Larry at Larry's Images.com: 3/27/11

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Deer Family

Young White-tailed Deer

I think that this may be the same deer about which I blogged several days ago. He still has his winter coat as you can see. He has buttons on top of his head. I did not see the deer behind him hiding in the bushes until I came home and looked more closely.

Buck and Doe White-tailed Deer

Later, I saw the parents with the young one, not shown in this shot, following them as they moved away. I am unsure, but I think that I may have other shots of this pair individually. Is not spring wonderful?

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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Bufflehead Ducks are neither big nor little!

Bufflehead Male Duck

We had a visit from the Bufflehead Ducks recently. I read from the Audubon Field Guide that they are probably migrating through on their way to Canada. They are smaller than the Mallard. The female is even smaller than the male.

Bufflehead Female Duck

They just swam around together for quite a while. I was interested, not having seen them before.

Bufflehead Ducks

Probably the most intriguing behavior to me was that they feed by diving under water. They stay down for quite a while. I tried to hold my breath while they were down and discovered I needed air by the time they resurfaced. I was not exerting myself under water, either. I was able to capture a video of the female feeding. View the video. I hope you have better ability to hold your breath than I do.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Big Birds are not always yellow!

Turkey Vulture

They were doing circles and the circles were moving toward me. I kept shooting. I think they might have been checking the pond for fish killed by the winter. This one was sharp but my first reaction was that it was worthless because it did not include the entire bird. As I have thought about it I decided that it is an interesting image. I don't know why someone would want it on their wall but if I saw it on the wall in a gallery, I would definitely walk over and look more closely. The image conveys movement. It is dynamic. I like the reflection on the wing feathers. The bird's head is low in the frame which creates a tension for me because of its closeness to the edge. I think that it might be one of those "mature" subjects that Galen Rowell describes as those which the viewer has as an image in his/her mind. We imagine the other wing. We are not bothered by background clutter which makes it strong. I don't know. What do you think.

Red-shouldered Hawk

It was a day on which they were forecasting rain. I decided to get out and in, between rains. I was about half way around my circuit when I spotted a big bird in a tree which turned out to be this one. The rain was just beginning as I came closer. I think that he/she did not fly because of the rain. It is my closest approach to one of these birds to date. I am such a bumbling photographer! I had my 50 - 500 lens set to 500 on a mono-pod. My ISO was set to 1600. When the rain clouds came up, I did not think to check my shutter speed. I was trying to be sure that I had it focused and framed. My shutter speed had diminished to 1/60. I could have bled off some f-stops for a higher exposure or I probably should have increased ISO to 6400 or 12800.

I am thankful that my camera attaches side files which tell me what I was doing. I find it helpful to learn. This shot was the only one which was remotely sharp. I could not make a print of it but it can be viewed on the web.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Little Birds, Little Birds!

Black-capped Chickadee

The title made me think of a song from the Man of La Mancha. I guess these images don't make me think of the music but they make me think of spring. I have been pleased to capture shots of these little birds which I have not photographed since the days of the bird blind in my backyard by the bird feeder.

American Goldfinch

I have found the Goldfinch to be a very active bird and difficult to catch with the lens. Maybe my technique is improving. I hope so. I did get a shot of a goldfinch on a nest last summer.

Song Sparrow

I wish that I could say that I had complete control in this capture. I would be lying if I did. I can say that I think that I did it correctly. I love the rim lighting on the bird. I got the exposure right on the bird. It might have turned out as a silhouette. I just wondered if there was something in the foreground reflecting on the bird. I can't remember. I suppose the only thing that bothers me is that the beak tip is in front of the stem. It does detract.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Logs in the water.

Stream Logs

This is the other end of the log pictured in my previous blog. This is another perspective that I found. I set my tripod on the washed out foot bridge. I liked the ripples on the bottom and used a circular polarizing lens to eliminate surface reflections of the water. I decided that there was too much contrast so I made another image.

Stream Logs

I used HDR (high dynamic range) for this one. You can see that the contrast is under control. I decided that the color did not add anything to the image so I converted it to black & white. I always welcome comments.

I thought a view of the log and the bridge might help you see that with which I worked.