Out of Context
No tricks with this one! Nothing mirrored, flipped, reversed, altered or otherwise manipulated. What you see is simply a cropped poriton of a larger photo. It looked so otherworldly to me today that I wondered how recognizable it would be without the surrounding context.
** Can you tell what it is??! **
As always, you can click on the above image to see it larger. Once you’ve decided what it is, go ahead and click on the question mark below to see the original uncropped image:
my first thought was a droplet on a leaf.. happy to see I guess right. Exquisite details and I love the marbled effect within the drop– reminds me of our planet in a way, only everything is beautifully green 🙂
Hello, fellow night owl… I’m so happy that you also saw a planet!! Not Earth, but some other place that simply must be teeming with life, yes?! I also saw a stone… a beautiful quartz or agate, polished smooth and shiny. As I recall, the lighting for this and a few other photos I took was really interesting… It was last May and I was in my mother-in-law’s garden and it had been raining and cloudy. Then, the sun started to burn its way through, but hadn’t quite managed to get glare-y yet. I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. *GRIN* BTW, Cindy, that is a really wonderful quotation you just put up on your blog. I also am dying to know what kind of cats those are?! WOW. Talk about a spectacular photo!!
ah yes, a polished stone. I saw the same, but I really shouldn’t be commenting on blogs after editing photos for 2 hours 😉 I’m just in love with those greens. And those splendid caterpillars are Milkweed Tussock Moths – (Euchaetes egle) I found hundreds of them in a small stand of milkweed. I could spend hours and hours in milkweed, it attracts so many interesting insects.. that and the blossoms smell just divine. Speaking of night owls, Garry re-found a ‘game ear’ he bought years ago- a little dohickey you wear in your ear that magnifies sounds. Wow. It’s incredible what I’m hearing out there now, on top of the usual night sounds. I had something up in the large oak near my bedroom just chowing away on green acorns. I could hear every *crunch*. Only problem is now I want night-vision goggles so I can see what’s up there feeding away 🙂
Hundreds did you say??!! So many of those beautiful caterpillars in one place. Man o’ man… I can only imagine, Cindy. *grin* That’s a memory that money can’t buy, and medicine that no doctor can provide. Sadly, we don’t seem to have much milkweed growing in this part of the canyon. I’ve found a patch here and there, but not seemingly enough to host too much insect life. When Ez and I first started birdwatching, I remember really wanting to try one of those ear pieces out in the field… but, we never did. How interesting to know that it actually works. I might just have to get myself one! Green acorns… we’ve got them too. Who do you suspect was snacking on them? Re: the night vision goggles… When we first moved into our cabin, I was actually given a gift of a pair. I think they were pretty high quality, but despite that fact I found them very difficult to use (my overly small head might have been part of the problem) and the quality of the image just didn’t seem worth it. We ended up returning them… just thought I’d mention my experience if you were serious about getting a pair. (Make sure there’s a decent return policy, just in case.)
yeah, the milkweed tussock cats can demolish a huge stand of milkweed in record time- virtual eating machines. I can’t grow milkweed back here in the woods, so I have to seek out open fields and sunny areas to find any.. and when I do I never want to leave, there’s so much going on there. It grows well along disturbed roadside beds, so any trip we take takes quite awhile to get there, since I want to see what’s on every plant. Walker carries a huge line of game ears- I posted about it in my status on facebook and I heard back from quite a few birders that use them.. no wonder Phoebe is always at the windows looking out into the dark if her hearing is that good 🙂 We’ve got so many critters here that it would be hard to guess what’s eating the acorns.. ‘possums, ‘coons, porcupine, flying squirrels.. bear might even find them tasty, not sure- and we do have gray fox, which can climb trees. I stopped trying to bait for moths, put out a huge overripe watermelon and the entire thing was gone the next day! They didn’t even leave a seed behind. I won’t bother to slice it for them next time, I made it too easy for the critters to carry it away 🙂
Love this shot. The droplet is so metallic looking, like a spot of liquid tin-lead solder (from my audio circuit welding days). Cool how so much is contained within that droplet. The reflection from the expansive sky above is reduced to a tiny point. While the detail of the leaf below is magnified. All mixed up in one. Ben
~ Cindy ~ “It grows well along disturbed roadside beds, so any trip we take takes quite awhile to get there, since I want to see what’s on every plant.” Hmmm… the few plants I’ve been able to find are right along the road too. Thanks for the tip, I’ll look for it in a few other spots. So funny… imagining you needing to stop and check out every plant! That is why very few people like going out walking with me… I cannot resist inspecting all the small things along the trail. *grin* I always thrill to hear about your wildlife, C! Oh, man, that watermelon story is a good one. Even the seeds, eh??! *GRIN* I’ve never even seen a porcupine or flying squirrel before, though I would love to! (They do have flying squirrels on the island in WA, so maybe soon!) Thanks again for the info about the hearing device… I’ll check it out.
~ Ben ~ Hullo!!! I wondered if you would dig this one… I do so love the look of things when the sky brightens just after some rain. (These were poppy leaves, BTW.) Yes… “metallic” is a very good word! Thank you, I was searching for a similar descriptive. I loved your comment about what the drop contains and the mixing of elements! I am constantly in awe of the transformative powers of light. Being photographers, (both you and Cindy) you probably will remember that there was a time when you did not immediately notice the light, or if you did it was in a vague and passing way. But, once you begin to spend time behind the lens, it becomes difficult NOT to be acutely aware of what the light is doing at all times… admiring its qualities, watching its behavior. As though it had a spirit and life of its own… and perhaps it does, eh?