My Best Nature Photos from 2012

2012 may not have been the most productive  year in regards to writing nature and gardening blog posts but it was probably the busiest year for me with photography since I started blogging back in 2009.  The weeds became that much bigger and some even went to seed (oh dear I will regret that come spring 2013!) and the lawn wasn't cut quite as often.  I spent most of my free time exploring with the camera and working with clients as I turned their own  daydreams into pictures.  

I've looked back over my nature 2012 archives to bring you my 10 best photographic moments for the long running blog project: Your Best Photos from 2012 with +Jim Goldstein 
and Digital Photography School | Best Photos from 2012.

 My Best Photos from 2012

I became a Pixel Keeper.....

A pink Gerbera bloom: still life shot showing its best side!

2012 was the year when I was determined to become a pixel keeper and I'm not talking about  storage on external hard drives!  Composition right in the camera was what I sought this year rather than relying on a crop tool afterwards. ..........and it got better as the year went on! 

I ventured into the Blue Hour .....

It wasn't a great year for getting time to photograph sunrises and sunsets but how about nautical twilight instead? 

serenading with the blue hour in bucolic Perthshire

I went all atmospheric and moody..........

and it wasn't anything to do with hormones!  Weather conditions like misty wet afternoons were a great excuse to get out into the garden and beyond to take some atmospheric nature images.

This one says confidence to me

Hamamelis × intermedia 'Jelena'  on a foggy winter afternoon

I went tap, tap, tapping into my creative side.....

Sometimes I just spent ages trying to creatively photograph a flower........studying it from every possible angle and then finally pressing that shutter.  sigh.........how time flies when you're having fun!

The Candelabras

taken at f1.8  to create those whorls and tiers of dreamy bokeh | Primula japonica 'Millers Crimson'

I found the Millers Crimson candelabra primroses fascinating to photograph with their swirls, tiers and whorls of flowers along their powdery tall grey stems.

I discovered my style.....

It was also the year when I embraced haze .............I know .........so many of you avoid it ..........but I embraced it as I love soft, dreamy and romantic floral and nature images. 

Dew drops

shortly after sunrise still with dew drops on the purple petals |  Pasque Flowers | Pulsatilla vulgaris

I fell in love with Monochrome.........

2012 was the year that I grew to love seeing the smaller details that make up an intimate landscape scene turned into monochrome images.

Walking across ploughed fields crossing streams and relying on sat nav on a smartphone also enabled me to reach lonely and isolated places though finding a walking buddy was always a problem and still is as I won't go on my own..............no wonder it's mostly men in my google plus circles who are landscape photographers!

You have reached your destination!

I was so glad to discover this seat at a private loch on one of those treks as I had taken too much kit with me that day!...........a buddy is useful for helping with the gear too!

Oh I got wet, wet, wet .....

Here in the UK we had our wettest summer yet so I revisited taking refractions  with my macro lens.

Little Drops of Flowers

Leucanthemum x superbum 'Snowcap' | There are 3 focus stacked images here - each one showing a different focal plane of refraction on the same flower and blended together in PS CS5.

I had moments of discovery.....

I loved to capture the tiny details especially with extension rods attached to my macro lens.

Outreach

Abstract Nature Photography | Anemone rivularis seedheads 

Those of you who are gardeners will be interested to know that these little curls are from the outer edges of an Anemone rivularis seedhead  (teal tones were added in post editing).


along with intimate moments in nature .....

In Autumn I spent the little free time I had for nature photography capturing the intimate details of the season seeking out the more abstract of subjects.

Pierced But Clinging On

pierced

and finally

I had a few comical moments.....

Gardening is as much about enjoying the space as working in it and for hours I would sit and just soak up nature with the camera by my side during the summer.  Sometimes I was rewarded by some comical moments like this:  

The fly with the clowns nose!

Female fly Graphomya maculata on an Astrantia rubra flower

I hope you enjoyed having a little browse through my moments of 2012 though the images are highly compressed here for web viewing.  Not sure what 2013 will bring but I would like to get better with my astro photography skills, learn more about  long exposure nature photography, invest in the Lee filter system..........and do a bit more gardening!


Thanks for stopping by and may you all have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Have you started to stipple yet?...........Scroll over each photograph with your mouse to reveal the stipple tags. 

 If you've never heard of stipple then you'll be really interested in these blog posts as it's a new and innovative way to make sure that your attribution stays with your photographs online no matter how many times it is shared or if your watermark gets cropped away ........free too for bloggers!  Don't leave today without checking out the links below!

•  How to Deter Online Image Theft
• What's Interactive Image Discovery?

Interested in this topic?  You might enjoy another article called:

•  Spring Peas.....the flowering ones!

Rosie is a passionate wildlife gardener, perthshire photographer and writer.  She enjoys soaking up nature in her own garden and is easily distracted from doing the weeding by anything that buzzes, creeps, crawls or flutters. Connect with her on Google Plus  and Facebook. © 2009- 2013 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

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