Blog Archives
Red tail over the Ridge
Friends, went to my photo club meeting last night and each month we vote on our favorite photo for the month. The theme was wild outdoors, and my redtailed hawk won for the month of January. That means that it will be published in the local paper. This redtail was released from Hawk Ridge in October and she had lost two tail feathers that are regrowing. This image was captured as she rose and turned her back on me, then flew back across the ridge. Maybe I have used this image in a previous post, but it bears another look, til Tomorrow MJ
Osprey
Friends, this osprey was flying over Hawk Ridge this fall during the fall migration. Most of the birds were flying south along the ridge, but this wayward fellow was flying north. A puzzle? He flew very close to the birders on the ridge, and gave me an opportunity to get this flying shot. til Tomorrow MJ
Harrier Portrait
Friends, More book images to work on, this image of a Harrier was tilted so the bird looked wrong. In straightening the image I found that two corners were white background, selecting the white corners, i filled with content-aware. This did a pretty good job of filling the background area, but still had to clone some texture in, after cropping the image, the headroom needed to be increased. So much for the photoshop details, if you need more, just ask. The plumage of this bird and his lemon-yellow eyes mark him as a semi-adult. His gray feathers around his ruff are just starting to appear and when he is totally adult, his back feathers will be very gray. He looks like an owl with his facial disk, but he is a Harrier. til Tomorrow MJ
Back From the Edge
Friends, I feel a little sassy and assertive this morning, back from the depths of a head cold that dumped me in my bed for three days, back from the edge of darkness. The face of this broad winged hawk woke me this morning and started giving me a pep talk, something about rising and shining. Well i will rise but the shining will have to wait until i have my fourth cup of coffee, so far only two. This hawk face needed something, so i started working with a new ( to me) piece of software, Color Effex Pro 4. I added some detail extractor and tonal contrast to liven up this image. I would highly recommend the detail extractor for raw images as it can sharpen without adding the outside ghosts that photoshop seems to excel at. While this added some noise to the background (sharpens noise) I could have easily edited that with a layer mask, but later. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:My 2012 in Pictures
Friends, a short summary of my best shots from this year, in response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: My 2012 in Pictures
til Tomorrow MJ
Old and New
Friends, these are flight feathers from a redtail hawk at the border between old feathers and new feathers, the old has signs of wear on the edges and the new have a smooth edge. This is a sight that few of us get to see, unless we frequent Hawk Ridge and then study higher magnifications of the wings. The older feathers are browner and might even be juvenal feathers left over when the bird had its first molt. The very top feather shows a notch that is present on the outer primary flight feathers of the wing, so this is the left wing and we are looking at the underside of the wing. I am busy studying the molts and feathers to see what i can learn, lots to learn. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Delicate
Friends, these feathers look very delicate but for a hawk they are necessary attire. This is the top of the wing of a redtailed hawk as seen at Hawk Ridge this fall, I am studying feathers and the molts. There is a lot to learn but a research project keeps me entertained on a cold windy and rainy day. The rain is melting all our snow and we are likely to have ice for Christmas instead of snow. til Tomorrow MJ
Is there a difference?
Friends,are there any differences in these two images that can be detected on wordpress? I have run out of processed bird images and in culling through my entire library of images shot at Hawk Ridge, I found a few that i wanted to include in my book. Did I mention that I was writing a book about Hawk Ridge and my experiences up there this fall? Well, I am and I am going to take you along for the ride. Book preparation first needs some first class images. I was not entirely satisfied with this image as it was processed in the raw converter in Photoshop. One of the images is the raw, the other of this Broadwing Hawk is processed further in Photoshop. Can you tell which one? til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Reflections
Friends, the reflections in this Cooper Hawk’s eye show off his brilliant yellow eye. He is a juvenile and when he is one year old, this eye color will shift to an orange, then to red as he ages further. The shadow from the supraorbital ridge above his eye makes him look very fierce. I love the feathering patterns around that reflected highlight in his eye, a reflection of the sky. til Tomorrow MJ
Another Sparrow
Friends, this chipping sparrow ( i think) also comes to you from Hawk Ridge. The migration of the passerines is also monitored from Hawk Ridge The smaller birds are counted and some are banded as they pass through and get some seed at the feeders. This bird was busy munching on sunflower seeds as I crept close enough for a portrait. I love their tiny feathers around the face. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 