Day 302 - Sunday Morning Birds

Quick post today, but not without mentioning that the nuthatch images have very minimal post-processing, besides cropping (my 250 mm lens just isn't enough to help me fill my frame with these tiny birds), and a wee bit of sharpening.

However, the Chickadee shot was a different story - I shot the image through a double-glass window, and I had to clean up the image quite a bit in post.

Day 290 - One Icy Day!

We had so much rain yesterday, that it was bound to freeze!  And then we had quite a big dump of snow as well.  It looked so pristine and beautiful when I looked out the window of the bus on my way home after a great lunch.  I knew I would find icicles; so, although I would rather have returned home and curled up with a nice warm blanket, a steaming cup of tea and a great book, I thought I should make use of the opportunity to take some shots of branches and leaves frozen over.

I mainly used my macro lens today, although I didn't really get too many macro shots.  I couldn't get close enough to the subjects through the piles of snow, and thus I had to settle for close-ups instead of macro.

Some of the images turned out a little grainy as I had to hand-hold my shots for the want of a tripod (I wanted to keep things light and thus didn't bring it with me) and used an ISO of 800 in most shots, as I needed to keep a high shutter speed to avoid getting camera shake - a sure recipe for disaster, but I had to do it.

Day 182 - Breakfast time!

I spent a good half hour photographing sparrows and pigeons at the bird feeder this morning.  Obviously, at the cost of my breakfast.  But it was fun.  I shot these images through the window, but despite the dirt and spider webs on it, I got pretty clear shots. 

I initially started to shoot from a long distance, not wanting to spook the birds.  My balcony is west facing, and therefore doesn't receive much morning light.  Therefore, I had pretty poor light to work with.  On top of that, the brighter background wasn't helping me at all, despite high ISO and slower shutter speed.  So, although I was worried that the flash might bother the birds, I still went ahead and used it - the birds didn't even move a hair!  That was nice!  

Then I got bolder, and sneaked through the kitchen and planted myself within 2 or 3 feet of the window.  The shots got better.  And the Fall colours in the park in front of my balcony really created a great background for the shots.   

I had a great time doing this.  I will now have to find out what winter birds I might get and prepare to feed them as well.  But I'm worrying about the background when the leaves are gone. :(

Day 168 - Only work and no play...

No, I couldn't let that happen.  So. I fortunately got a ride home with a colleague and had enough time to take a few shots in the dark (well, literally!) and then head back home.

Handheld @ 96 mm, f/5.0, 1/10s, ISO 200.  Shot in aperture priority mode

Day 162 - Mont-Orford Provincial Park

This is one beautiful park!  But the weather didn't cooperate at all!  And nor did my son who accompanied me (albeit, not by choice).  This place is on top of my list to revisit next year.

Day 153 - Boulder Bay

While on another walk by the riverside, I discovered this boulder in the river, and then as I got closer to it I found a little inlet (if I can even call it that) by the shoreline.  So, now my name for that little hidden cove (my imagination does make it sound exotic, doesn't it!) is Boulder Bay!  

So, I stood by boulder bay just breathing in the cooling autumn air and scents and realized that the moon was reflecting on the tranquil waters of the St. Lawrence.  I have very rarely seen the water as tranquil as it was this evening.  Since I was only armed with my 18-55 mm lens, I stood there and tried different perspectives.  I have a few other shots that came out pretty well, but I will have to take my time to sort through them.

Day 145 - Raindrops

Well, the most obvious subject after a rainy day would be raindrops on anything and everything.  I went out armed with only my macro lens and my tripod, but the high winds rendered the tripod useless.  The evening was dark and gloomy so I had very little light to play in.  Therefore, high ISO and noisy pictures were my lot for today.  I tried to remove some noise in post, but just not satisfied with what I got.

The following shots are definitely not worth my trouble, but I somehow liked the shape and the pattern of the droplets on the red leaf - they kinda all appear to be within the lines that are the veins on the leaf.   

This second one has this drop caught in between two leaves - I found that interesting.

More photos from today's outing in my Flickr photostream.

Day 137 - Painting with light

Yes!  I did just that!  I painted the rock in the foreground with a flashlight on a long exposure on the third and fourth shots.

I went out close to 10:00 pm when I saw a nice round moon from my kitchen window.  But Lady Luck rarely smiles upon me at these times.  By the time I got to my chosen spot on the island, the moon decided to play peekaboo.  I barely had time to set up my equipment and I saw the reflection of the moonlight vanishing from the river's surface.  I waited around for a little bit longer, but I was out of luck, tired and hungry since I hadn't even had the chance to make dinner.

The first shot actually shows the last traces of the reflected moonlight just beside the rock in the foreground.  (These shots are best viewed large - just click on them to enlarge).

I processed the white balance a little bit differently for each of the shots below and I'd really love to know which one you liked most.  

In the shots below, the moon went behind the clouds and stayed there for the entire duration of 20 minutes that I waited.  These shots have the rock painted over with the flashlight.