Daily Photo - May 16-31
For 2020, I am photographing every day, and posting the best of each day in half-month increments.
2020 May 16, Saturday
We are in the thick of spring now! The world is coming to life all around. Each drop of dew or freshening rain helps the plants to grow; they in turn get the whole natural world going. For us humans, the end of May brings with it the first blush of Covid-19 lockdown-lifting. Our social world is in bud, and will hopefully blossom (Free of disease!) over the coming months.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 1250
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 17, Sunday
One of the features of my new camera that I've been eager to try out is the suite of settings available for specific styles of photography, including shooting star-trails. This is my first attempt at it. It's new to me. I know that in the future I will have to tweak my settings to get brighter lines, but it's very cool to finally be able to get images like this.
Olympus E-PL9: f3.9, bulb exposure, ISO 200
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
To help SnapDash load quickly I typically reduce the size of the pictures I post. If you should want the full-size version of one, just let me know its date and I can send it to you.
2020 May 18, Monday
There's no way to argue with a still, serene morning! The wind is typically lowest at around dawn, which means if the tide isn't too busy that's the best time to catch nice reflections in the water.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 200
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 19, Tuesday
Change comes quickly! After the very calm water on Monday, the wind and waves were back on Tuesday. Change can be exciting.
Olympus E-PL9: f7.1, 1/640 sec, ISO 200
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 20, Wednesday
I've wanted to get a good picture of this fallen tree for ages. It's out in the water, stuck on a mudbar. I don't know if it drifted into its position or if back in the past the shore was out that far and it stayed where it fell. When the tide is high only the uppermost part of the root-fan is visible.
Olympus E-PL9: f7.1, 1/1640 sec, ISO 200
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 21, Thursday
During the second half of May 2020 I have been taking a course on railways. One of the things covered was the shape of the wheels. They are conical, wider toward the centre of the train and narrower toward the outside. This helps trains manage turns. On straight sections, however, it can cause the gentle rocking back and forth for which trains are so famous.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 1600
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 22, Friday
I'm still looking out for a girlfriend, but at least I've made a squirrel-friend! Well, actually, this one probably would have preferred it if I were not around. As long as I stayed very quiet, though, I was rewarded with some nifty poses. Much as I do not want to lead you away from SnapDash, this is a good place to drop the link to an awesome squirrel-based YouTube clip I saw a few days after snapping this picture:
Building The Perfect Squirrel-Proof Birdfeeder
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 400
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 23, Saturday
Months ago, my parents helped plant some tulip bulbs at the Legion. They commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. My grandfather served in the Canadian Army during WWII and participated in the liberation. I am glad to have a personal connection to it. After the war many Dutch families settled in the Antigonish area, so there's a strong social link to it, too.
Olympus E-PL9: f5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO 320
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 24, Sunday
Some days are full of photographic opportunity. I am sensitive to keeping these posts from getting too long, but I can't help but post three pictures for this day. I thought for sure I had a winner with this shot of a feather... Then later in the day I saw a confrontation between an eagle and a crow, after which the eagle took flight.
I am very fortunate that I can take these pictures without fear. In my privileged and semi-secluded world the most violence I see is a staring contest between birds. That's not true for many people in Canada (and elsewhere), and that's abhorrent.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 400
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 250
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 250
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 25, Monday
I was strolling down the railway line, nearly at the crossing where I was going to get off them (I dislike staying too long on the tracks). Just then I saw this guy come out and use the crossing to get to the other side! I've always wanted to shoot a deer (With my camera, of course), but I certainly wasn't expecting to get the opportunity when it came!
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/500 sec, ISO 1000
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 26, Tuesday
I do love a good plant-picture! Late May is an idea time of year with so many flowers - big and small - showing their finery.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/400 sec, ISO 640
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 27, Wednesday
It seems blackbirds are, at least around the neck, actually blue! My bird-knowedgeable friends tell me that these are grackles. I took this shot through my window. The magic of photo-editing removed the screen, but I don't think it fiddled with the feather-colour.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 6400
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 28, Thursday
I haven't mentioned yet this post how much I love the zoom range on my new lens. I'm constantly amazed at how it can pick out an eagle almost all the way across the estuary.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 500
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 29, Friday
I heard once that the Moon is the most-photographed item in history. It's certainly easy to see why! Once again, that zoom lens wows me. Here's the photo-editing side of it: I took this during broad daylight! To bring out the details of the craters and maria I adjusted the photo's gamma (luminance) and contrast. I didn't intend to blacken the sky, but it does look appropriate! The sharp crater just South of the centre (not far from the edge of the shadow) is called Arzachel. It is 96km across. Immediately North of Arzachel is the crater Alphonsus, which is 119km across. The Ranger 9 probe landed (at 2.6km/s!) in Alphonsus in 1965.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/1000 sec, ISO 6400
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 30, Saturday
My neighbour Fred has a corner of his lawn that keeps eroding. In the past he's put in railway ties to hold it in place, but eventually they roll away. His new strategy is to build a reinforced retaining fence. In this shot his brother (also a neighbour!) welds the pipe for the new garden wall.
Olympus E-PL9: f6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 1000
IrfanView: Crop, Colour Balance
2020 May 31, Sunday
What better way to capture the bee-auty of springtime than with a bumble bee? The humble bumble does so much for the world, pollinating so that everything can grow. Bees have faced a rough time in the anthropocene, what with pesticides and climate change stressing their habitat. Here's hoping the buzz continues for generations to come.
