Blog Archives
My Deer Hunt
Friends, well the men of the family are out sitting on tree stands in single digit cold (F) with fingers freezing and trying to stay quiet in the frosty woods. Deer hunting opened this morning but i got this white tail deer doe several days ago before the shooting started. She was so pretty, hope she makes it, til Tomorrow MJ
A Quiet spot
Friends, this quiet spot in the woods is like a dream for me, this image is an HDR and maybe a bit dramatic, but i like all the colors. Something to look at in the drab months ahead, when i will have to make my own light and action. Today is the eve of deer hunting and the deer will be hiding out for a few weeks to escape the hunters, not my favorite time of year. Orange is the color this week. til Tomorrow MJ
Back At It
Friends, I thought that returning to my images of Big Manitou Falls might help to refresh my creativity that has been a bit lacking lately. I guess after photoing the Whooping Crane, I thought “I can’t do any better and everything else is boring”, but i need to push onward. Winter is coming and all the boys are thinking deer hunting, so the orange clothing is lying about the living room, the guns are cleaned, the rifles sighted in and Saturday morning all the Wisconsin hunters will be out. This image is an HDR that was made from three images, just to show that HDR can have a natural look. til Tomorrow MJ
One More Whooper
Friends, normally i don’t use this type of image in my blog, but this is a rare bird and a rare opportunity to share with you. This image was taken against the light and at a distance too far for my tele, but photoshop helped the situation so the leg band colors could be seen and recorded for posterity. Sorry but i couldn’t resist showing one more Whooper image, til Tomorrow MJ
Another Thrill
Friends, Jim and i went crane hunting again today to see if we could find the Whooping Crane among the hundreds of Sandhill Cranes, I showed an image yesterday of the large flock with a distant white bird. Today we surveyed the fields and found her again, among the Sandhills. She walked up and down and finally took off, she flew into the sun, but i stayed focused as the small group circled, turned , came right at us and passed directly overhead. I guess my practice at Hawk Ridge and the flying cranes at Crex, paid off, as i was able to capture her in flight. I know, i know, you want the wings fully extended either up or down, sorry you get what you get, it was a beautiful day to share with my honey. til Tomorrow MJ
What a thrill!!
Friends, these Greater Sandhill cranes are gathering on the Trade River for their last hurrah before going south. But surprise, one of these birds is not a sandhill, but is a rarely seen Whooping Crane. The big white one in the top of the image whose head markings are a little different than the Sandhills. They are very white and larger than the sandhills. These birds are extremely rare and are now bred in captivity then taught to fly using an ultralight aircraft at Naceedah Wildlife Refuge, then they are released into the wild. Occasionally we see one who is migrating on his own with the Sandhills, it is a very rare sighting. Sorry for the poor image, but i was stretching my telephoto. Thanks Kim for the tip and Jim for the company. til Tomorrow MJ
Spring Loon
Friends, this is an environmental shot of a loon nesting far out in the marsh in Crex. The loons have all flown south and now the marsh is full of sandhill cranes. Soon they will also disappear and we will be left with the snow, ice and winter birds. Bald eagles, snow buntings, rough-legged hawks, blue jays, nuthatches, goldfinches, juncos, woodpeckers, flickers and ever-present chickadees will remain behind to keep us company. til Tomorrow MJ
Maple Glory
Friends, this foliage is gone for now, but a little reminder of the wonderful fall that has now passed us by. The maples are the highlight of my fall, they seem to turn every shade of yellow, orange and red before they pass into winter snow. til Tomorrow MJ
Looking West
Friends, standing near the top of Big Manitou Falls in Pattison State Park, the mixed foliage from pine and deciduous trees caught my eye. A cloudy day with little direct light made the scene appear kind of drab, so this is an HDR image to capture the full range of colors. HDR is high dynamic range and is a composite of an underexposed image, right on exposure image and overexposed image in a post-processing software, in this case, photoshop. I think this was an improvement over the straight exposure dictated by the camera exposure meter. What do you think? til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 