Month: December 2011

Well, actually she said, “Celebration ? I say a bottle of wine and a wine glass and you’re done! Then just drink the wine!” That was the comment from my friend and fellow photo blogger, Melinda, when I told her I needed to find a photo representing “celebration,” today’s challenge topic. And indeed I had reason to celebrate because I finished my on-line Intro to Photoshop class today, after getting a two week extension and still managed to miss several questions on the final, even though it was an open book test! So I took her suggestion but forgot to put the wine bottle in the photo because I was too busy positioning the glass for the best bokeh effect against the Xmas lights. So, here it is, my celebratory glass of wine! Woot!

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/1.8
1/13
SOOC

I had to redeem myself after posting such disappointing photos in my earlier Day 345 post, so when I heard the squeaking of a hummer outside, I went out in search of him. I found this guy, perched high up in the photinias keeping an eye on his feeder and still obviously in fighting mode. He was aware of me and my camera and was continuously posturing; I think that the changing appearance and color of the head and neck feathers and his fluffed feathers must indicate some sort of intimidation posture.

Once again I’m including a group of photos. It kills me to post out-of-focus photos so I’m glad these have acceptable focus. I shot all the photos at 300mm focal length, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/125 shutter speed, WB set to Sunny; I cropped each one and added a curves adjustment to brighten them slightly. The last one is my favorite.

My hummingbird feeder has become a war zone. This morning I saw a couple of hummers buzzing around the feeder and then perching on a nearby branch, each facing a different direction, craning their necks and in constant motion, as if looking for something. I watched this for a while wondering why they were acting so oddly when I saw the reason they were so nervous. Two interlopers were aggressively trying to gain access to the feeder. I know people who have feeders where many hummingbirds congregate peacefully at the same time but the hummers that come to my feeder seem to have claimed it, watch it from afar, and chase interlopers away. Today, however, was a different story. They had to fight. I watched and snapped photos for more than 15 minutes as four hummingbirds waged intense aerial warfare battling for feeder supremacy.

Because I was photographing from inside the house through dirty, double-paned windows, the focus is very soft; in addition I had a pretty slow shutter speed making camera movement more obvious but I did think to set focus to “continous” which helped a little. I had to make a few curves adjustments. I included a series of photos today just because I think they’re interesting. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capture all four or even three in the air at once. I don’t consider any of these photos good because the focus is so soft. But I like the action shots; if I’d gone outside for clearer focus, they probably would have
called a temporary truce so I’m going with what I have.

Vigilance:

Confrontation:

Intimidation:

Lull in the Fighting:

I’m really busy today without much time to spend on my photo. And to make things worse, the challenge today is “red, white, and blue” without using a flag, at Christmastime when everything is red and green. I looked in Ron’s tool cabinet because I remembered he had some tools with red and blue handles but the first thing I saw was his Chapman’s knot book which is red and blue and Ron’s practice piece of rope from the late Sunset Line and Twine Company, which is white. So I tried to remember how to tie a bowline, couldn’t and had to look it up in the knot book. I hope I did it right! Anyway, here is my answer to the red, white, and blue challenge today.

The bonus is a little bokeh from the gold lettering on the blue part of the book.

Focal Length 85mm
ISO 100
f/1.8
1/160
SOOC

Today’s challenge theme is “it’s alive!” I’ve been busy all day and I have been at a loss about what to capture for my photo today, with the topic at the back of my mind as I went about my business. When I arrived home about 4 PM, I still hadn’t decided what to photograph and I noticed the dipping sun shining through some heavenly bamboo leaves out front, making them look like little tips of flame licking at the wind. I love that look so I switched to my 85mm prime lens and ran out the door while the sun was in the perfect position for this effect. I think they look very alive.

Focal Length 85mm
ISO 100
f/1.8
1/800
WB Sunny
SOOC

Today’s challenge topic is “Balance.” Aside from the obvious balancing of the rocks (not an easy feat, I might add), I tried to achieve an interesting balance between light and shadow.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/16
1/15
WB Sunny
SOOC

Today’s challenge is “childhood memories.” Growing up in the 1950’s I had a large collection of storybook dolls which were displayed in my room at home on built-in shelves. Storybook dolls were for DISPLAY, not for PLAY, and people would give them to me for various occasions. New dolls were placed out of reach on the shelves. The collection was nothing I ever wanted; it was more likely something my Mom wanted, and, with just a few exceptions, that collection is long gone. However, I do still own and cherish a pair of storybook dolls that my Swedish Grandmother presented to me for Christmas when I was probably five or six years old. She designed and sewed the doll costumes from fabric remnants to represent the traditional clothing worn in her home town of Äppelbo in the Dalarna region of Sweden. The fabric is beginning to deteriorate, and the sleeves are tattered a bit. But when I see these dolls, I think fondly of Gram and wish that I thought to ask her about her childhood memories in Sweden and about the adventures she must have had when, more than a hundred years ago, as a teenager, she came alone by ship to the United States to live with a relative in Minnesota.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/3.2
1/3
SOOC

Today’s challenge topic is “light” and for some reason I have a black light bulb so I thought it might make an interesting light in a dark room. I couldn’t find anything that would react to the black light (my psychedelic days are long gone) so I just focused on the bulb itself. I assume the purple rings are a form of lens flare. I went into the closet to take this shot and left the pocket door open just a crack (not on purpose) and the sliver of light is reflected on the bulb which helps define the bulb. The lamp shade is an opalescent glass. I think it is interesting that the predominant color of the glass shade is blue in the photo because the light through the lamp shade looks purple to the naked eye. I tried different exposures to get the purple but could do it only with the lens wide open which changed the depth of field which I didn’t want. I tried fiddling with the white balance and tried to find the Kelvin temperature of black light to set it accurately but couldn’t so I settled on Tungsten.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/14
15 seconds
WB Tungsten
SOOC

Today’s challenge topic is “free.” I thought the leaf free branches in the morning sun light would work for this challenge. I used a large aperture to blur the background and a fast shutter speed because I wanted the background dark as well as blurry but I went a little overboard. I think if I’d used a slower shutter speed I would have achieved a better result but I’m home now and the sun has moved so I won’t be able to reshoot this.

Focal Length 200mm
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/640
SOOC

Today I spent three hours with my friend Barbara and about 50 other bird enthusiasts at Lynch Canyon, part of the Solano Land Trust, near Vallejo. It was a glorious day for raptors. The sky was clear and the temperature was perfectly comfortable. I have driven by this area off I-80 my entire life and have always noticed the grazing cattle on the mostly barren hills covered with dried grass much of the year and the few clumps of oak trees scattered about, and I wondered who owned it. I had no idea that since the mid 1980’s the Solano Land Trust acquired more than 1000 acres, saved it from development, and preserved it for use by the public to enjoy. Larry Broderick a birding consultant and field guide was a most enthusiastic and knowledgeable docent and led the group with the help of a few assistant docents on a four mile trek through the canyon.

I was in hawk heaven. Before we left the parking lot we saw at least a half dozen red tailed hawks (referred to as “tails” by the docents) circling the hill tops and a pair of white tailed kites perched atop a tree in the distance. As we started our walk past the cattle grazing nearby (it is a working ranch and the cattle are free range) we spotted a golden eagle on a power tower. Be still my heart. I have seen more bald and golden eagles in the past couple of weeks than I ever thought I’d see in my lifetime. Besides the golden eagles (there were three or four individuals), we saw more red tailed hawks, a few Ferruginous hawks, more white tailed kites, several kestrels, some Northern harriers, a prairie falcon, and I’m probably forgetting others. They were riding the thermals and sitting in trees and harassing each other and being harassed by crows and other birds.

Here are two of the golden eagle and two of a juvenile red tailed hawk. Of course I took hundreds and even found a few more hawks when I stopped on the way home to find something to photograph for the “reflections” challenge for my Flickr group. None of these is in perfect focus and I now have serious lens envy as a couple of people on the walk had huge lenses, one requiring its own tripod. I would love to see their photos. I used my 70-300 mm lens set to 300mm and I used the Sunny 16 rule (ISO 100, f/16, 1/100) for most of my photos today, although I shot a few at f/11. I also cropped these four.

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk

The topic of today’s challenge is “A Child’s View,” a rather alien subject for me. After rejecting several options (including the partially deflated football that, yes, once again found its way into my yard from the child next door) I came across some old children’s books I read and reread as a child, including one that had been my mother’s when she learned to read. I didn’t realize until after I’d photographed it that it is a California text book, copyrighted in 1916 by “The People of the State of California.” This edition is from 1923 when my mother would have been six years old. I hope the statute of limitations for stolen text books has long since past. The book is called “The Primer” and is well worn with Scotch-taped pages (from when I was reading it) and letters written in red crayon and pencil from my early attempts at learning how to write. I remember this book so well and all of its stories and illustrations are indelibly etched in my brain, including one of my favorites, Chicken Little. As I learned to read at school with Dick and Jane, I learned to read at home with my mother’s ancient primer.

I photographed just one of the pages from the Chicken Little story. The book was laying on a table with sunlight streaming through the shutters. At first I thought to close the shutters but decided I liked the look of the streaks of sunlight. It reminds me of the University of California’s motto, “Let There Be Light” and since this primer was meant to be a child’s first introduction to learning, the light streaks seem appropriate. I added color monochrome and a vignette for effect.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/11
1/5

Today’s challenge is a “photo walk shot.” I took three separate jaunts outside today and found my shots uninspiring. Then, about 3 PM, I had to run an errand and saw a huge drift of leaves near my house so I stopped and took a few shots. The wind has been blowing leaves everywhere for the past three days. What I find interesting is that the leaves have accumulated in great long drifts in the middle of my street and along the gutters and over the sidewalks. They are not evenly distributed along gutters but randomly piled from the whimsical wind (I think they call her Mariah, don’t they?) almost as if someone raked them into a huge pile ready for picking up but no one picks them up. I encountered this huge drift on North Loop, near my house. You can see the rest of the street is relatively leaf free.

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/5
1/80
Cropped/Curves Applied

Today’s challenge is radiating lines but when I took the shot, I was thinking it was radial lines. Oh well, you can’t always get it right! If I’d taken the shot from a different angle it would have fit the challenge. On second thought, maybe they’re the same thing! This is a photograph looking down at a glass jar that holds my whisks. It reminds me of star bursts, more Fourth of July than Christmas.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/1.8
1/20
SOOC