Chipmunk Cleaning Up the Seeds off the Deck

Both the chipmunk and the squirrel(s) seem to have figured out that our deck is a regular feeding spot for the birds, and so now we are thinking about... a different plan for feeding the birds. Not exactly sure what that plan will be, but we're thinking about it. In the meantime, here's a picture of the chipmunk, cheeks puffed up, as it loads up on the bird seed that we left out for... the birds.

Female Junco Close-up (2)

Sometimes, just as important as the picture, is the story the goes along with the picture. "A picture is worth a thousand words," but -- one picture might tell a lot of stories. What exactly do you want your picture to say? Why is that big bird staring at you? Was it really engaged in a staring match with you, or did you catch it in a momentary glance before (what is really a tiny bird) hopped away? What's the story on how you put this picture together in the first place, or how did you put yourself into a position where you were able to take this picture? What did you have to do with your camera in order to be able to take this picture? Sometimes, this kind of information can be as just as important to the viewer as the picture itself.

Blooming Amaryllis

Close-up on a Female Junco

I imagined this as one of those bird identification 'guide book' photos, in which you get the close-up on the whole bird and not much else. I doubt, however, that such photos are usually placed on a deck with birdseed and other leafy-items strewn all about. What I do like about this picture are some of the macro-type details: The banding on the 'toes', the perceptibility of the feathers, etc. My image might not make it into a professional birding guide book (especially since it has been digitally processed), but -- I like it.

Junco Scavenging the Bird Seed

Unless I've missed my guess, this is (once again) one of the female Juncos that has been visiting my deck for the past couple of weeks, looking for the bird seed that I have been scattering out there. I shoot these pictures through my patio door window. (This image was a single exposure tonemapped in Photomatix.) I had been spreading the seed out at the furthest end of the deck, and my son said, "Why don't you sprinkle the bird seed a little closer to the window?" So, I did. And: The bird came much closer to the window... which made for a much closer image of the bird. (Who would have thought? I guess I wasn't sure whether the birds would be brave enough to get that close to the window, with me and my camera on the other side.) Even still, I did crop this image, although the bird was much closer here than in many of my other images.

Another View of the 'Winterized' School Building

Here's another view of the school building from yesterday's post. Simply looking at it from the outside, my favorite parts are the auditorium (a great place to put on plays, musical performances, shows, etc.) and that circular shaped structure. (It looks like the rounded part that you sometimes see in castles. I could see turning that section of the building into a really cool library....) 

Doors to a 'Winterized' School

Yesterday's picture of the stairs led up to this school building. My understanding is that, basically, some kind of merger with a school in a neighboring town left the building... unused for school purposes.

I love these steps and the window made of glass blocks; I didn't have the nerve to check to see if the doors were unlocked (or even if, perhaps, the building is actually open to the public, being used for some sort of administrative purposes, or if, perhaps, they wouldn't mind me walking around taking pictures??? Perhaps another time.)

Here's Looking at Concrete

My travels this week took me by a former school building (one that is no longer being used for schooling purposes. The official lingo that is being used for this building is to say that it is 'winterized'.) I was first very much interested in the stairs leading up to the building, with the wrought-iron railing lining the steps that lead up to the building. Aside from the pattern on the railing, I also like how the vanishing point of the railing vanishes somewhere over the top stair. (11 exposures, double-tonemapped in Photomatix)

The Backside of My Wilting Rose

I realize that it's not the most appealing title I've come up with ("The Backside of My Wilting Rose"), but... that's what today's picture is... the backside of my wilting rose. I don't recall having seen a picture of a rose from the other side, so I thought... why not? What's interesting (to me, anyway) are the sharp angles that are visible on this side of the flower. Also, the way the stem hits the flower, it reminds me of a stem on a tomato. 

Junco Stepping on Snow

This one comes from a few days ago, after the remnants of the late spring snow storm had mostly melted away. I liked the pose of this junco, eating the seed on my deck. (This was another speed-priority mode firing, in which I happened to catch the bird in a certain pose. These juncos are quick-moving, darting, etc. little birds.)

Deck Squirrel with Bird Seed

Ok, if you wanted to be technical, since the squirrel is eating it, it's probably called ""squirrel seed" or something of that nature. Some people get really excited (read: upset) about the squirrels eating their birdseed, to the point that they invest lots of money in 'critter-proof' bird feeders. (Some of these bird feeders are rather ingeniously designed in order to prevent these puzzle-solving masterminds from getting to their birdseed.) This squirrel posed (briefly) on my deck, with a shell from the seed in its paws (claws?).

Recent Snowstorm Porch Juncos

I put out a little more seed than usual during the recent snowstorm, and it was fun to watch to birds peck in the snow (and come out with little snow-beards). As the snow started to melt, the birds were kind enough to 'pose' around the interesting formations on my deck.

A Rose Begins to Wane

My orange rose seems to be starting to wane, with the outer petals peeling back and beginning to turn from orange to a pink again. Even still, it's a pretty flower.

This picture was composed of 11 exposures, tone-mapped in Photomatix and tweaked slightly for color.

The Chipmunk that Scares Away the Birds

A few days ago, I mentioned 'the chipmunk'. Here he is. He is a dastardly fellow who chases away the birds and completely cleans up the birdseed. I have one picture (below) in which the bird is flying (so is the seed), as the chipmunk makes his move. The first image is a single exposure (the chipmunk tends to move very quickly and hold still very little), tone-mapped.

After Hours at the Mall of America

The other day, after most of the stores were closed at the Mall of America (several sit-down restaurants were still open), I had the chance to walk around the Mall of America with my camera and tripod. It was an odd feeling to catch a place that is so usually busy so unusually empty. The cleaning crew had already come through the dining areas, where the chairs were all stacked on the tables. It seemed like it would make for an interesting composition, so I set the camera to auto bracketing mode (plus and minus three and zero) and fired away. (The picture here is the result of being double-tonemapped in Photomatix.) 

Birds in Flight - What You See at Higher ISOs

For me, photography is still very much a learning curve game. After a couple of very interesting (read: very blurry) shots of a bird in flight, I bumped my ISO up from 100 (where I typically shoot) to ISO-1600. I usually shoot at 100, because there's a lot less noise in the image, especially when you're trying to do HDR. There are Noise Reduction filters; it's just that there's more to filter out when you get to shooting at higher ISOs. So, this picture isn't exactly perfect (I would have liked to have gotten more of the bird in flight in the image), but it serves to illustrate my efforts of trying something new and learning in the process.

Two Male Black-Eyed Juncos

I'm pretty sure that I was witnessing some kind of duel between these two male black-eyed juncos a few days ago on my porch. They landed for the birdseed, and they squared off in a chirping match against each other. It was quite something to watch. The action was taking place so quickly (these birds were moving!) that I could only get one exposure (I actually set my camera to speed priority mode and let her roll...), but I ran the one exposure through Photomatix 5 (nice upgrade from version 4) and got a little bit of tonemapping action out of the deal. I sent the resulting tif file through Aftershot Pro to straighten/crop, and the result is as follows:

Female Junco on my Deck

I'm not an ornithologist, but I'm pretty sure this little bird is a female dark-eyed junco. I've been setting birdseed out on my deck, and it's given me a fairly close view of these birds through my patio door window. This particular bird looks like she is brooding off to the side. I've noticed, behaviorally, that sometimes one bird will 'sit watch' while the others are eating. (Watch for what you ask? Most likely, the nasty chipmunk, as I would observe later. You'll see him probably in the next few days or so.) When one of the birds 'sits watch', it is actually still enough for me to make three exposures on the auto-bracketing setting. Otherwise, while they are eating, the birds' heads are constantly whipping this way and that, up and down, all over the place. (The best hope for an HDR image there is to go pseudo and draw something out of one exposure.)

This particular image is three exposures: minus 3, 0, and plus 3. The image was shot handheld. Actually, it was shot off a rolled up a towel that I placed on the floor, with my camera on top of the towel, and the lens as close to the window as possible (in order to avoid a reflection). I was shooting with the Sony 55-210 mm lens fully extended, to get as close to the birds as possible. A little bit of wind made the tuft of feathers around the neck stand up, thankfully -- they stayed that way for the duration of the three exposures.

Light Pink Sunset in the Cloudy Sky

Out at the city park where the local lake is still (mostly) frozen, the sun was setting behind the trees in the background of the local fishing pier. Shooting handheld on the exposure bracketing setting, it was easy to get the minus 3 and the 0 exposures; the tricky shot is the plus three. I made the shot several times, and the brightest exposure always came out blurry. Two tricks I tried to steady the shot: I balanced the camera on a post, which was somewhat effective. (It was still hit or miss as to whether I could hold the camera steady enough to get the least blurry shot.) The other trick was to sit down, hold the camera on my leg, and take the shot. I think that this trick worked a little bit better, as there was 'more' underneath the camera to keep it from moving. (Again, it didn't do as good of a job as a tripod would have done, but in the situation, I think it was the best option available.) 

Mosquito Park -- Round 3

This is my third batch of images from my trip a few days ago to "Mosquito Park", the more or less abandoned city park that has fallen into various states of disrepair. In the first of these two images, I experimented with focus and a blurry background. (I took another set of images at a different F-stop setting, in which the wall and the trees in the background were in better focus, but I liked this one better.) The subject of the second image is the chimney fire pit at the park, where you see cracks in the mortar, a few missing stones, and more graffiti.

Miniature Rose with Dark Background

As my miniature rose bud from Valentine's Day continues to open up, for today's picture I dropped the curtain behind it and made 11 exposures (tonemapped in Photomatix). I set the F-stop on the camera out to f/9, hoping to bring more of the flower into focus. (With f/1.8, I seem to get only part of the flower in focus and the rest has a blurred effect.) Shooting at this F-stop made for longer exposures on the brighter images, so that I was sitting there - very still, doing my best not to shake either the camera or the plant. Because the plant is so small, I had to set my camera right on top of the plant. (Not literally: The camera was on a tripod, yet it was so close to the plant, that whenever I turned the dial on the camera to change the exposure, the movement would lightly shake the plant. I then had to wait for the plant to come to a complete stop before I could resume picture taking.) I typically use a remote control to release the shutter for these kind of shots, to reduce any vibrations on the camera. (Yes, a timer would work for this as well.) So, that's a little window into what I've got going on in this image.

Mosquito Park -- Part 2

Here are a few more pictures from my Mosquito Park adventure the other day:

Abandoned City Park -- Mosquito Park

This stone wall is part of a local city park called 'Mosquito Park' (probably not the original name), This was a Works Progress Administration project that has fallen into disrepair and has fallen prey to vandalism/graffiti artists. I only recently found out about the park's existence and thought that it might be nice to take a look around (before spring comes and the park lives up to its name...).This particular image is composed of 11 exposures tonemapped in Photomatix and edited for color, etc. Thanks for stopping by to look at my post! :)

Sesqui... Post about a Rose Bud Beginning to Open Amidst Green Leaves

Normally we kill plants. Not intentionally. It just happens. 

Somehow, this Valentine's Day mini-rose plant not only managed to survive. (Ok, we lost 2 of 4 plants in the pot, but -- on the survivors, we're actually seeing growth and flowers!) Woohoo!

As I look at my blogger publisher table, I also see that this will be my 150th post since I started posting a picture every day. So, happy sesqui... blog post everybody!

As I started taking pictures of the image above, I tried to get in as close as possible to the rose bud, to see how much of the frame I could actually fill with this tiny flower. (It seems much smaller in person.) Here's one of the earlier images:

It's nice enough, but looking at the frame, I thought that maybe the image would be stronger if I backed out and included the full three-leaf cluster on the right hand side. Something still seems slightly 'off' about my balance (I think that I was trying to prevent more 'plant' from coming into the frame, part of my problem in the original...), yet, overall, I am pleased with the result. Thanks again for looking at my post! 

Blue Clouds Over Mackinac

It was getting to the end of an ominous, October day. (The clouds looked dark and threatening of rain for much of the day.) Taking a series of sunset pictures from the island (shooting towards the Mackinac Bridge), I later found that the cloudy sky had a bluish hue to it. (Photo editing programs also have a way of enhancing such things.) 

Salmon Resting on its way through the Falls

One of the treats this past fall was the chance opportunity to watch salmon migrating in from the lake, up the river, up a waterfall. (It wasn't a big waterfall, but... it was a waterfall nonetheless.) The frustrating part of 'shooting' wildlife (with a camera) is that they are so unpredictable; I could never quite anticipate when the salmon would actually try to 'jump' up the falls (which was the shot that I really wanted to catch; I did, however, snag a video of a salmon jumping.). A much easier shot to catch was the salmon resting in the water, after having 'jumped', which is (pretty much) the shot below.

(Cropped) Rose in a Floral Setting

This picture is a crop from a larger image that I just couldn't get to look the way that I wanted. Finally, after much tweaking and tweaking, I just got out the scissors and clipped away....

Sunset through the Trees

As I shot this sunset through the trees, I was wishing that (a) I would have had my tripod and that (b) I would have had a clear shot of the sunset, as the sky had all sorts of beautiful colors that evening. However, upon running my images through Photomatix, I was really liking what I was seeing in this processed image. The way that the color appears through the tree branches almost reminds me of stained glass, which is kind of a cool effect. (I used a Surreal preset and warmed the temperature, also adjusted the black point setting.) I think I really like the resulting image.

Two Rose Buds in the Green Leaves

My dad had mentioned that telephoto lenses were supposed to be good somehow for portraiture. If I remember correctly, I think it had something to do with the perspective that a telephoto lens gives to the face, as opposed to a shorter lens giving the face a more distorted perspective. This got me to experimenting with my Sony 55-210mm lens on my flower shots.This particular image is a tonemapped version of seven exposures, which I then cropped and edited in Aftershot Pro.

On second thought, I think I like the uncropped version better:

Rose Bud in a Jungle of Rose Bush Leaves (Take 2)

So, this is take 2 on the image that I posted yesterday. The major difference (aside from skipping Aftershot Pro on this version) is that I had changed the F-stop from f/2.5 to f/6.3 for the 11 exposures. The result is that the leaves are a little bit more pronounced in this image, as is the texture on the rose bud itself.