The Hummers of Summer – B&W Part Deux

Posted on August 21, 2012 by artsifrtsy

After yesterday’s post the semi-perfectionist in me reared it’s pretty normal looking head and I took the concept of shooting it like film a step further. I culled the best of the images of my hummers from the original black and whites and took the original files and “processed” them like I would have if I had been exposing negatives in the dark room. I didn’t dodge and burn – but I played with exposure so that the images were as contrasty enough to really bring out the detail I knew was there in my “negatives”. No sharpening, no digital fixes, no sepia or pinhole. Just straight B&W with an exposure adjustment. I think this is a pretty fair comparison – 6 good shots out of 30+.

Some random facts about Hummingbirds:

They lay 2 white eggs the size of peas.

Their migration is timed according to the appearance of certain flowers along their route.

A group of hummers is called a bouquet, a shimmer, a hover, a tune or a glittering – all of these seem pretty appropriate.

They flap their wings up to 75 beats per second.

They build their nests from spider silk covered with lichens.

A hummer consumes twice its body weight each day.

I love how this female appears to be whispering to the feeder.

I seem to get the most in-focus shots of this content female.

One of my males coming in for a landing.

Fluttering female from my neighbor’s “shimmer”.

The chubby female feeding. She is the calmest of my “Bouquet”

These guys dive bombed us as we refilled the feeder.

Thanks for giving these guys a second look with me.

The Hummers of Summer – A Study in Black and White

Posted on August 20, 2012 by artsifrtsy

This week I was reading a blog about my camera model and the author issued a challenge. Shoot it like a Film Camera While this blog is specifically about shooting an Olympus E-M5, this entry was one that I thought made a lot of sense to almost any digital shooter. Take your state-of-the-art digital camera, strip it of its bells and whistles, limit your options, and process it all using the same settings. Don’t look at the images for 12 hours – imagine you have dropped it off for developing, just like the good old days.

I decided to shoot some hummingbirds on mine and my neighbor’s porches. No ISO adjustments, no DIS mode, no noise control. Set the aperture, focus, click. I decided that I would “process” these shots in black and white. I saw a photo of a hummingbird on Facebook yesterday (the image at the beginning of this post – from the OSU archives) shot sometime in the non-digital past in that luscious yellowish black and white. I loved that the details were so silver and pristine with no color to take away from the purity of the image. I output my images in a black and white pinhole with a light sepia. All processed exactly the same.

What follows are 30 shots from my 36 exposure “roll” of imaginary film shot over the last few days and “processed” late last night.

Some are more successful than others. I love the way that they have a more natural feel in the absence of vivid red plastic. I was happy to see more detail than I had imagined.

It’s actually a little liberating to shoot and hope for the best. It may not be my best work, but there are some that I really like the feel of. Who knows – doing something like this – stepping away from technology, will make me a better shooter. I don’t miss the color, and that’s interesting considering my subject matter.

Give it a try – shoot it like film!

Angry Birds

Posted on August 7, 2012 by artsifrtsy

Someone recently told me that swallows are lucky. I’m not so sure about lucky, but they are short tempered.

I ran into some last week while driving through the Indiana Dunes on the way to Chicago from Grand Rapids. I was inside the National Park’s Visitor Center getting a Passport Stamp when I spotted this guy doing a bit of DYI.

He carefully wove feathers into his adobe abode.

His girlfriend spied me hiding behind a tree and ratted me out!

Busted!

That’s one angry bird.

Caption This

Posted on July 25, 2012 by artsifrtsy

In my day job I design t-shirts. Sounds easy, right? Combine something funny or witty with some ink and cotton and “viola” – best seller! Not.

Over the years I have found ways to get my creative juices flowing. One of my favorite things to do is to look at random images and make up captions for them. Bonus points for sarcasm or irony – anything goes. After a day of shooting I will sort my photos and pull aside the ones that make me smile. I can’t take credit for all of these, I have friends who play along. Do you have a great caption for any of these? Share away, maybe I’ll make you a t-shirt!

Dude! What happened to your ears??

You look a little fuzzy to me…

Wink!

Does this make my butt look big?

Duck. Duck. Moose.

It’s your nickel.

The beginning of the Zombie Apacalypse.

Where does the seed come out of this thing?

Habaneros?!?

Hangover

Wisdom teef

Man, you gotta get your head on straight.

Blue Steel

Back off!!

Your turn – caption this…

Two little birdies, sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…

Posted on July 22, 2012 by artsifrtsy

My grandparents had a set of salt shakers like this on their TV in the living room. They would rearrange the figures and joke that Grandpa must have really messed up, because Grandma was not even willing to look at him. In truth, the salt shakers were about as angry as I ever saw them get with each other. I would scoot the figures closer and closer until they were kissing once again.

Yesterday I was sitting in my mud room shooting birds at the feeders when I saw romance in the air. Buntings flying back and forth in pairs. Brilliant blue males escorting their chocolate brown mates through the air on an invisible dance floor. Occasionally another male would try to cut in, only to be rebuffed in a mid-air tumble, with the lucky fellow returning to his mate without missing a step.

As the evening light started to slip away the dance suddenly stopped and I spied a pair getting close on a branch just off the porch.

“He’s kinda cute.”

“Quick, look away! Can’t get caught looking at him.”

“Maybe I should play hard-to-get.”

“Ooo, she’s cute. Think I’ll scoot a little closer.”

“She won’t notice if I get just a little bit closer.”

“Hello Beautiful, wanna dance?”

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you must be at the Peabody

Posted on July 16, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I flew into Orlando with some co-workers on Friday. I was in town to set up a booth for a tradeshow. I was glad to see that we were staying at the Peabody Hotel right across the boulevard from the convention center – so much walking at these events. The Peabody has an ancient tradition – each morning at 11:00 a red carpet is rolled out from a private elevator. A man dressed in enough red and gold rope to be confused with a guard at Buckingham Palace steps out and marches a small flock of ducks from the elevator through the lobby to a marble fountain. The one time I got to see the pageantry and spectacle I was unfortunately without my camera, so my description will have to suffice. Anyway, the ducks stay in the lobby feeding and swimming in a fountain until 5:00 in the evening when they once again march with the “Duck Master” down the red carpet back to the elevator that takes them somewhere so exclusive that guests are left to imagine it’s splendor.

I know it sounds quaint and even silly, but these ducks are not to be missed. Even if you stay at someplace without exclusive access to ducks, you owe it to yourself to stop by the Peabody if you are in Orlando, Memphis, or Little Rock – because these are not ordinary ducks – these are Peabody Ducks!

I know’ you’re thinking, “What’s the big deal – looks like a duck…” Well nothing could be further from the truth. These ducks do more than waddle about and poop in a fountain – these ducks can’t wait for you to take their photo. They are on display and they love it – and the camera loves them.

As you approach the fountain this girl tosses you a pose, then another, and another…

Shot after shot she would reposition herself reaching for the light. It’s almost like she was schooled by Tyra Banks – hoping for a spot on America’s Next Top Model.

Of course, unlike ANTM, there are no cat fights, no binge drinking, no tears. Just a hard working duck giving the camera her all.

Is she “smizing”?

Elongate that neck – watch your angles!

Of course there are other ducks in the fountain. It’s not all about little Tyra. This drake was really busy preening – maybe getting ready for his close-up?

Back to the star…. Find the light girl. Give us more light in your eyes. Hold it….

That’s it, stare down the camera. Nice! Now give us something different, switch it up!

Amazing! Bellisima!! Give me more!

She’s a star – and she knows it!!

The Buffet Line Starts Here

Posted on July 13, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I’m officially addicted.

I read in the paper that it was a good idea to put out a birdbath during this drought. My bowl was broken because it has been frozen and thawed to many times – I added a cookie sheet and a washtub to the old ceramic base – voila, water for some thirsty birds.

I have been challenging myself to shoot photos of birds this summer – so I thought I would pick up a feeder. This would set up some photo ops and I was thinking food must be scarcer too during drought conditions. I picked a wooden one thinking it would look cool in photos and waited for the birds to land and take advantage of my hospitality. I have several pairs of cardinals living in the woods along my drive – maybe this could get them to come out where I could get a shot of them. Cardinals seem to be a bit shy. I would love to take some shots of cardinals up close and personal! I love their color and shape – I’m helping wildlife and coaxing those cardinals close to the house!

I hung the feeder. A day passed – no birds. A week passed, nothing. Two weeks, not a seed on the patio. Finally, just short of three weeks there was a flurry of activity – dozens of birds vying for one of the perches. This bossy chickadee usually wins the battle for the perch at the bottom.

Of course, this signaled the need for more feeders to accommodate more birds. So I bought two more cedar ones and a couple of suet feeders. The clerk at the hardware store, seeing my growing addiction recommended the suet as something that would attract the cardinals that live in my driveway to come closer to the house. The suet feeders do see lots of action – not from cardinals though…

The next week the same clerk told me that I needed some black oil sunflower seeds – cardinals can’t resist those! Of course you need a special feeder for this. So I picked one up – it’s cool and red and looks like it’s made of chain-mail. So now I have 3 kinds of food in 6 feeders. The birds are eating like crazy! Cardinals don’t seem too impressed the new feeder though.

I stop into the hardware store to pick up some seed and see a bell shaped block of seed – I think this will be a excellent addition and will be a great spot to get cute photos of the birds – it looks just like one ones you give a parakeet only super-sized!

I know I have blue jays, but they seem to stay just out of reach. The clerk tells me the key to attracting them is to get a peanut feeder. So I oblige. I also love peanuts and these are pretty tasty – the jays are in for a treat. Unfortunately they are not at all interested in hanging out on the porch with me at the buffet. Honestly, I think I’m the only one eating peanuts. This titmouse tried for about 15 minutes to get one out of the feeder and gave up.

Last week I decided to go to Lowe’s to see if I could pick up some birdhouses. I heard that birdhouses will encourage the birds to settle in and stay close to the house – I put up 4. Of course the cardinals could care less and the jays look down their beaks at them, so far nothing has taken up residence.

I stocked up on all 4 types of bird feed and saw this cute little swing – what a cool idea and it should look great in photos – plus I can put berries in it to attract cardinals! Not. Seriously, I love the swing and so do all the birds except cardinals.

So now I have 4 birdhouses, 9 feeders, 4 types of seed and suet, berries, and I have bought enough swing set chain to outfit a large public playground. Cardinals and jays aside – was it worth it? Take a look at some of my new friends and decide for yourself.

My Little Chickadees

This guy takes his seed to the cross dowel and cracks it open

Suet King

Watching over us all

Sassy Tufted Titmice

This guy is sure this solar light is another feeder – like I need another feeder. He has learned that tapping the plastic on the other feeders makes the seed come out – on the solar light all he gets is noise.

Titmice also hold seeds in their feet to crack them. I call this guy Blue Legs.

Blue legs on the two-sided feeder

Bright eyes

Nutty Nuthatch
This guy is tougher to catch. He darts around a lot. I thought he was a tall chickadee at first, he tends to crawl across vertical surfaces instead of flying and he likes to walk upside down.

A Bunch of Buntings
Buntings are a bit shyer than the chickies or titmice. It took several days of sitting inside my mudroom barely moving for them to decide it was OK to eat with me there. There are two pairs. The males are a brilliant blue and the females are brown. The females spend a lot of time foraging on the ground while the males prefer the feeders.

This is Shifty – he has a hole on his left cheek. It doesn’t appear to bother him. He shifts from side to side when he spots me. I am totally intimidated.

This is Shifty’s Girl

This is Not Shifty. Not Shifty is far more comfortable with me and throws me poses right and left.

Finally, this is Not Shifty’s Girl – a rare shot of her at a feeder. It’s hard to get shots of her that are interesting on the ground because she’s pretty much the color of the ground.

I’ve decided the cardinals can just stay in the driveway. If my buffet is not up to their high standards I’m happy to entertain the diners who stop by every evening. I keep the water fresh and the peanuts are outstanding!

Saturday in the Park – hotter than the 4th of July

Posted on June 25, 2012 by artsifrtsy

This weekend the real heat of summer settled over the Ozarks. We hit triple digits and in this humidity that an be brutal. I met a friend at a local lake – she was introducing some friends to kayaking. I knew I couldn’t take the heat on the water so I stayed on the docks and played with some newer gear.

This is a shot of the docks taken with my Lensbaby set up, shown at the top of the blog. It’s a tilt-shift system – meaning that you tilt the lens so that it is no longer parallel to the sensor, this gives you a slice of focus that is tilted away from the sensor. This look is used a lot in those photos that look like dioramas or miniatures. I think that look is cool and I’ll probably try it at some point but for now I am interested in experimenting with the shift. I’m not interested in sacrificing composition for a novelty effect.

These shots let you see how the focus is off center – the second one really shows how the focus is tilted when you look at the license plate.

This is a stack of John boats and canoes on the shore. I made the grass near the canoe my focus, letting everything blur towards the edges.

Of course I cannot go anywhere without trying to practice capturing images of flying things and the Lensbaby is just not the tool for that –

Song sparrow

Resting dragonfly

Nectar filled blooms

I’m always game to try new things photographically – it pushes you to master a new skill set. I’m just a noob when it comes to tilt-shift, but I’m intrigued and curious about the potential. I think that’s a good thing for an artist.

As I hit the road for the drive home though, the tilt-shift is packed away – my long zoom is in place in case I get a shot at Bambi.

Random Stream of Consciousness – with pictures.

Posted on June 22, 2012 by artsifrtsy

Random musings in no particular order…

Have you noticed how many people post photos of their bare feet on Facebook? Odd. Feet are typically not your most attractive feature and if you post it as your profile photo every time you comment, post, or even play Words with Friends your friends are confronted with your funny looking feet. This is as close to bare feet that you will see from me online. My boss thinks they look like “bear feet”. I took this photo because I thought it was silly to wear leather five fingers while standing on a fake fur rug.

Squeegee

This is one of my Jack Russell Terriers – Squeegee. She rarely lets me take her photo. I was trying out a new zoom one day and got this shot of her. I cropped in on her eye and saw my reflection as well as my whole front yard I her eyes. Spooky.

Weeds

I often walk around looking for something to take photos of. Sometimes I find weeds. I think dandelions are fascinating. The daisies are coming up through cracks in the sidewalk. I love their symmetry. I think the leftover stem of the dandelion looks like a primitive golf ball.

Sparkles

I have been putting together a kit for shooting macro for a couple of years now. I know that you probably expect to see bugs eyes or flower centers when you think “macro” – I like to use my gear for getting close to just about anything. The second shot is my Mom’s class ring. I shot this with an antique bellows – when you shoot tight with shiny things in the background you get those cool circles – in all honesty, I was more interested in making those circles that the objects I was shooting.

Feathers

Feathers are amazing. Luminous, textured, shaping. We all know what a chicken looks like with no feathers. Birds are not so majestic naked. Sometimes I think people would look better with feathers. Kind of smooths things out.

Characters

Characters – Eureka Springs is full of them. We have lots of parades and festivals – these are events that characters just cannot resist. The woman in the clown make-up is a staple of this scene. I could probably pass her on the street without her makeup and never know her even though I have taken dozens of shots of her. The last shot is my pal Judy, we like to take shots of each other taking shots of each other.

Velcro

This is Velcro, she’s a 14 year old Rat Terrier mix. I rescued her about 8 years ago. She likes to dig – a lot. When I first brought her home I twisted my ankle in one of her many holes while walking across the lawn, so had some top soil trucked in to level things out. It took less than a month before she destroyed the lawn again. I have re-leveled the lawn at least a dozen times. I am at the point that I have decided to let her dig to her hearts content until she crosses the Rainbow Bridge. Then I’ll fix the lawn. The upside? No grubs, no moles, no wasps.

Baby animals

I read once that all mammals experience a serotonin release when they look at other baby mammals. I think that’s true and I think it answers the question as to why we would willingly bring home an animal that will poop in our house and eat our favorite shoes. Baby animals are like crack. They make us feel good. I’m hoping that this good feeling makes for a good place to sign off. Look closely into the kittens eyes. You’ll feel great.

Roadside Attractions

Posted on June 12, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I live off of a county road in the Ozarks, a couple of miles from the pavement, deep in the woods a few miles from town. Everyday when I drive to work I pack up my camera gear – I pull out my camera and zoom and place it on the passenger seat, leaving it ready to shoot in case I see something amazing. This seems to happen daily and I do my best to catch it. These shots are all along the route of my daily travels to and from work.

The shot above is Krishna, he’s our neighborhood peacock. He showed up about 3 years ago, we don’t know of he was dumped or if he was attracted to the area by a female at a neighbor’s house. We tried to find his owner for about a year. When the female died, Krishna became fascinated with the glass windows on an old Grange hall on the highway. He puffs up as he tries to impress his own image on the glass doors. Another neighbor has adopted him, but he still crosses the road every day to take on that handsome guy in the window. On this afternoon he was avoiding me so I got low and shot through the weeds.

This is a box turtle, the woods are full of them. I found this guy out on the road not far from the mailbox. When I see one in the road I like to stop if I can to set them on the other side of the road. These guys have no natural enemies except for automobiles. In the spring they are on the move and on any day you can encounter a dozen on the way into work. I read once that they travel on a path that is instinctive, a lot like salmon swimming up the correct stream to spawn. I found one in my wood shop one day last spring. I picked him up and took him outside and he ran right back into the shop to the same spot about 30 feet into the building. I put him back outside and pulled the door closed and he pushed against it for hours. I finally opened the door so he could go in, he was there a few days and moved on.

This is a European Starling in the parking lot at work. They invade the siding and soffits every spring to nest until their babies are ready to fly. This one would dive bomb you if you got too close. They are often seen as pests here in the states, and it’s really not their fault. They were introduced into Central Park in the late 1800’s by a literary group who thought that every bird mentioned by Shakespeare should live in the park. They are not native to the America’s but they thrive here. They like to kick other birds out of their nesting sites and hijack them for their own.

This is a cute little squirrel that I saw driving through town a few weeks ago. He’s cute because he is nowhere near my house. I think God made squirrels cute because they are so destructive. I have a pair of grey ones in my shop, I cannot get them out. They destroy everything they are evil, don’t be fooled. Evil, pure evil.

I found this guy on my porch one night. His eye is so amazing. It’s like layers in a painting. I used a flashlight to get him lit like this. My dogs like to push on these guys so they jump. They will follow them all over the lawn on a spring night.

This morning as I turned out of the driveway I saw a couple of deer crossing the road ahead of me. He stepped through the brush about. 20 feet away. I slowed down and opened the window and he froze. We watched each other for several seconds. I notice that if a deer is not running, just crossing, they often stop to check you out. After 15-20 seconds he made a puffing sound and took off into the woods. I see deer like this almost daily. Lots of fawns right now too.

This robin was on a limb over the road. I have photographed robins in 6 states this spring so far. They are pretty calm birds and are large enough to get a good focus. Now that I am looking for birds I see these guys everywhere. I shot this one from the driver’s seat of my Jeep.

I saw this water turtle I a couple of weeks ago while running errands in town. There is a small lake on a loop and I spotted him on a log floating. I was about 30 feet from him so I stopped the car and stepped closer. He let me get off a couple of shots and he dove out of site.

I’m fascinated with cardinals, this isn’t a very good shot. I’m working on it though. They are very skiddish so they are tough to catch. This one is at a local amphitheater – his mate was in the woods fit above him. I have some at my house and have put out some feeders hoping to attract them and get them more comfortable with me, I hope to get a couple of good shots before summer is over.

Swallow tails are a fixture in the Ozarks in the spring. This one was on the side of the road in the sun. I’m amazed by their color and the texture of their wings.

These are just a few of the things I encounter every day. What did you see on your commute today?

the eff stop

Adventures of a shutterbug

Category Archives: birds

The Hummers of Summer – B&W Part Deux

The Hummers of Summer – A Study in Black and White

Angry Birds

Caption This

Two little birdies, sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you must be at the Peabody

The Buffet Line Starts Here

Saturday in the Park – hotter than the 4th of July

Random Stream of Consciousness – with pictures.

Roadside Attractions

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this: