A day at the sugar bush

A sure sign of spring - the maple sap is running!  

This afternoon I joined my niece and nephew at a local sugar bush near Ottawa, Ontario.  While there we were introduced to the production of maple syrup.  Did you know it takes 40L of sap to produce 1L of maple syrup!  Warm days followed by cool nights are the ideal conditions for producing sap.  By all accounts this year promises to be a banner year for the maple syrup industry. 

My main goal today, besides spending time with my sisters children, was to capture a few images showing the sap dripping from the tap.  In order to accomplish this it was important to set the camera to continuous high so that I could concentrate on focusing and composition while I fired away.  I used a Nikon D700 camera with my new Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR macro lens - another fabulous piece of glass.  The aperture was set to f/6.3, speed of 1/640th and an ISO of 250.  I shot at least two-hundred images (handheld) hoping one or two would capture a drop of sap dripping from the end of the tap.  I'm pleased with today's images. 

I hope you enjoyed your Sunday afternoon.