ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Sunday 7 November 2010

BIRDS-WHAT BIRDS (07/11/10)

Flushed with the success of yesterdays outing. The photographs were not of the highest quality but I did see the Whooper Swans and one or two I Don’t Knows. Thanks to John at MIDMARSH JOTTINGS and Keith at HOLDINGMOMENTS these gaps in my knowledge were quickly rectified, thank you both for your patience. If blogging has taught me anything it is never to let ignorance deter me from posting. There are so many kind readers willing to put me right that I sometimes wonder whether to caption stuff at all. You all seem to have a pretty good idea what you are looking at.

As soon as I deemed it light enough we set off on a tour of the ponds. The Coots are still on the first one but I have more than enough images of Coot bums so ignored the antisocial little blighters. The second pond was empty but yielded a reasonable reflection.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI did say reasonable not fantastic. Perhaps reasonable is over optimistic, I’ll settle for reflection.

We arrived at the big pond. Oh Dear, a few gulls and that was it.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA   OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA   And another reflection. Then the gulls departed for pastures or lakes new.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA     Off they go. We hung around for an hour but no sign of Lapwing, Swans or Geese.

Whilst waiting I attempted to snap the Wren but all I got were twigs and tree trunks. They are testing little devils. It’s not as if they are shy, they come close enough but I’ve decided either they or I have attention span disorder. Forever flitting about.

Olympus may be very proud of the speed of their autofocus system. Rightly so till it comes to the Wren, that’s got them beaten hands down or wings down in it’s case.

Amazes me Wrens can fly at all. Fat wee things with no tail to speak of….. A case of the pot calling the kettle black if ever I heard one.

We returned back to the camper, I got my retainer to fetch me a drink………………………………….

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA   A little early in the morning for a beer. Those of you that carry a retinue of servants probably have  a similar problem. Since the demise of livery they seem intent on emulating their employers both in dress and demeanour. Damned annoying it is too!

Enough foolery. I was going down to the Abbey but nothing to be gained there so will save it for another day. It looks like a dusk or dawn job. Or at the very least the squally skies that have made the last two weeks so memorable.

I use Adobe Elements and upgrade as and when they incorporate a feature I want, this usually occurs every couple of years or so. This year Elements 9 had layer masks so it was a must have. I also found the spot healing brush can cope with large areas, content aware I believe they call it. The clone stamp now shows inside it’s circle what you are about to stamp. I’m very pleased.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA   Llama before………………This is a straight RAW conversion so no sharpening or any other jiggery pokery ……………………………………..

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA     Llama after……. You have to play with brush size, and take small areas at a time, when near contrasting edges. It is only a matter of getting used to it. This was only a ten minute job and that included cropping, burning some grey into the sky, lifting contrast and a quick sharpen. The wash out to the left and under it’s chin is on the original image. I have no idea what caused it.

A disclaimer here. I have been receiving unsolicited comments encouraging me to advertise products in the blog. This is not in response to one of these. This blog is non commercial and is purely for my edification and hopefully yours.

If Marion is reading, watch out! I’ll chop off your fingers.

Hopefully we will get some pictures this afternoon, it’s a gorgeous day and I’ll need something to post tomorrow. The weather forecast is still appalling.

Have a wonderful week.

14 comments:

  1. Someone's been having a play lol

    Some days the birds just don't co-operate do they.

    Thanks for the mention. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keith, you are welcome, thanks for the help. I can see a corner of the lake from the truck and there has been nothing about all day. Strange.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gosh! There's a remarkable similarity between you and your servant, Adrian.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with you about the Wrens Adrian. A good blog anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I still love those water shots, and I always enjoy the experimentation. Hope you stay warm as the weather changes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Emma, there is physically but he is a rogue and a scoundrel and don't speak proper like what I do.

    Bob, frustrating little bird id the Wren.

    Jolynne, it is cool here, we have our first snow forecast. you don't believe I have a servant either!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Haven't you trained your dogs to fetch you stuff?!

    Good job on the llama, and nice water reflections.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dawntreader, I'm afraid it's the other way around I'm at their beck and call. I've been using a plug in called Wireworm but this is much better. Probabley not as easy as the content aware in full CS5 but very good. The water reflections aren't up to your standard but I do like them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Twin dogs, twin blokes ~ Alfie, Molly, Jiggery and Pokery.

    Great reflections, and the llama looks much better when he's not down to the wire.

    An enjoyable post, which gave me a chuckle, along with enjoyment of course, at seeing the lovely area.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glo, necessity is the mother of invention. I have not had a particularly fruitful couple of days. It's getting to the stage of delving into the archives. The new spot healing brush is a find. If this rain keeps up I will go back over some old images of things behind wire.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ah well, Adrian. You may not be finding new things to photograph with the inclement weather but you are surely keeping us well entertained.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gb, it can be a grand time of the year and to be honest it has been. Some cracking days. I must not let the last week detract from a grand autumn.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great reflections and ...servant shot !!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jay, struggling for daily posts. Sorry about my man, ugly devil to inflict on folk.

    ReplyDelete