Day 10 – We have a new visitor at the birdfeeder today, an Eastern Female Downy Woodpecker. According to All About Birds“Downy Woodpeckers are small versions of the classic woodpecker body plan. They have a straight, chisel-like bill, blocky head, wide shoulders, and straight-backed posture as they lean away from tree limbs and onto their tail feathers. The bill tends to look smaller for the bird’s size than in other woodpeckers.”
Editing Notes: I applied a haze removal before cropping and made some minor level adjustments to the lighting before applying a final vignette for accent.
Field Notes: 170mm; Exposure: 1/100 sec, f/9, ISO 1250
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 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
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.
Sarah from “Travel with Me” guest hosts the challenge this week.
I have to admit when I quickly read the title, I thought I was picking my favorite photos I had ever taken. But, “no” Sarah writes “I want to ask you all to join me in sharing three of what you consider to be among yourvery best shots.”
Timing for this challenge is ironic because just the other day one of my sisters-in-law asked me what my favorite photo was. As I thought about it, I explained, “Trying to pick my favorite photo is like trying to pick my favorite child. I can’t choose one over the other. They’re all so special.”
Goodness! This was a little difficult. But here it goes!
“Photography, is a way of feeling, of touching of loving. What you have captured on film is captured forever. It remembers little things long after you have forgotten everything.”
~Aaron Siskind
7 Mile Bridge – Key West, FL
Why this is my favorite? I love the black and white and how it captures the age of the bridge, it’s textures and the depth of field.
Why is this one of my best? It was shot in 35mm (color) film; limiting me to the number of shots I could take with the roll of film. If I’m really honest with myself on this one, I think I may have set the camera on “Depth of Field” setting. It was really early in my photography journey, and I had no clue about manual settings. Ironically, this is one of my best-selling digital pieces.
“The whole point about taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.”
~Elliott Erwitt
Red Tail Hawk
Why is this my favorite? If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I love the wildlife in my backyard. I love the challenge of trying to photograph each and every detail. I must have snapped about a dozen photos of him before he took off.
Why is this one of my best? Quite honestly, a little bit of everything; the details of the hawk (his feet, his eyes, his coloring); the Bokeh and lighting; the overall composition of the photo. The end result was a little bit of “in the camera” and a little bit of “photoshop.”
“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.”
~Ansel Adams
A Fall Walk in the Park
Why is this my favorite? It’s just a peaceful image and it could have been taken anywhere. I feel like I nailed the essence of early Fall in Atlanta.
Why is this one of my best? There’s a lot going on in this photo, but the elements draw you to water and its path from the front of the image backwards through the middle. The added bonus (to me) is that it almost looks like an oil painting.
It’s probably a good thing that Sarah gave us a limit with the number of photos and requiring us to also choose a different genre for each. I can think of about (at a minimum) 20 – 30 other images to include.
Many thanks to Sarah for this fun challenge! Up next week is my long-time photographer/blogger friend, Anne. Her theme is “What’s Your Groove?” Knowing Anne, this will be quite the challenge!
Until next time,
~donna
P.S. If you would like to participate in our weekly Lens-Artists Challenge, just click this link and join us on Saturdays at noon EST: Lens-Artist Challenge
P.S.S. If you are interested in purchasing unique notecards, photography or digital artwork please visit my Etsy shop by clicking on the link below.
Well folks, this concludes my “30 Days of Hummingbirds” photography challenge. I hope you have enjoyed this journey as much as I have enjoyed the challenge of capturing these beautiful little creatures.
So what did I learn? Take a look:
It’s ok to push the ISO during the “blue hour” in order to gain light while maintaining a fast shutter speed;
The faster the shutter speed (and higher ISO) the more detail you’ll get;
Patience and quickness go hand in hand when photographing hummingbirds;
A trip to South America to visit the Hummingbird preserves is now on my Photography Bucket List!
There are a lot of great professional hummingbird photographers out there. If you’re on Instagram below are a couple that I follow:
@thehummingbirdphotographer
@about_the_hummingbirds
Thanks again for following along with me.
~donna
P.S. – If you missed a few be sure to take a wander around my site.
P.S.S.- If Looking for unique greeting cards and photography gifts? Then pop on over to my Etsy shop by following or copying this link in your browser👉👉 https://www.etsy.com/shop/donnarobinsonphoto
❓Did you know Hummingbird wings beat about 70 times per second in direct flight and more than 200 times per second while diving.
Field Notes:
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 100mm – 400mm
Focal Length: 340mm
Shutter Speed 1/500
Aperture: f8
ISO: 1250
Time of Day: 9:08a.m.
~Looking for unique greeting cards and photography gifts? Then pop on over to my Etsy shop by following or copying this link in your browser👉👉 https://www.etsy.com/shop/donnarobinsonphoto
📸 “Softly the evening came with the sunset.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
❓Did you know Hummingbirds have been clocked at close to 30 mph indirect flight and more than 45 mph during courtship dives?
Field Notes:
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 100mm – 400mm
Focal Length: 400mm
Shutter Speed 1/500
Aperture: f5.6
ISO: 1250
Time of Day: 6:54p.m.
~Looking for unique greeting cards and photography gifts? Then pop on over to my Etsy shop by following or copying this link in your browser👉👉 https://www.etsy.com/shop/donnarobinsonphoto
Donna Robinson Photography 