Day 9 – House Hen Finch. This little bird was having way too much fun at the feeder today, but I was lucky enough to get a shot of him staring at me. His face is not quite as crisp as I would have liked, but it’s nature and sometimes you just go with what you get. I’m also linking this to Becky’s Simply Red Squares Challenge.
Editing Notes: Today, I applied the normal haze removal, level adjustments (lighting) and some sharpness adjustments followed with the usual cropping and vignette application.
Field Notes: Focal Length: 400mm; Exposure 1/125 sec, f/9, ISO 1250
Day 8 – What was I thinking when I started a personal photography challenge in July, in Georgia? The temps are hot, and the humidity is worse. But here I am doing the best I can shooting photos from inside the house. Hopefully, this heat will break soon, and I’ll be able to venture out to find more interesting subjects. So, bear with me on this journey, you may be seeing a few more bird, squirrels or macro photos.😉
Today’s photo is of one our frequent mourning dove visitors. At any given time, there could be one, two or upwards to five of them hanging out around the bird feeders or on this limb waiting their turn. The complexity of this shot came from shooting it through a window screen. Fortunately, the bird didn’t move too much, and with an ISO of 1250 I was able to maintain focus and achieve somewhat of a crisp photo. Editing comprised of cropping and level adjustments in both lighting and color to achieve the depth and detail. I also applied a vignette outline.
Field Notes: Focal Length: 400mm; Exposure: 1/125 sec, f/9 ISO 1250
Day 7 – Back to the birds. This was a little challenging to shoot. The birds are very skittish and can see me pick up my camera through the back door. The second obstacle is the door is double pane window and casts a reflection if you’re not positioned correctly (hence why the image isn’t as sharp as I would like it to be). Nonetheless, here is the shot for Day 7 – Chipping Sparrow. Apologies for the dirty feeder…….the birds can be quite messy.
Field Notes: Focal Length – 390mm; Exposure – 1/100 sec, f7.1, ISO 1250
Day 6 – Macro Photography. This was a little challenging getting just the right shot. I won’t even tell you how many images I took today. But, then again, that’s what this challenge is about, patience and practice.
When I brought it into Photoshop elements, I cropped it slightly, changed the background to black and applied the Orton Effect. I could probably go back in and clean up some of the edges a little more, but overall, I’m happy with the results.
Field Notes: Focal Length – 35mm; Exposure 1/85 sec; f32; ISO 1250
Day 5 – May Flower. Full transparency, this image was shot with my cell phone. We made a day trip to Columbus, Georgia today. And while, yes, I had my camera in tow, we had just walked out of a restaurant, and it was still tucked away in my backpack. I didn’t have enough time to pull it out, so I opted for the cell phone camera.
My first thought with this statue was “I wish it was raining so I could really capture the true essence of playing in the rain.” The statue was part of the 2007 Sculpture Walk in Columbus and the artist is Susan Geissler.
I couldn’t decide which I liked best, the color or the black and white. So, I’ll leave the choice up to you. The only other edits I made to the image was cropping and haze removal.
Field Notes: Samsung Galaxy; Focal Length 26mm; Exposure F1.8, 1/2365s; ISO 40
Day 2, meet Thomas. He’s not our cat but shows up every day around 6:30a.m. and oftentimes lingers throughout the day. He perches himself on this table and quietly guards the bird feeders. Believe it or not, the birds are no longer disturbed by him and quietly feed while he watches and sleeps.
He’s a protector of the feeders and our back porch. His only request is a pet of his belly and a few scratches behind his ears.
Field Notes: Focal Length 105mm; Exposure 1/30; f5/6; ISO 640; Time of Day: 12:40p.m. EST.
I’ve been feeling a void in taking pictures lately. I don’t know why, but somehow, I haven’t felt very inspired. My camera has sat in the cabinet for over a month and the only pictures I have taken have been with my cell phone. It’s “ok” but I knew I needed to push myself and pull out the “real” camera. So, what better way to challenge myself than to start a 30-Day Photography Challenge. Since July has 31 days, let’s just call it a 31-Day Photography Challenge. 😉
Here’s to Day 1, a Gray House Finch hanging out on the bird feeder.
Anne challenges us this week with one of my all-time ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) techniques……Zooming. It’s fun, challenging and the results can be quite spectacular. You can learn more about the specific technique in Anne’s post.
It’s been a while since I played around with zooming, so when Anne’s challenge came out, I took the opportunity to take some new images. It took me a couple of shots to get the hang of it again, but I really like how these Lilypad images turned out.
In the first image below, I like how a single leaf is in focus and the rest of the leaves show increasing movement from there.
Creatively cropping your images can also give you some added depth and movement. The image below reminds me of a kaleidoscope.
There are so many fun things you can do when editing your zooming images. In the photo below, I applied the “Orton Effect” and also added a little more blur. I like the brighter, dreamy look to the image on the right.
For my last image, I have cropped it a little differently and applied a “watercolor” texture. I feel like I’m in the middle of a wheat filed with the one on the right.
Thank you, Anne for the reminder of this fun technique. I can’t wait to keep applying it to other photos.
Ritva leads next week so be sure you’re subscribed to her site The World as I See It when she posts the challenge Saturday, noon EST.
Donna Robinson Photography 