Tag: riverlands

Alton Angels

birds, wildlife

A few images taken of the Trumpeter Swans at RMBS, near the town of Alton.

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Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera,  EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 640,  f/5.6, 1/1600 sec

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Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera,  EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 800,  f/5.6, 1/1600 sec

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Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera,  EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 800,  f/4.5, 1/1000 sec

Success!

birds, wildlife

Thanks so much to everyone who contacted me with pointers to solve my problems with inconsistent colors between applications.  Converting to sRGB profile immediately before saving as a JPEG did the trick.  Now I have another thing to add to my workflow, but it’s definitely worth the extra step.  This problem has hounded me for a couple of months.  Thanks!  I am posting a corrected version of the previous posts’ image.  Of course, I forgot to save a final TIFF of the original, so they are not technically identical.  I had to start from the original CR2 file, but they are very close.  It should be a good learning experience to view both versions in multiple web browsers.  I am using a very old version of IE, however, and maybe the latest versions won’t have this difference?

Happy New Year, my friends.

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“Warm Flight (revisited)”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400,  f/5.6, 1/1600 sec

Technically Proficient Photographers – Lend Me your Ear!

birds, wildlife

I have recently become aware of a concerning issue with presenting my photographs in the digital medium and I am begging for someone to help me.  I have noticed that there are dramatic differences in color temperatures and overall contrasts depending on what web browser or photo viewing software is used to view my images.  Take this one for instance.  I primarily use Firefox for my web browser and using it the image looks exactly as I finished it in Photoshop, nice and warm with contrasts that make it pop a bit (trust me, that day was anything but warm with temps in the high teens).  If you have the means, view this image in Firefox and Internet Explorer.  Can you see the differences?  In IE, the temps are much cooler and the image is overall muddy with low contrasts.  I have also seen differences in software used to view JPEGS.  In “Windows Photo Viewer” the image is exactly as I processed, but in “Quick Time” it is just as I described in IE.  Most disturbingly, every mobile device (ipod, smartphone, etc…) in which I have viewed my images has also displayed them in this cooler, mushy form.

I am very much a novice in terms of working with file formats, image modes, color profiles and everything related.  I am hoping someone out there can help me with this as you can see this looks to be a major problem.  If you can give me some incite, I will be eternally grateful.  I will even offer up your choice of one of my daughters.  Well, I don’t have any real daughters, but we do have four cats, and they are quite cute I assure you.  😉

Here is some info about my settings and workflow in case it might help: Convert from RAW in LR3 (ProPhoto RGB, 16-bit), move to PS CS6, work in TIFF (RGB, 16-bit), save as JPEG.  I am reasonably comfortable that I am working on a well-calibrated, acceptable quality monitor on a Windows platform.

Thanks for anything you can provide!

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“Warm Flight”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400,  f/5.6, 1/1600 sec

Pee-a-wee!

birds, wildlife

“At 3:40 this morning (sun rose at 4:09) a wood pewee sang over and over with perfect regularity a song of five drawling notes – pee-a-wee, pee-wee – both phrases ending on a rising inflection.  The syllables and the pauses between them were so regular that I could time by my breathing.  Pee-a-wee corresponded exactly with an inspiration, then, with a short pause the pee-wee finished at the end of expiration.  Then a longer pause – just as long as the rests between breaths – and after this he repeated his song with my next breath.  I was breathing, I suppose, about 16 times a minute, and the bird slowly fell behind, but he fell behind not from any irregularity, but because his rate was slightly lower than mine.”

-Arthur Clevland Bent

“Life Histories of North American Flycatchers, Larks, Swallows, and their Allies”

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“Eastern Wood Pewee”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera,  EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 640,  f/5.6, 1/500 sec

A Few Holiday Swans

birds, wildlife

I don’t have much to say today, I just thought I’d share a few random Trumpeter images taken recently.  My best wishes to anyone paying a visit during the holidays.

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“Flyby”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640,  f/7.1, 1/2000 sec

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“Beating Traffic”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640,  f/5.6, 1/1600 sec

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“Warm Friends”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 800,  f/6.3, 1/640 sec

The Sedge Wren

birds, wildlife

“…wildlife once fed us and shaped our culture.  It still yields us pleasure for leisure hours, but we try to reap that pleasure by modern machinery and thus destroy part of its value.  Reaping it by modern mentality would yield not only pleasure, but wisdom as well.”

-Aldo Leopold-

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“Sedge Wren, Autumn 2012”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera,  EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 800,  f/5.6, 1/160 sec

Bill’s Day Nature Log 12/15/2012

birds, Nature Log
  • Slept in a bit after reading the unpromising weather forecast.  Was out the door at 9:00 heading to Shaw Nature Reserve.
  • I was a bit concerned with arriving at SNR so late, but then I remembered, if the conditions are anything less than perfect the majority will stay away.  I saw only a few folks on the trails.
  • Weather conditions were quite poor for bird photography: very windy, mostly cloudy with fast moving clouds causing constantly changing light.
  • Not very birdy.  Even usual favorite spots were quite slow. Looking for winter sparrows and BRCR, but finding neither.
  • Officially one of my favorite things: walking through a recently burned area.  Love the smell of the wildfire, the still-smoking embers, watching the Flickers pick through the ashes, assuming they are picking up half-cooked grubs and other goodies.
  • I would love to take a year off of everything and follow the Flickers.  So many questions that I would like answered: Why does it seem that whole groups or population? move in and out of areas.  One week, I’ll see dozens, then I won’t see a one for a month.  Why are they so often seen on the ground, even in turf?  What is the nature of these relatively large groups they seem to stay in?  Are they closely related?
  • I did see a few Wild Turkeys plucking around a recently burned section of new savannah.
  • Water in creeks!
  • Spring Peepers being quite vocal.
  • Kentucky Coffee Tree seed pods were dropping.  Of course I took one.  Ate a bit of the resinous and sweet goo that covers seeds.
  • I noticed the large river bottom prairie has been planted with trees!  Something in the red-oak family.  I’m sure the expert habitat restorers know what is best, but I enjoyed this area and the habitat edges it provided.  Usually overflowing with birds and one of the best spots for insects I know of.  We’ll see what it will turn into.

“Eastern Bluebird, SNR, Autumn 2012”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640,  f/6.3, 1/1600 sec
  • Left for RMBS and arrived with a couple hours of light left to photograph the Trumpeter Swans.  Lighting and background clouds were quite nice.
  • A distinct Tundra Swan could be heard constantly in the larger group.  It never did come close enough to take that “species distinction” shot.

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“Changing Skies”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640,  f/7.1, 1/2000 sec
  • First good workout with complete gear package of 500mm and the new Sidekick mount.  Worked beyond expectations.  So glad I decided to get the Sidekick, although I hated to make another expenditure so soon following lens.  So much better than trying to use ballhead alone for lens support.
  • Worked great on monopod and BH-30 ballhead for ~4 mile hike.  Very stable support for monopod.
  • Also worked great on tripod with BH-40.  I can’t imagine a much better support for this combo.
  • Many thanks to Iris Dement for the lyrics to use for the title of the pic below.  These are a pair of obviously worn birds.  Most of the birds today came in with muddy feet, being out in the fields feasting on “wasted” grain.

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“I Never Dreamed Today Would Come, When Love Was Young”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 800,  f/5.6, 1/1600 sec