Bird with its Head in the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

As I looked at this picture of a bird with its head in the feeder, it reminded me of the saying about the ostrich sticking its head in the sand. (Here, the bird was not hiding from danger; it was simply going after the seed with which I had stocked my feeder.) Thanks for stopping by!

The Other Birds Return (Dry Brush Filter)

It's nice to see some of the other birds start to return, but I think that they're too early. (Of course, the saying here is that it is supposed to snow on the robins' backs three times before spring has officially come.) Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee Posing on the Feeder (Stamp Filter)

There's something that I like about the chickadee. Here, the chickadee is chilling on the ring of the bird feeder. (Actually, in about 2 seconds, it'll turn its head, peck away at the seeds inside the feeder, and then fly away.) Thanks for stopping by!

Coming in for a Landing

One of the trickiest parts (for me, at least) on bird images is focus. On my feeder images, I typically set up my camera, focus it in on the feeder, and then wait for the birds to fly in and land on the feeder. It works for the photos where the bird is already on the feeder, but I miss what would be some cool photos of the birds flying in to the feeder. To compensate (which I did not do in this photo,) I would have to focus past the feeder (and the bird would have to be predictable enough to take the flight path directly through my camera's focal point. Sigh.

Thanks for stopping by and following my camera adventures!

Comparison Edits on a Nuthatch (Stamp Filter)

Here is a series of edits that I did beginning with a single RAW image file shot with a Sony NEX-7. The first is the original (edited) image of the nuthatch at the bird feeder. 

I took this original image and processed it on the Photoshop Stamp Filter changing the Light/Dark balance for 13 images, 1 through 13. I then took these 13 image files and layered them together. The lightest image was at 100% opacity, and for each succeeding (darker) image, the opacity was dropped 7 or 8%. The ending layered result was the image that follows:

For the final image, I took the 13 image files that I had created for my layered image above, and I processed those images as an HDR image on Photomatix, with the following result: 

The image with the biggest 'pop' is definitely the HDR image that was processed on Photomatix. When placed side-by-side with the Photoshop layered image, the Photoshop picture looks dull or muted.

I find it interesting to test out the different filters and see how they can be manipulated for cool effects. This has been fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Squirrel on the Feeder (Stamp Filter)

For something just a little bit different, I processed today's image through Photomatix. (The stamp filter images in previous posts had been processed by layering them together in Photoshop. For today's image, I took varying stamp filter levels from darkest to lightest and merged them together on Photomatix, processing the image in HDR.) The effect is an interesting black-and-white, reminding me of something from a newspaper photo (back from before everyone printed them in color...)

The subject, the squirrel on the feeder, has been rather entertaining to watch. The feeder is squirrel proof, in that the squirrel can't get into the holes. (If the squirrel lands on the bird perch its weight closes little doors behind the holes. The squirrels don't usually land on the perch, they seem to fall right to the ground.) What the squirrels have figured out, however, as they fall to the ground - is that even though they can't get into the holes, if they give the feeder enough of a bump or a push, a handful of seeds will fall out. (What do they say about necessity being the mother of invention?)

Thanks for stopping by!

Bird Feed as the Snow Flies (Stamp Filter)

No bird in today's photo. I liked the way that the snow was flying around the feeder in this image, and I wondered how it would look with my stamp filter effect. I think it's kind of cool. Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee Looking Down (Stamp Filter)

Grab hold and look down,

Little chickadee, be strong.

Afraid? Not of heights.

Nuthatch Comparison - Stamp Filter / No Filter

Here are two photos for comparison: The original nuthatch perched on the feeder, and the stamp filter version (several shades layered together). While I like the original for the brown background (which reminds me of one of those portrait studio backdrops,) I also like the way that the picture turned out in black and white with the stamp filter... Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch on the Feeder Ring (Stamp Filter, Layered)

I'm increasingly intrigued by these layered stamp filter images. Basically, I process the image with the stamp filter at varying levels of darkness/brightness, and then I layer the images together. For this one, I started with the lightest image at 100% opacity, then a slightly darker image at 75% opacity, a darker one at 50%, then 25%, then 10%. I'm liking the black and white and what it looks like as I experiment with this technique. Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow (Stamp Filter)

Against the wood grain
A small chipping bird stands out.
(It's looking for seed.)

Grizzly Bear (Stamp Filter)

The bear in this image is a zoo grizzly bear. (Sorry, the image may not be reused.) For a variety of reasons, I shoot many of my images through a layer of glass. (For this shot, the reason is rather obvious.) The glass wall/window left something of a glare in my color image, which is still somewhat visible on the processed image above. The image above is another in my series of stamp filter photos: This time, I processed a lighter stamp version of the photo and then layered a darker version (at 10% opacity) over top of the lighter one, giving the resulting image above. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly (Stamp Filter)

This is another of my butterfly images from last year edited using Photoshop's stamp filter. With the recent craze in adult coloring books, I could see where proficiency using this filter could lead to the kind of images that might do well for coloring. (I don't think that this one is quite there yet, but I think it's a start in a direction toward that kind of image.) Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly (Stamp Filter)

This is a different kind of black and white image, something that I was messing around with on Photoshop Elements called "the stamp filter". I think the idea here was something along the lines of what you might get if you had a really sophisticated woodcut or some kind of rubber stamp. (Being someone who likes woodcuts, I was interested to find this filter. Maybe I'll keep working with it to see what else I can come up with.) Thanks for stopping by!

Look up at the Seeds, Nuthatch (Dry Brush Filter)

Look up, little bird,
you will find lots of seeds there.
You take what you please. 

Are You Looking at Me? (Dry Brush Filter)

Peeking from behind the bird feeder, the nuthatch has one of those "are you looking at me?" poses. Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee in Flight (Glowing Edges)

Ok, I'll be the first to admit that today's picture is just a little weird, but... the picture started out as more or less unusable, which makes me kind of pleased to end up with what I've got here. The birds have been kind of jittery about landing on the feeder when I'm around, so I got a little clever and set up my camera on a tripod. I manual focused the feeder so that it was clearly in focus and then sat some distance away with my remote control. When the birds come, ta da! However, this bird (which would have been a cool shot had it been in focus) was not in focus, because it was flying in like this from behind the feeder (argh!). So... what do you do? Discard it and move on to the next one? (That probably would have been wise.) Instead, I decided to play around with my filters and see what I could find. The interesting part of this edit is the different lines that you see in the tail feathers (not to mention the array of colors...) The image is maybe a little bit psychedelic, looking like something that would have been hip back in the sixties and seventies. In the 20-teens? Who knows.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Nuthatch Keeping Watch

A nuthatch turns left,
looking over its shoulder.
Do keep watch, small bird. 

One Quick Turn Deserves Another (Nuthatch, Dry Brush Filter)

The quick turn on this nuthatch, perched at my feeder, gave me a different angle from where I had seen this type of bird before. It looked like a quick turn (the bird was probably tossing its seed before it went back to try another...) Thanks for stopping by!

The Glazed Evergreen (Dry Brush Filter)

For ever is green,
The tall tree with its needles,
though glazed by the frost. 

Beyond the Frosty Trees (Dry Brush Filter)

Beyond where Sir Frost

has marked tree after tree his -

are tropical trees.

Frosty Bushes and Trees (Dry Brush Filter)

The frost casts a haze

in the trees and the bushes.

A midwinter's day

Frosty Forest of Mirkwood

Ok, so it's actually not Mirkwood, but all of the frost in the trees reminds me of Tolkien's forest with the spiderwebs. Speaking of things this reminds me of, it likewise strikes as the kind of background that you might find to something from Edgar Allan Poe. It's a little dark, a little mysterious.

Thanks for stopping by!

Frosty Tree on a Cold Day

The wintry mix leaves,

on the trees, coats of frosting

that cover the green.

One Coming, One Going (Various Filters)

I enjoy layering filter effects one on top of another, seeing how one filter will distort the previous filter's distortions of an image. This particular edit almost reminds me of something out of a coloring book. One nuthatch was leaving the feeder as another one landed to take its place; it was a unique moment of catching two birds in flight in the same picture.

Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly on a BW Background (Dry Brush Filter)

I enjoy experimenting with layers, which is what you see above. I layered a color image over a black and white and simply 'cut' and 'erased' away the parts from the color/top image to the point that all that remained was the butterfly and the pretty colored flowers from which it was drinking the nectar. Thanks for stopping by!

Thinking Back to Warmer Days (Dry Brush Filter)

On a cold day like today, I'm thinking back (looking forward?) to the warmer days of summer. This particular picture was taken in May of last year; May of this year is only three months away! It'll be nice to see some green on the trees again and to get past this rather desolate time of year. Thanks for stopping by!

Blurry Bluebird (Dry Brush Filter)

The composition of this photo was not so great, especially considering that the photo itself was blurry (!), but I really liked the colors in the photo, both on the bluebird but especially also with the leaves in the background. So, what did I do to make this a (somewhat) tolerable image? I used the Dry Brush filter (over and over and over again), going for something of an Impressionistic feel to the image. (Yes, I know, the Impressionists are all rolling over in their graves...)

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch Facing Down (Dry Brush Filter)

Here's another photo in which I caught the nuthatch doing something unusual. I think that it was just about to take off from the feeder. (I really like its angle, especially when set against the lines in the background.) Thanks for stopping by!