Day 362 - Little Darlings

We had a beautiful day with part clouds and part sun.  I seized the opportunity to go check if we have ducklings yet, and sure enough there was a small brood of them scooting around in the water.  They were adorable!  

I took over 500 shots today of flowers, birds and this duck family, but I'm feeling really lazy to process them all.  Therefore, I processed two of my fave shots from the day.

I loved the splash of colours in this, and I got only one chance to photograph these benches - just as I was going to change my position and shoot another one, and elderly couple came over and occupied the benches.  Disappointed! :(

And here are three of the six little fluff-balls!

Day 348 - Mallards

Down by the riverside for a quick photo session.

Day 146 - Portrait of a duck

I went out with my photo club members to learn about portraiture from a fantastic photog and a friend.   I had to sneak in a duck shot and a shot of the underwater vegetation while he was setting up.  I almost never give up a chance of shooting random stuff and in fact these were the only shots I took of these because I noticed this duck all sleepy and it was being spun around with the water current (see the ripples around it by enlarging the photo)

Since I don't post people shots without their permission, I will have to wait to get it, so I can post a couple of shots from the lesson.  We were basically learning how to bounce off light from one reflector to another to create a soft fill light as well as use another reflector to get a hair light.  Excellent lesson - can't wait to try it out for myself sometime soon.

But for now, here's something different!  I did very little post-processing on these and I'm really surprised to see how well the colours have turned out.  The sky was very blue and the slanting rays of the sun actually hit the plants underwater and I was able to get a good shot without a C-PL.

Day 120 - Lesser Goldfinch

This is probably the female.  I had a really hard time getting good photographs as this little birdie was in a darker part of the foliage and I had the sun shining right in my eyes.

This shot was polarized and I like the way I see the shadow instead of a reflection.  Also, the colours look a lot better than when I was shooting without the C-PL.

This is an Eastern Forktail.  Unfortunately, in my hurry to get a nice close-up of this one, I forgot to check the aperture and thus lost out on the DoF.

Day 113 - Bald blackbird?

Not sure of what to make of this one - is this bird bald, or is this a juvenile slowly growing up and "upwards" as well?  He looks hilarious, however - just like a balding old man in a long, heavy coat,  and without a hat! :)

This mallard hen was just fed some bread and therefore condescended to pose for me.

Day 51 - Lots of food, lots of fotos

Had another great class today!  My students for the day were my friendly neighbours.  I'd been apprehensive if at the end of the class I'd be leaving them with a great experience where they'd be happy to bump into me, or just give me a cross look and pass me by.  I kept my friends, fortunately! ;-)

Too much cooking since yesterday, and then cleaning up after - I was exhausted and smelling of curry from head to toe.  So, I just decided to get some fresh air and feed the ducks some breadcrumbs, since I'd disappointed them last time.  I brought a lot with me and threw them around all over the place.   And the birds and the squirrels rewarded me for my generosity (ahem)! 

I also ran into my friends with their newborn daughter and clicked a couple of photos of the baby (not posting them without permission).  So, it was portraits of birds, flowers, animals and babies.  I even did a few quick gerbera shots and reflections before I went for my walk.  

The next one is a shot at high key.  Need to practise this.

I definitely need a macro lens for shots like the one below.  I couldn't get in much closer than about 10 ft to get in close to the ladybug - I was leaning over the railing of a bridge and a little bit more would have seen me land on my face on the hiking trail.