Pictures for Pam, Day 12: Teasel Leaf Flag
Pictures for Pam, Day 13: Prickly Pear Cactus
Pictures for Pam, Day 14: Rainy Day
Pictures for Pam, Day 15: Sporophyte Party
Pictures for Pam, Day 16: Creamy White Dahlia
Pictures for Pam, Day 17: Oak Gall in the Morning…
Pictures for Pam, Day 18: Macro Monday: 2.0: Shoe
Pictures for Pam, Day 19: Wasp Gall Filled with Wa…
Pictures for Pam, Day 20: Golden Gate Park Treasur…
Pictures for Pam, Day 21: Oak Leaf Cradled by Pine…
Pictures for Pam, Day 22: Happy Fence Friday
Pictures for Pam, Day 23: Manzanita Bark
Pictures for Pam, Day 24: Black Dahlia
Pictures for Pam, Day 25: Macro Mondays 2.0: Glowi…
Pictures for Pam, Day 26: Cascading Gingko Leaves
Pictures for Pam, Day 27: Dahlia Details
Pictures for Pam, Day 28: Resin Tear
sunset
sunrise2
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Pictures for Pam, Day 29: HFF! Leaf in Frosty Fenc…
Pictures for Pam, Day 30: Mushroom Pair
Lovely Sunrise on our Property
Pictures for Pam, Day 10: Glowing Poison Oak Leave…
Pictures for Pam, Day 9: Blush & White Pinwheel Da…
Pictures for Pam, Day 8: Honeysuckle Berries
Pictures for Pam, Day 7: Glowing Leaf
Pictures for Pam, Day 6: View from Upper Table Roc…
Pictures for Pam, Day 5: Lovely Morning
Pictures for Pam, Day 4: Glowing Teasel
Pictures for Pam, Day 3: Tiny Treasures
Pictures for Pam, Day 2: Caught Leaf
Pictures For Pam, Day 1: Nature's Lanterns
Alternate for Macro Monday 2.0: Soft
Delicate Woodland Star
Adorable Itty Bitty Baby Crab Spider
Dreamy Droplet
Baby Grasshopper the Size of a Grain of Rice
Darling Spring Mushroom
My First Ten Pens (after an 8-yr break)
My Next Set of Ten Pens
Pens From the Past, Set 1
Pens From the Past, Set 2
A Single Leaf
Circling Turkey Vulture
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Pictures for Pam, Day 11: Soft Feather for Macro Monday 2.0


NOTE: there are three inset images above! :)
I have been having such a great time reacquainting myself with the ipernity community since my return a week ago. It's been so much fun seeing your photography and leaving comments. I am overwhelmed at the positive response I've been getting to my pictures and the warm welcome back from everyone. It's so humbling and touching.
The other day I was admiring a beautiful macro of an apple and noticed that it was a submission to an ipernity group called Macro 2.0. I went to see what they were about and thought the group sounded like a lot of fun. I considered. Participating in group projects can be a lot of fun but one must be cautious about getting overwhelmed by joining too many of these activities. However, one group would be fine and this would be a perfect choice because I love macro so much.
The new project theme was posted and I mused over the single word, "soft". Hmmm…I had a week to come up with something though I immediately had the perfect idea: I would take pictures of our darling parrot's feathers in various ways and hopefully get one that said "soft" when you looked at it.
Feathers are a fascinating thing. Starting as reptile scales, they evolved over millions of years to become the modern-day feather. Nature is truly remarkable, isn't it? It may be hard to believe that feathers started as scales but one look at Pumpkin's big, scaly feet points to the obvious fact: her ancestors were undoubtedly dinosaurs.
Every bird is covered with many types of feathers, each with an important job—for example, some are used to help them fly, others offer coat-like waterproofing, and close to their skin are mostly-hidden fluffy down feathers which keep them warm. As soft as they look at a distance, a close-up reveals that every feather is incredibly detailed...and they don't look soft at all! Even the softest down feather is composed of dozens of hookless barbs which have even smaller barbules—these look a little bit like thin pipe-cleaners. (If you would like to learn more, here are two really good resources: Everything You Need To Know About Feathers and Anatomy of a Feather .)
This would soon reveal a problem with my idea. Using our nifty macro twin light flash setup, I got lots of well-lit pictures of Pumpkin's fluffiest feathers. The nicest were terrific with crisp detail, bright color and nice background blur. But though the previewed images said positive things they did NOT say "SOFT." Thinking about this, I changed my tactics. I used a shallower depth of field and just a hint of focus which drifted off into bokeh. After adding another bunch of pictures to my memory card, I left my macro setup and hopped on my computer. As I'd already noticed, most of my pictures weren't what I was after. Then I landed on the picture that I picked for today. "Now THAT is what I wanted...SOFT!" I did have another picture that would have worked too, but I think my choice was the right one. I included three inset pictures—one of them is my other choice, and the second one is a crisply detailed image that I really loved. It says "COOL" all over it, but it's in no way a "SOFT" picture! And finally, the third picture isn't a macro at all, but it does say "SOFT" and would you just take a look at our little star?! We do love our darling Pumpkin girl!!
Pam, I know you love stuff like this so I hope you get some enjoyment out of my adventures and subsequent images. Here's hoping that you get my packet of love and hugs through the virtual mailbox!
Explored on 11/20/18, highest position, #5.
I have been having such a great time reacquainting myself with the ipernity community since my return a week ago. It's been so much fun seeing your photography and leaving comments. I am overwhelmed at the positive response I've been getting to my pictures and the warm welcome back from everyone. It's so humbling and touching.
The other day I was admiring a beautiful macro of an apple and noticed that it was a submission to an ipernity group called Macro 2.0. I went to see what they were about and thought the group sounded like a lot of fun. I considered. Participating in group projects can be a lot of fun but one must be cautious about getting overwhelmed by joining too many of these activities. However, one group would be fine and this would be a perfect choice because I love macro so much.
The new project theme was posted and I mused over the single word, "soft". Hmmm…I had a week to come up with something though I immediately had the perfect idea: I would take pictures of our darling parrot's feathers in various ways and hopefully get one that said "soft" when you looked at it.
Feathers are a fascinating thing. Starting as reptile scales, they evolved over millions of years to become the modern-day feather. Nature is truly remarkable, isn't it? It may be hard to believe that feathers started as scales but one look at Pumpkin's big, scaly feet points to the obvious fact: her ancestors were undoubtedly dinosaurs.
Every bird is covered with many types of feathers, each with an important job—for example, some are used to help them fly, others offer coat-like waterproofing, and close to their skin are mostly-hidden fluffy down feathers which keep them warm. As soft as they look at a distance, a close-up reveals that every feather is incredibly detailed...and they don't look soft at all! Even the softest down feather is composed of dozens of hookless barbs which have even smaller barbules—these look a little bit like thin pipe-cleaners. (If you would like to learn more, here are two really good resources: Everything You Need To Know About Feathers and Anatomy of a Feather .)
This would soon reveal a problem with my idea. Using our nifty macro twin light flash setup, I got lots of well-lit pictures of Pumpkin's fluffiest feathers. The nicest were terrific with crisp detail, bright color and nice background blur. But though the previewed images said positive things they did NOT say "SOFT." Thinking about this, I changed my tactics. I used a shallower depth of field and just a hint of focus which drifted off into bokeh. After adding another bunch of pictures to my memory card, I left my macro setup and hopped on my computer. As I'd already noticed, most of my pictures weren't what I was after. Then I landed on the picture that I picked for today. "Now THAT is what I wanted...SOFT!" I did have another picture that would have worked too, but I think my choice was the right one. I included three inset pictures—one of them is my other choice, and the second one is a crisply detailed image that I really loved. It says "COOL" all over it, but it's in no way a "SOFT" picture! And finally, the third picture isn't a macro at all, but it does say "SOFT" and would you just take a look at our little star?! We do love our darling Pumpkin girl!!
Pam, I know you love stuff like this so I hope you get some enjoyment out of my adventures and subsequent images. Here's hoping that you get my packet of love and hugs through the virtual mailbox!
Explored on 11/20/18, highest position, #5.
, Cämmerer zu Nau, Istvan Farkas, Valfal and 55 other people have particularly liked this photo
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And welcome to MM2, and welcome back to Ipernity!
Well, the red neckerchief for your small and colourful friend is a nice idea too ;-)
The third PiP is really cute Janet.
All exquisite pictures and I particularly like the first feather PiP!
wieder etwas von dir zu sehen.
Viel Spaß Dir!!
Love your nice mails to Pam too....
Greetz, Christien.
I also like your choice of images in the PiPs.........two beautifully beautifully sharp and details feather shots, and a delightful Pumpkin shot..!!
the pictures are very fine and delicate and I like your text *****
Your picture is SO well done, Janet ! ******
Have a lovely evening.
la même que nôtre amie Pam
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