Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa) - K Lot trail to the beach Trail, Sandy Hook National Seashore (Gateway National Recreation Area), New Jersey
Countless millions of Prickly Pear are blooming at The Hook!
Prickly Pear and Poison Ivy are the two dominant plants at Sandy Hook, and neither could be condisdered people friendly. In fact there was so much Poison Ivy on the trails (much of it 5 to 6 feet tall and hanging out over the trail) I was unable to go more tha a couple hundred yards on any of the trails before I reached a point where I had to turn back.
When I entered the park they were charging $10 to enter and $5 to enter if you had an Annual National Park Pass (which gets you into the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone NP for free), so I really have to wonder where that money is going, because it's apparently not being used for Park Maintenance!
Tags: KH0831 SandyHook 2011 Flora Cactaceae NJ Macro New Jersey New Jersey Nature
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Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa) - K Lot trail to the beach Trail, Sandy Hook National Seashore (Gateway National Recreation Area), New Jersey
Countless millions of Prickly Pear are blooming at The Hook!
Prickly Pear and Poison Ivy are the two dominant plants at Sandy Hook, and neither could be considered people friendly. In fact there was so much Poison Ivy on the trails (much of it 5 to 6 feet tall and hanging out over the trail) I was unable to go more tha a couple hundred yards on any of the trails before I reached a point where I had to turn back.
When I entered the park they were charging $10 to enter and $5 to enter if you had an Annual National Park Pass (which gets you into the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone NP for free), so I really have to wonder where that money is going, because it's apparently not being used for Park Maintenance!
Tags: KH0831 SandyHook 2011 Flora Cactaceae NJ Macro New Jersey New Jersey Nature
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Scarlet Globemallow buds (Sphaeralcea coccinea) with Lyreleaf Greeneye buds (a.k.a. Chocolate Daisy; Berlandiera lyrata) behind on the right - Cochiti Recreation Area Campsite, Sandoval County, New Mexico
Funny thing about buds,
is they like to stay buds 'til the sun comes out.
They told me not to take it personal
(that it was just bees-ness),
'cause bees don't fly on rainy days,
and after all, it's all about the sex!
Well, our business was to get to the Grand Canyon and keep out reservation, so we had to leave our buds behind.
Tags: KH0831 NM Flora rain Rainyday New Mexico Nature
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(a.k.a. The Colorful Colorado)
A View of the Grand Canyon from Navajo Point (near the Desert View Watchtower), Grand Canyon South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
A 19 horizontal capture 2 sweep panorama stitched together with Adobe's PhotoMerge utility (using the cylindrical projection option). 'Cause 28 mm just isn't wide enough for landscapes that BIG.
FYI - Multi-capture panos can be captured hand-held by holding the horizon in the frame at a consistent level, but it is much easier on you (and your computer) if you use a tripod.
A suggested tripod procedure
● Set up the tripod in a place where foreground objects won’t be a negative aspect in the composition.
● Set up the tripod so an imaginary line between 2 of it’s legs (closest to the subject) are perpendicular to the vertical center line (closest point) of the pan.
● Adjust the tripod head so the camera is perpendicular to the tripod column, and unlock the horizontal rotation control on the head.
● Aim the camera at the center of the pan and if a zoom lens is being used, adjust the focal length so the vertical aspect includes all of the subject desired in the finished image. If that's not possible, rotate the camera 90 degrees so the bottom of the camera is parallel to the tripod column (if the desired composition is still not possible you will need to perform a multiple level pan).
● Fine tune the focal length while composing the first capture of the panorama.
● Swing the camera to the last capture of the panorama, and adjust the front leg on that side of the tripod so the horizontal centerline of the pan is in the same vertical position as it was for the first capture of the panorama.
● Pan back to the first capture, double check the initial composition and if necessary, adjust the tripod leg on that side to fine tune the composition.
● Set the camera to manual exposure & focus, set the f-stop to the desired aperture, manually focus on an appropriate point, and then make a test capture to ensure your settings will give you the desired tonal range. If the tonal range isn't right, then make additional test exposures using shutter speed and/or ISO to make the necessary exposure adjustment.
● Make the first capture on the left side of the panorama, pick a point ⅔s of the way from the left edge of that capture. pan the frame until that point is at the left edge of the frame, and make the next capture. Repeat that process until the final capture is made on the right-hand side of the panorama.
If two levels are needed for the vertical aspect of the panorama, then drop the camera down ⅔s of a frame, and repeat the above step capturing images from right to left.
Easy – peazy, eh?
Well, that's the acquisition part of it anyways.
Tags: KH0831 Grand Canyon Arizona ThousandPlus 1000+ Nature
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And one from a bit farther down the trail at Navajo Point (near the Desert View Watchtower), Grand Canyon South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Instead of goin' all the way to the edge,
I decided to get a bit more edgy with this 10 shot pano.
And besides, you don't necessarily want to be standing
on those marbles near the edge.
FYI - Don't be afraid to use the mag tool,
since there are plenty of details to get lost in
in this 11053 × 5526 pixel pano.
Tags: KH0831 Arizona Nature
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