Today's walk report: 051113

Night walk.

By night I mean 30 minutes before sunset which occurred at 7:46 PM I was out the door and I wasn't back until almost 10 PM. I got my "macro" LED night mentioned here yesterday and since it hit a high today of 98.1º and was still 86.6º when I went out I figured it would be a good evening to try some nighttime macro photography. There is a problem handling the appoximately 2 hour shift from what I was used to and also accommodating walking in the dark. Even though I also brought an LED torch light along, I walk fast and I'm not real comfortable dealing with the dark. It also screws up my evening--dinner and a show. Then there's the bogyman.

For the most part it was a nice walk. I took on several dozen stairs instead of the hill I usually do because one I thought the stairs were probably better lit and two the hill was where I ran into the despotic campus cop yesterday. I think that incident might bother me for awhile. As far as picture taking with the new light goes, eh... I wasn't overly enthusiastic. I should probably get a better feel for making adjustments and I will but the 1st impression wasn't razzle-dazzle. If the light were dimmable that might help but all it has is a high and low setting. Then again it was only $20 delivered. Here are some meager results I got struggling with the thing...

Some grasshopper looking bug, probably not a grasshopper at all, on lantana.

 I think if I play around with the camera's white balance I might be able to do better. This shot is way off for color besides being a rather sucky composition.

This was 24 minutes after sunset, there was still some daylight hanging out... not much though.

Alyogyne huegelii. I probably should have done more of this and practiced with camera settings instead of looking for elusive insects.

Golden-eyed Lacewing (Chrysopa oculata). This was on a rose on the way home. It tells me I can get a decent picture with the light. All is not lost.