Blog Archives
Weekly Photo Challenge:Changing Seasons
Friends, As the seasons change, more birds become visible After the leaves are gone, these Ruffed Grouse blend into their brown surroundings but are more visible cause they seek out the fall berries on leafless bushes. On my way home from Crex I saw some Ruffed Grouse foraging along the roadside. When i pulled over and jumped out of my vehicle, they quickly hid in the brush. I followed for awhile and this one jumped up in a bush and was busy plucking some small berries for his supper. I got within ten feet of him and shot this image. When he realized that i might be a threat, his feathered crest raised and that is why he is called a Ruffed Grouse. This was a difficult image to obtain because of all the little brushy branches that insisted on getting into the picture, blocking various parts of the bird. I worked at it for about 30 minutes, then my hands were too cold to go on. til Tomorrow MJ
Layered Flight
Friends, back to our winter weather now, and while visiting Crex this week, I photographed this rough-legged hawk in flight. I panned him as he flew by and combined the images (6) into one image to show the various wing positions. These images were over-exposed to white-out the background of each then layered on top of a white background and the blending mode of each image layer was set to darken so only the dark pixels are added from each image. Then each bird is moved to a suitable location. The dark wing patch present on the underwing is diagnostic of the roughie and the gray sky is diagnostic of our weather. Hope you enjoy. til Tomorrow MJ
Rough Waters
Friends, these Trumpeter Swans are swimming in the rough waters of Phantom Lake in Crex. I used the detail extractor in Color Efex Pro 4 to bring out the white feather details. These birds have now gone south, but i still have the images in my head and in my hard drive to keep me warm in this cold weather. I went to Crex yesterday and found a few hawks, eagles and redpolls to keep my camera happy.Stay tuned for these birds in the near future. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Reflections
Friends, another entry to this weeks theme: reflections, i needed a warmer image this morning to stimulate my morning, coffee is not doing the trick this morning, still really groggy, blame it on the weather. This image was taken this summer, but the background as is was too busy, so i put the swans on their own layer and blurred the background and gave it a slightly foggy feel. These trumpeter swans are now floating in a non-distracting background with a lovely foggy reflection. Sometimes the differences between sharpness can also be used to make the subject more prominent. til Tomorrow MJ
A sharper image
Friends, this sandhill crane is similarly processed like the top image in yesterday’s post. First a short lesson about shooting jpegs vs raw captures. A jpeg image is processed and sharpened in the camera, while a raw is basically unprocessed by camera software. Since a computer (and photoshop) have a lot more tools to process an image optimally, it makes sense to me, to use the camera for capturing an image (raw) and a computer for processing the image. So this image was captured in raw, converted to psd format and exposure adjusted in photoshop then finished with Color Effex Pro 4- detail extractor. I think that the sharpness achieved in this software program is superior to those results that i can get in Photoshop or in the raw converter in Photoshop. I think, and this is my opinion, capturing a digital image and processing that image are both necessary steps to great photography. Post-processing does not diminishes the skill of the photographer but is necessary to impart the mood of the photo. Just as Ansel Adams developed a print from a camera-captured negative, so we need to post-process from a digitally captured image. What do you think? til Tomorrow MJ
Red Pine Sunset
Friends, the end of a perfect winter day, this red pine grove is halfway home from Crex Meadows and I often see it at sunset. Spending the day at Crex is a passion even when the summer birds have gone south. The only birds remaining are natives and those that migrate from the far northern regions. Currently there are Rough-legged hawks, bald eagles, a harrier, osprey and an occasional red-tailed hawk, I am chasing otters, timber wolves, white tail deer and other illusive ghosts thru the 30,000 acres of marsh and woodlands that is Crex. Finding tracks but nothing else so now i have to resort to some sunset images to be able to show you the wonders of Crex. til Tomorrow MJ
Ice Cracks
Friends, this ice is still black ice, meaning very thin and easily cracked. These cracks were started by an otter crawling over the surface leaving a concave path which has expanded due to warmer water underneath. When i see this kind of ice, i remember my father loving to skate on this kind of clear sheet before the snow made the ice surface rough. He would skate and skate until he was tired while we children would stick to the shallows. I don’t swim well and did not enjoy watching the fish swimming below me, but he loved it. I think most of his childhood memories came from skating away the winter with his friends and siblings. Most of my skating memories stem from chasing my father while he skated backwards, taunting us to catch him. We never did. til Tomorrow MJ
COLD !!
Friends, i saw this at Crex when the full moon rose in the late afternoon, but it took two layers to show it to you. The Bald Eagle was the bottom layer with the moon added on top. This is a photograph of the feelings that at times inspire a artful approach. The moon and the eagle are in a very cold light against the pure blue sky and the temperature outside was also cold.So this morning a cold start to your day. til Tomorrow MJ
Hardy Snipe
Friends, this hardy Snipe is still hanging around on the icy edges of a pond that has not closed up yet, but the temperature this morning was only 9 degrees above zero Fahrenheit, so the water will soon close. Hope he gets his breakfast and hurries on his way south, it is not healthy to stay too long. Below is another image of him enjoying the bitter cold sunshine, he was holding up his foot trying to warm it under his body. Enjoy the sun while you can, til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Thankful
Friends, I am very Thankful for the birds of Hawk Ridge and Crex Meadows, who keep me busy photographing the wildness. So back to Hawk Ridge for another Hawk lesson, or in this case, a Falcon lesson. The portrait of the Merlin below shows an open beak and the notches in the cutting edge of the beak that fit together when the bird is killing his prey. These interlocking notches are the tomial tooth of the falcons. Hawks may have the upper notch but do not have the corresponding notch on the lower edge. The higher magnification image shows this region to dramatize the tomial tooth. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 