Tag Archives: nature

close-up, Photography

A close up look

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This rock was my subject. Not that interesting? If you go closer you may reconsider.

rock with small plants

When I was shooting that rock people were looking at me a little weird. It was located in front of the shopping mall Central in Bratislava,  so you can imagine that there were a lot of people passing through. At one point, a man approached me and tried to see what I was shooting at with so much interest and passion. After a moment of concentration and study he told me that it looked like a meteorite.

Close up photography  is very fascinating and creative. By moving in closer you see the subject from a different perspective. The subject is isolated, the background is out of focus, new details appear and the result is magical and unique.

close up photo of the plants on the rock
Plants on the rock | by karafc

Capturing a close up shot from the plants on the rock above was a great and rewarding result.

close up photo of the plants on the rock
Plants on the rock | by karafc

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landscape, nature, Photography

Autumn photography

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 Autumn is here!

The turning of the season is always a great opportunity to capture the change of the surroundings.

jpg_autumn_tree_lake_dscn1084
Autumnal scene by the lake Kuchajda, Bratislava | by karafc

Autumn marks the transition from summer to winter.  One of its main features is the shedding of leaves from deciduous trees and plants. The  leaves are changing colors and become yellow, orange, red and brown.

jpg_autumn_tree_medicka_zahrada_dscn1239
Tree in Autumn | by karafc

Red, yellow, orange and brown  leaves are blending all together and create a colorful veil, which is embracing the earth and transforms the surroundings into a spectacular view.

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close-up, Photography

Agapanthus flower

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On a warm Summer day, this purple flower bud, which you can see in the photo below,  began to  bloom in my mom’s garden.  As always, I didn’t know the name of the flower, so I made a little search!
flower_purple_garden_closeup

Here is what I found out

The flower is called ‘Agapanthus’ which means flower of love, from the Greek agape, meaning love, and anthos, meaning flower.

Agapanthus is also commonly known as  Lily of the Nile,  African Blue Lily, and African Lily. It origins from South Africa. There are now more varieties of this genus than ever before.  Agapanthus flowers bloom in large, round clusters or umbels of blue, white or violet-blue.

It is built to withstand even the toughest summer conditions. It is a common garden plant, easily grown even in coastal areas – especially if the plant is well watered and it flowers in summer.

flower_white_agapanthusI spent a lot of time shooting the agapanthus flowers. I started capturing their progression from when they were small buds and I continued shooting them as they grew. These flowers have a slow and steady blooming progress, so it took me a few days to fully seize their evolve to their fullest.

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landscape, Photography

Sunset silhouettes

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I love sunsets. The sky and the sea are painted with such great colors and it is fairly called the golden hour.  It is also known as “magic hour” but in photography, the first hour of light after sunrise, and the last hour of light before sunset, during which daylight is redder and softer, we prefer the term the golden hour. 

sunset_silhouettes_1At those specific timeframes we can achieve a great effect. We can create a silhouette  of a subject which is back-lighted from the sun. In photography, a silhouette is defined as an outline that appears dark against a light background.  More specifically, it is where our subject is seen as a black shape without detail against a brighter background.  This effect can be achieved with any kind of bright light source, but the most commonly used is the sun around sunrise or sunset.

sunset_at_potima_sea_0396_2

These past few days, I have been going for a walk along the sea shore during sunset and the view it’s just breathtaking! 

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Other

The wish flower

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Foreword

I am the sun in sky of green 
I am the golden summer queen
I’m the friend to every child
Because I’m strong, bright and wild.

Grown-ups cut me when they mow-
Forget they loved me years ago.
But when I’m gone, then don’t you sorrow.
I’ll be back again tomorrow. 

This is a poem about dandelion flower from the poetry book “The Winds that Come From Far Away and other poems”,  by Else Holmelund Minarik (the author of the Little Bear books).

dandelion_big_book

Dandelion is known as the wish flower. The plant flower is yellow and when the flower matures you see the white fluffy seeds. Some people say, that when you see the first dandelion of the season, you should make a wish and others say you should blow on a dandelion puff and make a wish. After that, you are supposed to say:   “Dandelion, puffs away, Make my wish come true some day.”

close-up, Photography

Paper wasp

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On Easter time we were invited by family friends to a village called Melini, in Cyprus, that is close to the forest. The house is built on a hill and the nature there is beautiful,  so I went for a walk around the house and I found a lot of things to shoot. Something  that attracted my attention was a wasp trying to get into his nest. So I spent a lot of time there taking as many shots  as I could from different angles. As soon as I got home  I searched  the web for more information.

Some information from Wikipedia

paper wasp
photo by karafc

Paper wasps are 1.8 to 2.5 cm long wasps that gather fiber from dead wood and plant stem, which they mix with saliva, and use to construct water-resistant nests made of gray or brown papery material. Paper wasps are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, due to the distinctive design of their nests.

Unlike other wasp species, which can be very aggressive, paper wasps will generally only attack if they themselves or their nest are threatened. But if they attack their stings are quite painful and can produce a potentially fatal anaphylactic reaction in some individual.

Most wasps are beneficial in their natural habitat, and are critically important in natural biocontrol.  Paper wasps feed on nectar and other insects, including caterpillars, flies, and beetle larvae. Because they are a known pollinator and feed on known garden pests, paper wasps are often considered to be beneficial by gardeners.

photo by karafc
photo by karafc

In my effort to get  better shots I had  to get closer.  I am so glad that the paper wasp  didn’t think of me as  a threat, or else I would have  been stung!

Photography

My first steps in photography

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As photography is one my passions, buying a good dslr camera has made the bucket list. There was nothing wrong with my Nikon coolpix s2600, but I wanted to take it  to the next level. I wanted to be more creative and it was about time.  For the last year, I have been taking intensive online courses in order to get better and learn in depth the world of photography.

As of January 2015, I am  using my new DSLR Nikon D3300 with nikkor 18-55mm  kit  lens and I am very satisfied.  Most probably I will need  more types of lenses and some additional gear.  The good thing is that we are  a ‘Nikon family’ – my father, my sister and I – we can borrow and use each other’s gear.   At the end I will see what gear I will use or need the most  and I will write it first thing in my bucket list!

No offence to other manufacturers; I’m pretty sure that their cameras are as good as the Nikon but as I said above – it’s a family thing!

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