366 Snaps Outtakes

As you can see, this camera/lens combination didn't force me to relearn a lot of habits. At least not in May of 2012. A couple sparrows on a little tree near our front-yard feeders. I'd get more creative later in the month, but this photo shows the strengths of the 300 mm lens--sharp focus and excellent definition. There's a reason this setup is my favorite. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 49 Title of " roll :" Birds Other photos taken on 5/2/2012: I shot a handful of bird shots with the V1, then dug it out for the sunset.

A pair of house finches at the front yard's sunflower feeder. In color because I like this version; it almost looks like I greyed out the right-side bird and the feeder. And that male's so vivid . ========== I'm not a serious birder. Joan's much more serious about birding than I am, and denies that she's serious. For me it's sufficient that we have finches in the yard; our feeders certainly accomplish that. I generally recognize the birds that appear here with any frequency, but in the woods I'm usually watching the scenery, not looking for birds. Usually. Several of my Flickr contacts are serious birders, and I really appreciate their work. I'm talking about Les Piccolo , Gary M , Dan Kashkendam Maingan , Mark Miller , and Tom Clifton , among others. All those links are to exceptional pix. I don't invest enough time in birding to get that good. Worth mentioning: Four of those five photographers first caught my attention because we have other interests in common. Then I discovered their birds. (Life is good.) Nonetheless, I enjoy photographing birds. Thus, above all else, last May's birding (sub)project. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 55 Title of " roll :" Birds Other photos taken on 5/3/2012: The Daily Flower Census (61 pix) included several of a robin and a cardinal and quite a few of this cat . Our Columbines were starting to open, too. A dramatic storm showed up in the evening; I posted a vid to Facebook.

The White-Crowned Sparrows are Joan's favorites of the birds that pass through our yard going north each spring. They're only here for a few days. Last year we apparently spotted our first White Crown on May 4th; this year it was May 2nd. As always, we're glad to see 'em. I'll post another, better, pic of one of these guys in a couple days. Promise. ========== The 366 Snaps photo for the day--a far better pic than this one--was of a White-Breasted Nuthatch. We've always had an occasional Nuthatch in the yard, but for the last couple years they've been constant visitors. One suspects our foliage has improved. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 131 Title of " roll :" Birds Other photos taken on 5/4/2012: My Gordy's Strap for my Nikon 1 arrived. After I installed it, I photographed it . And the Daily Flower Census (21 pix with the V1) found the Columbine blooming; the Iris were nearly there.

I didn't take a lot of photographs last May 5, but I spent half of an hour in Photoshop Elements trying to make a couple goldfinch shots into something they weren't. Then I worked for a while on another photo of this bird. Eventually I figured out that wasn't working, and went with the best shot in the set. And here it is again, in color. Despite my efforts to displace it, this is one of my favorites from last year's project. ========== I notice windsordi asked why I decolorized this one . The fact is that I like the monochrome version better, regardless of "policy" issues. YMMV, of course. ========== This photograph is an outtake--well, actually it's a different version of the photo I posted a year ago--from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 11 Title of " roll :" Birds Other photos taken on 5/5/2012: A few hours later I was (again) trying to photograph a white-crowned sparrow. And the late-in-the-day flower census didn't find any new developments in the garden beds.

Promised you another White-Crown! ========== A DSLR will let you bang out a lot of photographs quickly. For 366 Snaps a year ago I took 156 photographs, total, of two birds. The whole effort, shot through my office window, took me less than three minutes. Then I spent a lot more time figuring out which of many quite-similar photographs I liked best, so I could post that one. Quite a contrast from the previous day's effort , actually. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 156 Title of " roll :" White-Crowned Sparrow [I apparently ignored the blackbird] Other photos taken on 5/6/2012: The Daily Flower Census--30 rather arty pix with the Nikon 1--found the tulips fading and a newly opened flowering quince (just like this year, for yesterday). I also shot a handful of cat pix--ours, and the neighbors'.

Posting this a day late: Had an equipment failure yesterday. All better today; thanks for asking. This day's photos were a deliberate effort to capture birds in flight. I had some success, but wasn't really satisfied. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 91 Title of " roll :" Sparrows & Starlings Other photos taken on 5/7/2012: The Daily Flower Census shows that we had Irises, Columbines, and Cranesbill open a year back. And that our flowers-in-planters had largely survived the easy 2011-12 winter.

A year ago today I went to two baseball games. I doubt you're surprised. West Michigan Whitecaps second baseman Brandon Loy's about to field a bouncer--probably hit by Lansing Lugnuts first baseman Kevin Hobson--and whip the ball to first base. It's the sixth inning of a morning game at Cooley Law School Stadium in downtown Lansing, and there are thousands of schoolchildren in the grandstand. Cheated a bit on my stated rules for this set. Since I knew I'd get something at the ballpark, even though I was shooting in color, I made no effort to take a deliberate black & white pic before leaving for the game. The original photo is here . ========== I've shot a lot of baseball pictures over the past few years. Here's my (current) normal camera setup for day baseball: * White balance is set to match the weather. * ISO set to 400. * Exposure mode is Shutter Priority. * Shutter speed is quite high (3200 for this pic; y' gotta clear 5000 to stop a 95 MPH pitch). * Shutter release mode is Continuous. * EV is usually slightly boosted (in this case, though, I had it way down). I tinker with these constantly, both during games and between games. But these are my expected baseball settings for day games for any camera which lets me set these things. (My night setup is quite different. In daytime I'm usually trying to stop motion, while under the lights I often try to capture it.) Focus with this camera/lens setup is either spot or manual. YMMV, since autofocus with this lens is pretty slow. The camera and lens I've already discussed . I've used this lens for fifteen years, and the camera body for six, and I'm really quite comfortable with them. While I shoot lots of more-or-less set photos of the hitters and pitchers in their respective workspaces, the action shots make the most interesting photographs. Once you get the mechanical stuff right, the best sports photography involves anticipation. And LUCK. In this case, I knew there was a good chance Hobson would hit to second, so I focused on the second baseman and held the camera on him until Loy began moving. At that point I pushed the shutter release, followed the fielder as he moved, and hoped I'd get something interesting. It worked out. Often it does. More often it doesn't--anticipation, alone, isn't enough. Oh, yeah: I shoot candids, mostly of the gameday staff, too. ========== The second game was in Kalamazoo, where Western was hosting the Spartans. I'd have left the Lansing game early if necessary to catch the first pitch at Bobb/Hyames Stadium/Field, but as it turned out that wasn't necessary. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 269 [but see my comments above] Title of " roll :" 5/8/2012 - Whitecaps @ Lugnuts Other photos taken on 5/8/2012: I shot 11 more pix at Luggie game with the Cybershot--which I gave to my brother later that day. At Western I shot well over 500 photographs with the Nikon 1 V1 .

I think he's spotted me.... ========== Facebook dialog about the photo I posted a year ago today (copied below): Dave Evans : How long did you have to wait for this shot? Me : Aha! An interesting question. Technically less than 1 minute, but I was shooting continuous mode so "wait" is the wrong word. Overall I shot 44 pictures over the course of about 5 minutes from three locations; this was the 19th in the set. Didn't know I'd caught it until I reviewed the images later. ========== For that matter, I didn't know the bird had dropped the seed until I reviewed the images... Photographing birds has some resemblance to baseball photography . If you look at this pic's EXIF data you'll note that I'd not changed the settings since the previous day's ballgame. They're a good starting point. Also like sports work, bird photography requires anticipation and involves some portion of luck. The sort of just-shoot-lots-of-pix mentality described above (and here ) is probably a necessity. On the other hand, I'm no more a bird photographer than I am a serious birder. So take these comments with a grain of salt, and study the wildlife photographers I mentioned a few days back . ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 44 Title of " roll :" Goldfinches & Grackles Other photos taken on 5/9/2012: 21 rather dull pix, with the Nikon 1--"Flowers, a Cat, Birds"

We've always got sparrows and finches.... ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 104 Title of " roll :" Sparrows, mostly Other photos taken on 5/10/2012: The Daily Flower Census--27 pix--included one of my favorite photographs .

Flickr member cminer52 's among my favorite bird photographers. Gary often photographs songbirds on a stump he's repurposed as a feeder . Joan, knowing I was jealous, suggested we make our own stump--so we did so, using an old birdbath base for a pedestal and balancing a broken stepping-stone atop it. All in all, it's worked out pretty well. ========== A year ago my 366 Snaps photo was of a Starling at one of the feeders. Turns out you can't feed the birds you want without attracting Starlings. At least around here. A price I'm willing to pay, I must say. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 91 Title of " roll :" Birds at Feeders Other photos taken on 5/11/2012: I labelled the folder "Daily Flower Census and Birds." It's got a few images of our Columbine, but it's also mostly birds on the pedestal feeder.

Same bird as the day's other outtake, photographed within a few seconds of the other photo, but this picture's processed differently. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion for May 11 .

Last May 12 it rained. You'll perhaps recall that rain was a rarity last spring, so I celebrated by photographing the raindrops. And wet birds. This is an alternate crop of the photo I posted a year ago. Right at the moment I prefer this version. This is where the 300 mm lens just shines. ========== This photograph is an outtake--actually, an different crop--from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 133 Title of " roll :" Birds in the Rain Other photos taken on 5/12/2012: The rain had let up a couple hours later; I found some very wet irises and had a run-in with a cat . The Spirea was opening, too. Later in the day I found a swallow on the weather station .

I've always had mixed feelings about Grackles. They're pretty--but they're also sassy and aggressive and just generally not good citizens. But I do like this photo. I'm posting two crops, today, and if you're my friend on Facebook you saw a color version as my cover pic a year ago . ========== Last May 13 I posted an odd variant on the Finch at Feeder theme. I'm still rather pleased with it. (And the title's my notion of a pun.) ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 87 Title of " roll :" Birds, Birds, and More Birds Other photos taken on 5/13/2012: A couple hours later I shot 87 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird . Then the Daily Flower Census mostly found buds . And for Mother's day we visited the farm , where Joan's brother Dave was moving in after returning from his several-year Louisiana sojourn.

Another version of that Grackle photo. Here's the color original , as a Facebook cover shot. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion for May 13 .

Another Finch at Feeder photo, showing off the detail this camera/lens combination can capture. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion for May 13 .

Last year's 366 Snaps photo for May 14, in color. The treatment's the same but the crop's slightly different, for reasons I no longer recall.... This cat lives with our next-door neighbors, occasionally indoors but mostly not. It has a name, but we've forgot and call it Tiger. Tiger's just awesome--smart, ferocious, and attractive--but is not welcome in our yard. Not that it keeps him out. He therefore appears from time to time in this photo stream. This--another 366 Snaps photo--is my favorite . (And here he is again! ) . I used Photoshop Elements' Spotlight lighting effect filter to emphasize what was already fortunately-arranged light, here. ========== "It turns out," I mentioned on April 30, "that a 300 mm lens is a poor choice for cat portraiture." This was still true on the 14th, when I took a half-dozen photographs of Tiger as he reluctantly left the yard. None were framed really well and two were poorly focused. Ignoring the focal length issues, this old lens is too slow and too heavy to capture a moving cat unless he's quite far off. Long lenses are an extreme case. They're good for bringing distant objects close. They're good for action shots when the action's predictable. But they're not good for everyday photography. This is obvious. What's less obvious is that the lesson applies to all cameras and all lenses. There are things even poor cameras do well, and there are things even excellent camera/lens combinations don't do well. After you've sorted out the camera's controls you set about finding its strengths and weaknesses. And this, more than anything, is why I changed cameras every month for 366 Snaps --each opens a different window on the world. The 300 mm, much as I like it, offers a pretty constricted view. ========== This photograph is an outtake--actually, an alternate version--from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 108 Title of " roll :" Birds, and a Tiger Other photos taken on 5/14/2012: The Daily Flower Census reveals that our garden was blue a year ago-- Irises and Columbines, mostly. In the afternoon and evening I was wandering the yard taking random photographs--the date stamps show at least three sessions.

Well, last May 15 went like this: Since I was taking in the morning game at Fort Wayne's ballpark I had to hit the road early (an eight hour round trip, including four at the ballyard), so I snapped a bunch of pix of birds wandering on the lawn early in the morning. Figured I'd get back to them after the game. Wasn't happy with 'em, and I was exhausted when I returned. So I snapped a few more pix in the early evening, and went with the trellis shot.... ========== Turns out the Spirea was just beginning to flower. Thus justifying its existence. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 101 Title of " roll :" Birds in the Yard Other photos taken on 5/15/2012: I shot 636 pix in Fort Wayne . Wasn't happy with those, either, but Parkview Field's among the best ballparks I've ever visited. I also verified that the Nikon 1 turns itself off if it gets hot.

Let's just leave it at that.... ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 300 Title of " roll :" Birds, mostly Other photos taken on 5/16/2012: I caught a few birds with the Nikon 1, including this photo , then found Columbine and Spirea (of course) in the Flower Census .