Close to home

A lot of times people think they need to go to faraway locations to get good nature photographs. Yeah it is fun to go someplace new, but you don't need to in order to find nature to photograph. Shooting close to home has several advantages. If you are familiar with your home turf you know where to go when the conditions are just right, you don't have to spend time scouting. You also know what there is to photograph when...what flowers are blooming, what wildlife you are likely to find, etc. A couple of places close to home to get started...local parks and your backyard. Both of these locations can provide great photo ops. Give yourself an assignment, photograph one park throughout the year and your backyard. I think you will be surprised at what you come up with. I've got 2 sets of photos included with this post, the first taken in my backyard earlier this summer and the second shot at Marlatt Park, one of my favorite spots and only about 10 min from my house.

Enjoy!

Finally Frogs

Finally, we have frogs! When we moved into our current house 3 years ago, we put in a pond and stream and were sure that frogs would move in right away. Well we seemed to have done something to offend the frogs because none moved in the first summer or second summer. But finally this year 3 frogs have decided to call our pond home! Of course how could I pass up this photographic opportunity... Click here to see our frogs.

First light with new IR camera

I recently sent off a Digital Rebel to Lifepixel.com to be modified for infrared (IR) only photography and I've been anxiously awaiting its return....it finally arrived this past Friday! I took it out in the backyard for my first test shots with it. You can view them here.

I'm hooked!! I love the look of IR photos. If you are curious, you can learn more about IR photography at the Lifepixel website or at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_photography. IR photography is not the same thing as thermal imaging, which many people confuse it with. IR photography is simply recording IR light as opposed to visible light, not heat as is done with thermal imaging. A great subject for IR photography is any green plant. The chlorophyll in plants strongly reflects IR light. Kansas is an IR shooters paradise in the spring and summer, we have lots of green and lots of sunshine!

Peace.

Backyard photo ops

You never know where you will find something to photograph. These photos were all taken in my back yard.

Enjoy!