Blog Archives
No April Foolin
Friends, on April 1st we saw some Sandhill Cranes in Crex and they look great after being absent for the last four months. But this morning, we had 14 inches of new snow on the ground, hope they can find enough to eat. This boy was turning to see if he could see what was making that strange clicking noise (my camera) so his eye was very sharp and although i have thousands of images of cranes, i always thrill at seeing them for the first time in the spring, til Tomorrow MJ
One more Owl
Friends, this is a little better image of mama owl and the baby is out of the nest hole and sitting on the ledge with her on Friday when i again visited the city owl. Above is a portrait of the baby owl, as he discovers that there are people and cameras looking at him, til Tomorrow MJ
Owl Portrait
Friends, this is a little closer view of the mama owl watching over her chicks, i cropped it from the original view and did not get closer physically. I wanted to see the eyes and the feathering on her breast up a little closer, til Tomorrow MJ
Great Horned Owl
Friends, this great horned owl is keeping a sleepy watch over her young in the nest. I shot 200 images on this shoot, but only one image had both subjects with open eyes, and mother only had a half opened eye, but you get what you get, considering myself very lucky this morning, til Tomorrow MJ
Color Pink
Friends, this is not outside, but in the indoors at Como Park in St Paul, every spring (or late winter) my color meter gets empty and i need to get it filled. The Conservatory at Como is a delightful place year round, flowers blooming in great profusion. This cyclamen still had the morning watering clinging to it, so i got in close to do a macro. hope you like it til Tomorrow MJ
Balancing
Friends, having a meltdown as our snow was starting to recede, but this morning we had 8 inches of fresh snow. Between snow, cold and a non-functioning vehicle, i am very tired of this winter and anxious for it to be over. On a recent trip to Lake Superior shores, ii found this ice chunk speaking of balance. Balancing emotions like this ice chunk resting on a bigger ice chunk reminds me to trust in something bigger than myself, so today i am again back to the blogging. til Tomorrow MJ
Waiting for Spring
Friends, this image says winter and waiting for it to be over, the return of the bird to its house would definitely say spring, but first we have to melt these gigantic drifts. This was found in the Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area, a vast wilderness that only contains snowmobilers and rugged photographers in the winter. Good thing we have four=wheel drive on the pickup, almost got stuck on a trail that had not been plowed very well, so if you go, watch the width of the road, if it narrows too much it has probably turned into a trail, not a road. til Tomorrow MJ
A Hole in the Clouds
Friends, on a recent cloudy day i ventured to enter Crex Meadows, no light but when i reached this point, suddenly the sky opened to reveal this lonely oak tree, so I took out the camera and took his picture, he said thank you and i was on my way, too much snow is making me talk to inanimate objects, but thank you lonely oak, til Tomorrow MJ
Black Tern
Friends, working in photoshop while we are confined to the house cause of the weather, too cold with windchills in the -50 F range. This image was shot at iso 400 and the sky had a lot of digital noise compliments of my camera, so i have become very good at minimizing the sky noise. This is a black tern that hovered over the marsh in search of prey, he will hunt insects and fish, wonder what he caught. I liked the hovering pose of the bird and a small hint of cloud behind him. til Tomorrow MJ
Macro Beads
Friends, this image was part of my presentation on focus- stacking of multiple images. These beads are 1/8-1/4 inch size so this was a macro photo. To get the desired magnification, i had to have the lens within a foot of the front surface of the beads. However, the depth of field would not extend to back of image, so took 12 images focusing stepwise from front to back, then stitched the images together with Photoshop, to get this image that is in focus from front to back. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 