Plant Photos – Page 19

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above

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Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “from above”. Most photos I take are from a different angle than right from above, but sometimes when it comes to close-ups and macros, placing the camera right above can capture the best picture.

Here are a few samples of photos taken from above. Remember you can click on each photo to view it in a larger format. And if you like what you see, I invite you to subscribe to this blog so you can get new updates as they come. I publish new photo posts 3 to 5 times a week. Enjoy!

I love photographing raindrops, especially as they linger after the rain has gone. If the sun shines a bit, it can makes for a really nice picture.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Raindrops on the leaves of a rose tree — WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Raindrops on the leaves of a rose tree

I don’t like spiders but I like how raindrops sit on a spider web. Here’s an example of a spider web right above smooth river rocks with raindrops on top of it. I have more examples of this type of raindrops here and here, but this photo is a few weeks old.

I usually don’t photograph flowers from right above but these flowers below seemed like the perfect exception. Look how the center of the flower seems almost white as the petals go from yellow to red. Only a shot from above can amplify this pattern.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - bright yellow red flowers — WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – bright yellow red flowers

Of course I can’t talk about flowers without talking about bees. I like photographing them from above to show their beautiful wings. On this photo I shared a couple of weeks ago, I noticed something quite special. Take a close look at the bags of nectar the bee is gathering on its back legs. What an efficient way to gather a lot of nectar!

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Bee carries bags of nectar on legs — WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Bee carries bags of nectar on legs

Finally you also can’t talk about flowers without mentioning butterflies. When they stay put and leave their wings wide open, you have the opportunity to photograph beautiful colors from above.

Here’s a beautiful orange julia butterfly (Dryas iulia).

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Orange julia butterfly (Dryas iulia) — WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Orange julia butterfly (Dryas iulia)

And here’s a postman butterfly (Heliconius Melpomene).

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Postman butterfly (Heliconius Melpomene) — WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Postman butterfly (Heliconius Melpomene)

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Walking down the trail

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Walks, paths and trails

This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is indoor and outdoors walks – anything designed for walking. All my photos are of the outdoors because that’s where I like to be best.

Once you take a trail at the back of Dos Picos County Park and pass the enchanted stone steps I showcased last week, you find yourself walking on a path bordered with many Ramona lilacs. If you hike in the spring, when the lilacs are in bloom, this is what you get to see as you follow the trail:

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Trail in Dos Picos County Park — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Trail in Dos Picos County Park

And it only gets better as you walk along. Here’s a blast of green, purple and bright blue! I know, I still owe you a few close-ups of the Ramona lilacs, but at least you can see what the lilac trees look like full size. Aren’t they pretty?

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Trail bordered by Ramona lilacs — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Trail bordered by Ramona lilacs

Another favorite spot where we enjoy hiking in Louis Stelzer County Park. On the day I took the photos below, the sky was completely gray but everything on the ground looked very green. In a couple of months, most of it will turn to yellow or brown, and the green probably won’t return until next January.

Here’s the trail that follows the side of the hill. This trail is fun to walk on a cloudy day, but I avoid it like the plague in the heat of summer since there’s no shade.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Trail at Louis Stelzer County Park — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Trail at Louis Stelzer County Park

Fortunately, this park offers a lot of wooded areas by the small creek. This is a great trail to walk on any day of the year. This is as green as it gets in San Diego.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Green trail at Louis Stelzer County Park — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Green trail at Louis Stelzer County Park

Like many parks in San Diego County, this park is full of coast live oak trees, which tend to feature many thick, often contorted branches. Look how this large tree branch curves over the trail to create an arch.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Trail with coast live oak trees — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Trail with coast live oak trees

To me, there’s nothing more pleasant than walking down a shaded trail to make me feel in unison with nature. What about you?

April 24, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Landscape Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Tree PhotosTags: blooms, California pictures, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, coast live oak tree, Dos Picos County Park, hiking trails San Diego, lilac blooms, Louis Stelzer County Park, nature photography, photography, photos, photos of blooms, ramona lilac, walking trails San Diego 10 Comments

Macro Monday: Dandelion in seed

Today I’m taking part in Macro Monday at Lisa’s Chaos. I took my kids to a local county park yesterday and although the gray weather wasn’t warm enough to spend more time than needed on our picnic, it was perfect weather for a hike. We enjoyed beautiful views of the hills, the meadows and the trees. And we got to enjoy plenty of smaller parts of nature, including many flowers and insects.

For this Macro Monday, I’ve decided to feature a dandelion in seed. Believe or not, I’ve never taken a photo of one, so this was a first for me. Not all of it came out in focus so next time I’ll have to play with the depth of field a little bit more. I have to say my kids were very patient and waited until I was all done with my photos to pick this dandelion and blow on its seeds.

Remember you can click on each image for a larger view, and you can subscribe to this photo blog if you like what you see.

Macro Monday: close-up of a dandelion in seed

April 15, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Flower Photos, Photography, Plant PhotosTags: close-up of dandelion, dandelion in seed, dandelion seeds, Macro Monday, photography, photos, photos of flowers, seeding dandelion Leave a comment

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Inside - bee collecting nectar inside bags

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Overlooked

I’m participating in the online adventure travel and outdoor photography magazine LetsBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s Challenge is: Overlooked. This theme is perfect for me because this is the type of photos I take most often. Photos of things that are right in front of your nose but that nobody notices even when they walk right by it. Here are a few photos of beautiful things that can be overlooked, some of them brand new, and others I’ve used in previous posts on this site.

By the way, I was selected as a honorable mention winner for this challenge for my grass photo. Yeah!

Remember you can click on each image for a larger view. If you like what you see, don’t hesitate to subscribe to receive new photo updates.

I took this first photo last week and as I was pressing the shutter, I could see there was something peculiar about that bee. When I opened the photo file on my computer, I was in awe. Did you know that bees have bags, or pollen baskets, on their legs to carry the nectar they collect? This worker bee had obviously been very busy at collecting nectar from the fullness of its bags. How cool is that? None of the people walking by while I was taking pictures noticed this bee or all the others next to it.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Overlooked bee carries bags of nectar on legs

I took the next photo just this past weekend at the beach in Coronado, California. This little crab was half buried in the wet sand at low tide. Dozens of people walked right by it without ever noticing it. What a pity.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Overlooked crab in the sand

Did you know that grass is fuzzy? Even when you take a close-up photo of a grass blade, you may not see it, unless the grass is covered with morning dew. Then the fuzz of the grass really stands out.

Update: I won an honorable mention for this photo in the weekly contest.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Overlooked fuzzy grass covered with dew

This last photo features a red-tailed hawk sitting on the highest branch of a very tall Sycamore tree. Unless you looked up, you wouldn’t know it was there.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Overlooked red-tailed hawk in a tree

April 8, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, Bird photos, Bloom Photos, California Photos, Ocean photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Water photosTags: bags of nectar on bee legs, bags of nectar on the legs of the bee, bee collecting nectar, bees carry nectar bags, crab in sand, crab on beach, dew on grass, fuzz on grass, fuzzy grass, let's be wild weekly photo challenge, Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Overlooked, morning dew, nectar bags on bee legs, photography, photos, photos of flowers, pollen basket, red tailed hawk 12 Comments

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Color

I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is color. The goal is to select photos that feature one color prominently in the frame. What a fun challenge!

For this specific challenge, I decided to share photos I took in a single day, while visiting the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. There sure is a lot of color there if you look closely.

Remember you can click on each photo to see a larger view. If you like what you see, I’d love for you to subscribe to this blog so you can see my new photos as I post them.

My first photo is of a busy bee on bright yellow flowers. I’ll share more photos of bees on these flowers in an upcoming post in the next week or so, so stay tuned.

I wanted to photograph this protea pin cushion up close and I used the purple flowers as a contrasting background. The bright blue sky helps too. If you like protea pin cushion flowers, you can view more here.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Color - orange protea pin cushion flower — WordPress weekly photo challenge: Color – orange protea pin cushion flower

Besides lilac blooms, I’m not sure there’s anything more beautiful than wisteria blooms. If you like wisteria, I’ll be posting more photos of it in the next week or two. Remember to subscribe to this blog if you haven’t already.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Color - purple wisteria — WordPress weekly photo challenge: Color – purple wisteria

If you follow this post, you just saw the photo below this morning, but I wanted to share it with the people who do the WordPress weekly photo challenge. I really like how the pink flowers stand out next to this amazing giant owl butterfly.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Color - pink flowers and giant owl butterfly — WordPress weekly photo challenge: Color – pink flowers and giant owl butterfly

I used the last photo in a post earlier this week but I thought it’d fit perfectly here too. These fluffy yellow blooms belong to a very large tree that was covered with thousands of them.