Monday, December 8, 2008

The first of the year 12-08-08

When I kept a journal I always recorded the first sightings of birds and plants. The Journal is long in the past, but I still notice the firsts. There were two for me this past week.

When Corky and I walked in the big park (Tri-Cities) there were two white pelicans who have come back to spend the winter with us. I have seen them here in previous years, but there is always a larger flock at Anaheim Lakes which is a much larger body of water - about 2-1/2 miles SE. By-the-way, the gold squiggles are reflections from the setting sun - the white at the top of the image are geese and ducks.

The first Oxalis blossom of the season, soon my back slope will be awash with this limey yellow. I am posting three photos of the same plant. The reason there are three is none of them is completely in focus, but the background is. How does one take a picture with the foreground in focus?

I held the blossom thinking maybe a midpoint to focus on would help.

It seems to me that nothing is in focus in this shot. If anyone has a suggestion I would appreciate hearing it.
Corky is home with his parents and I don't expect I will have him again until after the holidays. I may drive out to the desert between Xmas and New Year's to take care of him while his parents travel for a few days.

2 comments:

Suzanne Kistler said...

If you're using a digital camera, there is a setting for "close-up", which is usually less than 5 or 6". The symbol may be a flower (tulip). (It was the same on both my Canon and Fuji.) You push the flower setting, and take the picture. Don't forget to push it again to turn it off - it will make your usual photos blurry...

I'm not an expert, by any means, but this works for me, for photos taken very close...Good luck!!

Terry Grant said...

Great shot of the pelicans. They are such interesting birds. We used to see them down on Klamath Lake in So. Oregon. I love watching them fish.