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.

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.

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.

Oh Deer!

Posted on June 19, 2012 by artsifrtsy

Pssst! Hey you – you in the red Jeep…..can I get a lift?

I need to get over to Holiday Island – got a tee time in 30 minutes!

C’mon, by the time I get over there on foot I’ll be beat – be a pal.

The golf course it the best – lots of free parking!

Air Conditioned comfort in the clubhouse!

Lots of cart rentals available!

See how close to the pin you can get on the 9th hole!

After your round you can dance in the clubhouse til dawn!

Waddaya waitin’ for – let’s go!

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?

Chip Munk-ee Business

Posted on June 4, 2012 by artsifrtsy

They are startlingly cute, fast as lightning, and cunning little thieves. While I was in Michigan last week practicing shooting birds (with a camera), I saw dozens of chipmunks racing around below the feeders – the one above fearlessly raced across the top of my foot to get to the bounty of sunflower seeds and suet.

Cheeks so full he is weighted down by them and must rest his weary bones on the metal rail before cramming another 50 seeds and moving on.

Gazing across the meadow – are their other feeders out there to conquer?

Master of all he surveys.

Fitting that last seed into inflated little cheeks – seriously, why not just eat the seeds to make more room in the cheeks?

A profile pose – balance on the fence rail must require extreme concentration!

He stops for a rest – and takes a moment to play his tiny harmonica.

He has had enough and suggests that our photo shoot come to a close.

Alas, so my blog must also end…

Lorri

A Little Bird Told Me

Posted on June 3, 2012 by artsifrtsy

I have given myself a challenge this year, I want to practice shooting birds. It’s something outside of my comfort level as a photographer and I know if will make me technically better.

Last week I had chance to visit a sculpture garden in Grand Rapids Michigan. Of course as I stepped into the gardens the sculptures became the side dish as my focus was distracted by the hundreds of birds. I was particularly drawn to the wild canaries in the tropical garden. I have taken photos of my sisters pet canary and it has alway surprised me how something with tiny eyes and no lips can be so expressive….

Listening

Looking

Wondering

Thinking

Posed

Turned

Curious

Strait forward

Singing

Shouting

Mary Jane’s Upstairs Neighbors

Posted on May 28, 2012 by artsifrtsy

This is my neighbor, Mary Jane. She is almost 99 years old. She lives in a house with no running water and only recently quit walking the mile to the grocery store. She is a year older than my Grandma would have been and I live in the home her father built in 1919 about a mile away from her place.

Mary Jane is an interesting character. She loves to garden and hike (she can still do 3-5 miles with me). There is a side of her that is almost childlike. She has some cats and loves them, but she loves almost any animal that comes around.

She was having some electrical issues at the house so my brother checked out the wiring for me on a visit. What we found in the attic was amazing and a little more than I was ready for. Raccoons had been nesting up there, probably for years – what a mess. We have fixed the electric – but Mary Jane loves her upstairs neighbors. She has relegated them to just a dormer now, but I’m pretty sure she continues to make the peanut butter sandwiches.