Flowers and Bugs after Sunrise

In my previous entry,i posted some photos of the Sun rising.I actually went for a walk after that.It was still very early in the morning.About 6.30 am,i think.The place was deserted except for a few cars and a man who was jogging.There was a very nice patch of grass and weeds just above the embankment.
It was covered with these small yellow flowers.I thought they were dandelions.But they are actually "false dandelion".So,i went down low to get some shots of these amazing flowers.

I eventually ended up lying flat on my belly to get some shots.It was nice.The place was clean.No trash or dog poop for that matters.There were these strange sweet-smelling weed all over the place.It really was a good experience just lying low on the ground.Apart from the false dandelions,there were also some thistle.
It's a thorny plant with very,very pretty flowers.

The lighting that morning was pretty decent.I guess that's why most of my photos turn out great that day.Even my macro photos shot at f/16 looks great!Anyways,enjoy the photos:

False dandelions bathing in the early morning sunshine

A yellow thistle up close.My personal favorite shot of the day/The DOF was very shallow,but somehow i managed to get most of the flower in focus.
I love the small pollen on those black sticks

Purple thistle.Not yet in bloom.Look at that thorns.Amazing plant,right?

Thistle again.I like the way the small,round thing caps the thorny part

The purple part is starting to emerge

I'm not sure what is this plant called.I just saw a bunch of these small seedlings with thorns on top.
Maybe it's a thistle seedling?Who knows

Some more false dandelions.
I just love the way the sunlight washes over the flower.
NOTE: false dandelions have branches.true dandelions dont.

A dandelion head almost bare of seed.Some still stick to it,though.Maybe too afraid to let go.
:D

A bee feeding on the sweet nectar of a thistle.Note that the thistle's pollens are grey or dark purple in color.
Dandelions obviously have yellow coloured pollens.

The very same thistle.But with a large bug on its back

The same thistle with a view of the bridge in the background.That's the very same bridge that appears on my sunrise photos.

Yes,i know the focus was all wrong in this photo.
I shot it with a reverse ring attached to my kitlens.
It was hard and downright impossible to get a decent focus.
Plus the plant was moving.
I just wanted to show the kind of magnification you could achieved using a reverse ring mounted on a 18-55mm kit lens.

Another weed with small flowers.I like the leaves.They're triangular!

This has to be my favorite shot of the day.
I think it's great coz the flower actually looks like an eye(well,somewhat like an eye).
Only the middle part is devoid of seeds.

Field of false dandelions.See how tall the grasses are?
The blue strip in the background is the river Volga.
and yes,i intentionally took this photo with a slanted horizon.

Oh,yeah..this is the sweet-smelling weed that i mentioned earlier.
This photo is not very sharp,But i like the flare in this photo.
And i wanted to show you the sweet smelling weed.
Tell me if you know what it's called.

So,thank you for viewing my blog.My photos arent professional-level.But i guess it's decent enough for a beginner.I got involved in photography less than 5 months ago.
So,any critiques or comments are welcomed.
Do check out my Flickr account.But i actually posted more photos here.Mainly because the free Flickr account only shows the most recent 200 photos.Here,i can post an unlimited number of photos as like :D.

Sunrise at 5 am

I've been wanting to take photos of the Sun rising for ages.But I wasnt able to do so,up until this morning.
I knew that the Sun rises at 530 am today,so i woke up early at 5.I was pretty surprised when i saw that it was already quite bright outside.I rushed outside with my camera and tripod.The Sun wasnt up yet.Thank God.

So,that gave me time to scout for suitable location.I had a plan of going to the City Center where they have this bridge and an amazing building which will make a terrific foreground.But there wasnt enough time.I had barely 15 mins to find a good location and set up my equipment.Finally,i settled down on the riverbank.The very same place that i took some photos of a few months ago (this post).But the water level was much higher.I had to set up my tripod on the stairs,just inches away from the water.

I finished setting up just in time to witness and photograph the Golden Hour.The sunrise was exquisite.
I got some pretty decent shots.Enjoy.

Me enjoying the sunrise
This is actually the first photo of myself that i've ever taken.It is nice to have a photo of yourself every once in awhile.

I dont actually like this photo very much.It is one of the first photos that i took this morning.I wasnt quite sure of the composition at the moment.I wanted a silhouette,and this is what i got.But i do like the colors and clouds in this photo

Boat tethered to the riverbank.If you had read my earlier post,you would recognized this boat.It's the boat that's located on the bank when the water level is low.Apparently,you have to tethered it to the ground when the tide rises,or it might drift into the Volga.

A landscape shot of the same boat.The sun rises just behind the bridge.I distinctly remember that Sun used to rise a little bit more to the right. As in the other side of the bridge (this side).I dunno.Is this possible?Sun rising at different sites?

Silhouette of the boat

I actually like this photo better.Because the boat is exposed better and you can see the blades of light coming through the steel frame of the boat.Is it called flare?I dunno.I thought flare is the round ones.

My personal favourite,I think this photo have a better composition compared to the ones before.
I also like the exposure.I added the ND filter effect during post processing coz i dont have the actually ND filters at the moment.

Also one of my favorite shots of the day.I like the patterns made by the veins on the leaves.It's amazing.If you zoom in,you can actually see the mosaic shape of the whole thing.God's creation is truly amazing.

The Sun was almost fully rises when i took this photo.The boat had capsized.I dunno how or when this happens.But the workers here didnt seem too concern about it.

There's actually a dock for boats and small yachts about 50 meters ahead of the capsized boat.I took several photos of the place.None turned out okay.Mainly because I couldnt get the exposure and composition right.The man who worked there shooed me away,telling me no photography allowed in the area.Ah well,i got some good pictures of the sunrise and i'm happy.

Maybe i'll try getting some shots at different locations next time.The exam is coming.I dont think i'll be able to go out and take photos nearly as often as i do now.

In my next post,I'll be posting some photos of flowers that i took today right after i was done with the sunrise.Thank you for reading.Do have a look at my Flickr Photostream.Add me if you're on Flickr too.

And of course,any comments/critiques are welcomed.I'm here to learn and improve my photography skills.

Bugs from the Countryside

As promised, here are some of the photos that I took yesterday.I was bitten by mosquitoes, ticks and a bunch of other blood sucking insects.But it was worth it.

The only thing I'm not very happy about is the fact that im not a good landscape photographer.The view was breathtaking, yet I couldnt take a good enough picture to commemorate the occasion.

Anyways,here are some shots of bugs from yesterday.

Spiders are very hard to photograph.Not only that they are very shy, the run fast.The spider stayed on this leaf for like 5 secs and it's gone.It's a good thing I got the exposure and focus right.I actually got only one shot of this amazing creature!

Honeybee hard at work.I just love the pollens sticking on its fury heaf and feet.Bees are more in abundance compared to spiders considering so many trees are in bloom.But it's kinda hard to predict which flower they're gonna be landing on and for how long they'll stay.It's hard work photographing bees.

This bee is a little different from the resy.It's darker in color and I dont see any yellow stripes on it's body.I wonder if it's from a different species.

This bug here, I believe is a type of beetle.But it was very small.Barely 1 cm in length.He's a nice fellow.Didnt even run when I move the leaves and stems aside to photograph him better.

Another shot of the beetle.It kinda look like a small rhinoceros beetle.

Another bee drinking the sweet nectar from an apple blossom.

A small spider just hanging on its web

A red bug with fancy patterns on its back.What is this bug called anyways?

Thank you for spending a little bit of your time browsing through my photos.Hope you enjoy it.Any comments or critique are welcomed.I'm still learning and would appreciate a bit of teaching from more experienced photographers out there. 

Day at Akhtuba River

Earlier this morning I went for a picnic in the countryside.As I might have mentioned in my earlier post, I live in the Russian city of Volgograd.It's located along the River Volga.Well to get to the campsite in the countryside, we had to cross the Volga.The campsite was actually located along one of the many tributaries of the Volga known as Akhtuba.It was a much smaller river compared to the Volga.

The moment the bus got on the opposite bank of the Volga, I was awestruck by the beauty of the countryside.There were actual forests,large fields with cows and sheep and green trees.It was so breathtakingly beautiful. I need to go there again.It's barely 15 mins away from my apartment. If only I had a car or even a bike.

Anyways.I'll be uploading photos from the picnic tomorrow.Got some pretty good shots of bees there.I already uploaded a few photos on my Flickr photostream.Be sure to check that out!

It's a screenshot of the route taken by the bus on the way to the countryside.p's really close to my apartment!