Male and Female House Finches

This is the sight with which I am more typically greeted when the house finches come to call. Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee in the Rain (Stamp Filter)

When I say that this photo is a "chickadee in the rain," I almost feel as though there should be some kind of dance routine to go with the image. The only movement, however, was a little hop, hop from one hole to the other, before the bird eventually flew away. Thanks for stopping by!

Return of the House Finch (Dry Brush Filter)

One of the welcome parts of spring has been the return of the house finch. The male pictured here has a deep red head (the female is brown). Usually, whenever I see the house finches, the male and the female are always together, which made this picture slightly unusual. (The female is probably nearby but outside the frame of the shot.) Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp Filter Male Junco

For this image, I layered together five images processed with Photoshop's Sketch > Stamp Filter. Each image was at a smoothness level of 5, altering the light/dark balance for each image as follows: 1, 6, 12, 25, 48. I then copied these into a new image file, layering them together at 100, 75, 50, 25, and 10 percent opacity respectively. The result? Overall, the image is a little gray, but, once again, I kind of like it and had fun making it. Thanks for stopping by!

Junco Picking through the Seeds (Dry Brush Filter)

Here's a picture of one of my favorite birds, the female Dark-Eyed Junco, with a seed in its beak after picking through the seeds on the ground underneath my bird feeder. I like the plain appearance of this little brown and the gray bird. Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco in the Grass (Stamp Filter)

The Dark-Eyed Junco in this image is looking over the grass (which was strewn with bird seed, tossed out from the feeder overhead by the other birds.) Thanks for stopping by!

Pair of Female House Finches

Whenever I see the house finches at the feeder, it's usually a male (bright red head) and a female, so it was a little bit unusual to have two female finches at the feeder. Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee in the Rain Redux (HDR)

So I decided to try my suggestion from yesterday to see how Photomatix might improve the image, particularly the white space on the chickadee's head that was washed out. Without spending a whole lot of time in the program, I was able to largely salvage that white part (although, if you look close, you can still see some wash out.) A new issue emerges in that the image (up close) has a grainy appearance. I like how the HDR makes the details stand out (like the feathers on the bird), but I'd like to find a way to clean up the graininess without washing out the details. (In other words, I'd like to have my cake and eat it, too.) Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee on the Feeder in the Rain (Stamp Filter)

Here is the color version and the stamp filter version for a comparison. As you can see in the original, the lighting is off on white part of the bird's head, washing the image out. (Afterwards, I'm curious whether Photomatix would have had something that could have helped?) Converting the image into a black and white, the white "hot spot" goes away (the image also changes significantly. Better or worse is a matter of taste, but I think that it is definitely different.) What I like best about the second image is the texture/patterns created on the roof/overhang section of the bird feeder, which seem more noticeable in the second image than they are in the first.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco Looking Down in the Grass (Stamp Filter)

So, yes, I basically caught this Junco in about every pose imaginable while it was down on the ground, looking for seed. (Was it posing? Probably not.) Thanks for stopping by!

Male Dark-Eyed Junco (Stamp Filter)

I'm really pleased with how this picture turned out. Once again, I like the knotty texture of the grass in which the bird is standing. I again layered together various levels of processed stamp filter images, from ultra bright to ultra dark and a few mixed in between, at varying levels of opacity (100, 75, 50, 25, 10). Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee (Stamp Filter)

At the moment, I am frustrated with my computer, which is not working as efficiently as I would like it to work. Watching the little spinning wheel (working, working, working,) I finally decided to grab my little flash drive and head over to a different computer to upload today's image, and - voila! At times such as these, I am reminded of the (heartless) advice I once heard about computers, something to the effect that they are only as good as their operators, or something like that. Hopefully a restart will set things going in the right direction again. Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco (Stamp Filter, Layered)

Originally, I worked on this image for the Junco. In processing the image with the stamp filter, however, I really like the texture of the grass, leaves, etc. that you see in front of the bird, a regular maze! Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco, Looking Back

The wide-eyed, Dark-eyed Junco in this photo is looking back over its shoulder, a reminiscent image reminding me of what it is to look back on the past before looking ahead to the future. Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco, Standing Watch (Dry Brush Filter)

A Dark-Eyed Junco was standing watch over the shelled sunflower seeds that had been left behind by other birds and by the squirrels. (Hopefully, it was able to find a few for itself.) Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco Groundfeeding (Dry Brush Filter)

One of my frustrations with the birds at my feeder is that they will pick through the seed, toss 3 for every 4 that they pick out, and leave a mess on the ground. (My issue, however, is not so much the mess as it is the waste!) Along comes the Junco. I don't think I've ever seen this bird up on the feeder; I think it prefers to take its seed off the ground. (Either that, or it prefers the lack of competition, as the other birds - the finches, the nuthatches, the chickadees - all take after the seed in the feeder and pretty much leave the ground stuff alone. (They've already picked it over, anyway.) So, I'm glad that something other than the squirrels is managing to get to the seed on the ground, and I'm especially pleased that it would be the Juncos, as they are among my favorite spring birds. Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco (Dry Brush Filter)

I'm not quite sure what it is that I like so well about these rather plain, gray birds, but I always looking forward to seeing the junco when springtime comes. (Maybe it's the coming of springtime that makes me look forward to seeing the Dark-Eyed Junco!) Thanks for stopping by!

Pileated Woodpecker (Stamp Filter) Haiku

A woodpecker slams
its long beak into tree trunks.
It's tapping for bugs.

Nuthatch Peeks around the Feeder (Stamp Filter)

In a little bit different of a pose, the nuthatch is here seen peering around behind the bird feeder. What did it see? I'm not quite sure. This was the last picture that I took that day, so... I don't remember what happened next. (The nuthatch probably flew away.) Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee (Graphic Novel Filter)

What I noticed as an immediate difference between the Comic Book Filter and the Graphic Novel Filter was the difference of color vs. black and white. There was also a texture difference, where here in the Graphic Novel image you can make out the lines of the chickadees feathers. (It was a little different in the Comic Book version, where black lines (with adjustable thickness) were added to the image. Overall, this struck me as the better image, and so -- this was how I processed today's photo. Thanks for stopping by!

Two's Company (Pine Siskins and a Nuthatch)

The clear message of this image is that two is company (the two Pine Siskins that were already at the feeder,) and that three is a crowd (the nuthatch that confidently landed and took its place on the left of the image.) The one Siskin, with its open beak, seems to be 'telling' the nuthatch what it thinks, or rather, was just caught with its beak open. But, it's fun to personify the birds and put what we are thinking into their heads. Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin at the Feeder (Stamp Filter)

Happy Saturday, everyone! Have a great day. Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin (Torn Edges Filter)

In my quest to experiment and try something different, today's photo is brought to you courtesy of the Torn Edges filter from Photoshop. The color image is first (kind of grainy). The second image is the result of processing the first image several times with the torn edges filter, layering them together at varying levels of darkness/opacity, and then finally doing a little touch up work with a few of the automatic filters that Adobe has programmed in. Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin (Black and White, Stamp Filter)

I like the sense of an impression that is left behind by the stamp filter. It doesn't catch all of the details in an image, but it catches the most prominent ones and leaves behind an impression of what the picture was about. This one was about a Pine Siskin eating seed from my bird feeder. Thanks for stopping by!

Goldfinch, Take a Bow

Actually, I'm not sure what the goldfinch is doing here in this photo. The way that it's craning its neck reminded me of some type of bowing, if a bird would be inclined to bow. Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskins in HDR

I know that HDR isn't for everybody, but I like to play around with a program like Photomatix to see what it can do with its HDR effects. For this photo (a single image file), I like what the program has done in bringing out all of the reflections on the bird feeder, giving it a somewhat shiny appearance. Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Siskin at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

The stripes on its wings
have a pattern that's wavy.
No effect on flight.

Nuthatch v. Chickadee (Comic Book Filter)

Having discovered the Comic Book filter in the Photoshop filters, this looks like something that will be fun to play with. The image title sounds a bit more dramatic than the image actually is, since there was no epic battle between the nuthatch and the chickadee (although the nuthatch sometimes frightens/chases the other birds away.) Here, the two birds stand on either side of the feeder, the nuthatch going after some seed, the chickadee watching on the other side.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch Victory Pose

I have a friend who routinely posts the word "Victory!" in social media, and there was something in the body angle and position of this nuthatch that made me think about a nuthatch victory pose. (Granted, a true victory pose would probably look something like the eagle on the back of a quarter, but... this was the closest that I could come up with.) Thanks for stopping by!

Looking Back Goldfinch (Dry Brush Filter)

For April Fools' Day, I had thought to write a magnificent post about the bald eagle that landed on the bird feeder outside of my house, but then... April Fools! Thanks for stopping by!