mikeyroy

Flowering Eve's Needle cactus at Ruth Bancroft Gardens. These are some of the coolest cacti out there. The "fingers" are only found on new growth and drop off after the season.
#photography #nature #plants #garden #cactus

Ruth Bancroft garden. Scenes of dramatic plants, flowers, and cacti.
#photography #nature #plants

Contrasting tones at Ruth Bancroft gardens.
#photography #nature #plants #garden #succulents #cactus #flowers

Wild patterns at the Ruth Bancroft gardens.
#photography #nature #plants #garden #succulents

Ruth Bancroft Garden - was super hot, but they've got a lot of cool specimens, with great landscaping.
#photography #nature #plants #garden #succulents

Black Swallowtail butterfly munching on my Fennel plants. I've found 4 so far, they are super cute and welcome to eat whatever they want. Can't wait to see them progress on their journey.
#macro #butterfly #photography

Some more views of the juvenile Great Horned Owl in some moody light. One of its parents was nearby but was sleeping. This one entertained itself for 30 minutes scraping and gnawing on the eucalyptus bark like a dog with a bone. #owl #birding #photography

Juvenile Great Horned Owl in the early evening. When I got there this one was much closer for a short time and there was a lot more light. 600mm ISO800 f6.3 1/125.
#owl #photography #birding #teamsony #nature

Great Horned Owl, it just saw its kid coming back from hunting and is anticipating it landing nearby. I was super lucky to spend 1.5 hours observing them before it got dark.
#owl #birding #photography

Found some Great Horned Owl's while on a walk the other day, but didn't have my camera, so I came back. The one on the left is about ready to go its own way, but is still super fluffy. There is another adult, but it was keeping out of sight.
#owl #birding #photography

Joshua Tree #astrophotography at night in January, shot from the Boy Scout Trail looking South. This is a 3 image vertical panorama with each image composed of 2-3 separate shots to eliminate light trail pollution.
#jtnp #landscapephotography

A Cactus Wren doing its thing on a Joshua Tree, pausing just long enough to graciously let me get a single shot of it before flying off to its next perch.
#birding #JTNP #photography

Barrel cactus and hardy scrub growing between Joshua Tree's flowing granite formations. Makes for a tranquil landscape.
#jtnp #landscapephotography

Just some cool rock formations in Joshua Tree NP. #jtnp #photography #geology

A nice aplite dike with intersecting lines and colorful lichen in Joshua Tree National Park.
#jtnp #photography #geology

View looking North near Porcupine Wash in Joshua Tree with multiple layers showing the geologic diversity across elevation and distance with the Bullion Mountains in the background.
#jtnp #landscapephotography

It was my first time doing photography at night. The constant car traffic was disappointing. The next night went a mile down the Boy Scout Trail, and that was a much better experience though there was still light from the city of Joshua Tree. Next time, will go down to Ocotillo Flats.

While in Joshua Tree over the winter, got to do some #astrophotography. This is at the Quail Springs picnic area. It was still early so there were a lot of cars coming and going making it near impossible to get a light free shot. This was as cloud free as it got during the stay.
#jtnp #photography

Focus bracketed with Sony's automated in-camera option, using the Sony 90mm Macro lens. 25 shots at f8. Tried using Luminar Neo's focus stacking, that failed silently, no idea why. Affinity Photo 2 however worked perfectly.
#photography #macro #focusstacking

Last one, it's really cool how the water formed on these flowers without coalescing into larger drops. The magnification effect is especially cool, revealing more detail. Was super lucky to have ventured out in the morning and see this.
#macro #photography #gardening

Water beading up along a pea tendril.
#macro #photography

Pea blossoms in the morning with micro-drops from overnight fog.
#macro #photography

Woke up to some foggy conditions, and micro drops all over the garden. This nasturtium leaf looked pretty amazing.
#nasturtium #garden #photography #macro

Rock Wren in Joshua Tree National Park, as seen through some Joshua Tree's. It was gracious enough to stay there for 2 seconds to let me take its photo. Normally they're gone before the lens cap is off.
#bird #jtnp #birding

Spotted along a dry creekbed on the Lost Palms Oasis hike in Joshua Tree NP, this stunner of a dragonfly was hanging out. It seemed a bit lost since there were no obvious water sources for its life cycle. Best of luck buddy.
#dragonfly #jtnp

Egg shaped mini boulder surrounded by its monolithic sibings in Joshua Tree
#nationalpark #jtnp #landscapephotography

Thor's Well off the Oregon coast. Highly recommend if you're in the area. A lot of people visit, but it's easy to get your shots in if you wait a little bit. This is a 3 photo composite.
#landscapephotography #oregon #thorswell

San Francisco at sunrise (many years ago). Taken from the base of the bridge at Fort Point
#sanfrancisco #sunrise #photography

Death Valley, Badwater (from many years ago). Did a focus stack for this. Such a cool area, very beautiful and unique.
#landscape #photography #nps #deathvalley #nationalpark

Balanced cubic boulder in Joshua Tree. So many cool rocks. It's such a great part of the NPS.
#landscapephotography #nationalpark #jtnp #geology