Confessions of a closet birder


I guess you’re a birder if you keep a list. A birder is the official name for a bird watcher. Like any hobby, it can be taken to the extreme. I’m definitely on the casual end. For instance, I have made no attempt to count seagulls, or gulls as I was gently schooled by Marie at BAYarts.  I think Marie keeps a list, too.

Marie did me a kindness a few weeks ago. We were chatting on the front porch of BAYarts after I had taught my Thursday class when she asked me if I had ever seen a Barred Owl. I told her I had not. “Well, there’s one right there,” she said, pointing to an oval hole about 30 feet up in a tree about 40 yards away.

Sure enough, a fledgling was sitting right in the opening. And all I had was my iPhone. So I tracked it Friday and Saturday with some better equipment and photographed it on two occasions as it waited for it’s mother to return from shopping. I never saw the mother, and I never saw the fledgling sit up in the opening again like the first night. By Sunday the nest was vacated.

But I had a solid photo, which my daughter absolutely loved because of that Harry Potter thing, I guess. And she’s 21 now. So that was nice.

When I was a kid, whenever we saw a swarm of birds flying in an aerial ballet, we called it a “wedding.” As in, “that’s my wedding.” I don’t know the origin, I don’t know why. But I know now that their performance is called a murmuration, but only if they were Starlings.

If they were Larks, for instance, it would be an Exhaltation, for Pheasants, a Nide and for Goldfinches, a Charm. Some collective nouns for birds in flight are not so kind. Like a Murder of Crows, Pandemonium of Parrots and an Unkindness of Ravens. As a Browns fan I can relate to that.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been following the progress at a Robin’s nest in my backyard. She built her nest in the most photo-opportunistic location possible, at the corner of a patio structure, surrounded by vines.

I have been posting photos on Instagram (as pixellarry) from the start, the first one showing three blue eggs in the nest, of which one bird remains. But on Sunday I set up a 300mm f4.5 lens with a 1.4 extender and settled in. Within 10 minutes I had my photo.

I already had a Robin on my bird list, but the Barred Owl was a nice addition. Oh, and I also saw a White-Crowned Sparrow.

Happy Birthday to my Dad. He would have been 89 today.

Apple by apple

Back on November 1, 2011, I entered a somewhat maudlin report relating to a photograph I had made near an old train station in Salamanca, N.Y. (photo above).

When I took it, I thought it had promise, but wasn’t sure what the final result would be. So I toned it up nice in Pshop and posted it.

A few weeks ago I took another look at it and saw a different image. I saw potential. And I saw a lot of Pshop work. So I thought about it. Cropped it a little closer and then went to work. First I desaturated the image, so the leaves took on  a nice dead color. Then I went back in to put color back in the apples. Apple by apple.

I was using an old Pshop technique to lasso each apple so I could revive them. Proud of my work, I showed it to a 16-year old high school junior who is working with us. I asked her, knowing she had Pshop experience (self-taught), “how would you have done it?” as a teaching moment for her.

She told me how she would do it and it was an amazingly simpler method that provided more accuracy. I knew it, had used it, but it had never entered my mind. I had always used the lasso tool.

I slapped my forehead and uttered the famous Homer Simpson line, “D’oh.”

Humbled, and with a renewed effort, I restored color to the apples, then carefully finished by desaturating any color (other than B&W) from the tree branches. I then added a very light Dry Brush filter to it. Final result below.

I printed it (about 13 x 20 inches) and had it framed real nice, and entered it in the local arts centers annual juried contest (along with another photo). It was accepted, the other, an iPhone photo was not. I think size mattered.

The show opening is Friday night. I’ll try to lurk in the area of my print and overhear what folks are saying. Will report later.
 

Up close and personal

I'm getting my point-and-shoot (Canon G9) back this week, as my daughter has returned from across the pond. I didn't miss it that much, although I will admit I'm beginning to look for a replacement for it. What I need is a rangefinder-type camera with interchangeable lenses and full size sensor that won't break the bank. I think technology is close on that.

But in the mean time, I'd like to think I've made some progress with another camera, my iPhone. Yes, it's only a 5 megapixel camera, and I already envy the 8mp in the new iPhone 4S. I've been working hard and trying to understand how to get the most out of the world of apps out there. I'm an avid Instagramer (pixellarry).

All apps aside, I started playing around with auxiliary lens for it after looking at all the available accessories, including ones that do what I'm going to tell you about.

A year or so ago, I picked up a small lens at a yard sale for a buck or so. I'll do that sometimes and have consequently collected quite an array of camera junk. I suspect this lens might have been for a movie camera, or maybe even a loupe. I  haven't really investigated. On the business end is a lens marked "Foth, Anistigmat, 1:3,5, f = 75m/m". I know Foth made cameras in the 1930's.

So, after reading an article, I unscrewed the two elements on the lens and tried holding them up to the lens on the iPhone. One lens allowed for Macro (extreme close-ups) and other for a distorted wide-angle fish-eye type lens. Very cool.

I've made a few photos with the close-up lens (including the Xmas light bulb shown at the top and bottom photo at left). I haven't tried the other yet, except to shoot the test photos at left, but I will. I also tried using a little pocket magnifier. And I think I have a close-up lens kit for a medium format camera up in the closet somewhere I'll have to investigate.

The drawbacks seem to be that if you have fat fingers it can be difficult to hold the lens and take a photo at the same time. And if your auxilliary lens is small, it's tough to hold in place without getting the edge of the lens or your finger in the photo.

My point is that you should experiment. Sometimes a happy accident is better than thoughtful research.

The Holidays begin

I know, it's not a great photo. Pretty average, in fact. But it reminds me of the time of year when we enter the dormant season. The trees have offered their fruit, but in this instance, in a location removed from deer, fearing the "urban" conflicts.

Colors are muted, we're past the oranges and reds and yellows. Now it's time for browns, until the snow comes and covers it all.

It's a time for Thanksgiving, and preparing for the coming months in this part of the country.

Give thanks, take photos.