Flying High

Looking up from the flowers and lizards, I saw this hawk circling above. While it was circling, it kept on drifting west. I think it was just soaring and going where ever the wind took it. I took a few pictures and looked to make sure they were good, and when I looked up, the hawk had moved farther west. 

Fallen Leaves

These leaves actually fell to the ground naturally. Passing a driveway, I found it covered in leaves. Normally I would pass it, but I liked the red leaves, so I took a few pictures. I took close-ups and pictures from a high angle. I liked the close-ups better because you get more detail on the leaves and the leaves that aren't in focus or better looking than I large frame with everything in focus. 

Falls Color's

During the past few weeks, there have been heavy rains. While this made flooding and other problems for the city, the water helps make some interesting pictures. In a canal beneath a red tree, several leaves fell (and I picked one to make this picture). I picked the reddest leaf I could find to stand out against the tree. 

Halloween

I passed by several houses with Halloween decorations, but this house stood out. I like the bright green skeleton on the swing and the brown skeletons sitting on the chairs in the background. After this Halloween house, I will continue with a fall theme. As fall comes yellow and red colors take the place of green on the trees and leaves begin to fall. 

Leafy Green

After posting several pictures about lizards, one of my friends sent me this picture. I really like it. I like the contrast between the purple and green, and the different colors of green between the lizard and leaves. The lighter shade of green in the lizard help it stand out against the dark green and the purple leaves. 

Pumpkin Stare

The last lizard I saw was this one. It was on a bumpy pumpkin and like the others, was staring at something. It was hard to get this high definition of focus because of how small the lizard was. I took hundreds of pictures just trying to get the perfect one. 

Over Looking

Another member of this lizard family was on a leaf. Like the last picture, I wanted to get as close as I could. I chose this picture because of its clarity and detail on the lizard. There is a very sharp focus on the lizard which I really like. 

Little Lizard

At the little pumpkin patch, there were several different lizards. There were two big one and a least one smaller one. I tried to get level with this smaller lizard and have its head be sticking into the air. While I wish the camera was a little lower, I still like the angle of this picture. The lizard also helped me by turning its head towards me and raising it just over the flowers.

Fall Plants

The little pumpkin patch had all types of pumpkins and several other plants. These included the white flowers in the left side of the picture and the peppers in the top right of the picture. There was also corn and many other types of seasonal fall flowers. 

Pumpkin Patch

One house that I traveled by had a small patch of pumpkins and other fall plants in front of it. I was taking pictures of the plants when I saw this lizard then two others. I wanted to get the closest and most focused picture of the lizard. I also wanted to have the other festivee plants in the background since it is fall. 

Roadside Stop

On the side of the road was this grey bird. I started taking pictures of him in the sandy grass, but it was too hard to see it. So, I waited for it to move onto something with a different color so it would stand out more. It went onto the road to eat a tree nut that had fallen and that's when I took this picture. 

Look Out

High in a tree, was this squirrel. It was looking out from the tree and at me. I believe it thought of me as a threat, so it wanted to stay away from me. I tried to get as close as I could before it ran away. This was my last shot before I was too close. 

Blue Jay

At the pool of water, there were also blue jays. I couldn't get close enough to the blue jay because it flew away whenever I was within around 40 feet of it. I chose this picture because I like how the bird is just staring at me. I also like it because the water is mostly in focus and the bird is in perfect focus. 

Flight

I was watching some birds around a pool of water when one flew into this tree. It stayed there for a few minutes, before flying back to the water. Right as it left the tree, I started taking pictures of it. I am surprised how most of the bird is still in focus. It took off very fast, but I had my shutter speed high enough that it is mostly in focus. 

Hunting

This squirrel was hunting for some food when I found it. There was some cloud cover, so my shutter speed wasn't as high as I would have liked it to be. This meant that my pictures were blurry and not in focus. I normally like my pictures in focus, but I like this picture when it isn't in focus. It helps show that the squirrel is moving and hunting for some acorns. 

Macro Photography

Close-up pictures like this one, are macro photography pictures. Pictures that have a small object fill the frame. The problem with macro photography of animals, is they get scared of you. As you move closer, they feel threatened, so they move away. For this picture, I wanted to have the butterflies in a very sharp focus with the background blurred. 

Fall

As fall hurries in after summer, the plants and animals become harder to find. The leaves fall off and some animals try to stay warm. One of the good things about winter is it makes bird spotting easier. One of my favorite birds, one that I don't take many pictures of, is the bluebird. They don't migrate for the winter and since the trees have no leaves on them, it makes them easier to find and take pictures of. 

Monarch Butterfly 

On the same flower as the other butterflies, there was this monarch butterfly. I like the colors on it. It has a dark background with lighter circles. The circles on the butterfly are supposed to look like eyes to scare away birds from eating it. 

Butterfly

On a theme of capturing animals that need flowers, I found this butterfly. Like the fly, it took several attempts before I could get a perfect focus on the butterfly. I like how the head is off of the flower. It helps define the head and give detail to it. 

Bubbles

Not long into my bike trip, I found this water fountain in front of a house. It was incredibly sunny that day, so it was easy for me to increase the shutter speed. I  set the shutter speed on the highest it could go, and I started taking pictures. I chose this picture because of the bubbles in the water and the big bubble on the middle left side of the picture.