Adjectize

Lawnmower Blenny In Coral

Brad — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:41:27 +0000

The picture you see here is from my coral reef aquarium. It’s my Lawnmower Blenny perched inside a Sarcophyton coral. A lot of my home photography focuses on my coral reef aquarium although fish are not usually the primary subject of the pictures. Mainly because they are constantly moving making it hard to get a crisp shot. My Lawnmower Blenny is an acception. It often perches or rests in areas that are easy to photograph. This Lawnmower Blenny has a liking for the large Sarcophyton coral that is front and center in my reef aquarium. This works well because it’s easy to keep the glass clean and there is adequate lighting. Thanks to macro settings, the polyps of the Sarcophyton coral that you can see here in much more detail than you can see with the naked eye. For reference the diameter of the blenny’s head is less than that of a U.S. dime. If you missed it, I also posted a picture this Lawnmower Blenny in my coral reef aquarium from a bit of a side angle with a colorful clam in the background.

Lawnmower Blenny In Coral is a post from: Adjectize

Red Hibiscus Macro

Brad — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:10:04 +0000

Here’s another of my favorite flower pictures that I took when we were in Kauai, Hawaii. This is a red Hibiscus. They were very abundant on Kauai and I imagine on the other Hawaiian Islands as well. As you probably assumed, I used the macro settings for this picture and focused on the stamen and pollen of the Hibiscus rather that the body of the flower. I love macro photography because of all the intricate details that can be seen. In the full size original of this digital photo you can see the individual grains of pollen. Macro flower photography can be a bit tricky at times because of wind. Early in the day tends to be a bit more calm and be sure and use a tripod to keep your shot as steady as possible. Another thing I do when taking macro pictures is to set the 2 second timer. This way with my camera on the tripod I can press the shutter button and remove my hand from the camera for an even more steady picture.

I hope you enjoyed the picture of the red Hibiscus. If you’ve got pictures of a Hibiscus, or any other flowers, you’re proud of be sure to leave a comment with the link so I and others can check them out!

Red Hibiscus Macro is a post from: Adjectize

Rock Crab On Reef

Brad — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 02:28:50 +0000

As I walked up and down the beaches on Kauai scouring the tide pools for creatures I would occasionally run into one of the rock crabs that you see in the picture above. These crabs are fairly large (the body about 3″ in diameter) and can leap form the rocks and into the ocean surprisingly fast. Many times I would take a second to frame in my shot or focus the camera then a wave would roll in a my subject, the rock crab, would vanish into the sea. There was one attempt in particular where I had slowly worked my way toward a rock crab on the shoreline reef. I was making the final camera adjustments when my wife, not realizing I had the perfect shot in progress, walked up behind me. Before I could say a work the crab bounded, a surprising distance, into the ocean. My wife felt terrible once I explained. I was sad that I missed the shot but wasn’t angry with her, how could she have known?! This is the best shot I ended up with of a rock crab although I did manage to photograph several other species of crabs while in Hawaii.

You can see all of my photos including the ones from Kauai on my Picasa Web albums.

Rock Crab On Reef is a post from: Adjectize

Ghost Crab On Beach

Brad — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:05:51 +0000

Getting a great picture sometimes requires a lot of patience! In order to get the picture of the Ghost crab you see here I had to crawl around slowly in the sand for about an hour. These crabs are very skidish and quickly dive back into their tiny burrows in the sandy beach. I believe I know why these crabs are called Ghost crabs. I walked up and down the beach several times taking photos before I even realized that the area was literally crawling with these tiny arthropods. It was at one point that I was sitting on the beach to get some pictures of the waves when I started to notice the movement around me. The crabs would venture out of their holes in the sand but with any sudden movement simply vanished. Finally I decided to lay on my belly near some of their lairs and waited patiently for the Ghost crabs to emerge. Once they did I slithered inch by inch along the beach towards them and snapped as many photos as I could without frightening them away. I managed to get quite a few shots of the Ghost crabs that morning. The picture you see here is my favorite of the set. Just for reference, this crab is about 1 1/2″ on its widest side!

Here is a another of my pictures of a Ghost crab emerging from his hole in the beach

Ghost Crab On Beach is a post from: Adjectize

Bee Gathering Pollen

Brad — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:44:48 +0000

If you saw my post yesterday I mentioned that my favorite photography subjects are insects and flowers. So… today I decided to post this macro photo of a bee gathering pollen. As with the picture I posted yesterday, the Monarch butterfly on a flower, this digital picture was taken in the butterfly garden of the Toledo Zoo. I spent quite a bit of time walking slowly through the gardens searching for a bee, or other insect, on a flower. Finally I came across the yellow flowers seen in this picture which seemed to attract a nice variety of insects including several different species of bees. I’ve learned that it takes a lot of patience when trying to photograph insects. In order to get this picture I sat patiently with my camera poised on the tripod aimed at a flower that I saw bees would frequent. As one bee after another made its rounds at the flower I would snap my picture. I ended up with quite a few good pictures but the photo of this bee is my favorite. The bee is facing directly at the camera. I should mention that in order to get this digital picture I used the super macro setting and the camera was just about toching the flower.

I managed to capture a few more pictures of insects on flowers as well. You can see the rest of them in my album of pictures from the Toledo Zoo.

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Monarch Butterfly on Flower

Brad — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:34:01 +0000

A couple of my favorite photography subjects are insects and flowers. This photo has a bit of both. As you can see this picture is a Monarch butterfly perched on a flower. I took this photo in the butterfly garden at the Toledo Zoo. There were lots of beautiful flowers in the garden and many of them had bees or other insects on them but surprisingly there weren’t a lot of butterflies to photograph. As I walked along I passed a small water feature with a stream that had just a few flowers growing in the area. The flower seen in this picture was standing tall and lonely with the colorful Monarch butterfly resting on it. I set up my tripod as quickly as possible and managed to get a few great shots before the butterfly fluttered away. I used a low aperture setting in this photo to give a shorter depth of field to blur the greenery in the background which allowed the butterfly and flower to be the focal point of my picture.

Be sure and check out the rest of my pictures from the Toledo Zoo and have a look at all my photo albums

Monarch Butterfly on Flower is a post from: Adjectize

Colobus Monkey

Brad — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:34:19 +0000

This picture above is Colobus monkey photographed at the Toledo Zoo. I decided to take the day off of work today. Rather than just sit around, my wife and I decided to venture of to the Toledo Zoo. We live north of Detroit so it was about a one and a half hour ride to the Toledo Zoo from our home. There were a lot more animals and creatures to see at the Toledo Zoo, I believe the sign read more than nine thousand. In my opinion this zoo is far superior to the Detroit Zoo in many ways. However there was one issue I had with the habitats of the creatures at the Toledo Zoo. Most of the animals are kept in high, chain link fence enclosures making it difficult to take photos.

None the less we had a great day and took lots of great pictures like the one you see here of the Colobus monkey. The monkeys we very relaxed allowing many great photo opportunities. Most of these monkeys were just laying around. Some of them were grooming the other monkeys picking at their long fur while other were laying draped over the wooden structure. When I look in the eyes of these Colobus monkeys I see sadness. I love being able to visit the zoo and see all the wonderful animals. However, at the same time I can’t help but fell that it’s cruel to confine intelligent creatures such as these Colobus monkey, as well as the other apes and primates, in such a tiny area!

I hope you enjoyed this picture!

Be sure to check out all my pictures from the Toledo Zoo, the album contains a few more pictures of the Colobus monkeys as well the rest of my favorite digital photos from our visit!

Colobus Monkey is a post from: Adjectize

Palm Trees On The Kauai Beach

Brad — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:14:09 +0000

In early April my wife and I took our honeymoon on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. We both love to take digital pictures and Kauai was the perfect place for a couple of shutter bugs like us! The picture you see here was taken over the ocean at sunrise on the east shore of Kauai. We found that this beach on the Wailua Bay was loaded with scenic areas. Out of all the digital pictures I took while on our honeymoon I’d have to say this is probably my favorite. I particularly like the way the palm trees areÂ silhouetted especially with the rays of the sun beaming out from behind the clouds. In order to capture the silhouette effect I had to point my camera at the sun and lock the focus and light by partially depressing the shutter button. Once locked I framed in the palm trees and snapped the picture. I also used my digital camera’s sunrise/sunset preset which adds a slight amber tint to the picture.

See more of my digital pictures from Wailua Bay

Palm Trees On The Kauai Beach is a post from: Adjectize

Maroon Clownfish In Xenia

Brad — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:00:32 +0000

Seen here is a picture of a Maroon Clownfish that resides in my coral reef aquarium. This is the male of my mated pair of Maroon Clownfish. You may have heard of Clownfish refered to as anemone fish becauseÂ are most of seen living in and around a sea anemone however they will also accept a substitution such as the Pulsing Xenia in my coral reef aquarium. In a saltwater aquarium it is inadvisable to keep most anemones when live corals will be kept in the tank. The reason is that Clownfish can live happily in the tentacles of the anemone because they areÂ immune to the toxic sting unlike the corals which will suffer and eventually die from the toxins. The stinging tentacles of the anemone also protect the Clownfish from predatory fish as well!

Interesting fact: The sex of a Clownfish can change between male and female. When a group of Clownfish form a family the largest of them will develop the female sex organs and the rest of the Clownfish will remain male with the next largest becoming the dominant male forming a breeding pair. If the female Clownfish dies, the dominant male will then convert into the female and the next largest male will become the dominant breeder.

Maroon Clownfish In Xenia is a post from: Adjectize

Mountain Cottage In Kauai

Brad — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:22:13 +0000

I recently went on my honeymoon in Kauai, HI. We ended up booking a mountainside cottage at a place called Hale Kua for 5 of the 10 nights (April 5th-9th). It was located on the southwest side of the island.Â We found the cottage on Expedia which we browsed just to get an idea of the pricing and read patron reviews.

On a side note: I always call the business directly never booking through sites like Expedia because hotels and other businesses won’t guarantee third party bookings (I’ve heard some horror stories).

Anyhow… Hale Kua is a Bed and Breakfast style establishment which also has aÂ separate one bedroom cottage. They had about 40 positive reviews from past patrons on Expedia so I searched Google and found the website for Hale Kua which listed contact information. I called and spoke with the owner Cathy who was very friendly and happy to answer all my questions. Due to the fact we were booking the mountain side cottage only a couple weeks before our arrival Cathy required no down payment. She even sent me a copy of the agreement immediately through the mail to confirmation our reservation.

When we arrived at Hale Kua we were very pleased to say the least. We were greeted by Cathy who showed us to the cottage and welcomed us to pick the oranges, grapefruits and anything else we wanted from the tropical garden which surrounded the mountainside cottage. There was a deck that wrapped around 3 sides of the one bedroom cottage which was beautifully nested on the side of a mountain. It was well decorated and contained all the amenities you would likely need including a flat screen TV and wireless internet service. The kitchenette had a fridge as well as minor appliances like a coffee maker and a couple of electric burners which we used to make breakfast every day. There was a full bathroom and also a stackable washer and dryer.

In summary… we had a delightful stay at Hale Kua and couldn’t have asked for more. We enjoyed waking to the beautiful tropical garden that we could see through the 2 large bedroom windows. The feeling of drinking coffee on the deck overlooking the mountains was magnificent. Admittedly, the crowing did take a little getting used to, if you are unfamiliar with Kauai there are rooster (Moa’s) EVERYWHERE in the wild! The owners were not at all intrusive, in fact after check in we never saw them again until checkout.Â So… by now you’re probably wondering about the price. Well, the cost was a modest $110 per night. Our total for the 5 nights was $617 with taxes!

I uploaded a few photos of the mountain side cottage in Kauai to my Picasa Web Albums.

Mountain Cottage In Kauai is a post from: Adjectize