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John Hadden Photography

Photography of the Natural World

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flowers

Lily Haze

A day lily in hazy, humid morning light
A day lily in hazy, humid morning light

I went out in the morning with my camera into the hazy and humid air that seems to be the rule this summer here in Vermont. I took several photos of day lilies and other flowers, but didn’t realize that my camera’s optics had kind of hazed up due to the humidity. Most of the photos were unusable, but this one had an dreamy, soft smoothness to it that I kind of like. I suppose you can pay good money for a filter that does the same thing (or do it in software), but there’s nothing like a happy accident!

Note to self: give you equipment time to acclimate!

Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm, ISO 800, f/14, 1/640″.

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Wild Strawberry

Wild Strawberry ripening along Fargo Brook
Wild Strawberry ripening along Fargo Brook

Springtime’s prolific wild strawberry blossoms along Fargo Brook are ripening into a pretty good crop of berries. I had to lay down flat on the ground to capture this image. And, yes, it was tasty as was its neighbor!

Photo Info: Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro, ISO 800, f/8, 1/60″.

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Daisy Fleabane

Daisy Fleabane blooming in a clearing in the woods near Fargo Brook.
Daisy Fleabane blooming in a clearing in the woods near Fargo Brook.

Daisy fleabane in bloom in an old road clearing in the woods above Fargo Brook.

Photo Info: Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro, ISO 2000, f/13, 1/800″ exposure.

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Bug Hunting

Bug hunting is one of my favorite photographic endeavors. Armed with my D600 and trusty 105mm macro lens, I head out into our front field to  bag my quarry. You have to be slow and quick at the same time, moving slowly and patiently to see what’s around you, then moving in quick to get the shot. I never really know what I’ve got until I get back home and dump the images onto my computer. In this particular round, the crab spider with the fly in its mouth was a complete surprise. Even through the lens, I thought the black bit was the spider’s eyes. When I blew it up, I discovered that I wasn’t the only one hunting bugs!

Most of these shots were taken at ISO 800 with apertures between f/8 and f/13 and shutter speeds of 1/800″-1/2000″.

A northern crab spider bags a small fly. This was an unexpected surprise!
I was shooting the yellow crab spider on the buttercup when the elongated flower fly zipped into the frame. A lucky shot!
A soldier fly (?) perches on a lesser stitchwort blossom.
A tiny jumping spider hunts on a milkweed leaf.
A leaf-footed bug crawls up a grass stem.
A tawny-edged Skipper on a milkweed leaf.
An unidentified beetle perches on a black-eyed Susan.
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Like a Fly on Chicory

A large bee-like fly works a chicory blossom.
A large bee-like fly works a chicory blossom.

I was out shooting chicory blossoms along Camel’s Hump Road yesterday morning. This large fly happened to alight in the blossom I was focussed on. The crispness of the detail in the flower’s stamens and the fly’s wings and back, and contrasting colors really work for me…

Photo Info: Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm, ISO 800, f/13, 1/800″ exposure.

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Philadelphia Fleabane

purple-astors

Philadelphia Fleabane catch the morning sun down along Brush Brook in Huntington.

This shot was influenced by another photographer I follow on WordPress, Paul Davis. He tends to take a lot of shots of flowers and grasses with very narrow depth of field to really hone in on his subject while allowing the bokeh to really bloom behind. It takes a really fast lens (f/1.8 or f/2.8) to accomplish this. My macro lens can pull it off, but f/4.8 was the best I could do with the lens I had on the camera at the moment. Still, the effect is there…

Photo Info: Nikon D600, Nikon 18-35mm lens @ 32mm, ISO 800, f/4.8, 1/800″

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