Project 52 by Letrow

This week I tried some birds. Still cold outside, so not huge fun. The 18-200mm lens is fine if you can get close enough, but some of the birds I tried (jackdaw and eurasian coot in particular) don't seem to like that black thing in front of my face.

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Great tits on this photo

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A jackdaw. I didn't like the bokeh on this photo, but it might be partly due to the water movement.

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Eurasian coot

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Originally Posted by Letrow

And there is a psychological aspect that plays a role, at least it does for me. In my own 'neighbourhood' I view everything as pretty common and I sometimes struggle to find photo opportunities. Tourists don't have that problem and the same applies to me when I go abroad and find things different than back home.

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You're absolutely right of course. Things that appear ordinary here to me will probably appeal to those that don't live here and see things everyday. Perhaps that's why I enjoy macro and underwater photography so much - it's taking photos of things that you just don't see everyday.

Your bird shots seem a bit underexposed to me. I'd say that third one be my favourite of the three but I'd probably go a tighter crop if possible.

To me, the first one is the most interesting, Peter. I think it could stand a bit of a crop as the top half doesn't have much to grab the attention.

Mal, Frank, thanks for the tips. As I said, I wasn't completely blown away by these, but I made some birdfeeders for the garden, so maybe that will get me closer.

Mal, on underwater photography, I have a colleague who is practising that at the moment. He is being taught by the Dutch champion. Costly equipment he tells me. Also, quite interesting, during a match they give you a blank memory card, and the camera is then sealed. You are allowed to take photographs and then make in-camera adjustments.
But that is it, no PP outside of the camera. You give the judges the memory card and you can pick your favourite photo, which is then judged.

Sounded a bit weird, I mean levels, contrast, sharpening...I'd like to do that in Gimp, not in-camera only.

Any thoughts on that?

If it's in camera only, then some cameras are much better at it than others so you'd may or may not be at a disadvantage depending on the camera you have. Our D7000 has far more PP capabilities than the Olympus that I would normally use so personally there's potential for an unfair fight there. If they wanted a competition on photographer's abilities only, they should make everyone use the same camera as well.

And you're friend's right - incredibly costly which is why my SLR stays on land - not because I'm necessarily afraid of getting it wet, but simply because the cost of the underwater housing is twice the price of the camera! And that's without any form of strobes which you need because of the way water saps out the colour of things down deep.

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Jackdaw, looking at the camera

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We hung some insect houses in the garden and a few more places to feed the birds. One on the window for the tits. Hope I can get some shots as soon as they get used to me close by.

I now prefer to remove the netting from fat balls when placed inside wire feeders. Or purchase net free balls.

The birds seem to prefer them without the bags.

My mother has a rook which visits her regularly and it has found a way to tip the cage upside down to get the ball out. It only takes a few minutes.

So she now restricts them to just one fat ball per day. :)

Best of luck with the tits. I find Great Tits aren't too bad but the blues are so fast they usually move quicker than I can focus.

It's a shame about the shadows - hiding some of the bird's detail there. It looks like it has some interesting shades hidden in those feathers.

Just an exercise in flash this week so far. Not totally happy, but I wanted this subject completed, so tried a bit with off camera flash

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Plato thought up these forms apparently.
Dr. Wayne Daniel, a retired physicist and puzzle expert, has designed an interlocking wooden puzzle that is a complete set of Platonic solids. Like a Russian matroshka doll, each layer peels away to reveal a smaller form within, only in this case each layer has a different geometry.

On the outside is the icosahedron, inside that a dodecahedron, inside that a Hexahedron, inside that a tetrahedron, and at the core a tiny octahedron. Each form is itself a puzzle that must be assembled from interlocking pieces.

When finished it just looks like this

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I peeled away the layers a bit, so that you can look inside.
A simple puzzle, but very satisfying to do.

And tomorrow I am off to a puzzle day in the south of our country at the house of the very interesting Mr. Wil Strijbos, who is a puzzle designer and has a house full of interesting puzzles.

Might take some photos there I guess.

Can you tell us, Peter, what it is about the image that you are not satisfied with? The puzzle looks very intricate and interesting!

Basically the highlights Frank. I can see them on some of the sides of the wood. It has to look a bit more natural for me, so I'll have to experiment with the placement of the flash.

Some slight highlights will help to give a bit of 'depth'. But I see what you mean with the square box in particular.

I just wonder though, with those varied textures and shades, is flash always going to be difficult to get perfect where different exposures would be required?

Maybe arranging so there aren't any edges which are 'square on' to the flash? Or using more ambient 'fixed' lighting.

And, there are a couple of dust spots on the black to worry about once you get the lighting correct.

Certainly an interesting experiment.

My first thought was that the photo looked a bit flat as well. Perhaps some directional flash reflected off a surface may do the trick?

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Originally Posted by Goldcoastgolfer

My first thought was that the photo looked a bit flat as well. Perhaps some directional flash reflected off a surface may do the trick?

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I'll try something like that, or take the flash a bit further away. Anyway, this was one of the things my project 52 was about i.e. learning to control the flash. So I should be happy I guess.

I was pretty busy with macros this weekend, so I took one of my photos from last week and reworked the colours in Gimp. The original was a bit dull and this looked prettier (to me at least). Nothing special really, just an exercise in P&P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7116/6...6f106cbb_b.jpg

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Originally Posted by Letrow

I was pretty busy with macros this weekend, so I took one of my photos from last week and reworked the colours in Gimp. The original was a bit dull and this looked prettier (to me at least). Nothing special really, just an exercise in P&P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7116/6...6f106cbb_b.jpg

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It is rather avant garde!

Ok, this photo is a bit of a failure for my project 52, as this reflects my favourite pastime, i.e. macro photos. And my aim was to produce other photos for the project.
But alas, this weekend was filled with bugs, friends dropping by, a concert and puzzles and no room for anything else. Well, there was, but it would have got me in trouble with the present Mrs. W.

Anyway, this was one of my favourites of the weekend, mainly because of the dreamy atmosphere it evokes for me. I know hoverflies don't think the same as humans (du'h), but I can imagine being that small and seeing a rather limited flower world in this way.

It was shot in Thijsse's Hof, a lovely small secluded place, where all sorts of wild flowers and animals are supported. It is named after Jac. P. Thijsse, a famous Dutchman.
Thijsse's Hof was also the favourite haunt of Godfried Bomans, a writer, who wrote a famous children's book called 'Erik or the small book of insects', which describes a boy who shrinks to the size of an insect and lives in the insect world for a short while.
The second photo is a statue of Erik riding a butterfly, and it has been placed in the middle of Thijsse's Hof.

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Erik

My visit to Beachy Head:

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This mother gull had a nest at the edge of the cliff. At first I just saw two gulls getting a bit restless as I approached, but at a certain moment it dawned that I was actually intruding.
I still have to PP some of the other photos of daddy gull.

Perfect exposure, Peter, the whites are white while the blacks are black. Much more difficult to achieve than it sounds with Herring Gulls.

ps. That was also a good shot of the butterfly statue.

Hallo Peter. Lovely detail in the hover fly, against the soft greens and yellows. Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters are grand places to catch seabirds; were you hanging over the cliff for this one? Excellent exposure; I look forward to seeing the Poppa gull! Gillie