Thanks Vickie and all Sometimes I am lazy to tumble the compost bin. So it was just settling then right at the top of the compost heap, like a compost gem.

city trees getting ready to sleep:

When all you can do is let go of mommy cacti and detach the babies to live:

I would have more cacti and succulents if I could grow them outside. I have the wild cactus growing on the edge of the woods with the yellow flowers that look like tissue paper almost. Or is it crepe paper? Can't think of their name right now. I don't have enough light in the Winter to hold anything over except in the laundry room which has a lily seedling, an Asparagus Fern and four new Hymenocallis White Spider Lily bulbs growing in a big pot. They're the ones with the long pieces hanging off the edges of the petals. Can't wait to see those bloom!

I ran into some deer moss in the woods today. I used to use it for mulch in the pots on my porch, it gets a bit crunchy when it's not rained for a while and looks pretty in the pots. I don't do many pots anymore.

Here's some photos of the lovely moss. Oh, maybe someone will recognize the last one hanging off the log. I couldn't get in there well enough to get a good photo of it. I've never seen it before. The first two are mature and little baby "Cladonia rangiferina" if I'm not mistaken.











Asa, how did you get the effect of the first of those last two photos you posted? Love that first one! Can't remember what it was and can't go back and look while I'm posting!

I just discovered that the red tipped ones are a different lichen and not the same as the deer moss. They're usually found growing together. BFF's!!

Sheila, you can right click on the name of the thread and select 'open link in a new tab' or 'window' while you are composing a post in preview. Then you can see everything in that thread in that new tab or window without losing anything that you're working on in the other tab or window. (it's a game changer! careful though, it can be a bit unmanageable when you have a few windows open with a couple hundred tabs each )

I'm behind in the conversation, as always, but I second the nomination for you + threads on composition and editing and photo critique in the photography forum
--not that it tediously bogs down this thread
--more that the photography forum needs it and that is the ideal place to discuss such timeless matters
I, for one, will join you, when I can, and I know that others will, too

I fully support "the idea of taking our best photos no matter what we're photographing"!
I try to contribute to that idea too, by posting my better photos--but I sure do take a lot of bad ones just to get a few that I'm not reluctant to post here and there.
I'm already feeling reluctant to post in this thread because I'm not sure if I'll get a critique ambush on something I though was really cool and then I have to find out that it wasn't...or a no comment whatsoever and then what does that mean??? when all I really want to do here is post whatever I want to post and have it be okay.
Whereas in a dedicated thread to photo critique I think I'd be much more willing to share some of my problem children and seek advice. I kid you not--I took a few hundred pictures of my favorite sage trying to get a decent 'entire plant' picture and I did not succeed. I'd like to get some ideas for next year, but I don't really think that hijacking this thread is the best place to do it.
Maybe I'll start one for you called "Shelia--help me with this sage, please!"

ATP actually does have a photography forum

Edited to add
Ahh, actually I see someone already mentioned it. I stopped reading this thread in detail when it got too complicated for me

Dirtdorphins---See, that was my first mistake--thinking this was under the heading of Photography. That was where Asa first mentioned it and I didn't pay close attention to where it actually ended up. So, even my photos of things of interest in the Circle of Life concerning the Fall are out of line as well? Sorry about that. And a question concerning something I wasn't familiar with requires an entirely new thread? Please.

First you say the photos haven't "bogged down this thread" but, then you say I've "highjacked it." I didn't realize shallow participation was a prerequisite for joining. I've already apologized for sharing my thoughts with others, so, you're a bit late in your criticism. How about if I just leave off posting here altogether? Would that suit you well enough?

Sheila, not one person on this thread has approached you with anything other than politeness. I would think that having been a member of ATP for a few months, you would have picked up on a certain "user etiquette" that is a backbone of the entire site. "Be polite, be kind"

Please stop searching for reasons to be indignant, insulted or angry. That was not the intent here. Asa started this thread with the intent of having folks post something besides the perfection of nature, lichen covered branches included.

For the most part, your photos were spot on. Not so much the accompanying photography tutorial. That is what ATP users call "Off Topic" and has sent some of us to the Sand Box....the everything forum. When a member starts posting things that stray from the Thread starter's intent, that is called Hijacking... You have experience and knowledge that many users would find invaluable in the Photography forum, because that is where they would look for it. Your info could be an asset to the site if you allow.

@SheilaC, Sheila ...

I am sorry you are feeling offended, but I am certain no one intended to offend you. I've been following this thread for a while, but it's been raining and I can't contribute, yet.

I think what folks are telling you is that they love your photos and love the information you've shared about photography and are almost begging you to come play on the Photography Forum, too, so that the really good information you've shared doesn't get lost and people can find it easier. I've stared your posts because I need to learn how to take better photos and know I can find them easier that way.

You haven't done anything wrong. Nothing. Threads wander off topic all of the time and then back again, then off again. It's just that you have shared so much good information no one wants to see it lost.

What I have been reading that you may have interpreted as criticism, I have read as as sincere compliments.

and Smiles,
Lyn

I don't know what plant this is. But I was having some more fun with the flash and depth of focus:


And Sheila, that effect is caused by violating one of the cardinal rules of photography: keep the sun off your lens. I was shooting into the sun and fiddling with the effects. We should all, theoretically, hate the artifacting that it produces but I think it's an interesting element sometimes. Thankfully, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (which is also part of the theme here, I think).

SheilaC said:Dirtdorphins---See, that was my first mistake--thinking this was under the heading of Photography. That was where Asa first mentioned it and I didn't pay close attention to where it actually ended up. So, even my photos of things of interest in the Circle of Life concerning the Fall are out of line as well? Sorry about that. And a question concerning something I wasn't familiar with requires an entirely new thread? Please.

First you say the photos haven't "bogged down this thread" but, then you say I've "highjacked it." I didn't realize shallow participation was a prerequisite for joining. I've already apologized for sharing my thoughts with others, so, you're a bit late in your criticism. How about if I just leave off posting here altogether? Would that suit you well enough? Or, should I limit my photos to those plants which are in their death throws only?

Holy Cow Sheila
I never said that your photos or comments were out of line nor did I say anything about anything requiring a new thread.
I did say

dirtdorphins said: I second the nomination for you + threads on composition and editing and photo critique in the photography forum
--not that it tediously bogs down this thread
--more that the photography forum needs it and that is the ideal place to discuss such timeless matters
I, for one, will join you, when I can, and I know that others will, too

meaning exactly what I said--the photography forum needs it and that it is the ideal place.
Seconding the nomination for you is meant as encouragement not criticism. It is merely a suggestion.
There are no prerequisites or requirements.
And my comment about hijacking the thread was about me not you--
as in --I don't want to hijack this thread with pictures of my sage (at peak bloom and not even about the everything else part of this idea) and ask for suggestions to improve my photos in this thread. I'd like to do it in the photography forum though.

Importantly, that does not mean that I think your pictures of lichen and bark and moss or whatever is of interest are a highjack.
I wasn't trying to imply that your initiations of discussions about composition etc., were a hijack either. But I do think that the photography forum is the ideal place for those types of discussions, like I said. I thought that was pretty clear.

I understand now that you thought you were already in the photography forum for some reason.
Okay, I can accept that. No harm/no foul either way.

Please, will you try to accept the fact that I cannot possibly be responsible for wherever you think you are?
I am really sorry that I offended you by suggesting that you start discussions in the photography forum. I did not know that you thought you were already there.

And, as far as I'm concerned--post whatever you want wherever you want--just because I think something would be better somewhere else does not mean that its not okay where it is.

In this thread there is a conversation about critiquing photos that you might like to see
The thread "Simple close-up DSLR photography...Point-and-Shoot Simple" in Photography Tips & Techniques forum
specifically
http://garden.org/thread/view_...
http://garden.org/thread/view_...
http://garden.org/thread/view_...
http://garden.org/thread/view_...

Now this--all of this--I do consider a hijack
I'm sorry!

Back to your regularly scheduled circle *please*

More of your regularly scheduled programming:


WHOLE lotta life-circlin' going on in that one. Wished I'd had a different setup with me to get a deeper focus on that one. It was a neat looking bundle.

My new Article is at http://garden.org/ideas/view/N...
Regards.
Neil.

Love the brown seed pods in that last pic, Asa.

Keep it simple, keep it easy-going. We're all here to enjoy nice pictures of plants and related 'stuff' on this particular thread. Nobody wants to critique others' pictures, or say anyone is doing something wrong. We do have photo contests where composition etc. is important.

I personally don't care if a picture is perfect, it's the content that interests me. Nice if it's in focus but . . . Must admit I drifted away when the conversation got onto the technical aspects of the photography. The 'Circle of Life' was what drew me here.

This picture is one I took several days ago and for some reason had trouble importing from camera to computer. This morning for mysterious reasons, I succeeded in bringing it over.

That was a good start to the day.

I loved the way the oak leaf landed on the hydrangea, perched back to back, as it were, and both of them over the daylily spear, still green (though by this morning, it may not be. :D )

Nice one Kyla

I can't wait to get to post pictures in the spring circling back to beginning the cycle of life! I'm already so over this winter!

I'm not. I'm just getting started!

(But I know what you mean.)

I have a selection today. First is this assemblage of items that caught my eye:


I was out in the neighborhood with my camera because I love treebones. I had seen two dead trees last week when I was out on a cloudy day, but didn't have my camera. I went looking for them today. So please forgive this first one because it is out of focus. The stump is deep in someone's large yard and I was not able to get close enough. So, I fiddled with it in hope of making it somewhat interesting anyway.


I remember when I first saw that, thinking that if it were in my yard I'd try to find a way to feature it somehow.

Then this caught my eye but sadly my eyesight is poor enough I didn't notice the bad focus here, so I fiddled with this one too. (I promise, the rest of these are focused better, but thanks for indulging me with these first. )


This is in better focus I think; I love the way the still-green spires are silhouetted against the larger bare-limbed trees:


Then we get to the treebones:


At this time of year it's hard to tell which trees are dead, some of them, but this one definitely is. I don't like taking pictures of strangers' houses, but couldn't find a decent way to frame this that didn't catch a bit of the house also. I think it adds a little something, perhaps:


I love the way that one seems to dance.

treebones!

I love them too Kyla