Plant Photos – Page 2

How to photograph a frog

If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.

You can click on each photo below for a larger view. If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe so you can enjoy the new photos I post a few times a week.

So how do you photograph a frog? I have no idea but I’ll tell you something. Don’t bring kids who are running low on patience with you when you want to photograph animals that don’t care about you taking their pictures. My only tip is to find a pond with a lot of frogs in it. Eventually one or two will come out of the water long enough for you to snap a few photos. I believe all of the frogs featured in this post are American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana).

And be ready for most frogs to come out of the water just this much. Apparently they think it’s good enough.

If you’re lucky, the frog will completely come out of the water, but you still may end up with a camera shy frog. Or maybe it really doesn’t want you to take its picture.

Alright, not all frogs are that rude. These two little frogs didn’t have any problem with me standing there, as long as I kept my distance. Honestly I didn’t really have a choice since they were standing in the middle of the pond.

Small American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) on a lily pad

These next two frogs actually demonstrated their swimming skills for me.

This last frog happens to be the biggest one I saw in the pond. It was so big, I would have had to use both hands to grab it. I think it was the same frog in the first picture that eventually came out of underneath those lily pads.

Floral Friday Fotos: Hibiscus blooms

Today I’m participating in Floral Friday Fotos. You can click on each photo for a larger view. If you enjoy my photos, I encourage you to subscribe and receive updates when I post new photos, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

It seems that every hibiscus tree is in bloom right now in San Diego. Yellow, orange, pink, or red hibiscus flowers are everywhere I look. Here are a few hibiscus blooms to brighten your Friday.

I really like bright yellow hibiscus flowers but I think they look even nicer with a red center.

This last one is probably my favorite, with a bright purple center and a yellow border.

September 11, 2014February 6, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, Flower Photos, Plant PhotosTags: Floral Friday Fotos, hibiscus blooms, hibiscus flowers, nature photography, photos of blooms, photos of flowers, purple and yellow hibiscus, yellow and red hibiscus, yellow hibiscus flower 10 Comments

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure

Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “adventure”. Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

Our adventures this summer kept us close to home. The most adventurous we were was probably the week we spent in the small mountain town of Idyllwild, California. During our visit, we tried a hiking trail new to us called the Ernie Maxwell scenic trail. Scenic is the word because it gave us beautiful views of the mountains and the valleys all around, while hiking mostly in the shade.

View of Mount Jacinto while hiking on the Ernie Maxwell scenic trail

Of course we had a lot of other hiking adventures, mostly in the woods so we could hide from the baking hot Southern California summer sun.

And we enjoyed small adventures by the water, such as this lovely pond where we got to see a lot of birds and some fish.

Talking about birds, we spotted this beautiful violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) outside our cabin window. It had built a nest right underneath so we got to see it fly back and forth a lot over our week’s stay.

And you can’t hike without meeting cottontail rabbits. This one wasn’t too scared of us, as long as we stayed on the other side of the fence.

Cottontail rabbit hiding behind a wooden fence

Finally, our biggest adventure probably happened at home this summer, when this red coachwhip snake visited our backyard for the third year in a row. Its babies may come visit us next year, but this guy won’t, as it met its end getting tangling in our netting (I guess it didn’t learn its lesson from the first two times…). That was enough adventure for one day!

September 5, 2014February 6, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, Bird photos, California Photos, Forest Photos, Landscape Photos, Plant Photos, Tree Photos, Woods PhotosTags: cottontail rabbit, Ernie Maxwell scenic trail Idyllwild, hiking in the woods, hiking trails Idyllwild, idyllwild california, nature photography, red coachwhip snake, Tachycineta thalassina, violet-green swallow, Wordpress weekly photo challenge, Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure 8 Comments

Floral Friday Fotos: Pink lotus flower

Before I start with this post, I’d like to ask for your feedback to help me organize my nature photography online store. If you were to buy a photo product, would you search by product type (e.g. print, canvas, mousepad, etc), or by photo theme (e.g. animals, flowers, skies, water, etc)? Which one makes more sense to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to comment below this post.

Going back to our Floral Friday Fotos theme, I found the loveliest pink lotus flower at San Diego’s Balboa Park a few weeks ago. This was the first decent shot I managed to get.

After a large tourist family left that side of the pond (it’s a very popular photo souvenir spot at Balboa Park for good reasons), I managed to photograph this pink lotus flower from a better angle. By the way, it was the ONLY pink (or any color) lotus flower in bloom in the whole pond.

Pink lotus flower at San Diego's Balboa Park — Pink lotus flower at San Diego’s Balboa Park

Eventually I managed to get even closer and snap this photo. The sun was hiding behind a few clouds at the time, so it made for a softer light and I really like the results.

Have you ever seen pink lotus flowers in real life? There are not that easy to find around here. I got lucky last summer when I captured this white lotus flower. Happy Friday!

September 4, 2014February 6, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, Flower Photos, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Water photosTags: close up of lotus flower, Floral Friday Fotos, lotus flower in bloom, nature photography, photos of blooms, photos of flowers, pink lotus flower, San Diego Balboa Park, white lotus flower 10 Comments

Macro Monday: Pine tree sap

Today I’m taking part in the Macro Monday photo challenge. You can click on each photo for a larger view. If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe so you can enjoy the new photos I post a few times a week.

Well, after a long summer break to enjoy my kids’ company, I am back! I’ve managed to take a few photos over the past couple of months, but my SD cards are so full of photos I’ve taken for the past year or so, I’m not sure where to start. One huge goal I have for September is to completely revamp my Zazzle nature photography store and create new photo products for sale, so that should be me busy for a while…

For today’s Macro Monday, I thought I’d share a couple of photos of solidified pine tree sap I spotted during our summer vacation in the mountains of Southern California. I love the way these drops of tree sap show reflections of their surroundings, a bit like a glass marble would.

Macro Monday: reflections in a drop of pine tree sap

This pine tree sap seems to attract insects, which then get stuck on it while it dries up. Eventually they become permanent fixtures of this art created by Mother Nature.

Now that my kids are back in school, I’ll try my best to post new photos several times a week, as well as visit other photo blogs to take a look at the beautiful shots you’ve been taking. Happy Monday!