Backyard Photographs

It was a damp foggy morning which are some of the best kind for water drops, cob webs and general mood images:

It was a fine morning.

First Use

Yesterday i rented a Tamron 150-600mm lens as i'm considering purchasing one. The reviews are pretty good and the price is within the range i can realistically save for. So, i rented one to see how i like it, how well it does and is it practically in terms of using without a tripod. Whew! its big and heavy. It does a pretty good job of shooting sharply and quickly.

This set is of the humming bird feeder hanging in the tree in the back yard:

150mm

300mm

400mm

500mm

600mm

The only thing done to the photos after importing is a slight contrast, otherwise they are as shot. I think it does a good job ... i didn't know there was a fly on the right top side of the lid until i looked at the 400mm photo. While the 600mm is certainly softer then then 300mm and 400mm, it certainly is very usable.

Lightly cropped and sharpened - 500mm

The primary reason for considering purchasing this lens is to photograph birds and that it seems to be doing well:

An Eastern Bluejay ... i'm pretty happy with the results.

And then there was this:

I had just received the lens and put it on the camera, Canon 7D Mk ll, and had only the vaguest idea how to use it, stepped out the back door and there was this bird circling some ways away. My initial thought was that it was an eagle as it was much too big to be a hawk or at least any hawk i've seen but all those were west coast hawks. The image is not too sharp nor clear but i'm happy it even worked. Now i'm thinking it is a juvenile Golden Eagle which take 3-5 years to get all their eagle feathers and color. 

If you are reading this and know what this is, i'd be happy to hear from you. Click on the images and they will enlarge and  you can see the feather strips, etc.

Digging thru the literature and photographs of Golden Eagles, i no longer think this is one of them ... i just don't know what this bird is.

New Belgium Brewing

This is the New Belgium Brewing brewery which is all of a 20 minute walk from our house. The photos were taken in mid-January and it was a bit cold and overcast. These days it is warm and on such an evening this place is overrun by dogs, children and adults, all having a good time. NBB does not serve food; however, each day a different food truck spends the day there and, so far, the food has been excellent and each day it is often a different ethnic selection.

Here is an unsuccessful pano from their back deck overlooking the French Broad River:

That blue looking road is a foot and bike pathway below and along the river for half a mile or so, installed by NBB ... it connects to a park at the foot of the hill where we live - so wonderful to walk there and a great liquid reward for doing so.

Huh?

Well, layout doesn't always work the way i want it to ... i clicked the edit button so i could put the "Open for work" below the photo of the uncovered monitor screens and, nope, after i updated it, it was still the same despite what i looked like while i was editing. Still, this is a free blog and pic can be clicked on and be fairly large so i'm happy even though there are a few untight ends i'd like to tighten.

This is one of my guides although i don't think he knows anything about my using him as a teacher and guide:  https://shoottokyo.com

Cotone Aster

Cotone Aster

Purchased a Cotoneaster (it is one word but to remember how to pronounce it i list it as two words) last week and am setting it up as a bonsai plant. It is a ground cover plant and fairly hardy ... keeping it well drained will be the challenge.

It currently has many very small ball or perhaps about-to-bloom blossoms. The small ball looking blossoms seem smooth but upon close photographing they look like this:

Very hairy and i'm assuming that the ball edges are the opening of the blossom which i've read will be white.

The full plant looks like this:

The close ups are of the small ball/bulb on the tippy-top left ... amazingly small for having so much hair!

EL & texture

There is something about texture that i like; mmmm ... maybe that feeling as i run my finger along the grittiness, the light contrast 'tween the light and dark edges and that it stands out.

Here are three items that i have loved seeing over the years. They are hand-made by EL when he lived at GGF. The building was an outhouse long out of use and sitting at the edge of the trees in the lower field. I have often thought of removing the hardware but just having them seems to be a bit uncaring as they were made for this building and that's where they should remain until . . .

  

There is a hasp on the door that i have in earlier taken photographs ... really, this is not only outstanding iron work but makes for wonderful textured photographs.

*     *     *     *     *

This is my comment after posting, ie, i'm editing. I find the images flat and not very attractive; not much texture there nor are the colors very deep and this is exactly why i created this blog . . . to see how the created images look in a computer separate from the 27" Ultra Fine monitor ... they just don't do it! Now i know ... back to the darkroom!

What?

The previous post was a bit strange ... the formatting would not behave and all type after the 2nd photo was on the right side of this space and nothing i was able to do would create the type at the left margin. Which doesn't mean it could not be put there ... just that i didn't know how. There are a lot of pagination markings at the top of this posting most of which i don't know what they mean.

So - i shall do some experimenting in the next few days and learn what they are and how to use them.

Back to the photo work space in the previous posting; i have longed dreamed of such a spacious work area and now that i have one, i want to turn my attention to making better or fuller use of it. And how do i do that ... you and i will both find out in the coming weeks and months.

Oh, it would be helpful to me if you viewers -maybe all two or three of you- would comment on these postings. Both so i know the posting is working and also to let me know if i am actually communicating to someone.

And thank you.