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WooHoo!!! I mentioned it at the end of my last post, but I just found out that blogger now has extra-large photos! I had to increase the width of my posting area (thanks to what I learned this weekend about customizing blogger), but I can now post XL photos... expecially wonderful for some of the nature photos. Yeah!

Armyworm

We're at my mom's this weekend and the neighborhood kids found this incredibly beautiful caterpillar. It was getting dark and I didn't have enough light to get a good photo. So, my brother helped out by taking these GORGEOUS photos! Hopefully, you can enlarge it - he is so colorful and my brother took a great photo! We all decided he looks like a Navajo blanket.

I went online to identify the caterpillar and found out it is a forest tent caterpillar. OK... tent caterpillars are one of the few insects that kind of gross me out. Could this really be a tent caterpillar??? Actually, he behaves a little different than most tent caterpillars and doesn't make a large tent, though he can still be quite destructive. (And, my mom wasn't happy to hear we'd put this caterpillar on her tree!) They are also called "armyworms" because sometimes, after they have completely defoliated a tree (yikes!), they will "march" single file looking for a suitable site.

Thankfully, we only found one and hopefully he doesn't have a lot of brothers & sisters around!

Camera Tip for Using Macro (Moss)

I love using macro on my camera. Sometimes, the photos I capture startle me! Sometimes, I think it looks like I've used a microscope, not a camera.

While we were in Oklahoma last week, we took a drive out in the country and went on a nature walk. Our main "sightings" were mosses and lichens. I took the above photo of some moss spore capsules using the macro function on my camera. These stalks were about 3/4 of an inch tall. I just love how the "heads" look like goose heads!

The above moss also looked more beautiful using my camera than using my eye. It looks like a bunch of little stars! But, here are my 2 camera tips for using macro:

1. Turn off the flash.
2. DON'T ZOOM IN - Just get closer! I mean REALLY close! You might want to even get within an inch or so. The "don't zoom in" was something I learned by trial and error. Try it out for yourself and let me know what happens!

Photography

I LOVE photography. (Have you noticed?) And, Alexandra has definitely gotten bitten by the photo-bug, too. She took several hundred pictures this week. (And, I'm planning on having her blog her own photos soon!) But, my husband was actually the first photographer in our family. He even took a class in college and he has his photos from the class - they're great! He took over the camera for a few minutes this week and captured some GREAT shots. (And, all of my photos are unedited as I don't have any software on this computer. I plan on fixing that soon!)



Here's our little chihuahua who turned 3 on the day my nephew was born. She always has yellow eyes when I photographer her. I just love this photo!


And, he took this great shot of his grandfather who was out on the deck watching for hummingbirds.

And, here's my shot of one of the hummingbirds! It needs cropped, so you might just enlarge it for now. We LOVED watching the hummingbirds. And, I picked up some books about them today to do a little study. I want some hummingbird feeders now, too!

And, a photo of my precious daughter's hands holding her little cousin. My sister-in-law has an incredible photo "spot" right by a window - the lighting is incredible! And, isn't he a precious little boy???

Cicada

While we were sitting in the living room tonight, my husband and I kept hearing something hitting our back door. I went out to take a look and found this cicada. You've got to enlarge this photo to appreciate the beauty of this cicada!

I've photographed a few of these during the past month or so, but they usually end up buzzing and flying straight at me - to the point of running into me! (And, yes, I scream!) I think that must be a defense strategy. Anyway, this one just sat there and let me take a bunch of photos.

I'm amazed at his beautiful coloring and am very curious about the 2 white spots on either side of his back. I wonder what they're for??? (Anyone know?) Also, on this second photo, you can see 3 small "eyes" - 2 white and 1 red. I read tonight that these are called the lateral ocellus (lateral meaning side) and medial ocellus (medial meaning center or middle). (I found information about the cicada's anatomy at this site.)

spinning webs & catching worms

I've tried to upload a photo I recorded last week, but so far haven't had any luck. So, I thought I better go ahead and post what I do have, even though the video was much better than the photo !

On Thursday morning, within about 20 minutes, Alexandra and I saw 2 incredible sites. First, we watched a spider spinning its web. This was the second spiny-backed orb weaver we'd seen and they are right next to each other. (Now we've found a 3rd in a different part of the yard!)This one is white, while the other one was yellow. And, this one is about 1/2 inch, while the yellow one is about 1/4 inch wide. If you enlarge this photo, you can see that he has completed the outside of his web, but the inside is not finished. We watched him go around and around his web pulling the threads out with 2 hind feet and then connecting it to the "spokes." It was an amazing site!

Then, just minutes later, I came across this little brown toad and started taking his picture. I took about 20 photos and they all turned out blurry! I was trying to keep my distance so I wouldn't scare him. And, I was trying to show how well camouflaged he was in the dirt. Well, all of a sudden, he grabbed a worm! (He's sitting on it in the photo.) I kept taking photos and finally took some video (which turned out well). He kept grabbing the worm and throwing him in the air. We probably watched the 2 of them for about 5 minutes when I accidentally scared the toad as I tried to get a little closer. So, my daughter was happy that the worm got away. (She even had made a sign that said "Go, worm, go!" and was cheering for it! :-) What an amazing, natural experience!

(Try enlarging it.)

Lastly, I wanted to share this photo of the smaller spider. I was having such a hard time focusing on him as he's so small. I finally thought to use a mist bottle to mist his web. It had a beautiful effect and my camera would now focus on the web instead of on the fence in the background. I love this photo!

Hope you have a nature-filled, awe-of-God-filled day!

Sunset

We have been having beautiful sunsets all week. I kept thinking I wanted to paint the sky! But, then I decided to try out my new camera... again. To take this photo, I just set the camera to "nighttime." My old camera would never do this!

Also, someone asked me about some photos I took at the carnival. I used 2 "special" settings. One was the nighttime setting. The other was ISO 3200 for some pictures when there was the rides were going fast. Also, for those interested, my new camera is a digital point-and-shoot. It's a Canon PowerShot SD900.

Day at the Carnival

Today, we spent 5 wonderful hours at the carnival. Here are a few photos. (Above: just a photo of a slide I liked - I LOVE my new camera!)

On top of the ferris wheel..... one of the few rides I went on.

A "drop" ride - how does she do it? And why?

A not-so-little kid's roller coaster.

A HUGE slide... and, yes, I climbed up and went down... but only once.

She wanted to ride on so many big-kid rides. I can't believe she's old enough! She's on this Yo-Yo ride at night.

Loving my camera and the night-photos it can take!

Sacked out on the ride home about 8 pm.