Cameron! So good to see you over here. Cottage gardens and butterflies go hand in hand.

Great pictures, BTW.

Edna

Edna,

Well, you're the one who got me started on Monarchs! I already had butterfly nectar plants, but now I've got lots of milkweed and lots of bronze fennel. BTW, I'm talking to developers of new neighborhoods about creating neighborhood butterfly habitats! :-) So far, I've gotten positive responses from two out of three of my contacts.

Cameron

WooHoo! You go girl!

I tried to download your blog earlier today, Cameron, but my computer wouldn't do it - I'll try again this evening.
I can't wait to get my new Canon camera with the macro lens!
MissSherry

Thanks for the info, Cameron!
MissSherry

Sure -- I look forward to seeing YOUR photos! :-)

It's chilly here in the mornings now (was 59 this morning). We went from high temps to low temps in one week.

DS1 is returning home from London today after getting a masters degree in archaeology, so I'll probably be busy catching up on his life. I'm so glad to have him home -- it seems like he's been gone forever! He loves to garden -- he planted all of the milkweed and bronze fennel when he was home at Easter. Hmmm....he actually planted all the other plants (agastache, coneflowers, crocosmia, nepeta, coreopsis, salvia, buddleia) in the new butterfly garden, too! Hmmm... he gave me the shallow birdbath that we're using as a butterfly beach as a Mother's Day present when he was about 10 years old. I guess he will think this was all his doing! :-)

Take care everyone!
Cameron

DS1 went out in the garden today and came back in to ask me about a butterfly. I grabbed my camera, and there was a RED ADMIRAL! I don't usually see these. I think they are migrating south to Texas?

There was one Monarch today. There are 4 black swallowtail cats still on the bronze fennel, but they look healthy.

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There've been a lot of red admirals this year - I even got to raise some myself for the first time. I saw one laying eggs on my false nettles yesterday, so hopefully I 'll get to raise some more.
That's a beautiful picture!
MissSherry

Nice picture, Cameron.

I agree with you, MissSherry, there have been lots of RAs this year.

That's great that you have another brood coming on. I've been seeing a few around here, so I hope they find the false nettle and lay some eggs. It just takes one female to find the plants!

Sandy

I got my new camera yesterday, so I've been playing with it this afternoon. The macro setting is wonderful! The only problem is that when I edit a picture, I can only edit in one way, like trim the picture or add text. Anybody know how I can perform more than one editing task to the same picture? You out there Cameron?
I made one shot of this pink cloudless sulphur chrysalid - I can take 50 pictures like this with my Kodak EasyShare and not get one as sharp as this -
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MissSherry

Hi misssherry,

That's a lovely picture. What new camera did you get?
I've used Photoshop for many years, but there are several free and/or demo versions of image editwares avail online you might like to try. Just google "image editor" and try some until you find one you like.

I hope you will post more pictures of this Pink CS... I would love to see a progress series on its development.

Kenn

Thanks, Kenn!
I love the pink CS chrysalids, too - they're very unusual looking, a lot more so than the green ones.
I got a Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph - long name, huh?
The pink chrysalids make regular CS adults, no different from the green ones, but I'll try to get a picture after it emerges.
MissSherry

That's a great photo! Congratulations on your new camera!

Have you tried the 'scene' setting on 'foliage' for the butterflies? I use that in combination with the macro focus. Play around with it and see if you like it.

You can edit with other photo editing packages like Picasa (free download from Google) or MS Office Picture Manager (which comes on most PCs). There are other editors out there, but these are the free ones that I use.

The Red-banded Hairstreak was on the vitex again today. I'm starting to wonder if it's a favorite for the RBH.

Cameron

The instructions manual says you can use the foliage scene setting, but I can't find it anywhere on the camera. The illustration in the book shows the leaf in the upper left corner of the LCD screen where the macro flower is - I'll keep playing with it and reading the manuals to see if I can figure this one out.
I made a picture of this very fat palamedes swallowtail caterpillar - I found another little bitty pal cat on the redbay tree that I got the big one's leaf off of. I'll be raising the little one myself, too.
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MissSherry

Great shots, MissSherry!

hmmm...I remember the days when you had to go and BORROW a digital camera...

Those are gorgeous, MissSherry, but I always thought your photos were gorgeous with your other camera, too. But, if you're like me, you really had to work hard to get a good one! Of course, there is that issue of having to contort my body into positions it would rather not be pressed upon to perform you know! LOL!

Susan

I remember when I had to borrow a camera, too, CalSherry - I was scared to death of it, afraid I might break it!
Thanks, Susan, but this camera is definitely superior for making the close-up shots! The cloudless sulphur in the pink chrysalid emerged this morning, Kenn, and I made a picture of it - I used to have to take 25 or more shots with my Kodak to photograph CSs - something about the pale coloring it couldn't manage, but this Canon does it easily! I figured out how to do more than one type of editing on a picture, and this camera lets you name the subject right on the picture in whatever color you choose!
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MissSherry

MissSherry,

You are now equipped to take absolutely wonderful pictures. You had the artistic eye before, now you have the camera! You've just about persuaded me that I need to check out one of those cameras.

I slipped in the mud on the elephant trail in Laos on the way back to the tiger boat that took us across the Mekong, and got mud all over my camera and me. It wasn't cute! My camera hasn't been the same since. I checked into having it worked on yesterday, and they told me to go buy a new one--it costs too much to repair.

What I really want is a digital SLR camera, but DH says get something that doesn't cost too much so if it gets ruined I haven't invested a fortune in it. I think I need 2 cameras--a small one easy to carry for trips to see the daughter and family, and a SLR for BF photos! But I'd want to take the SLR along to get pics of those marvelous Lao BFs! LOL

Sandy

Sandy, this new camera is tiny, only 3 3/4" X 2 1/8" X 3/4" - it fits easily in my pocket. It cost $219, not too bad.
The CS flew off, such a big yellow beauty!
MissSherry

MissSherry,

That's not bad at all. My camera which is a Sony cost more than that new. How many megapixels is it?

Your CS and its chrysalis were both beautiful. If you have some Christmas Cassia (right name?) seeds, I'd love to have some to plant for next year. I've had lots of CS and other sulfurs in my garden this year, just haven't found any eggs or cats yet. Maybe next year.

I am being licked to death as I try to write this post. Miss Libby is glad to see me since I just got back from grocery shopping. Susan says I need to post her picture, as she's my BF dog, with BF ears!

Sandy

MissSherry: Congrats on the new camera! I have heard only good things about the ELPH camera. A friend of mine had one at a birthday party this year and she was shooting video with it too. She absolutely loved hers.

How does it do with reds and dark pinks? That is where my camera seems to fall short for me.

Lisa

I think I'd better go buy stock in Canon! :-)

I'm glad it's working out. Here's how to find the 'foliage' setting (or indoors, night, kids/pets, etc.)

Go to 'SCN' on the shooting dial.
On the lower dial, press the 'FUNC SET' button.
Use the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions on the dial to go right or left to highlight the Foliage leaf.
Press the 'FUNC SET' button again to select the foliage leaf.

You're ready to go.

Cameron

Sandy, you and I have the same identical camera - the Sony. It takes decent photos, but you're right, I paid more for it than MissSherry paid for hers, for sure. I've noticed that in the last 2 years, the digitals have really come down in price - I guess because there is so much more competition between the makers. I like the Carl Zeiss lens, though, on Sony. I like the larger viewing screen as well. In my case, I think it's more to do with the operator than the camera! LOL! I'm just not real savvy about all the features. I just use the "flower" mode to take photos, changing the light exposure when necessary, and that's it. I use the Microsoft photo editor, and that helps tremendously. If I don't get as close as I like, I can change that in editing and get a much better image no matter how small it looks on the camera itself.

But, a new one is in the works - will we ever be happy?

Susan

Cameron, I've been sitting here playing with my camera trying to figure out where the SCN is on the shooting dial, couldn't find it, so I went back and read the instructions - duh! On my camera, which is a little newer model, you go to the kids/pets setting, which is the default setting for scenes, then press the menu button, which leads you to the foliage setting - from there you can set the macro setting. Whew!
Lisa, it has 7.1 megapixels. I haven't tried photographing any reds yet - I'll find something red, and see how it turns out.
Sandy, my Christmas cassia/c. bicapsularis is in bloom now. Last year it turned cool/sometimes cold before the seed pods matured, so I didn't get any seeds, but if I do, I'll send you some. I'm going to start some c. obtusifolia from seeds next spring, which is the real favorite of the CSs, SOs, and little yellows, at least around here. I'll send you some of those seeds, which are already in the making, even if I don't get any Christmas cassia seeds. Christmas cassia is great, because it lives through the winter (here anyway) and it starts making new growth very early in the spring - I've raised SOs when the weather was still quite cool. You can't plant c. obtusifolia seeds until the ground and/or air temperatures are reasonably warm, but you get very fast growing plants that will grow to about 9' X 6' quickly if you fertilize them or add chicken manure to their soil - I get more cats on it than any other cassia/senna.
By the way, I ordered my camera through Walmart - they say they sell it for less than the recommended price, and it was as low a price for that camera as I could find. You just order it online, and they send it to your nearest Walmart for you to go and pick up - it was hassle free.
MissSherry

Lisa, it seems to do a good job with red -
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MissSherry

Here are some of my flower photos for you to see colors in pinks-magenta-red and orange:
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Those are beautiful, Cameron - here's a picture I made with lots of orange -
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By the way, I made 36 pictures at one time this afternoon, and I think I could have made more. The memory card enables you to make more pictures on this camera than I can on the Kodak.
MissSherry

Wow! I'm impressed with the quality of the pics, Miss Sherry and Cameron. Looks like you will be quite happy with your new camera. Of course, I always loved your pics with your other camera, also.

Woo-hoo!

Okay, I must admit...I own a NUMBER of digital AND 35mm cameras...call me a spoiled brat...I admit it! :P

The Digital SLR is fab but can be cumbersome so think about it...I love mine, of course, but remember, you do have all those lenses to deal with.

The point-and-shoot digitals are fab. My hubby has a Casio that shoots the most wonderful shots. Woo-hoo! I swear, he does get some of the best pics ever.

I have several point-and-shoot digital cameras. My old Nikon 990 is by far the best, if you ask me, but it is sort of large if you think in terms of size...I recently gave away a digital point-and-shoot HP (the camera was 'okay') as I felt that the group I donated it to would get FAR more from it than I ever would.

MissSherry -- I love seeing your photos! I'm so glad that you're happy with your camera. Isn't it just a great little thing to keep in your pocket?

There are a few new visitors in my garden, so I'll have to stalk them sometime today to see what they are.

Cameron

I really am enjoying this little camera, Cameron. Thanks for mentioning what brand you have - I was already pretty sure I wanted a Canon, but that beautiful picture you posted sealed the deal! :)
MissSherry

When I took the dogs out tonight, I noticed a big moth on the garage, close to the very strong outside light. Whenever I tried to photograph moths close to that light with my other camera, I usually had to make 10 or more pictures to have a chance of getting a usable one - the strong light would create reddish "beams" all over the picture, plus it would usually be blurry. I snapped ONE picture with my new camera - I only trimmed the picture and added text -
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If anybody knows what type of underwing moth this is, please let me know. It would help if it had its wings open so you could see the color of the hindwings - the forewings are so similar in the many different types of underwing moths!
MissSherry

The picture of the pink cloudless sulphur chrysalis is just gorgeous.

KC