Tomorrow's Promises

Tomorrow's Promises, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

Another evening prairie picture. This sunflower inflorescence was close to opening. I really liked the detail of the young bracts and ray flowers.

Portrait of a thistle

Portrait of a thistle, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

I hope you're not tired of my photography by now. I've not had time to be in the shop much since the AAW symposium. I've actually turned a small bowl and a lidded vessel, but I've not done the follow-up work on surface enhancement. I probably won't get time for that until after the Dublin Irish Festival (first weekend of August).

So, this is a recent photo of a thistle that I processed in black and white using Silver Efex Pro. The color version is lovely, but the black and white portrait brings out detail that would be lost in color. I really like the dramatic presentation of the flower in this setting.

What do you think?

Pokeweed

Pokeweed, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

Photographed in Whetstone Park of Roses prairie. I don't usually see the flowers on this plant. We have plenty of these humongous weeds growing in our weed bed in the back yard. That's the price one pays for feeding the birds, I suppose.

Summer time in the prairie

Gray-headed coneflower, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

Since I've not had time to be in the shop and have no new pics of work in progress, I'll continue posting some of my recent photos. This is Ratibida pinnata, or, Gray-headed coneflower. It's one of the dominant plants at most of the prairie remnants scattered throughout Ohio. This one was photographed at a restored prairie plot at Whetstone Park of Roses.

I love the bokeh and I specifically framed the flower to be surrounded by the yellow flowers in the background. I used f/5.6 and made sure the flower was well isolated from the background to bring out the soft bokeh that reminds me of a painting.

Ebony Jewelwing Damsel Fly

Ebony Jewelwing Damsel Fly, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

Yesterday, Steve and I joined Mike for a photowalk at Bigelow Cemetery State Nature Preserve. The flowers are still a few weeks away from prime time, but I enjoyed chasing insects with my macro lens. There were a couple of species of damselflies flitting about. I'll post some other insects in this post after I have a chance to process some more of my images.

This is an Asian multicolored lady beetle. It seems as if this insect has been victimized by a parasite, also, given the small white protrusions on the wing coverts.



This beetle was sure active, but I finally was able to capture an image that was mostly in focus. It's a swamp milkweed beetle, Labidomera clivicollis.



Another beautiful milkweed beetle, Tetraopes tetrophthalmus.















And another beetle, Photinus pyralis, aka the firefly. They were putting on a spectacular show for us on our drive home that evening.