Growing up at the Elk’s Lodge

Posted on September 8, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I live about a mile from the local Elk’s Lodge. The lodge sits across the road from a wide open meadow that ends in thick woods. To the east a subdivision runs almost across the meadow. It’s a spot that local white tail deer like to feed. I started taking snaps of the herd about 3 years ago. The first year there were 3 fawns – triplets. I would drive through the meadow on the way home hoping to see them. I noticed on fawn with a small white band just above her nose – she seemed more laid back than the others. She looked me in the eye, she kept grazing if I started to walk towards her with the camera. I named her Doe.

The next year she was back – all grown up. I could recognize her by her calm demeanor and that fine white line just above the black of her nose. When the other deer would turn and run into the woods, she would stay behind and watch me. I made sure to give her some space. I got a few nice snaps, but the distance was just too great.

This spring I upgraded my camera body and the AF is significantly better. My friend is also more comfortable with me. About a month ago I saw her with her own twins – as usual she was not disturbed by my presence…

I got very close to the three of them and shot for about 20 minutes. I noticed that one twin, the one grazing, takes after mom. No concern for my presence. The other one is more vigilant. It trusts it’s mom, but is not comfortable grazing around me…

Being respectful of the more cautious twin I stepped back a few feet. When I did the clam twin moved towards me…

She gave me a nice pose and I noticed something about her – she has the same white stripe on her nose as her mother…

After a few minutes she licked her chops and turned to leave, not in panic, but to look for a better spot to feed…

Last week I cruised by the meadow and saw some deer over near the housing development. I drove over to an empty cul-de-sac and saw that it was Doe and her family. She was a ways off by the treeline, but the twins were pretty close to the road. Not wanting to block them from crossing the road to join their mother I got out of my Jeep and approached them from the far side. My laid back friend turned to check me out – she’s growing so fast…

Her more cautious twin looks me over, but he seems to have a more worried expression.

The worrywart crossed the road and joined mom. My chill girl shot me a profile shot.

She’s not worried in the least because Daddy’s home!

The Cards I Have Been Dealt

Posted on August 31, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I have been feeling a bit snubbed by the local Cardinals. 14 feeders filled daily and nary a cardinal shows their red and black face. The whole point of hanging all those feeders was to get the cardinals close enough to get some nice snaps. Last weekend after the rain I finally got me some cardinal love. Two male cards perched off in the walnut tree and gradually got closer and closer to me.

The patio where I snap my photos has a pergola overhead that rests on two log columns with stone bases. The two male cards decided to check me out from each side. They scoped out the best places to feed.

This guy has an epic mohawk!

This guy popped back into the tree and did his best parrot impression.

The two guys were joined by this girl who sports her best Angry Birds poses.

The girl settled in on the arm of a sassafras bench right next to the doorway were I was sitting inside. I saw her reflection in the open glass door and slowly pointed my camera around the corner until I saw her on the LCD. She was less that 3 feet from me.

She hears my camera click and starts to look around…

And she spots me.

She hopped up and turned around and threw me a pose.That girl has a little Cap’n in her.

In addition to being shy, the cards are just too large for a lot of feeders, I didn’t know this until I had already set up a feeder system. I’ve been looking for a tray feeder, in the meantime they cards have discovered the patio below the feeders – it’s the world’s largest tray feeder and needs no stand.

I’m glad these guys finally gave me a shot at snapping them.

A Bouquet, a Glittering, a Hover, or a Shimmer – Some Things I Have Learned About Capturing Shots of Hummingbirds

Posted on August 28, 2012 by artsifrtsy

Last week I posted some experiments from a photo challenge where the aim was to shoot your DSLR like it was a film challenge, limiting options and processing simply – no image stabilization, set a single ISO setting – bare bones. I learned some things by minimizing the technology and decided to apply some things to my regular shooting process while utilizing all the features of my DSLR.

Here are some things I was forced to try when I limited my camera’s functionality that can I apply to my everyday shooting:

1. Get close. Hummers at a feeder could care less about you. They may chirp a bit, but if you position yourself close to the feeders before they approach, they will come anyway – food is more important than you. I was actually standing on a step stool a few feet from a couple of the feeders for these shots.

2. Wait for it. Hummers are not sedentary creatures. Get a good focus on one that is feeding and stay on that bird until it starts to flutter, then snap immediately – it’s the best way to get an action shot.

Holding on one bird can get you interesting angles that would be almost impossible to catch shooting one-off.

This technique can sometimes let a story play out – this fellow was defending his feeder by intimidating all comers.

3. Make your autofocus area as small as possible and focus on the head or eyes of the hummer. If you can get the head sharp, the other motions will only make the shot more interesting.

5. Stalk the feeder. Sometimes a bird will light on the opposite side of the feeder. Keep the feeder in your viewfinder and focus on any part of the bird you see peaking around, often a hummer will pop up and you’ll be ready of a fun candid with sharp focus in your subject.

6. Back off and take it all in. When hummers are competing to feed there’s often lots of drama that you would miss if you were tight on one bird. Back off every now and then to get the whole picture.

7. Look for unusual locations. If you watch the dominant bird you will notice that they perch nearby. They seem to create patterns or routes. They may feed and perch on a bare limb and keep watch on their territory. They almost always return to their perch to keep watch after each altercation. These are opportunities to get a unique shot of the bird without the iconic red feeder.

These are things you can do with any digital camera with a decent amount of zoom – these are wonderful creatures and it is a pleasure just to be in their midst. Capturing those moments makes it even better.

A Hummer of a Rain Dance

Posted on August 26, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I was putting together the pieces of a longer post when the rain started.

If you’ve read any of my posts lamenting the drought in the Ozarks, you know that rain is a reason for rejoicing! I was working on a bird feeder repair in the kitchen when I looked out the window and saw this:

A female hummer enjoying the shower…

She started to spin and do her best impression of a turkey with a glance to the right…

then a twist to the left…

followed by a whole lotta shakin’

The rain gauge is filling up, the grass is starting to green up, the hummers are dancing, all is right with the world.

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!

About

Posted on August 10, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I seem to do everything a bit backwards – better late than never…maybe

About.

via About.

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.”