Frustrations

I've been living alone since last Friday. tenacious_snail took a trip, and I've had the house to myself (well, no, there are cats, but the conversation is a bit limited. "Feed me" and "Pet me" are about all they really offer up without solicitation).

In theory this was a great set of opportunities. I could start attacking the stack of boxes in the shed, and so consolidate my things enough to know how large a "pod" I need to order for the move to New Jersey. I also have the car, without needing to worry about how it's being gone for an hour or two will affect it's owner.

But Lady Fortune is fickle. The weather has been just crappy enough to foil me. It has threatened rain, so stewing the lawn with my goods isn't happening, and it's been too dark to go and do the photography I want. Low tide has been near sunset/dawn, so the wading birds are all feeding at times of good light, save for the lack of sufficient light.

It's not been a complete wash. vvvexation and I went geocachine/birdwatching. We found one (our first) and saw various birds. I took some photos. A few of them even came out.


These three are all "panning" shots. Panning is a tricky thing. One is swinging the camera as the primary subject moves,through the field of view. Do it right and the subject is still. Do it wrong and everything is a streaky mess. With my camera all the focus has to be pulled manually. I don't own any lenses which move quickly enough to grab a bird before it's out of range, and if I lose focus, it's way too long. The lens I had mounted for these was a manual focus lens.


Color Bars


I'm of a mnixed mind on this one. I like the composition. I'm happy that the purple bar on the wing is visible. All in all it's a perfectly fine piece of "work", but the focus is out, the shutter speed is a bit low, and the edges are fuzzy.


Flat Hatting


The title is from an Air Force term for flying low and fast over a field. It's an old term, probably not really in use any more. This bird (I don't know quite what it is, the flikr photo has a detailed explanation of why it could be any of three birds, and why I am not sure at all about which one it is) came toward us head on... no way to be sure what it was. I thought, actually, it was a Black Crowned Night Heron, and then it banked. I was watching it approach, in the viewfinder.

So I popped this shot. No panning, just "Shit... click"


Sweeps


This was a panning shot, same bird, and probably 1/3rd of a second later, not more than a half. The .exif data says the exposures were in the same second. I did take a head on shot, three second earlier.

Up close and personal

These two are at the other end of the scale from the bird shots I just posted.

I won't say that macro work is "old hat" or something I can do without thinking about it, but it's a very different scale, esp. in terms of time. I can wait until the light is right. I can use a tripod and nudge, and probe and get to right where I want. The biggest problems are working distance, and the breeze.

Bleeding Hearts


These were in a park in New Jersey. The number of names for them is astounding, and the formal name was recently changed.

Pincusion


I really like the way the background here is burnt away. It's really hard light, and the edges of the flowers just pop, while the background is both obvious, and fairly unobtrusive.