Zooming – October 2017

Using the zoom on my camera keeps be out of the tall grass (and away from the ticks and other biting insects). I spotted shelf fungus growing on stumps and trunks of trees cut down along the road to Belmont Manor and Historic Park on my way to an event…and stopped on my way out in one of the nearby pull off areas. The largest ones were growing on a large trunk facing the road but there were more in the space where a log was cut. Some of the pieces were removed but others were left to rot in place.

Another example of staying out of the tall grass, but getting the picture I wanted – milkweed seeds bursting from their pods at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area

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And some other fluffy seeds on a plant growing on the slope of our neighborhood’s storm water retention pond.

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The zoom is almost always used for bird photography….but even with the zoom they still sometimes notice me and fly away. This house finch was busy getting breakfast from the feeder.

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Sometimes zooming enables a better composition. The tree was mostly green but zooming – just a little – made the oranges and reds a more pronounced part of the picture.

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This is a ‘get close’ picture rather than a zoomed picture…of the edge of a rotting stump. I liked the curves and the colors.