Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 20 April 2018

Actually, these gorgeous Mountain Bluebirds have been back for a while already. Each spring, it is such a joy to see the very first splash of blue after a long, cold winter. This photo was taken on 20 April 2018, SW of the city. In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i... On 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test a Nikon Coolpix B700. So, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus, too. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I needed to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

This photo was taken with my old FZ200, posted mainly to compare with the photos taken with the Nikon B700 that I am having all the trouble with. I was curious to see the EXIF data. The photo above was taken at Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm (and looks terrible if seen any larger!). The Nikon B700 has 60x optical zoom, compared to just 24X optical for the FZ200. The very close shot of this bird that I posted yesterday was taken at Focal Length (35mm format) - 1440 mm and is nowhere near as grainy as the above image when clicked on. Which is why I really, really wanted a camera with more powerful optical zoom - but a camera that is working properly. On 22 April 2018, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph with the B700. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted yesterday shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I needed to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

Happy Earth Day 2018, everyone! This wonderful planet needs all the help we can give it. This photo was taken mainly to test the power of the Nikon B700 and see how 'sharp' the resulting images were when zoomed (not fully in this shot - the fully zoomed shots were terrible). This Kestrel was on the far side of a wide road and perched up on a high wire. All my life, I have used cameras with a great lens, that produce sharp photos. Seeing a shot like the one above does not make me happy : ( I am still having the problem regarding image shifting. Someone on the excellent dpreview website suggested that it might be a Vibration Reduction/Image Stabilization issue. I already have the camera set to normal VR, but he thought that maybe the camera needs longer to stabilize when the shutter button is pressed half way. Just given that a try, but it makes no difference. The day before yesterday, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test this Nikon Coolpix B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in the next photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Photos are not as sharp as with my FZ200, though. Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted today shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

Happy Earth Day 2018, everyone! This wonderful planet needs all the help we can give it. This photo was taken mainly to test the power of the Nikon B700 and see how 'sharp' the resulting images were when zoomed in even just a small amount (the fully zoomed shots were terrible). This Kestrel in the previous photo was on the far side of a wide road and perched up on a high wire. All my life, I have used cameras with a great lens, that produce sharp photos, so I reasonably happy with this barn photo (which was partially zoomed in). I am still having the problem regarding image shifting. Someone on the excellent dpreview website suggested that it might be a Vibration Reduction/Image Stabilization issue. I already have the camera set to normal VR, but he thought that maybe the camera needs longer to stabilize when the shutter button is pressed half way. Just given that a try, but it makes no difference. The day before yesterday, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test this Nikon B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had such a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt, and the image totally shifted. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in the next photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted today shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

Yay - finally got this image to upload! Good luck, SmugMug! You've got your work cut out for you, now that you have taken over the Flickr website, but keeping it as a separate site. Sounds very hopeful, though : ) I have a good many of my photos (same ones as on Flickr) already on the SmugMug site. Adding a link to my main page, in case anyone is not familiar with SmugMug. annkelliott.smugmug.com/ www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157692729336502/ Yesterday afternoon, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test a Nikon Coolpix B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in the next photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. Now I need to try and find out the connection between this image shifting and perhaps Image Stabilization/Vibration Reduction. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Photos are not as sharp as with my FZ200, though. Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted today shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

Uploading problems again! I just can't get my main photo (American Kestrel) to upload! Tried old and 'new' uploader and drag and drop - nothing works. Now showing. Good luck, SmugMug! You've got your work cut out for you, now that you have taken over the Flickr website, but keeping it as a separate site. Sounds very hopeful, though : ) I have a good many of my photos (same ones as on Flickr) already on the SmugMug site. Adding a link to my main page, in case anyone is not familiar with SmugMug. annkelliott.smugmug.com/ Yesterday afternoon, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test a Nikon Coolpix B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in this photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. Now I need to try and find out the connection between this image shifting and perhaps Image Stabilization/Vibration Reduction. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted today shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

Good luck, SmugMug! You've got your work cut out for you, now that you have taken over the Flickr website, but keeping it as a separate site. Sounds very hopeful, though : ) I have a good many of my photos (same ones as on Flickr) already on the SmugMug site. This is what my opening page on SmugMug looks like, for anyone who is unfamiliar with SmugMug: annkelliott.smugmug.com/ www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157692729336502/ Yesterday afternoon, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test a Nikon Coolpix B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in the next photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. Now I need to try and find out the connection between this image shifting and perhaps Image Stabilization/Vibration Reduction. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted above shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.