Butterfly-palooza - Day 3: Blue Clipper (Dry Brush Filter)

This butterfly I identified directly from The Original Butterfly House website as a Blue Clipper. This photo was processed with one of my favorite HDR settings in Photomatix, and was then run through Photoshop's Dry Brush Filter. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly-palooza: Day 2 (with Julia)

Again, not being a butterfly expert by anyone's stretch of the imagination, a Google search for orange butterfly led me to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Orange Butterfly Exhibit (how cool and helpful is that!) page. There, the closest butterfly that I could find to the one pictured above was the Julia butterfly, aka Dryas Julia. Again, this is one of my pictures from The Original Butterfly House on Mackinac Island. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly-palooza

I'm beginning to go through my summer butterfly photos from our visit to the Original Butterfly House on Mackinac Island. Identification of these butterflies will probably be a challenge, but thanks to the Google "search by similar image" feature, the challenge is a little bit more doable. (Their website does have a page with links to a variety of their butterflies.)

As best as I can tell, there are several swallowtail butterflies that look very similar to the one that is pictured here, at least in the shape of the upper wings swooping backward. I'm not quite sure that this is the Orchard Swallowtail butterfly, as it lacks some of the colorful markings in yellow, red, and blue near the bottom. (However, that seems to be my best guess at this point.) Thanks for stopping by!

Male House Finch on a Curved Pole (Dry Brush Filter)

This male house finch perched itself at the top of the curved pole that was holding the bird feeder. In cropping the original image, I though that the curve of the pole added some visual interest, with the bird posed in triangular fashion (one side implied by the direction of the head). All in all, I was pleased by this image. Thanks for stopping by!

Cardinal in the Mulch (Dry Brush Filter)

The cardinals that came to the bird feeder found that there were better eats down on the ground, or, at least the seeds that spilled from the feeder were easier to get to on the ground. I really like cardinals, both the male with its red color and the less colorful female. Thanks for stopping by!

Goldfinch on a Swing (Dry Brush Filter)

The title pretty much describes the picture: A goldfinch on a swing. I cropped the original image so that the angle on the swing follows up to the top left corner of the image, giving it (in my opinion, at least) some visual interest. Thanks for stopping by!

American Goldfinch at the Feeder

I would consider this a "classical bird pose" here on the American Goldfinch, perched at the feeder with a seed in its beak. It's a pretty little bird, and I enjoy seeing its yellow color. Thanks for stopping by!

Birds at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

While I was watching this house finch at the feeder, I happened to catch another bird flying in. Thanks for stopping by!

Mourning Dove in a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

I like the shape of this branch, which leads up to the mourning dove in this picture. The bird itself is tucked into a little ball as it is perched on the branch, which is a cool looking bird pose when you happen to catch it. Thanks for stopping by!

Cardinal in Another Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

Like yesterday's photo, today's photo is another dry brush filter rendering of a cardinal in a tree. Thanks for stopping by!

Cardinal in a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

The dry brush filter really gives this picture an effect that I like. (In case you hadn't noticed, I really like the dry brush filter....) For this image, the red of the cardinal stands out really well against the dark, almost hunter green, leaves in the background. I also like the texture of the tree branch on which the cardinal is perched. Thanks for stopping by!

Another View: Thrush in the Green (Dry Brush Filter)

Yesterday's post also featured a little hermit thrush. In the post-processing of this picture, I tried to brighten up my original darker exposure in order to be better able to see the bird. What I liked best was the position of the bird, looking 'over its shoulder'. The leaves and the background give the image an overall feeling of yellow and green. Thanks for stopping by!

Hermit Thrush in the Green (Dry Brush Filter)

This little hermit thrush was hiding out in the green leaves of this tree. The background colors are a little weird after processing to get to see the bird, but... I liked the bird. Thanks for stopping by!

Reflected Red Bridge over the Water (Dry Brush Filter)

As I was getting ready to leave the park, I liked this view of the bridge with its reflection in the water. Water reflections in general are pretty cool and something that I look for opportunities to get into pictures. Thanks for stopping by!

Colorful Duck in Colorful Water (Dry Brush Filter)

The mallard is here swimming through one of the ponds at the park that I had been visiting, with a building or some piece of playground equipment reflected in the water. Thanks for stopping by!

The duck and ducklings were by the pond at the park that I had visited. All of the ducks had turned away from me except for the one duckling in the front of the group. Thanks for stopping by!

(Duck, Duck) Goose! (Dry Brush Filter)

Yesterday and the day before were both posts that featured pictures of ducks. It only seemed fitting that today's picture should be a goose. ;) Thanks for stopping by!

Mother Duck and Duckling in the Grass (Dry Brush Filter)

Here is another shot of ducks from the same park as yesterday's photo. Here, what I assume is the mother duck is walking beside one of her ducklings. (When I think of ducklings, I usually think of something that is much smaller, yet I'm pretty sure that this one still qualifies.) Thanks for stopping by!

Ducks in the Grass (Dry Brush Filter)

Having driven by this park that had all sorts of little ponds and bird life, I stopped to take a few pictures. This pair of ducks was cropped out of a flock; I liked the angles on their necks with their heads and bills pointed in the same direction. Thanks for stopping by!

Red Heart on the Back of a Flicker's Head (Dry Brush Filter)

I've noticed before the red mark on the back of the Northern Flicker's head, but I had never quite realized how much it could resemble the shape of a heart until I happened to see it in this photograph. (Which perhaps makes it more appropriate for Valentine's Day than for the middle of October. Oh well, only four months away!) Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow in the Bright Green Grass (Dry Brush Filter)

Standing behind the foreground of the bright green grass is a Chipping Sparrow, whose legs seem unusually orange as it peeps its head up over the grass to look around. Thanks for stopping by!

Bluebird against the Green (Dry Brush Filter)

This is a series of images that I layered together the Dry Brushed background with the unbrushed bird. The bluebird was far enough away that it didn't mind me cracking the window open to get these shots. Thanks for stopping by!

Northern Flicker Looking from a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

I like the colors on the tree just about as much as I like the bird in this picture. (I'm sure that the tree is probably not supposed to look that way, but still, I like the colors on the tree.) The Flicker here is... looking. In a previous picture, it had dropped down to the ground, and then it flew back up to the tree. (I'm not kidding myself that it was trying to pose for a photograph; it was probably looking for food.) Thanks for stopping by!

Attentive Sparrow (Dry Brush Filter)

The sparrow was making its way through the grass, looking for food, when it stopped in this little grassless patch of ground to pose for a picture... Just kidding, it was still looking for food. Thanks for stopping by!

Showy Lady's Slipper (Dry Brush Filter)

Our state flower here in Minnesota is the Pink and White Showy Lady's Slipper. Usually in May, in select parts of the state, you can find the flower growing in ditches across the state (at least, that's where I've seen them). It's a pretty flower (even prettier if you are able to see it in its prime). Thanks for stopping by!

Robin in a Tree, Preening (Dry Brush Filter)

After yesterday's goldfinch flew away, I saw... a robin in a tree, preening. Thanks for stopping by!

American Goldfinch in the Leaves (Dry Brush Filter)

I was delighted to see an American Goldfinch passing through (as you can tell from the past few days of getting excited about sparrows and robins). I liked the contrast of the yellow of the bird against the dark greens of the leaves. Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow with Twig (Dry Brush Filter)

A chipping sparrow might be a common, ordinary, everyday kind of thing around here, but a chipping sparrow with a twig in its mouth is something new. I suspect that it was working on collecting parts to repair or replace a damaged nest after some inclement weather. Thanks for stopping by!

American Robin in a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

In yesterday's post, I said that there was not anything that was quite so common or ordinary around here as chipping sparrows... Well, maybe chipping sparrows and robins. The robins like to show up just before the last few snowfalls, and then they stick around until... Actually, I'm not exactly sure when the robins usually leave. Here's an interesting page that I found on robin migration: (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/ConfusingMigration.html). Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow in the Branches (Dry Brush Filter)

There's nothing quite so common or ordinary around here as a chipping sparrow in a tree, yet I still think it's pretty cool to happen to be in the right place at the right time to take this kind of picture. Thanks for stopping by!

Rabbit in the Grass (Mixed Filters)

One of the picture projects that I enjoy doing are the mixed filter processes, where I process an image using one filter, and then process the image with a second filter, layer the images over top of one another, and then erase away for the resulting image. In a lot of my pictures, the grass ends up looking a little bit weird, so I try to find some way to tone the grass down (sometimes using vignette or noise reducers). In this image, I used the palette knife filter to get the background that I wanted and the dry brush filter for the rabbit that I wanted. It's still a learning process for me, but I kind of like the results on this rabbit in the grass.

Here's another one of the same rabbit, less experimental looking, with the Dry Brush Filter:

Thanks for stopping by!