….did you know that the poinsettia is actually a tree
I’m looking after my neighbour’s plants while she’s away. Two of them are white poinsettias and they don’t look very healthy. According to Becky B over at Life with B this is very normal in Feb/March when they normally lose all their leaves before summer. The individual flowers on one of the plants still look quite pretty.
…Mary your orchid is blooming beautifully
…thanks to Cee of this very interesting topic for her Black and White Photo Challenge
…I’m glad that someone is getting joy out of this crazy weather
Actually seeing this angel brought me joy and it brought back memories of me as a kid doing the same thing in freshly fallen snow. I saw the children who had probably made the angels with their parents when I was walking through the park to catch more ice designs with my camera. It was a bit treacherous because beneath the snow was slick ice. I had visions of falling and sliding down the banks into Lake Ontario. I saw another photographer out looking for interesting shots and he was walking very gingerly over the ice as well.
We had lots of rain last night. Could this be the end of winter? I doubt it but we’re getting closer and closer to spring.
….more snow in the forecast for tomorrow
I can’t believe that I was lamenting about having no snow back in early January. Now it just keeps coming. The upside is that when the sun shines you can tell that spring can’t be too far off. The snow starts to melt but overnight it freezes and the next day it’s like an ice rink on the roads and sidewalks.
Yesterday, during one of those sunny periods I got outside and started to chip away at the ice on the driveway. I think I was outside for two hours. I also walked down to the park and took some photos of the lovely ice sculptures made by Mother Nature.
…thanks to Becca Givens for hosting Sunday Trees
…thanks to Nancy Merrill for hosting the Photo a Week Challenge
Nancy describes depth of field like this:
Depth of field in photography (and light in general) is how narrow a strip of what you are looking at is in focus. In photography, the depth of field is controlled by two things: your f-stop (aperture) and the length of your lens (mm). To narrow your depth of field using aperture, use a smaller f-stop number. This will open your shutter wider and let more light in.
So if you want to shoot something up-close and personal with great bokeh (blurring) in the background, use a smaller f-stop and a longer lens.
Most of my photography is hit and miss, especially with my Panasonic Lumix camera. When I use the iPhone I’ve figured out how to get bokeh or blurring when I want it. The first two shots were with my Panasonic.
The next two were taken with my iPhone.
….with the spike in temperatures this weekend I’m not sure how long these will last
Unlike parts of England where they are already contemplating spring, we will certainly see more snow and ice and low temperatures. Right now we’ve gone from an Arctic Vortex to above freezing in a matter of days. It’s not very pretty out there with all the slush and run off from the snow banks. Fortunately I went out on Friday and found these beautiful ice sculptures along the shores of Lake Ontario just a couple hundred metres from our house. The ice is created when the waves hit the rocks and come up over the banks onto the trees and bushes.
It’s rare for Lake Ontario to freeze but you can see the ice flows close to the shore in some of these photos and yes those are swans out on the lake. Most of them have their heads nestled close to their bodies under their wings.
