When Cardinals Appear – An Afternoon Visitor

/ Donna Robinson Photography / 5 Comments

They say when cardinals appear a loved one who has passed has come to visit. Cardinals are frequent visitors to our yard so it’s hard to say whether or not they’re family members coming for a visit, or just simply coincidental visitors.

Last Sunday as I was in the kitchen meal prepping for the week out of the corner of my eye, I could see this little fellow hanging out on a bare tree limb. He was a perfectly bright red color with a beautiful black mask surrounding his beak. I desperately wanted to snap a few pictures of him, but I knew he would fly away before I could get the camera ready. To my surprise he just kept sitting there, looking around from side to side, puffing up his chest with no sign of budging.

Finally, I pulled out my camera, attached the 200m to 400m lens (the big lens as Michael calls it), raised the blinds and……..ugh! The windows have screens on them! Obviously, auto focus wouldn’t work, so I switched to manual focus. That was a little better, but not perfect. Trying to hold the camera (the big lens is heavy) and adjust the manual focus made it difficult to get a sharp image. Oh well, he was such a pretty bird I decided to make the best of it and kept on shooting.

This guy stayed on the limb for at least 10 – 15 minutes. Was it a family member? Who really knows for sure, but for me personally, just having him hang out for a while brought some comfort and a smile to my face.

Until next time!

–donna

Cellpic Sunday – Secret Hiding Places

/ Donna Robinson Photography / 8 Comments

We’re beginning to realize that we never know what we’re going to see on our daily walks. Last week, as we were making a turn on the path, I noticed something (I wasn’t quite sure what at first) moving around, slightly peeking in an out of a hollow tree.

As we drew closer to the tree, Michael and I slowed down so as not to startle the critter and to get a better look at just what it was. If you guessed a squirrel, you would be correct. This little fella wasn’t the least bit scared of us, so I was able to snap off a few shots of him (or her), slowly coming out of its hiding place.

I was able to get one last shot of this cutie coming out of the tree, stopping for a brief second, before he decided to scamper off.

About the images. I used my Samsung Galaxy 20 Note and only did a little editing in Photoshop. A quick haze removal, slight saturation adjustment and some cropping is all these photos needed. I was surprised that I didn’t need to add any sharpness (except for the feature photo) after cropping.

Our walks are fun and as I mentioned earlier, we never know what we’ll see/discover.

-Until next time,

donna

Cellpic Sunday – Mystical Gnome Village

/ Donna Robinson Photography / 10 Comments

Michael and I have found a great walking path near our new home. It’s on a golf cart path that meanders through the natural habitat of Flat Creek, several neighborhoods and a golf course. About halfway through our 8 – 10-mile walk is the cutest gnome village that someone strategically (and very creatively) placed around the base of a tree. It sits just off a golf cart path between the 10th and 11th holes, so you can’t help but to stop and look, whether you’re walking or playing golf!

I’m not one to carry my camera with me on our daily walks, so I pulled out my Samsung Galaxy 20 to capture the focal point of the make-believe village. It was an overcast day, so I brought it into Canon Digital Professional to pump up the lighting and saturation a little. I then brought it into Photoshop for cropping and blurring the background.

What really drew me to this village was the detail the creator went to, in making this door and having it perfectly fit within the trunk of the tree! Notice how they also placed the gnome (one can only assume the lead gnome😉), tiny mushrooms, a snail and a mailbox. Again, the creator went to great lengths with their imagination!

I’ve recently taken more photos of the rest of this little village, so stay tuned for Part II of “Mystical Gnome Village” 😉

Until next time!

-donna

Hungry Eyes

/ Donna Robinson Photography / 3 Comments
Coopers Hawk

One evening as we were sitting on our back patio, we heard a rustle through the trees and a thump. “What was that?” Michael asked as I quickly pulled up my camera and began snapping away. A few snaps later and I had the perfect shot of this Coopers Hawk right before he took off.

I must have searched through a hundred songs about eyes, before I landed on the title for this post (Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen). Seems appropriate to me, since he was out grocery shopping (as Michael likes to say) when he made a layover in our maple tree. What do you think? Do any other songs about eyes come to mind?

Until next time,

~donna

Lens-Artist Challenge #296 – Abstract

/ Donna Robinson Photography / 9 Comments

Ritva leads this week and boy does she have us stepping out of our comfort zone, but in a fun way. In her challenge she has us exploring abstract photography and in her words “breaking the rules of realism.”

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun!”

_Katherine Hepburn

There’re quite a few ways to create abstract photography whether “in camera” or through the editing process. I thought I would share with you some images I took “in camera.”

In this first image I had read about a technique placing a baggie (or plastic wrap) over the lens to give a soft, moody kind of feel. To experiment with this technique, I shot a matted 5 x 6 photo. When I added the baggie over the lens and reshot the photo it produced an even more “antique-ish” kind of feel. It’s almost like the photo was so old that it was beginning to fade away.

With the images below I used the “multiple exposure” setting in my Canon EOS 6D. It’s a VERY cool setting that allows you to take up to 9 different images and the camera will merge them together. I’ve only tried it with two (2) images so far.

Fire in Glass Vase
Yellow Daisy Floating in Bird Bath
Chardonnay in Glass Vase

Another fun “in the camera” technique is “zooming.” A tripod or really steady hand is very helpful with this technique because as you’re using a slow shutter speed (i.e 1/5 th – 1/8th ) and as you’re taking the picture, you’re rapidly turning the lens to achieve the effect you want. Of course, you can also achieve this in Photoshop, but it’s pretty fun to challenge yourself with the camera.

Loquat Bloom
Havanna Cuba Acrylic Painting
Bird Seed

The possibilities are limitless in creating abstract photography. It just depends on the story you’re trying to tell through your image as to what abstract technique you want to use.

Thank you Ritva for this fun and creative challenge. If you’re joining in on this challenge, be sure to link to Riva’s post in the “comments” section and also use the Lens-Artist tag.

Next week Egídio is hosting. He has some amazing photography so be sure to subscribe to his blog Through Brazilian Eyes.

Until next time!

–donna