Giving up the ghosts

ABANDONED HOUSE, ATLANTA, MISSOURI, OCTOBER 16, 2011




Pentax K-5
Sigma 10-20 DC at 13mm
1/250 sec. f8
ISO 100




Driving around the small town of Atlanta (pop. 385) in northeastern Missouri with a carload of rail-buff photographers yielded this picturesque old house in the weeds. The cloud formations in the blue, blue sky above the house suggested supernatural events, even if Halloween hadn't quite arrived yet. Considerable distortion correction in Lightroom was required to straighten the vertical lines of the house.

Stop-action hummer

RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JUNE 6, 2011

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 260mm
1/2000 sec. f8
ISO 1600

Discovered among the summer's photo archives this morning, this is one of the few hummingbird shots in which I've been able to stop the wings and catch the subject away from the intrusive red plastic feeder used to attract the birds. It appears from the angle of its tailfeathers that the bird was flying backwards in mid-hover.

Dahlias

'BISHOP OF LLANDORF,'
SEMI-DOUBLE DAHLIA, 
CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN,
GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, 
OCTOBER 10, 2011




Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 170mm
1/320 sec. f8
ISO 1600




Taken as the low early morning sun backlighted the blossoms.

Leaf

ERSATZ MAPLE LEAF, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 10, 2011

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/200 sec. f8
ISO 1600

It seemed like such a likely subject--a ripe maple leaf caught on a twig and backlighted by the sun--until I called up the frame on my computer. Clearly it's a fake leaf made of some sort of fabric, probably a Halloween decoration. But it's still pretty.

Green Smoke? Really?

NYMPHAEA 'GREEN SMOKE' WATERLILY, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 9, 2011

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 190mm
1/800 sec. f14
ISO 1600

The sign next to this striking scarlet bloom in the lily pools north of the Regenstein Center at the Chicago Botanic Garden calls it a "Green Smoke" nymphaea variety, but I'm wondering if it's really something else. If you know, kindly tip me off, will you?

Baluster

VASIFORM BALUSTER,
CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN,
GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, 
OCTOBER 9, 2011

 



Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300
at 230mm
1/2000 sec. f8
ISO 1600





One of the familiar sights at the Chicago Botanic Garden is the cast stone balustrade overlooking the Lakeside Gardens at the south end of the main island. In the early morning sun yesterday the interplay of light and shadow pleasingly emphasized the stony texture of one baluster.

White Knight

WOOD'S WHITE KNIGHT TROPICAL WATERLILY, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS OCTOBER 9, 2011

Pentax K-5
SMC-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/1000 sec. f14
ISO 1600

My first foray this balmy October to the Botanic Garden yielded this HDR-like shot of a white water lily. Considerable tweaking in Lightroom helped subdue the strong highlights of the white. I used a high ISO so that a fast shutter speed would dampen the shaking of my increasingly elderly hands, and the Pentax's in-camera antishake system further helped.