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A Year In Macro Photography

Kasia Sokulska — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:27:32 +0000

Our recent chat about macros on a podcast Shuttertime with Sid and Mac has given me an idea for this post. We were talking about the fact that it is easy to shoot macros all year round, for it doesn’t requite taking any long trips to exotic places or getting up at a crack of dawn. All you need is a decent macro lens or extension tubes, a few plants in your backyard or a trip to the park with your family and you can always find something interesting to shoot. Whether it is a cool plant, a bug or a spider web there really always is something out there to take pictures of. As long as you find an interesting angle or a colourful background you can came back home with tons of gorgeous shots. I start the year with a trip to one of the neighbourhood nurseries in early May, before our outdoor planters can be filled safely with growing things. It is always a great pleasure to look at all the beautifully colourful flowers just waiting for the weather to warm up enough for safe planting and the bugs are usually there as well. A couple of hours of being lost in such surroundings and I come back home with a memory card full of shots. Here is a few of such spring shots that kept me happy over the recent years before the outside world turned green:

Then, things are starting to bloom outside and I start taking my camera out and about to see what new things are showing up out there. I have shared some spring images I took close by in my post Spring 2013 so I’m going to just include a couple of more recent shots today:

During the podcast we have mentioned the fact that having an interestingly coloured background makes a difference. Here is an example – a couple of shots of the same spider web covered in dew and how the angle of the shot, utilizing different colours of the background, makes a difference:

Summer! Ah.. This is a macro photographer’s paradise.. Over the last couple of years I have gathered so many wonderful shots and they’ve kept me very happy during long winter months..

There is always something magical in catching reflections in water droplets.. You can see the whole world inside a drop if you find a proper angle. It’s always so much fun!!! And if you don’t want to bother with these there is always the occasional trip into the country. I try always to take my macro lens with me. You never know what you’ll find on such an outing..

And if you are tired of all that colour, you can always play a bit with an image and come up with something like that:

Fall has it’s own pleasurable moments with it’s fogs turning into frost and covering all and a wonderful soft, warm light. There is always something that catches my eye..

During winter months I try to find something at home that can be photographed. Whether it is my son’s guitar or a flower that was given to me, it makes not very big difference except it is not always easy to get good, strong light inside. I still go out and explore if I can. It may be cold, but if the weather conditions are right one can find little treasures outside, such as a couple of snowflakes (I’ve shared a few of those in my post Beauty of a Snowflake – Part 3) or frost covered foliage:

So keep on shooting guys. There is really no need for long trips to exotic locations and you don’t need too much time . Just a few minutes here and there. Cool stuff can be found everywhere!!

Kasia

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Spring Sunset And “Prairie Castles”

Kasia Sokulska — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 19:45:01 +0000

Couple of weeks ago we have driven to a spot we’ve found about a year ago to see how is the spring progressing out in the country. The distant silos on the horizon reminded me very much of castles in Europe and if you don’t look too close you can actually pretend that that’s what they are. Works for me ;D. It was a bit of a chilly evening, and mosquitos were out in quite a force, but being armed with a big old can of bug spray we were not afraid of them at all (one must be quite brave to venture out this year, for there is literally millions of them, considering how wet everywhere is..). The world was full of frog and bird calls and it was so wonderfully relaxing to just sit and watch the spectacle unfold. What can I say, I’m a complete sucker for a nice sunset.. And if you can witness such, pretending you are traveling in Europe, with a wonderful accompaniment of natural music of nature… Let just say, it doesn’t get much better than that.. I hope you will enjoy a few shots from that trip, considering how gloomy it is outside today. It is such a pleasure to ignore the wet, cold, cloudy outdoors and concentrate on the sunlight, sunset colors and a beauty of surrounding world.. With a touch of imagination, the magic is on!

Kasia

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Spring at Elk Island

Kasia Sokulska — Tue, 28 May 2013 15:13:25 +0000

The last time we’ve ventured to Elk Island National Park the world was covered in deep snow.. (Hunting for Bison at Elk Island). Now all this snow has melted and turned the land into one almost everlasting wetland.. There was no silence when we arrived there about a week ago in the evening. The music of frogs and mosquito buzzing, interrupted on occasion by a bird call or two was everywhere.. Thank Goodness for bug spray!!! If it wasn’t for a heavy layer of it we would have been eaten alive!! But, we were rather well prepared, having a tube of the heavy stuff stashed inside our vehicle at all times . And it was great because if we weren’t prepared we would have missed all the sights we’ve seen: beavers going about their supper, lots of birds and a surprisingly beautiful sunset – which we didn’t really expect due to the clouds gathering on the western horizon. All in all, it was another wonderful trip, made better by the fact that when we started our drive we never planned to arrive at Elk Island.. It just happened ;D.. And, since today, the sky is rather heavy with dark clouds a little bit of colorful sunset and vibrant spring world will do us good, I think.. So enjoy!

Kasia

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Spring 2013

Kasia Sokulska — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:43:58 +0000

It is a wonderful thing to see the trees bloom as well as get green all over. I’ve been getting a lot of images here and there while walking with our dog, or just simply taking my camera to my own back yard recently. Such a delight to see all this wonderful color. Hope you like it as well!!

Kasia

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Before Planting Season

Kasia Sokulska — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:39:40 +0000

The weather is finally warm enough that I can start thinking of what to plant in my garden. It’s going to be a couple more weeks before I will be brave enough to do so – there is always a possibility of frost and I have had an unfortunate accident a few years back, when I rushed things through and lost almost all new plants to a morning frost.. So, I will wait with planting, but nothing stops me from visiting our neighborhood nursery and doing a little “window shopping” before I can actually purchase things. With that in mind, a few days ago, I have taken my camera with me and had a great time taking pictures of all those wonderfully colorful flowers all just waiting for me to take home . I caught a few early insects as well, not mentioning a guarding cat that was enjoying a bit of a nap on one of the shelves, when I rudely interrupted his rest. A cute thing, allowed me to take a picture and then wondered away, in search, I think, of a quieter spot.. I don’t know about you, guys, but I can’t wait to plant things and watch them grow and bloom in a myriad of colors for my enjoyment all summer long!! Happy gardening guys!!

Kasia

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The Wait Is Finally Over!

Kasia Sokulska — Sat, 04 May 2013 21:16:22 +0000

I am sure, you remember me mentioning a few times over the winter (Missing Summer Skies.. Part 1 and Missing Summer Skies.. Part 2) the fact that I have been missing the beauty of summer skies. It’s been such a long time, since we have had something interesting to look at during daytime hours as well as mornings and evening that when I saw what was happening outside yesterday I was up and about with the camera enjoying myself immensely. The warm temperatures brought with it fluffy clouds yesterday afternoon and I took our puppy for a walk in a neighborhood off leash park hoping to capture some of them. Oh, what a gorgeous walk it was!! I was hoping that the sky would cooperate during sunset as well and guess what! It did!! We didn’t have much time to go in search of a location and decided to use “our” field close to the city. The melted snow left a huge puddle at the edge of this field and it happen to beautifully capture reflections of the sky, of which we took a great advantage ;D. Here is a few shots of yesterday’s beauty. Hope you guys find it as enjoyable as did I!

Kasia

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The Beginning..

Kasia Sokulska — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:56:00 +0000

As I have mentioned in my post Things to Come, spring has been very slow to start this year. We all are rather tired of grays, dirty snow and cold, and long for things to change. It is rather late, but finally, after almost 6 months the snow has finally melted off my flower beds and lawn and I can see growing things starting to come out, particularly in one, sheltered spot by my house. First there were the tulips, sticking out shyly, followed quickly by delphinium foliage and then, I have seen some buds on the trees in the neighborhood getting nice and fat and finally my crocuses started to bloom. I was so very happy to see them!!! I’m also very lucky because in most places in our city there has been no signs of spring yet except for an occasional, very rare pussy willow.. So here it is, for all of us in central and norther Alberta, a little color with renewed hope that soon our world will turn green again.

Kasia

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Things to Come

Kasia Sokulska — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:07:46 +0000

Spring is taking its sweet time to come this year. Things are barely starting to move along and I am waiting very impatiently for the Nature to fully wake up and start working on the colors.. Good thing I was able to take quite a few shots of the blooming trees and buzzing bees (and other insects finding refuge among those blooms, as well as little droplets of water hiding among foliage – you know, I cannot resist these ;D) last year so that I can look at them now in order to help me survive till such time comes again.. I would like to share some of these with you now in hope, they will bring you as much pleasure as they bring me. Enjoy!

Kasia

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Missing Summer Skies.. Part 2

Kasia Sokulska — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 23:36:50 +0000

Due to our long winter this year, I have been missing very much the colors and drama of summer skies. I am very happy, I have a bit of a back log of images to share with you guys, because now I can show some more of these to you and remember our photo adventures when we traveled outside the city to get them. You’ve seen some of my summer skies in my post: Missing Summer Skies.. Part 1 and today, I would like to share some shots I took one time, during our visit to Elk Island. It was an evening of storms, when the sky was changing from one minute to another and we were quite lucky to be close to our vehicles in order to hide from nature’s fury, shoot some pictures in between the storms and hide from them again.. I have never experienced a more severe storm being out in the country. It was, definitely, something to behold.. And no, I was not going to be outside our vehicle shooting the lightning. I was cowering like any other smart human being inside it, emerging only well before or after a while, when all this fury has moved well away from us..

Kasia

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A Year Ago..

Kasia Sokulska — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 01:19:38 +0000

I was recently going through some of my pictures from last year – March, to be exact and was dismayed to see how much more snow we have still on the ground in comparison with last year. The skies are also not cooperating nicely with us and it seems there is way less things to photograph… But, at least, I have my store of lovely colorful pictures I can feast my eyes on, when I get color starved and I have no problem with sharing them with you. So, here they are, shots from one lovely sunset from the end of March, from last year. Hope you enjoy!

Kasia

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Wishing for Things to Start Blooming Again..

Kasia Sokulska — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:30:34 +0000

I have been horribly envious of people living in parts of the world with milder climates, because they have flowers blooming already.. I see all these current pictures all over the net and I wish I was able to go out with my camera and take pictures of new things growing.. Alas, it’s not going to happen any time soon yet, for me, anyway. Fortunately, I have saved a lot of images I took last spring and can now enjoy processing them. To me tulips and spring are very closely linked, thus any time I see them they bring to mind warm weather and sunshine. So here they are, my spring shots of gorgeous tulips up close. Hope they’ll be cheering you all up, as they do me!

Kasia

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Hunting for Bison at Elk Island

Kasia Sokulska — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:04:26 +0000

As I have mentioned before, in my post Night Skies at Elk Island – Catching a Comet, we have visited Elk Island National Park a few times recently. It is a great pleasure to be able to visit a wild place without having to drive for hours on end.. Escaping the civilization is a wonderful way to relax and if you are lucky enough, you not only see some gorgeous skies, but get a glimpse of some animals as well. We have been lucky this time to catch a few shots of bison. We have started our search for animals with Bison Loop, alas there was no bison there. We did manage to capture a couple of lovely sunset pictures, though (some of them shared by Mac in his post Two Sunsets – Alberta Landscape Photography) but we had to move a little bit deeper into the park before we saw any animals. The world looked beautiful covered in the golden glow of setting sun. The shadows were long and the light just great and it was a pleasure to spend some time in a peaceful place… Here is a few shots I was able to take. No blood was spilled during our hunt, and that’s the way I like it! ;D

Kasia

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A Little Indoor Spring

Kasia Sokulska — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:06:15 +0000

Easter is always connected to spring in my mind. It is the time when I look forward to things starting to grow. In our climate, we have to wait for that to happen for a while yet, so, in order to satisfy my need for colorful, growing things I have to bring them indoor and feast my eyes with them there. Thus I was very happy to acquire a bunch of daffodils. They are so beautifully vibrant, and colorful! With their juicy yellow they bring cheer and joy to my life. Of course, there is no way I could stop myself from snapping a few shots and share them with you all ;D I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do..

Kasia

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Happy Easter!

Kasia Sokulska — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:17:34 +0000

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter!

Mac and Kasia

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Night Skies at Elk Island – Catching a Comet

Kasia Sokulska — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:05:35 +0000

I love photographing night skies! It’s much better outside of a city (light pollution) and, in order to do so we need to travel away from it. We are lucky to be close enough to one of the 7 Dark Sky Preserves in Canada, located at Elk Island National Park. Mac has mentioned our recent trips to Elk Island in his post Two Sunsets – Alberta Landscape Photography. We’ve traveled there a few times during last week, taking our kids with us, in hopes of showing them the elusive comet Panstarrs. The first time we came searching for the comet the western sky turned cloudy and there was no way to see it. We have finally managed to accomplish it on Saturday night. It was freezing cold (temperatures dropped to -22 degree Celsius) but the skies were finally clear. The comet was very faint and barely visible, even, using binoculars, but it was there! I have attempted to capture it using my 200mm lens, but was not successful. Instead, I concentrated on capturing some beautiful night skies. The constellations were very well visible, regardless of a bright moon, and I did have a lot of fun capturing the stars and the colors of the sky turning from evening to a dark night.. I did not harbor much hope for capturing the comet, though, after the fiasco with the long lens.. Imagine my surprise when I saw it on pictures I took with our fisheye lens.. It is small, very faint and one has to look very closely to find it, but it is there! Veni, vidi, vici! ;D

Kasia

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