Little Tiny Stuff

Yesterday morning there was enough humidity to have a small hoar frost. I saw the sun glinting through the trees and realized that shiny silvery glow I saw was frost!
I think the mules were a bit surprised as to how fast I tossed out hay into their feeder and trotted up to the shed to stash my hay 'sled'.
I grabbed the little red camera and took off.

The burdock sported little frosty crystals.

See the little hooks? And the crystals?

Pretty cool right?

Barbed wire fence:

Multi flora rose thorn in the woods above the creek:

I guess I am always pleasantly surprised every time I take a little walk through the woods and down around the creek.

I sat on a rock and listened to the sounds. There was a mossy rock at my feet. See that arrow?

Now look at the crystal!

As a side note:

Just so you know, this isn't always an easy feature to use but it sure beats trying to set up a DSLR camera. It took me about 4 or 5 shots to get one that I wanted.
When in Microscopic mode the camera takes fairly small photos. Something like 5MB. I wanted a larger print of one of the crystals and finally did work out a way to make it clear AND large enough.

Had I just tried to make an 8 by 10 print it would have turned out noisy and spotty.
I found a work around to that and printed out a nice photo of a snowflake.

The RAW files are much larger but I think Microscopic Mode defaults to a jpeg file.

All right, geek stuff aside, I did find it just perfect for FB, blogs, and other places on the internet.

My favorite of the day was the one below.

This was the middle portion of a twig that was laying across a small rock.

Here is how the twig looked when I pulled back a bit:

I was pretty amazed at how this turned out as I used the 'In focus stack' feature and this was hand held.

Yep, that is a tiny twig with frost growing on it.

The Tiny World is delightful and I am having a great time finding little things on some of these short winter days.



If you suddenly and unexpectdly feel joy, don't hesitate.
Give in to it.
~Mary Oliver

More Olympus Stuff

This should give you some ideas of the details that I can get with the TG6. It requires some maneuvering about on the ground, but it is easier than using a larger camera. I could try it with my regular DSLR Olympus and the macro lens, but being able to go into microscope mode is pretty fun.

It was still pretty dark in the creek bottom when I took these shots so they are a bit 'noisy'. Still, I can live with that because it is so fascinating to see the frost this close!

Perhaps they would have turned out better if I'd had the little LED light attached to the front of the camera. Well. I can always try that again!

Meanwhile, these next few shots were taken last week during the big freeze. I just never got around to posting them.

Olympus OMD EM Mark iii with a kit lens 14mm-150mm
It is sort of an all around lens that can take the wide angle and use a zoom also. It cuts down on the amount of 'gear' I take along with me. It is the camera on the right below.

I do have a macro lens for this camera, but getting those shots under the leaves are nearly impossible unless I dig a hole in the rocks next to the leaves.

The above shots were taken with a Neutral Density Filter and I used a tripod for the long exposures.
When we have a real hard cold snap, I love going out and finding the ice that gathers on twigs, grasses, and roots along the creek.

I need some more time with the TG6 to work out how best to use it on hikes. I certainly won't be taking super long exposures like the ones above.

One more cool and awesome thing. I can remotely operate either camera with an Olympus Share app on my Smarty Phone. It eats up battery quickly on both the phone and the camera. But it is fun to use in certain instances.

One last shot and then I am caught up. On that very cold hike, I took my little point and shoot infrared Canon ELPH camera.
Infrared is not as awesome in the winter. However, you still can get some interesting shots.

Well that was a mish-mash of 'stuff'.
But there you go.

I do like experimenting in photography. It gets me out of the house and keeps me moving right along. All of these photos are within 30 minutes of walking trails around where we live.

I am very lucky aren't I?

I'm staying busy.

I finally got out some Christmas cards and addressed a few. Hmm. I have searched high and low for my address book.

I must have put it in a very safe place, right? I have a lazy way of keeping addresses. I keep the envelopes rubber banded together and around the address book. But where did I put them?
Oh I have no idea!
So how embarrassing is it to email or text someone to ask for an address?

I am hiding my head now. Shame on me!
I wrote a few notes in some of the cards and I actually wrote a nice long letter to my Aunt far and away up North. She lost my Uncle a just over a year ago. I did get to see him a year before he passed. He may have aged in 30 years, but he did not lose one ounce of character.

The temperatures were -3 this morning when I went for a quick hike to the creek just after dawn. I left Charlie inside. Believe it or not, there was mist coming up off the creek in spots where springs are feeding it.

I came up into the pasture and bright morning sun. And decided to try the Microscope Mode on the little red camera.

Can you just see me now? Laying on the grass in front of a patch of snow. Nose to the ground trying to get some sort of focus on a piece of beautiful frozen water???

Yep, that's me. Funny, that the camera even told me what the temperature was when I took the photo. That is wayyyy cool.

Well then. I haven't gotten a Christmas Photo of Charlie yet. I did one every year with Morris for the last 7 years of his life.
The first two shots are with the Little Tough Camera.

Charlie:
Not looking at the camera ... no I won't.

Cookies please? I will not work without cookies!

Oh bother.

...oh sigh Rich!!! Rich! Come and tell her to stop! Really? What is the Gnome on the head all about???

Oh goodness. Let this be OVER soon!

I may not get a good shot of him this year. He is a great little model but dislikes the flash. Perhaps we'll try one more time outside?

Tomorrow I'll post some shots I took this morning early in the creek. I was able to kneel down on the rocks and really get to look at the frost that developed overnight on the oak leaves and rocks.
No goat to nibble on my hat! Or Charlie to walk into the frame!