Backyard Butterflies

It took long enough for summer to get into full swing here in Germany. And now that it's finally here our backyard has been full of butterflies. Ariana has learned to gently catch them and put them in her bug box to study and observe.

The other afternoon she had up to 5 butterflies in her box that she caught all by herself. 

Of course for me it was the perfect time to break out my macro and take some shots. After a little while we set them free but boy did she have fun catching and watching them!

These were taken with my Nikon D7000 and Nikkor 105mm/f2.8G macro lens.

We discovered that macro shots of a butterfly makes them look kind of alien in the face.

 I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get their eyes more in focus no matter how I angled the camera, what aperture I used or where I focused. 

Fellow photographers, any tips?

The little yellow one was my favorite to photograph.
Ariana had such a good time playing outside. So happy I'm getting this quality summertime fun with my girlie!

Return of the Macro!

I got my macro back the Monday before I flew to Florida on that Thursday. If you read this post you already know the horrible sad story of my broken marco and how happy I am to get it back in time for my trip. Here are some of my first shots from my newly repaired lens in Florida.

I loved finding these little lizards. I believe they are a brown anole also called the tree anole but I'm not a biologist so I'm not certain. It may take some more research. But they were cute lizards with a white stripe up their back and yellow around their eyes. They were all over the plants outside my mom's porch.

And then I found this white caterpillar with black spikes which I'm pretty certain is a Heliconius charithonia and grows to be a Zebra Longtail butterfly which is the official butterfly of Florida! Awesome!

 This is my photo of the Zebra Longtail from our trip to Flamingo Gardens in Florida last year.

I'm VERY happy to have my macro back on my camera, especially now that we're in Florida and I can capture those little lizards up close! 

P64: Blue Violet

It seems like we've had a lot of blues lately. Cadet blue, blue and now blue violet! But I think this has the be the weirdest blue thing I've found lately. 

While walking in the woods we stumbled upon this black looking beetle, but when the light hits him just right he's BLUE VIOLET!

 And he's ugly! Thank you macro!

Find more blue violet photos here:

Nature Photography

Here are some pretty nature photographs I've taken recently to add some cheer to the first day back after the holiday weekend! 

Flowers, ladybugs, bumble bees and butterflies!

Ariana and I will be on an airplane all day tomorrow, flying to Florida! Wish me luck!

xo's

Cat

Blue Skies, Appleblossoms, and Wildflowers

Blue skies, Appleblossoms, and Wildflowers. These are just a few things you can find in my backyard lately.

I was on the phone with my sister the other day and stepped outside. I saw this beautiful blue sky and couldn't shut up about it. It just looked bluer than usual and the clouds were puffy little cotton balls floating in the sky. I took a moment to appreciate, and then grabbed my camera. Sarah, these are the photos I was taking when you could hear my shutter going off! I think my neighbors are starting to think I'm crazy cause I'm always outside with my camera!!

I love Spring!

**Sidenote: Currently I'm away enjoying our impromptu weekend in Paris! This was waiting to be posted in my drafts and I thought I would share it while I was off strolling the streets of Paris! :) Happy weekend y'all! I'll be back soon with my P64, Scavenger Hunt and of course a photo heavy post about our weekend in Paris. It's so magical here! 

Au revoir! **

Scavenger Hunt Sunday (6)

I think I'm starting to really get the hang of this hunt each week and I'm finding  the photos are coming easier and earlier in the week! Here are my lovely finds for this week:

Hi Key

(I had never used Hi Key before on my camera. I really love the soft dreamy feel it gave these flowers)

Bedroom

(I went all abstract and creative on this one. You know how it is in the mornings, everything is all blurry and you don't wanna get out of bed yet.)

Something Tiny

(First thought, glitter. It's fun and pretty and I found out it makes very nice bokeh to boot. I had so much fun playing around to get this shot!)

Off In The Distance

(I went for a walk on the outskirts of our village here in Germany. I think I'm falling in love with the beauty of Germany. This scene was just magical. The cute German houses clustered together in the valley, the sprawling hillsides, the magnificent horse and off in the distance against a dusky sky you can see windmills spinning in the breeze.)

Stripes

(Well hello Mr. Bumblebee! Your so cute and fuzzy and striped. Can I be your paparazzi?!)

This week I feel like I rocked it!! I'm pretty pleased with how all my images came out!
As always I'm linking up here:

xo's
Cat

P64: Spring Green

I had my green picture all set and ready to go on Saturday afternoon. Then, I went outside and there was this pretty green butterfly floating around the flowers! I knew I had to capture him. Makes my first shot seem so lame, I'm not even going to tell you what it was. 

He was hard to photograph but ultimately I got a pretty clear shot of him sipping some nectar! 

Don't you just love his wings and their brown spots like a leaf?! 

Nature is so amazing!!

I'm linking up with Project 64 here:

xo's

Cat