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used the flickr k6 slider to remove the hint of blue background and added clarity and reduced the green color. Was trying to get a poster effect like the bird posters in the doctors office. I think looking at this and my previous post of this photo will show a big difference.
Using cloud cover as a filter, I was able to heat radiating from the sun as it rose over Patoka Lake Sunday morning.
I think he was used to getting "treats" on the trails in Gillies Grove (Arnprior, Ontario) and therefore agreed to pose for me ....
This photo also shows the balancing benefit of the large bushy tail.
I used a long lens to photograph this long intermodal so we could see much of it down the tracks. The tracks, and the train, curve off to our right at the far end.
The high-rail truck is a MOW vehicle, parked to watch for falling rocks. The rocks on the right are normally fenced off from the tracks (like those on the left) but NS has been clearing brush and they temporarily removed the fence. This means a MOW worker must be staffed at the site at all times in case something breaks free and rolls down into the path of a train.
Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6
“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”
― Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
CP 119 through Cherrywood with a odd choice of power! Pair of CN gevos leads the way from Mtl with a huge string of solid auto racks.
Swarovski used to make a lovely range of beads ... and I collected a few of each design I thought might photograph well. These are among my favourites. Called 'brilliants' they create all kinds of colours when the light hits them. These are tiny, about 8mm cubes.
For the Macro Monday challenge "In a row" (July 17th 2023)
My 2023 set: Here
previous years of the Macro Mondays challenge:
My 2022 set: Here
My 2021 set: Here
My 2020 set: Here
My 2019 set: Here
My 2018 set: Here
My 2017 set: Here
My 2016 set: Here
My 2015 set: Here
My 2014 set: Here
My 2013 set: Here
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on from the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. Any use without permission is prohibited and illegal.
Copyright © Antoniociro 2014 All Rights Reserved
Thank you for your visit and comment!
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"...come la porpora che infiamma il mattino
come la lama che scalda il tuo cuscino
come la spina che al cuore si avvicina
rossa così è la rosa che porto a te..."
by Vinicio Capossela
Was using my macro lens today for some try and error...did not use it since long...probaly should use it more often..take care, cheers, Udo.
My submission for Macro Mondays challenge, "Single use". Our household may use a match to light birthday cake candles and scented candles.
to change the world, don't let the world change your smile.
Something my Mom would say. My Mom took this picture with her I Pad, She has no idea how she did it. Can you guess what it is?
This was 129 seconds using a Polarie Vixen tracker...using 'star' mode so the foreground suffers a bit with the wind hitting the trees. 16mm, f2.8, ISO400
Using the Tamron SP AF 60mm f/2 Di II MACRO 1:1 LD (IF) (model G005N II) lens.
Critique is welcomed.
Thank you all very much for your visits, favs and comments.
Llamas are used at Machu Picchu as a natural way to keep the grass low. If you get near the edge of a ledge, be sure to know where the llamas are because they can move quickly. Three of them unexpectedly brushed by me on a ledge; luckily they pinned me to the wall as they went by on the outside edge.
...using a "vintage lens" where everything must be done manually.
Ah, for the good old days ;) 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens
Thanks for looking at the wild daisies.
Betagan - a medicine used to control glaucoma. This has no preservative so after use, the plastic container has to be discarded. I suppose that we humans have to accept that there will be some some single use items we can't do without. I recycle these so I hope they go to be melted down and made into other things.
I haven't used my drone very often this year, mainly because my other camera was more inviting, but maybe coming winter I will use my drone more often.
One of the nice things of a drone is that you can picture structures from height that you otherwise wouldn't see.
That is easy seeable with this picture of the "Ijsseleye".
The IJsseleye is an artificial island in the Ketellake (Ketelmeer, province of Flevoland, the Netherlands) used as a depository to store polluted silt. Most of the polluted silt was deposited in the Ketelmeer by the IJssel river between 1950 and 1990. Removal of silt soil from the Ketelmeer lake also aims to deepen the channel leading to the mouth of the IJssel to at least a depth of 3.5 m (11.5 ft), thus aiming to improve access to the river for navigation.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved Contact: nejdet_2005@hotmail.com
Cleopatra’s Island, also known as Sedir Adasi sits on the gulf of Gokava in the Marmaris peninsula. A popular destination steeped in urban legends of romance and passion, its name stems from a love affair between two of history’s most prolific people.
Called Kedreae in ancient times, present day myths refer to when the exotic queen of Egypt, Cleopatra spent time in the region. Although the natural landscapes and turquoise-blue sea captivated her, she was missing her homeland.
All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal. L'uso senza il consenso dell'autore é illegal
The Romans used redux as an epithet for the Goddess Fortuna with its "bringing back" meaning; Fortuna Redux was "one who brings another safely home."
(www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redux)
The ducks posed for me on Pentecost Sunday with a red boat behind them.
I'll hope all my Flickr friends come safely through Covid times.
I used colorful wrapping paper for folding this fiery dragon, but couldn't decide which side to show. So now you see both sides ;-))
I merged two photo's.
Paper: one piece of wrapping paper, with rainbow colors, 30x30cm.
Final size: length 12cm, height 10cm
Model: origami Fiery Dragon
Design: Kade Chan
Diagrams in the book 'Origami Worldwide' by John Montroll and Brian K. Webb
The Riverside Mall is a new shopping mall on the grounds of the World Expo 2010. During the World Expo 2010 it was called "Expo Axis".
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.