Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Texture

Zazzle online shop 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.

Today I’m participating in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge and her theme is “texture”. I encourage you to click on each photo to see a larger view. If you like what you see, please subscribe to this blog to receive updates of the new photos I post, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

It can be hard to photograph the texture of a subject. Sometimes you just have to remember or imagine what it feels like in real life to get the idea. Here are a few selections to illustrate various textures, some of them more pleasant than others.

I don’t think you can’t do a photo post on texture without tree bark. I find the patterns and textures of some tree barks wonderful, but I’d hate to scrape my skin on them. 🙂

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Texture of tree bark
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Texture of tree bark

The trunk of this cork oak tree looks and feels a lot softer than an oak or pine tree trunk.

Brown cork oak tree bark
Brown cork oak tree bark

The manzinata tree bark peels off as the tree trunk and branches grow larger. The soft and curled shavings make for some interesting texture to look at and touch.

Close-up of the manzanita tree bark
Close-up of the manzanita tree bark

Soft textures feel good to the touch. I’ve never touched the fuzzy fur of a lemur but I bet it’s pretty soft. Look how fluffy it looks in the sunshine. By the way, I still have to find the time to share more photos of this lemur and his buddies, who seem to enjoy the San Diego sun tremendously.

Texture of a lemur's fuzzy fur
Texture of a lemur’s fuzzy fur

Finally you’ve got to admire (but probably not touch) the gelatinous texture of this sea jelly, which allows it to move around the ocean with the current with minimal effort. I do have more photos of sea jellies to show you also, and a funny story to share about that day. More in a later post!

The gelatinous texture of a Northeast Pacific sea nettle jelly
The gelatinous texture of a Northeast Pacific sea nettle jelly

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

Zazzle online shop 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.

Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “reflections”. 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.

I love photographing reflections as they can be quite a challenge, since a little movement by fish or birds swimming in the water, or even a slight breeze, can affect the reflection. Here are a few of my favorite reflections in the water I got the chance to photograph in the past few months.

In this first photo, the water was very still, so the reflection of these two white ducks was almost perfect.

Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections of two white ducks swimming in the water
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections of two white ducks swimming in the water

In this next picture, you can see a little breeze can distort the reflection of the tall trunks of palm trees in the water. The swimming path of the mallard duck creates even more ripples in the water.

Wood duck swimming on pond with the reflections of three palm trees
Wood duck swimming on pond with the reflections of three palm trees

I had a hard time photographing this mallard duck couple but I really like the reflections of the trees and plants into the rippled water in the foreground

Brown mallard female duck swimming in a pond with tree reflections
Brown mallard female duck swimming in a pond with tree reflections

I love the way the blue sky reflects into this pond water with its smooth ripples. It looks like the water is made out of liquid metal, like mercury.

Reflections of light and tree leaves in pond water
Reflections of light and tree leaves in pond water

Water ripples can make the reflection of a fancy white great egret look a little silly, don’t you think?

White great egret with his reflection in the water
White great egret with his reflection in the water

This last picture is one of my favorite photos featuring reflections. I love the white circles all over the water behind the white great egret. The gray lines are the reflection of a bridge’s fence that goes above the pond.

White great egret with interesting water reflections
White great egret with interesting water reflections

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: two colors or hues only

Zazzle online shop 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.

Today I’m participating in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge and her theme is “two colors or hues only”. I encourage you to click on each photo to see a larger view. If you like what you see, please subscribe to this blog to receive updates of the new photos I post, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

I realized it was quite a challenge to find photos that only showed two colors, and not three or more, but here’s a nice selection of my favorites, like this photo of a beautiful blue sky after the rain and a tree branch covered with leftover raindrops.

Rain drops on a tree branch after the rain
Rain drops on a tree branch after the rain

To continue with the water theme, here are some sea jellies lit up in blue in an aquarium, with the water as a black background.

Sea jellies
Sea jellies

I love to capture red and green on the same picture. These complementary colors are some of my favorite to see in nature, as on this Cotoneaster Lacteus bush in seeds.

Cotoneaster Lacteus bush with red seeds
Cotoneaster Lacteus bush with red seeds

Here’s another example to illustrate how well red and green go together on this passion flower in full bloom.

Passionfruit flower with large red petals and long pistils
Passion flower with large red petals and long pistils

This cactus covered with many tiny yellow blooms is a great attraction for a busy bee looking to collect nectar and pollen.

Bee on yellow cactus blooms
Bee on yellow cactus blooms

Very close to the complementary red and green I shared above, here is a splash of pink and green with this beautiful pink powder puff flower.

Pink powder puff tree - Calliandra Haematocephala
Pink powder puff tree – Calliandra Haematocephala

Yellow and green aren’t complementary colors but I still like the way they look together with this yellow rose flower about to open.

Yellow rose about to open
Yellow rose about to open

Nature sure knows how to make good use of complementary colors everywhere, such as purple and yellow on this large lily flower.

Pistils of a purple and yellow lily
Pistils of a purple and yellow lily

Orange and blue are another set of complementary colors. Is there any better background than a bright blue sky for these orange maple leaves?

Maple tree leaves
Maple tree leaves

Finally, the good thing about white is that it goes well with almost any other color. I love the soft glow it emits when put against a green background. Enjoy this white rose covered with dew drops and a white powder puff bloom as my last two choices for this colorful theme.

Morning dew on a white rose
Morning dew on a white rose
White powder puff bloom
White powder puff bloom

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Perspective

Zazzle online shop 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.

Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “perspective”. 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.

I want to apologize to my regular blog followers because you just saw some of these photos earlier this week, but I think they fit this theme perfectly and I feel compelled to share them again.

Can you guess what this is?

Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge: Perspective - guess what this is?
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Perspective – guess what this is?

Here’s the same subject, taken from a bit further up: it’s wet sand! Mother Nature can draw trees in wet sand on the beach.

Mother Nature makes sand art: tree drawing in the wet sand
Mother Nature makes sand art: tree drawing in the wet sand

Here’s your chance at another guessing game: do you know what this is?

Delicate dew drops on spider web
Delicate dew drops on spider web

Here’s a picture from further away. It’s amazing what you can see when you kneel down and get closer to your subject, in this case raindrops on a grass spider web.

Tiny raindrops on spider web on grass
Tiny raindrops on spider web on grass

To finish with the same theme, here are more raindrops on a different type of spider web, this one over smooth river rocks.

Stones covered with raindrops on spiderweb
Stones covered with raindrops on spider web

And this is what the raindrops look like from further up.

Rain drops on a spider web over river rocks
Rain drops on a spider web over river rocks

And the answer is… Mother Nature does sand art!

Zazzle online shop 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.

Remember the guessing game from yesterday? You had to guess what this picture is. You can click on each picture below for a larger view.

Mother Nature draws trees
Mother Nature draws trees

Two people guessed it right: Annette at The Beauty Along The Road, and Cee at Cee’s Photography.

This is… drum roll, please… wet sand! And I have a picture of a larger area to show you what it really looked like. The darker gray is wet sand in the shade. The whiter part is wet sand in the bright sun. The yellow at the bottom is part of a rock. I took this picture at low tide. As the ocean water disappeared, the waves left this pattern of bare trees in the sand. Since the sand here is a mix of very dark and very light colors, the waves can create interesting patterns, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one as intricate as this one.

Mother Nature makes sand art: tree drawing in the wet sand
Mother Nature makes sand art: tree drawing in the wet sand

Usually, the sand patterns at Coronado Beach look more like this:

Patterns in wet sand: dark and light sand
Patterns in wet sand: dark and light sand

I thought I got lucky when I stumbled upon this interesting pattern. Lots of little trees…

Sand art on the beach in dark and light sand
Sand art on the beach in dark and light sand

Well, that was until I saw the really cool bare trees above. Next time I go back to the beach, I’ll make sure it’s when it’s getting close to low tide so I can look for more patterns like these. I’ve always spent more time photographing the waves but now I realize there is a lot to discover right under my feet.

If you like what you see, please subscribe to this blog to receive updates of the new photos I post, usually 3 to 5 times a week.