Budding Maple Leaf & Really Right Stuff Macro Rail

Budding Maple Leaf

Here's an image from my front yard.  I shot directly into the light with the Nikon 105 2.8 and extension tubes.  Taken on a tripod with a Really Right Stuff macro rail.  The macro rail lets me fine tune the focus without having to move the tripod which makes close-up/macro photography much easier.  You can even stack two macro rails to fine tune the left and right axis in addition to the fore and aft...  Cool stuff but much harder with moving subjects like mayflies.

Silver Creek Wild Flowers And Current Sun Valley Conditions

Upland Larkspur--Taken at The Silver Creek Preserve With The Nikon 105 2.8 Lens

I drove down to Silver Creek yesterday and spent the morning shooting.  The skies were gun-metal gray and it rained on and off lightly.  Raptors were perched here and there on fence posts and telephone poles.  The soil was damp and it finally smelled like early summer despite the cool, wet weather.  There was not much going on in the way of hatches--I was hoping to see a few baetis or PMD's.  It really feels like everything is almost two weeks later this year.  The Big Wood water flow has essentially dropped to half the flow of 4 days ago--it's roughly 1,000 cfs at the moment with about 3 feet of clarity.  That won't last for long though...  By next week the daytime highs are supposed to be in the 70's and depending on how warm it stays and for how long and how warm/cold our overnight lows are will tell the story of just how big the Wood will get this year.  Add to that a little rain and well, we'll just see.

The Big Lost has DROPPED back down to 214 cfs.  Again, that could change any day but at the current level it should be nothing short of stellar!

The one promise of Summer, though, that I discovered walking around the Nature Conservancy were a few of the wildflowers which had emerged here and there.  Phlox and Bluebells & Upland Larkspur littered the trail from the cabin down to Silver Creek.  The light was perfect for wildflower close-ups.  Here are a few more...

Upland Larkspur

Phlox

Bluebells

Bluebells 2

A Rose Study

Rose Petals.  Black & White

Rose Study 1

Rose Study 2

Rose Study 3

Rose Study 4

Rose Study 5

 

All of the above images taken in Santa Barbara, CA with the Nikon 105 2.8 lens.

Spring Flowers

The above crocus showed itself in my garden a few days ago.

 

 

Images taken with the Nikon D200 and the Nikon 105 2.8 lens.