Deina's Photo Blog

Orchid Heaven

Deina Zartman — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:14:34 +0000

We went to the Cape & Islands Orchid Show today, and while it was pricy (Ulysse got a hotdog and chips for $6!!!) and crowded, the show itself was beautiful. There is nothing like a room full of blooming flowers in January!

I had been once before, but I hadn’t had my camera long, so I knew one setting – which I had read in a magazine – and that’s what I did for every shot. This time I brought three lenses and some close up filters and went to town!

These were taken using a flash which, of course, captures a lot of detail and the flowers’ “true” colors:

This is my favorite one, compositionally:

These I took without a flash using my 50mm Minolta lens, and I think, of all the pictures I took, that they came out the most interesting:

And, of the ones I took without a flash, this one is my personal favorite:

First Snow

Deina Zartman — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:54:24 +0000

Well, we finally had our first “real” snowfall this weekend, which is kind of unbelievable. I was starting to think winter was never gonna get here. (Not that I’m a fan of winter or anything, but the seasons have a schedule to stick to.)

Before, we had had a wee bit o’ snow that stuck beautifully to tree branches and such, so I had gone out with my 100-200mm lens and circular polarizing filter and got some nice shots (IMO).

I love, love, love the light in this one!

On Saturday we got about a foot, which is melting away as I write this, so yesterday I headed out with my 75-300mm zoom lens and walked around the Hawthorn Street area, hoping to get some nice abstracts of the beautiful, rambling Victorian houses while there was still snow on all the roofs, etc.

It took me a while to start getting the images I wanted, but eventually I figured out that I needed to be looking at houses a street away, not right in front of me, in order to see the compositions I was after. (It probably does not help that I have no depth perception!)

2 More Skull Pics

Deina Zartman — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:11:39 +0000

Still looking for help in identifying whatever this was. I’d estimate the piece I found was about 5 inches long. I’ve turned it over and over and not found any indication that it had teeth.

I have looked online at a variety of skulls of animals that are native to this area – deer, coyote, opossum, rabbit, fox, woodchuck – and none are even close. There is a possibility whatever it was wasn’t from here, but got caught in a storm and washed up here from somewhere else.

I actually went to the beach again today and took it home, so I can study it more closely. I’m thinking I may have to sketch it and then try to approximate the fleshy parts in hopes that it becomes recognizable.

Beach, moon, skull

Deina Zartman — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:13:13 +0000

Took what may be my last walk on a beach in a long time today and saw Brant geese and a yellowlegs and found some really cool rocks and even a partial skull of something…

I’m pretty happy with these two moon abstracts.

Because it isn’t complete, I’m having a tough time figuring out what this skull was. No teeth, cat-like nose, long face, good-sized… Any ideas?

A Taste of Summer

Deina Zartman — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:21:37 +0000

I’ve been rooting through old photo files, with the thought in mind that I would organize what I’ve taken over the years into some sort of database people could browse and (hopefully) order prints or note cards from easily. Here are three oldies but goodies I’d nearly forgotten – a little dose of summer right before Christmas.