Busy as a...

I've been humming and hawing over this one for a couple of days, trying to decide if I should post it or go back and re-work it from scratch. In the end, laziness has won out and I've posted it as first processed. I think the yellow is a little too vibrant, which is odd, since I didn't do much to the yellow other than try to preserve as much as possible; the blown out areas were all in the flower petals. Thanks to the RAW file format, I was able to tone down the blown petals without causing damage to any other important parts of the image, but somehow the result was a very intense yellow (at least on my monitor).

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Solitary Sandpiper

I think that I've identified this bird correctly as a solitary sandpiper, but I'm not positive. There are quite a few shore bird that are very similar, and in many cases there's just a small drawing in my bird book (there's a section at the bottom of each page titled "similar birds" with no additional information) so it's hard to to make positive ID.

I actually had quite a good day out at Iona the other day, which made up for the predictable bad mid-day that I'd had at Stanley Park (I don't know why I bother to go there, it's really not a good place for me) - except for the shots I got of a Great Blue Heron which were decent but probably won't be posted here.

I've been looking though all the rest of the stuff that I've shot while on holidays - coming to the end in a couple of days - and think I can pull out one or two shots that aren't birds to give everyone a bit of variety... maybe tomorrow.

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Eyes

Considering I'm on holidays right now you'd think that I would be posting more. Not that I haven't shot anything new lately - I have - it's just that a lot of it isn't stuff that is particularly striking and calling out to me to be posted. Except maybe this one.

I've been playing with it on and off for the past 5 days or so, trying different things. It's still not quite right, but I've run out of ideas to try, so figured that it's time I either put it in the recycle bin, or post it.

There's not much to give a sense of scale here, but trust me, this was one big frog. Although I could see just the head (and if you look closely you can see his left arm) I'd have to guess that the body must have been 5-6 inches, maybe more.

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Salad Bar

This one was taken a couple of weeks ago but somehow I managed to miss processing it... until now.

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Sunday Sunset

Sure, there's still a bird in the picture, but it's really not a bird picture. Taken out at Iona late on Sunday evening.

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Cedar Waxwing

I usually seem to end up at Iona Park in the late afternoon or early evening, so I thought that for once I'd give it a go in the morning. Didn't get there as early as I had planned, but it it was still a lot earlier than I normally get there. Turned out that the tide was out, so a lot of the regular birds in and around the ponds were out elsewhere; there was a lot of waiting around and looking at nothing.

Then, as I was getting ready to head out, I spotted a Cedar Waxwing flying into a tree not 30 feet away. And then another, and another... I think there must have been 8 or 10 of them flitting about the branches, mostly where it wasn't possible to get a good shot, but occasionally they'd be a little more cooperative. This one was one of the best: I was able to get quite close and the light was much better than the fully shaded branches where most were perching. It hung around long enough for me to snap a bunch of pictures to be sure that I had something decent.

Back at the parking lot I met a fellow photographer named Terry... Terry tell me honestly, what do you think of this shot (compared to the ones that the guy you told me about posts)?

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I Did Warn You...

I did warn you that there'd be a lot of bird pictures coming up, so it should be no surpise that here's another. Actually, it could be a while before I post anything else as I've been shooting almost nothing but birds lately and consequently have very little else to draw from.

In case you're wondering, this is a spotted towhee, taken on Sunday after the rain had let up. Man, this guy needs some Visine!

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This is What Kind of Bird?

When there are differences between the male and female of a bird species it seems that in most cases the species is named in reference to the male's appearance, with no regard to the female. This shot is an excellent example, as this is the female Red-winged Blackbird; as you can clearly see the name bears absolutely no relation to what she actually looks like.

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Killdeer

Unlike the phalarope, this bird is very skittish, and quite noisy as well. Much harder to get close to it. No idea if this is a male or a female as they look the same.

There is one odd thing that it occurs to me to mention, and that is that these birds are supposed to have yellow legs, as is the phalarope (yellowish or greenish) although to me they both look pretty black.

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Wilson's Phalaropes

I've been vacillating over which shot to post with a couple of decent bird shots in the queue. I've finally decided that it doesn't matter which one I post first as long as they all get posted, so here's a couple of female Wilson's Phalaropes (according to my bird book). The colouring on their backs is a little different between the two, but the grey cap, white eyebrow, and mask running from the eyes to the back of the neck are distinctive identifiers of the female of the species. There were about ½ a dozen females in this little group (haven't actually seen a male yet), and they were probably the least skittish birds I've come across so far, as long as you don't try to get too close or make any sudden movements.

This shot was taken inside the fenced area at Iona Park; now that I have the code to get in, I'm finding it contains a fair number of species not seen all that often elsewhere.

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Opening Soon

I spent quite a bit of time out at Iona yesterday, photographing birds. Haven't got any of those shots ready yet (they may never be ready) so I thought I'd throw this one up instead, taken at the end of many pleasant hours in the hot sun

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SR71 Blackbird... Er, Um I mean Red-winged Black Bird

I'm Back. Well, never really went anywhere, just got fed up with the whole image quality changing a great deal between photoshop and other stuff thing so I decided to take a break.

Still haven't decided what to do about that issue though, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if posts are much fewer and farther between - not that they've been all that frequent in the first place.

This was shot on Sunday evening at Iona, and was not one of the shots that I expected to come out - my record of panning on a flying bird is dismal so I just expected more blurry imagery. I was instead quite surprised when I saw this and thought "there's something I can post to tide Alison over..."

If I do post more, you can expect to see a lot more bird and other animal shots - so maybe it's a good thing that I'm not posting so regularly after all!

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Skittish

And now back to something from Sunday...

This is a red-winged black bird. It's not the first time that I've posted a shot of one of these (here), but it's been a while and this is a much better picture than that other one so I figured what the hey... Actually, I'm a bit surprised that I haven't posted any other shots in the interim - I know that I've taken a lot of pictures of them since I posted that one!

The lighting was a bit of a challenge as these things are very flighty and don't let you get close at all. Moving to a better location is usually pointless as the bird is gone from it's perch long before you get there. In retrospect I would probably have done better to use some fill-flash (it didn't even occur to me at the time) though I've managed to rescue some of the details in the bird without destroying the rest of the picture (photoshop saves the day again). They have such dark feathers that it's hard to capture the detail there without blowing out everything else.

These are quite vocal birds, with two distinct calls (male/female?). Worth a visit to the bird sanctuary at Iona Park, in case you've never been there.

With spring just around the corner I suppose you can expect more wildlife shots, more flowers, more insects...

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The Form of Flight

Another shot from Sunday evening at Iona Park. Yeah, cliched, but pleasing none-the-less, as everything came together almost perfectly - the lighting, the shutter speed and focus, and of course, the gull flew at just the right speed at just the right distance.

Other than cropping and a slight curves adjustment this image required very little editing.

Having some problems with my until-now faithfull desktop computer, which may result in some delays posting the queued up pictures, but I'll try to keep to the (loose) schedule I'd planned.

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Odd Looking and Oddly Located Locked Hydrant

I've shot this unusual fire hydrant several times before and not had a result that I was sufficiently happy with. Today I tried again - twice in fact, about an hour apart to take advantage of the changing light - and while none of the shots achieved perfection, I did quite like the results from three of the images, including this one. It isn't necessarily my favourite of the three though as each has it's own feel/mood; comparing them is a little like apples and oranges.

I've got one or two other shots from today to post and at least one other from earlier in the week that I had processed last night. All that remains is to sit down and spend a little time each night putting some words together and actually post the blighters...

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Reeds Here, Trees There

I'm ready for winter to be over now. Really.

This was taken late this afternoon at Iona Beach/Bird Sanctuary and has been manipulated, er, processed to have a sunnier disposition than actually existed - I need to feel that spring is coming soon (even if it's not). As sad a shot as it is, it's the best thing that I've come up with since Christmas.

Like I said, I'm ready for winter to be over.

Yesterday I was down at Fraser River Park for the first time in several months. I was amazed to discover that beavers have set up shop in the park and so far have taken down about two dozen or more trees, dramatically changing the area around the little lagoon. Who says that things never change?

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Light on Lights

Sometimes after working on a bunch of pictures for a couple of hours it gets hard to decide what to post. Maybe you just can't pick which one you like best, or maybe you've been fiddling with them all for so long that you're just not sure whether all the little tweaks have added up the right way.

Today I liked the way one shot worked out in terms of final processing product, but ultimately I had to face the fact that I should have taken more time with the shot in the first place - the subject/composition just wasn't sufficient. Nuts.

On the other hand, when I took this shot [well there were a series of them actually] I was pretty sure that I'd wasted my time. The camera kept coming up with horrid previews and I really didn't think that I'd managed to capture any of the light at all. Nice surprise when I got home and downloaded to the computer. And of all the shots I processed tonight, this one probably required the least. I wish I'd taken my tripod with me though - this would have been a really great opportunity for an HDR image.

Oh, in case you're wondering, the pier-like thing going out into the water is the YVR runway lights.

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Walking Along the Jetty at Dusk

I spent a couple of hours out at Iona Beach after work today with Andrew. He'd never been there before, didn't even know it existed. For me, I'm usually there in the middle of the day, so it was kind of nice to try some stuff in different light.

As I was driving out, in the last seconds before the sun dipped below the horizon, the water had an incredible green-turquoise colour, so I pulled over and grabbed the camera. Unfortunately, by the time I had a lens mounted the effect was gone, so I got this shot instead (after changing to yet another lens). Not quite as dramatic as I'd thought it would be, probably needs some additional processing, but I'm tired and this is all I'm gonna come up with tonight...

Andrew - you drove right past - yakkin' on the phone... :)

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Winged Green Bug

Another day, another bug.

I have no idea what kind of bug this is. Well, that's not true. It's the green bodied, blue-orange eyed kind, though you might not be able to see the orange in the eyes at this resolution.

More importantly, it's the kind that stayed still while I got close with the camera (which is why it's such a sharp shot).

If it had landed on a green branch instead of this dead scotch broom twig I'd have never even seen it.

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Thistle and Wasp

I'm starting to get a bit of a back-log of bee/wasp shots, the beginnings of a catalog of the local varieties I suppose. Not intentionally, I'm just amazed at the varieties.

This one was taken today and falls into my "green-eyed, white striped (with a faint blue tint), yellow legged, waspy" category. It's not a great shot of the wasp but is acceptable. I do, however, really like the composition of this one.

Normally when I go out to shoot bugs I wear long pants and other items which have the property of providing additional body coverage, usually without thinking about it. With the return of the sun it didn't occur to me to not wear shorts today - we've had so little sun to enjoy and I wanted to make the most of it. Not really a good idea as it turned out; I was besieged by monstrously ravenous mosquitoes and had to pick my way very carefully through ever-encroaching blackberry bramble. I swear that you can almost watch that stuff grow!

Any time I'm out shooting bugs I find I start to feel a little buggy; it's inevitable that some of the beasties will find you and crawl/land on you, and just the thought that you're standing motionless for long periods in places where there are lots of bugs that crawl over everything can get the mind playing tricks.... ugh. Today was much worse.

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