Two Birds at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

The original image was from earlier in the month of March, but we've been getting a lot of birds lately, hearing all sorts of bird calls in our backyard. I didn't get a picture, but I saw a female cardinal today, which is one of my favorite birds. I'm looking forward to catching that one with my camera. Thanks for stopping by!

Goldfinch Looking from the Feeder (Dry Brush, Haiku)

It's yellow with stripes,

black and white, wings and body.

The goldfinch returns.

First Goldfinch of the Season

Earlier this month, I saw (what I believe was) my first goldfinch of the season! In fact, here is the first picture of said goldfinch, processed two different ways, one as a blended stamp filter, the other as a straight up dry brush filter. I think I like the dry brush filtered image better this time. Thanks for stopping by!

Black and White Stamped Bunny, Lightly Colorized

Layering my Stamp filtered image with a Dry Brushed version of the same image gave me kind of a cool effect (in the second photo). I liked the first one, the black and white bunny, but I also like the second one, where the colorization reminds me of something out of a book. I remember once having read something about artists who cut out prints from old books (much to the horror of old book lovers), hand-color them, and then sell them on eBay. Apparently, it's quite lucrative. My second image below reminds me of that kind of image. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch at the Feeder (Dry Brush, Stamp Filters)

Below is the same image of a nuthatch at the feeder. The first was processed with the Dry Brush filter (layered with the original image), and the second takes the top image and layers together several shades of Stamp Filtered images. The third layers the previous two together for a slightly colorized version of the Stamp Filtered image. Fun, fun, fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee Ready for Take Off (Dry Brush Filter)

Here is the Chickadee, ready for take off, a seed in its mouth. It might be a little sappy, but I find this picture heartwarming. We put up our birdfeeder, because we like to feed the birds. It's a little crazy watching some of the birds pick through the seeds, tossing them to the ground before they find one that they like. And then, there are the squirrels, which, even though our feeder is "squirrel-proof," still manage to knock a few seeds to the ground from time to time. So, to see a bird, seed in beak, ready to fly back to its nest, is kind of cool. Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch, Head Tilted

When you shoot lots of photos of birds, sometimes you can catch them in an interesting pose. Here, I liked the slight tilt of the nuthatch's head, almost as though it was thinking something. (I can tell you what it was thinking about: The seeds in my feeder!) Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin (Blended Dry Brush Filter)

I was reading an article the other day from the Wall Street Journal about Degas's printmaking process, which boiled down to painting on a copper plate, place paper over the painting, run the plate/paper through a press, peel, and... voila! Sometimes the process yielded something fantastic; sometimes it smudged. According to the article, for Degas, it was all about the process.

I've found some of that with my photography as well. Working your way through various post-processing options can be like smooshing a painting, peeling the paper, and seeing what you get. (Although, if you don't like what you get in Photoshop, it's easier to redo the process.)

For this picture, I tried something that I've been doing for a while now with a different filter. I had been using the Stamp Filter, layering together several shades from light to dark at varying levels of opacity. For this image, I Dry Brush Filtered the image and then layered in the original image (I think it was somewhere around 65%.) The result? Although I can only notice a subtle difference, the layered version does have a 'painted' feeling to it, while it has also maintained some of the details that were lost without adding the original back in. It's an interesting process, and I may play around with this more in the future.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch with an Upward Beak Pose (Dry Brush Filter)

It's always nice when things are looking up! Thanks for stopping by!

The Power of Showing Up

I've heard varying versions of a quote attributed to Woody Allen, saying that 90% of success is just showing up. The first time I heard that quotation, I was in a Freshman Seminar class at college, where the professor was trying to impress upon us that we should not skip class but should just show up. Even if we hadn't done our reading. Even if we hadn't done our homework. Even if we were totally unprepared, we should just show up. (I'm sure that he followed up by saying that we should do our best to make sure that we were prepared, that we had done our homework, etc.) Whether or not Woody Allen actually said this quote, or whether it was only 80% of success, the point still stuck with me and it's something that I've seen time and again ever since.

What is it about the nuthatch that draws me to taking and posting its picture? The bird shows up! They've been around my house all winter. And, 9 times out of 10, when I pull out my camera, guess who is posing? The nuthatch! The pictures may not be anything spectacular, but they're all part of just showing up.

Speaking of showing up, thanks for stopping by!

Black and White Nuthatch (Poster Edges + Stamp Filters)

In my quest to make really cool pictures using the Photoshop filters, I thought I'd try running my Nuthatch photo first through a Poster Edges filter to define the edges, and then run the resulting image through the stamp filter at varying shades. I layered them together (100% the lightest, followed at transparency levels decreasing by 20%) and came up with the above resulting image. It's ok that the image is in black and white, because... the Nuthatch is pretty much a black and white bird (with a few shades of gray....) Thanks for stopping by!

Amazing, Acrobatic, Upside-Down Nuthatch!

Well, if that wasn't a circus title for a blog post header, I'm not sure what is!

One of the things that I find impressive about the nuthatch are the crazy positions in which this bird places itself. Here, the nuthatch is hanging upside down on my bird feeder. Why? It's trying out for the circus, over course! (lol) Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin Looking Over Shoulder

In this image, I like the lines on the bird's body as it looks away from the camera and back towards... who knows what! Now that it's getting closer and closer to spring, it sure is nice to see the birds with a little bit of color in them back again. Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee Landing (Stamp Filter)

I like layering the stamp filtered images because of the colored texture that the process gives to the image, which is otherwise missing from a straight run on the stamp filter. Layering the various images together gives a depth that would otherwise be missing. Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch Hanging On (Dry Brush Filter)

O nuthatch, hang on tight

to your perch on the feeder.

Cat spotted below

Two Chickadees at the Feeder

The only thing better than one chickadee at the bird feeder is two chickadees at the bird feeder. (It makes sense, right?) :) Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee, with Bowed Head

What chickadee bows

to acknowledge its feeder?

One thankful for seed

Chickadee with a Seed at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

I really like chickadees. I think it's mostly the name, which is kind of fun to say. I think it might also have something to do with the layout of the colors of its head, which somehow reminds me of a football helmet. (I have yet, however, to hear of a football team named 'The Chickadees', although saying so will probably encourage someone to respond in the comments below.) ;) Thanks for stopping by!

Who's at the door? (Pine Siskin)

Who's tapping the door?
Is it raven there, saying,
"Not ever, ne'er more?"

Looking Down from the Feeder (Stamp Filter)

A bird looking down

from its perch at the feeder

finds many dropped seeds.

Profile at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

In most of the pictures, the bird is either turned away from the feeder or has its head immersed in the feeder. I don't have too many profiles like the picture above. There may have been something overhead that caught its attention.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin or American Goldfinch?

I am starting to wonder whether the birds that I've been seeing at my feeder are in fact Pine Siskins or whether they are not, in fact, American Goldfinches. I am not the only one to ask this question about these very similar birds, as you can read in the following link. Thanks for stopping by!

The Bird that Rocks the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

Here, the nuthatch was the last bird to the party with the pine siskins at the feeder in my backyard. The nuthatch landed upside down on the underside of the feeder, scaring away a siskin that had been perched just above. Righting itself on the ring, the nuthatch 'rocked the feeder'. (I love how the siskin to the left has its beak open, as if to say, "Hey! Watch it!") Thanks for stopping by!

At Cross... Beaks (Pine Siskins)

Are they sparring? Are they showing affection? I'm sure that it was just the angle at which this photo was taken, but I like how these pine siskins are posed with their beaks crossed over one another. Thanks for stopping by!

Shy Pine Siskin (Pose 2)

I'm not exactly sure what this bird was doing, but it had all sorts of great shy poses. Thanks for stopping by!

Shy Pine Siskin

In its pose here, this little pine siskin looks quite shy, tucking its head down as it looks toward the camera. (Ok, this is an anthropomorphism, but it works, right? Right?) ;) Thanks for stopping by!

Ring Around the Feeder (Layered Stamp Filter)

Here is another rendition of yesterday's photo, birds playing "ring around the feeder," this time processed with the stamp filter (with various shades layered together). My favorite bird int he group is the one on the far right, the one that is peeking around from the back side of the feeder. What a pose!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ring Around the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

This picture cracked me up. I'm not sure what these Pine Siskins were up to, but it looks like they're playing some kind of game in which they're chasing each other around the feeder. (I'm sure they weren't, but it looks that way.) Thanks for stopping by!

Here's an HDR version:

A drop from above
as it falls to the feeder:
A finch on the move

Pine Siskin, Looking Up (HDR)

Shortly after landing, this Pine Siskin paused, looking up over my feeder. (As I recall, there were lots of birds around that day, and chances are, another bird was perched over top of the feeder.) Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin Comes to Call (Stamp Filter)

Here is another comparison set of images: A Pine Siskin came to call on my bird feeder. The first image is the color photo, and the second is the stamp filter image that was processed in HDR. The third image is a layered blend that I put together in Photoshop Elements. 

The HDR image did not turn out much different than the stamp filter image that was processed the darkest. The color image is probably the one that I like best of the three. It's fun to experiment! Thanks for stopping by!