slider

Posted in Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, red-eared slider, red-eared slider turtle, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Tracem, Trachemys scripta elegans), turtle on May 2, 2014| 8 Comments »

All of nature seems to be speeding up as we move deeper into spring. Even the turtles seem to be moving faster, like this Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) that I spotted recently at a county-run historical garden.

Initially the turtle was swimming around in a small pond (as shown in the second shot). I was pleased that I was able to capture a shot of the turtle as it was emerged from the water onto the shore.

I had my 180mm macro lens on my camera when I caught sight of the turtle and I was reminded of the need to zoom with my feet when using a lens with a fixed focal length. In my zeal to get a bit closer to the turtle, I narrowly avoided sliding down the bank into the water.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Beauty remains

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, beauty, Canon 50D, faded glory, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens, tulip on May 2, 2014| 1 Comment »

Do you pass by flowers that are past their prime? Their beauty is still visible in the fragments of their former glory.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Bald eagle takeoff

Posted in Birds, Inspiration, Nature, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, takeoff on May 1, 2014| 4 Comments »

Some subjects are so awe-inspiring that I get excited just seeing them, even if they are too far away for a good photo—like this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that I saw Monday at my local marsh. The eagle seemed to sense my presence and took off before I could get closer, but I managed to capture an image of its final preparations for takeoff from the branch.

When I am walking through the woods at this time of the year, I have to keep my eyes in constant motion. Leaves are still sparse enough on the trees that I am still able to spot some birds in the trees. However, insects are starting to appear too, so I have to scan the leaves and branches on the ground for these little creatures.

On early Monday morning, as I looked through a break in the trees, I caught sight of a large bird in the distance, sitting on the end of a branch. I immediately stopped, having learned from experience that even a single step forward would be likely to spook the bird. The light was not great, but the shape suggested to me that it was probably a bald eagle.

The eagle looked around for a few seconds and then took off. At that moment, I was absolutely certain that it was a bald eagle. I was not so certain that I had captured any useable images, but I was content just to have experienced the sight of that majestic bird in flight.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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My reflection in a snake’s eye

Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Coluber constrictor constrictor, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Black Racer snake, reflection, snake, snake's eye, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 30, 2014| 24 Comments »

What’s your first reaction when you see a snake? I was walking through the woods at my local marsh this past weekend when I spotted a snake curled up on the leaves. My first reaction was to move closer to get a shot of the snake.

The area was relatively open, but there were lots of leaves and sticks on the forest floor, so it was not really possible to get an unobstructed shot of the snake. I took a shot anyways, fearing the snake would leave, and include it as a second image here so you can see how the snake was positioned. I noticed that the snake’s head was in an uncluttered area and a clear shot seemed possible. I changed lenses from my telephoto zoom to my macro lens, set up my tripod as low as it would go, and moved really close, until the snake’s head almost filled the frame of my viewfinder. I took some shots in natural light and some with my popup flash. The snake seemed unbothered by my actions until I inadvertently moved a small branch when adjusting my position on ground and he slithered away.

When I looked at the images on my computer, I was struck by the degree to which my reflection is visible in the snake’s eye. If you click on the first photo, you’ll get a higher resolution view that shows me taking the shot (with flash this time).

I am not sure what kind of snake this is, but it looks a bit like a Northern Black Racer snake (Coluber constrictor constrictor) as described on the webpage of the Virginia Herpetological Society. I’d welcome a confirmation or correction of my identification from anyone with more experience with snakes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Barn Swallows are back

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Barn Swallow, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Hirundo rustica, Huntley Meadows Park, swallow on April 28, 2014| 10 Comments »

Tree Swallows have been flying about for several weeks, but it was only this weekend that I finally observed one of their multi-colored brethren, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica). Last year, the Barn Swallows built a nest underneath a raised observation platform of the boardwalk at my local marsh, and it looks like they are doing the same thing this year.

I was able to photograph this swallow as it perched on a small branch coming out of the water directly opposite the platform. The sky was mostly overcast during the day, which caused the reflections in the water to look mostly white. As I made a few adjustments to the image, the background essentially disappeared, resulting in a photo that looks almost like it was shot in a studio.

I really like the swallow’s serious pose and the fact that I was able to capture its signature swallow tail. It won’t be long before I see swallowtails on some of my favorite butterflies.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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First damselfly of the spring

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, damselfly, Fragile Forktail, Huntley Meadows Park, Ischnura posita, spring on April 27, 2014| 12 Comments »

Damselflies are beautiful, delicate insects that are often hard to see and photograph. I captured this image of my first damselfly of the year at Huntley Meadows Park this past Friday. I am not very good at identifying these tiny insects, but think this might be a Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita).

I was standing my the edge of my favorite beaver pond when I saw the damselfly in flight. I followed it with my eyes and was delighted when it landed on a nearby stalk of grass. I didn’t have a lot of maneuver, because much of the area at the pond’s edge is covered with thorny bushes, and I had to pull back a bit to get within the minimum focusing distance of my 70-300mm telephoto lens , i.e. 4.9 feet (1.5 meters). At that range, the dragonfly filled a reasonable amount of the frame.

Lighting was a bit of a challenge and I tried a couple of different settings as the damselfly lifted its tail from time to time. Eventually, it climbed to the end of the stalk and I changed position too and tried a couple of shots (including the final shot) using my pop-up flash.

Most of the time the first shot below is my favorite, but sometimes I like the others as well or more. In any case, I am happy that I was able to get some good shots of my first damselfly of the spring.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Mama duck

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, ducklings, Hooded Merganser, Hooded Merganser duck, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, Mama duck, single mother duck on April 26, 2014| 6 Comments »

Female Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus) raise their ducklings as single Moms, which must be pretty tough when you have so many offspring to look after. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the male Hooded Merganser duck abandons his mate once she begins incubating eggs and it’s not known if they reunite the following season.

Last year, when the level of water at my local marsh was pretty low and there seemed to be lots of snapping turtles, most of the ducklings did not survive. After a lot of construction at the marsh, water levels are higher and I am hoping that things will be a little easier on the duck families.

I don’t know how old these ducklings are, but they appear to be tiny—even adult Hooded Mergansers are pretty small. A family of Hooded Mergansers was spotted earlier this week and I suspect that this is the same one, so they may be a week or so old.

I was not able to get very close to the ducks and the conscientious Mama duck started swimming away as soon as she sensed my presence early yesterday morning. You can see details in the first two shots, which are cropped a fair amount, but I included a final shot, which shows more of the setting, because I love the beautiful ripples in the water.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Helicopter trees

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, helicopter trees, maple, non-blossoming trees, Runnymeade, trees on April 22, 2014| 7 Comments »

Blossoming trees get a lot of attention this time of year, but as I looked upward at the trees in my neighborhood, I was struck by the beauty of the seeds of what I believe are maple trees. When I was a child in New England, I loved to watch these seed spinning through the air like little helicopters as they fell from the maple trees.

According to Wikipedia, the US Army actually developed a special air drop supply carrier during World War II that could carry up to 65 pounds of supplies and was based on the maple seed.

It was fun trying to come up with different ways to highlight the beauty of these seeds by moving closer or farther away and by varying the background.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Parakeet still in the wild

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, blue parakeet, Budgerigar, budgie, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Melopsittacus undulatus, parakeet, parakeet in the wild, Runnymeade on April 22, 2014| 5 Comments »

Yesterday afternoon, I again observed a blue parakeet (which is also known as a budgerigar) in the trees in my suburban townhouse neighborhood, two weeks after I first spotted it in the “wild.”

Since that first spotting, we’ve had some heavy rain and the temperature has dipped down to the freezing level. Somehow, though, the parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus) has managed to find shelter and food and avoid predators. The parakeet seems to stay in the same general location, not far from several bird feeders on the back decks of nearby houses.

The general consensus seems to be that this is an escaped pet. I worry about its long-term survival, but so far it appears to be adapting pretty well to the outdoor environment.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Happy Easter

Posted in Art, Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, American Goldfinch, Canon 50D, canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom, Easter, Runnymeade, Spinus tristis on April 20, 2014| 5 Comments »

This brightly colored American goldfinch (Spinus tristis) reminds me of the marshmallow Peeps that I grew up with and the brightly colored spring outfits that people would wear to church to celebrate Easter (including some pretty outrageous hats). Best wishes to all for a Happy Easter, no matter how you choose to celebrate it.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Blossoming trees

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, blossoming trees, blossoms, Bradford Pear, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Runnymeade on April 19, 2014| 15 Comments »

Although I live in the Washington D.C. area, I didn’t feel like fighting the crowds to get images of the iconic cherry blossoms. However, the blossoming trees in my neighborhood were pretty spectacular too, albeit on a smaller scale.

I think the first two images are Bradford pear trees, the third is a forsythia bush, and I am not sure what kind of tree the final one is. The shapes and colors and lighting make each of these shots quite different, but I think my favorite is the first one, which reminds me of a Japanese painting.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Blooming tulips

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, broken tulip, Canon 50D, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens, tulip "Lady Jane", Tulipa clusiana var. 'Lady Jane', tulips on April 18, 2014| 1 Comment »

After seeing three of my recent postings that featured unopened tulips, some readers might come to the erroneous conclusion that I don’t like the colorful flowers of blooming tulips. How could that be possible? Everyone seems to like the cheery colors of tulips.

My neighbor, and fellow photographer and blogger Cindy Dyer, has planted quite a variety of tulips in her garden and I recently took some photos of two very different species. The first is a small, delicate tulip know as the “Lady Jane” (Tulipa clusiana var. ‘Lady Jane’). I am not sure that I have every seen a more petite tulip and I really like its subtle colors.

The second tulip is big and bold and multi-colored, almost a visual equivalent of shouting. This style of tulip is known as a “broken” tulip, because of the way that the colors are broken, resulting in intricate bars, stripes, streaks, featherings, or flame-like effects of different colors on the petals. According to Wikipedia, this effect was originally produced by a tulip-breaking virus, and bulbs with this effect went for exorbitant prices in 17th century Netherlands, during a period known as “tulip mania.” Today, tulips displaying a “broken” effect are stable variants and the result of breeding, not viral infection.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Just past full moon

Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, full moon, moon, Runnymeade on April 17, 2014| 6 Comments »

The moon was shining brightly in my neighborhood this morning at 6:00, just a few days after the full moon.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Grapes of spring

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Grape hyacinth, hyacinth, Muscari, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 17, 2014| 3 Comments »

Like tiny bunches of grapes, growing out of the ground on a stalk, grape hyacinths are one of my favorite spring flowers. I moved in really close with my macro lens in the first shot to emphasize the beautiful details and the rich dominant bluish-purple color of the plant and moved back a bit for the other two shots to highlight the varied shapes and colors of the individual “grapes.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Anticipation III

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, anticipation, Canon 50D, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens, tulip, unopened tulip on April 16, 2014| 7 Comments »

This final image of my mini-series on unopened tulips is my favorite—I love the simple composition, the almost monochromatic palette (with the slightest touch of pink at the tip), and the sensual curves of the leaves.

It was almost six o’clock in the evening when I took this shot and the light was still pretty strong, but was starting to fade. I knew that I wanted to shoot some close-up shots of flowers, so I was using my 180mm macro lens. I probably should have been using my tripod for increased steadiness, especially because the lens does not have image stabilization (VR for Nikon folks), but I hadn’t brought a tripod with me.

As is often the case with my macro lens, I ended up focusing manually, trying to get as much of the tulip in focus as I could as I carefully composed the shot. The settings for this shot, for those who might be interested in such technical details, were ISO 400, f/8, and 1/50 second. The shutter speed is a bit slow, I’ll admit, but I was able to brace myself pretty well and I was trying to avoid increasing the ISO and introducing more noise.

If you haven’t seen the other images in this mini-series, Anticipation I and Anticipation II, be sure to check them out. Is there one that you like more than the others?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Anticipation II

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, anticipation, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Runnymeade, spring flowers, tulip, yellow tulip on April 15, 2014| 5 Comments »

With the cold, gray days of winter receding in my memory and the world exploding with color, I’ve taken a brief break from focusing primarily on wildlife photography and have turned my attention to capturing the beauty of flowers and blossoms.

I’ve never quite figured out how to photograph broad expanses of color, so I tend to focus more on the details of a single flower and try to isolate it from the background. (One of my favorite bloggers, Camilla, of Calee Photography did an amazing job in capturing the beauty of tulip fields by photographing them from a small airplane. Check out her posting.)

In this case, my eyes were drawn to the not-yet-open tulip, where the color of the flower was beginning to be revealed. The composition is simple and graphic and a little abstract.

I can already sense the beauty that is to come—the anticipation makes it even more sweet.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Anticipation I

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, anticipation, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Runnymeade, spring, tulip on April 15, 2014| 6 Comments »

Anticipation, waiting for the moment when a tulip will burst open. For now, all we can see is a little tongue of color, a foretaste of the beauty that is to come.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Flowering tree

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, flowering tree, magnolia, Runnymeade, tulip tree on April 14, 2014| 3 Comments »

The flowering trees in my neighborhood are spectacular right now. Here’s a couple of shots of the flowers of one of them, which I think is some kind of magnolia or tulip tree.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Simple purple flower

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, flower, garden, purple flower, Runnymeade on April 13, 2014| 1 Comment »

I am always happy to visit the garden of one of my neighbors, Cindy Dyer, a fellow photographer and blogger, at this time of the year, because there is always something new in bloom. Yesterday’s treat was this simple little purple flower. I have no idea what it is, but I love its shape and colors.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Flying dragonfly

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Anax junius, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Common Green Darner, dragonfly, dragonfly in flight, green darner, Huntley Meadows Park on April 13, 2014| 9 Comments »

Spring is here and I am once again chasing dragonflies, on a quest to capture images of these beautiful insects. Common Green Darners (Anax junius) rarely seem to perch, so I was forced to try to photograph them in flight.

This early in the spring, there aren’t yet a lot of dragonflies, so my patience was tested as I waited for one to fly by. I tried a lot of different approaches and the one that worked best on this day was to focus manually, which is a bit of a challenge at 300mm when the subject is moving pretty fast.

I hope I’ll get some better shots later this season—this is my best one so far.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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