Just a walk in the park

[LovelyLadyLux]

Late this afternoon as the sun had come out and all the morning fog and dampness had burned off I went for a walk in the park. I took with me, to try it out for the first time a refurbished Nikon Coolpix 3100 camera I had bought a couple weeks back. There is a whole topic on buying "refurbished" items but that is another discussion.

I have my Nikon D90 but sometimes that gets a bit big and bulky to carry around and destination dependent I sometimes worry and fear that it may attract an unwanted element I do not want to have to deal with so I've opted to buy a much smaller camera that can capture the views and vistas and scenes and scapes I want to capture. Tried it for the first time today. Not too sure I'm happy with the quality of the results........but I digress from my walk.

Parks in this area are not groomed. They are mostly a system of trails and pathways carved through greenbelts of land set aside by city government for the use of the public. This is what a typical park scene would look like....







Ferns are everywhere and prolific. There seems to be two primary types. One that grows in clumps with the fronds coming from a central rootstock



The other type seem to grow from a single stalk with the fern like leaves branching out from the top part of the stock



In this particular park there is a small small area by the parking lot where the trails beomce semi-groomed and rimmed with bergenia, bamboo grasses, hostas, pieris and rhododendrons.



I caught this little guy who seemed to be a reall yellowish fuzzy bee but he wouldn't cooperate and actually pose for me nor would the camera focus in closely so this is the best I could get



My walk ended with me coming across a rose bush with single petals. I'm not sure if this is a wild rose or not. Wild roses/old roses are quite common and hardy in this area. Rose hips are super colourful too not that I saw any around this little rose. I'm actually of a mind that this rose was planted.



All in all an enjoyable walk. Hope you enjoy the sights of my world here in the Pacific Northwest.

[Horus]

I was surprised to see that your pictures (very good by the way) are identical to what we would see here on a similar walk in September. I can recognise most of the wild flowers and a similar walk would show up the same sort of scenes. I think that the rose is a 'Dog Rose' ie. wild and not cultivated, the easiest way is to count the leaves (not the petals) five leaves (2 pairs and 1 at the top) is a cultivated variety and seven leaves (3 pairs and 1 at the top) is a wild or dog rose.

That little camera is doing a good job and it is a good idea to look less conspicuous especially out walking on your own, for general picture taking they work well enough in my opinion and I often just slip a compact into my pocket if just walking around, you can always tweak them in GIMP.

[Kiya]

Nice pics LLL

[Grandad]

You have introduced two topics here LLL so I will digress into the second, compact cameras.

Most smartphones today have decent quality cameras but I still tend to carry my trusted little Fuji V10 that I have had for more than 6 years. It is approximately 8 x 6 x 2 cms and fits into a shirt pocket. I have had some very good results with it and have always rated Fuji cameras. It does not have an eye level viewfinder but the whole of the back is the screen.

Here is a full frame snap this morning of one of the last geraniums.....



I think one should always carry a camera of some sort, you might even catch HRH with her top off

[Ruby Slippers]

Two lovely examples of nature photography from both LLL and Grandad! Er - are you sure you need help either of you?

[Grandad]

Stick with us RS. When we get into The Gimp you will be able to follow the tutorials and make some mediocre pictures much more acceptable with all the little 'tweaks' that photo editors allow us to do.

[Horus]

I have just posted two new threads under the HOBBIES section, one is for us to make a start using the GIMP program and the other is a GIMP general discussions thread to post questions etc. and to keep things a bit tidy, both are sticky's

[LovelyLadyLux]

As for compact cameras I HAD an old Canon that mostly lived in my purse as I had to have a camera to capture 'evidence' from 'scenes' for my work. The Canon is not that small, years old, the eyelid type thingy that closes over the lens not always completely closing and only about 6 pixels. I used it almost daily for work and sometimes for an occasional other photo. I'd basically 'retired' it and when I saw this Nikon Coolpix 3100 (refurbished) for super cheap I decided to get it to carry with me all the time for those pictures I can't resist.

I'm also, given the declining economy which = increased desperation for anything and everything in some elements of the public, not wanting to always be obviously carrying a camera. Sad state of affairs that here (In the USA) I have to worry about walking about carrying a camera but one DOES have to use caution these days.

This little Nikon is very lightweight, small and compact. It also has the entire back as a screen to see the picture one is going to take. The one thing I did notice is that "I" am steadier using the big Nikon and I seemed to be swinging and swaying using the little Nikon as I tried to focus it.

I do have a cell phone but it is an OLD clamshell version that is pretty basic. No cameras, no bells and whistles or even special ring tones. I'll keep it 'til it dies and then think about maybe getting a new cell with some bells and whistles.

I do however agree that carrying a small camera IS quite a good thing to do.

[LovelyLadyLux]

@H - Didn't know that about the rose. This was a pretty scrubby rose bush - other than for the flower part. Not sure I even noticed leaves but if I go back and see it again I'll have to have a look at the leaves and see how many it has. Never really knew that about wild vs hybridized roses.

[Horus]

You learn something new everyday on E4U

[Christine]

Lovely pics again, its nice to be here seeing you photographers at work !