Christmas Day In The Park ~ Flowers and Ducks

Merry Christmas, my friends! It's a quiet day here at the Boone home. Our family is far away, and after the phone calls there wasn't much to do but take another walk with our cameras. I'm not complaining, after all this is my favourite thing to do!

Below: A typical Victoria, B.C, Christmas tree.

I'm kidding, this is actually the first time I've seen a palm tree with decorations. This is in someone's yard just around the corner from us. I got a real kick out of it and wanted to show you a photo! I bet this is common in warmer climates but I don't know. California, what do you say?

The rhododendrons are coming on strong in Beacon Hill Park. This is one of the earliest blooming flowers. Some of the others I'm about to show you may actually be left-overs from last summer. New flowers, old flowers... either way, I love to see them!

Fresh new White Hellebores are popping up. I don't normally shoot flowers with my long zoom lens - that's for birds - but it does work, and I can blur the background if I leave some space behind the subject.

A tiny rose... I'm not so sure about this one. It may, in fact, be a left-over from earlier this year.

The Cherry Blossoms are really coming along now. I'll be honest and tell you most cherry trees aren't blossoming yet. This is just a very optimistic tree! Enough flowers, I came here for the birds!

A female Mallard duck. Here's a little tip for animal photography: whenever possible, try to get down to eye level. I think you'll find it really helps, whether you're shooting birds, your dog or your cat. Get down low and make eye contact.

Finally, I have some in-flight shots of the ducks. These are fun to do, but I have a very low percentage of successful shots. I find my camera is slow to focus when the subject is moving towards me quickly, and I throw away 90% or more of all attempts.

Here's a tip for in-flight shots... use a fast shutter speed. These last three shots were made at 1/1000th second, and I actually think that's a little slow. It depends if you want the wings sharp or not. You'll notice a lot of motion in the wing tips on these shots which I don't mind, but if I had shot at 1/2000th second, you wouldn't see this. It comes down to a matter of taste.

My final tip for in-flight shots... find someone who is feeding the birds and stand a little ways behind them. That way you'll get a lot of chances as the birds come flying in. That's my post for today. I hope you're all having a great day, see you real soon!