A couple from the refuge

redsgurl

Nothin special, but I love a Cardinal. This little female is a doll.

A busy Pilleated Woodpecker. I read that the yellow on their face are coarse feathers to deter the wood from their eyes. Pretty cool.

I hope you all had a good day. Take care of yourselves in the coming days. Be well.

Suz

MRichardson

Cardinals have a nasty bite, apparently.  Heard this from bird banders who deal with a lot of different species.  I guess they get bit a lot.

redsgurl

Really? That is a surprise. Now this one, I believe she would bite the daylights out of ya, given half a chance. She is sassy.  And loud.

spangler

My Dad trained a cardinal that hung around his house.  It would come and sit on a fence and 'cheep' at him.  He'd go get a sunflower seed or two and set it on a table.  And it would fly down, very close to him, to get it.  Cardinals always remind me of him.  And one of my favorite birds too, bc of him. 

redsgurl

That is so nice. He must have had a gentle soul.

I have always thought they have a special something about them. I admire their devotion and loyalty to each other. This is Choo Choo and his bride of many seasons, Chi Chi.

DEADEYE DICK

Nic pix!!
Way to go with the Pileated Woodpecker.I have been chasing them a long time with no luck.
For years we had a pair that wouldn't care if I was outside grilling and/or the dog was laying under the feeder.
We now have a pair that high tails it if I walk past the patio door while inside the house.

gogittum

redsgurl said:

Nothin special, but I love a Cardinal. This little female is a doll.

A busy Pilleated Woodpecker. I read that the yellow on their face are coarse feathers to deter the wood from their eyes. Pretty cool.

I hope you all had a good day. Take care of yourselves in the coming days. Be well.

Suz

Beautiful shots.  I haven't had an opportunity to put your suggestions to work yet, but I'm watching for chances.

Do you have PhotoShop or PhotoShop Elements ??  I took the liberty of playing with your shot just a bit and came up with this.  Look at his back and belly:

redsgurl

I do have photoshop. I shoot in RAW, so I need it to convert.my images. I generally don't do editing, other than cropping and putting my name on an image. Guess I should start editing. I'm guessing exposure or curves/levels. Certainly makes a difference. 😉

gogittum

When I got my 1st D200 some years ago I tried shooting in RAW because of the flexibility and potential, but I soon found it to be more than I needed for almost all work.  I was doing a lot of traveling/sightseeing then and sometimes would take 200 - 300 shots in a day in a good location.  Fussing with them got to be a chore.

I found that, for me, shooting in the highest resolution and setting basic controls such as EVF compensation for each shot was far quicker and easier and I really can't tell the difference in finished results.  Shooting RAW makes for some huge folders at the end of the day, too.

Since talking with you and others here, I've started looking at more of the features - when time permits on a shot - like shutter speed, ISO, etc.  Not always possible but I see the potential.  I usually just leave the camera in Programmed Auto and use the EVF a lot....up till now.

I have Photoshop Elements so it may be a bit different, not sure, but in upper right corner you'll have 3 boxes that say, Edit, Create, Share.  Under those, 3 more that say, Full, Quick, Guided.  After you open your picture, click on Guided, and the 2nd group that comes up will say, Lighting and Exposure.  Under that, Lighten or Darken.  Click that and wing it.  Works extremely well and is quick and simple.

As a result of getting used to that, I now use the EVF compensation on almost every shot to make sure pictures come out a "little" dark.  Using that will let you fine tune spot exposure on a photo, but over exposure washes out everything and you can't tweak what isn't there.

gogittum

P.S.   Curves/levels do a great job but take more eddy-cation and effort.  The Lighten or Darken is kind of a quick short cut to do basically the same thing with a coarser hand.

gogittum

P.P.S.    Haha....sorry about this.  Levels, I do OK with, but for some reason Curves gives me fits and never have gotten proficient with it.

redsgurl

Lol. I am glad you are checking the settings of the images you like. That is the first step to achieving.more of what you want. If you continue to do this and experiment, you will soon be able to make the adjustments on the fly if you choose. I try to get the settings right in the camera, and that cuts down on the processing. Yes RAW files are.large, but to me, I dont.mind the space they take. And I like the resolution factor when I decide to print... Lighting, to me, renders the moment of capture and I like that. If it was bright, dark, mottled, I leave it that way. It conveys that moment. We all like different things, so no matter our shooting style, if not shooting for a client, that is our freedom.  I guarantee if we all went on a walk together and shot the same tree, no two images would be the same. Kinda cool, dontcha think?  For me, Levels garners more contrast and Curves will allow selective lighting enhancements. Functional/factual or artsy fartsy, they hold an important place in editing. Practice or.mood make the difference. 😉 

JWT

love the cardinals........they always seem like a visit from someone missed.

 i primarily use Elements tho not the levels & curves. i haven't figured them out yet. shooting  RAW is great, for some stuff. most of my stuff is birds & wildlife & capturing all that data can make a heck of a difference between a keeper & a throw away shot. for shooting backyard or "people" events i will shoot JPEG. like Gittum said, converting all those images is a lot of work from RAW. most of them will be just pictures shared with family & friends which couldn't care less about the resolution, contrast, etc. i am always hoping i will capture that "moment" in nature & like RAW for being able to compensate for whatever i don't get quite right on the shot. having all that data lets me tune it in & not let the camera decide how a print will look.

glad to see one of the positives from this virus is that these forums are a lot more active! especially this one

redsgurl

Right? Seems more are posting and that's great!

gogittum

Please - I don't want to give the impression I was criticizing or putting you down.  I was trying to share a useful technique in the spirit in which you've been advising me.....and I do appreciate it.

One place where my constant fooling with EVF compensation has paid off is in blue skies.  If over exposed a bit, they tend to come out more turquoise and clouds aren't sharply defined.  Cutting down the contrast some in editing helps a lot with that, but using EVF at time of shot works better.

JWT, curves is beyond me so far, but levels works pretty good.  Takes a bit of time to figure out what each of the controls is for, but fooling with it a bit makes that come.  The "Darken/Lighten" feature in the Guided section is sort of a short cut to that.  I use clone stamp quite a bit, too, for little glitches and esp. for dark spots in the sky.

I haven't used the big D300s much lately and hafta dust it off and refresh my techniques with it.  Most of my hiking is off-trail in very rough country and the big camera takes a beating.  The camera repair shop in Albu-Quirky says I'm the hardest they've ever seen on my equipment.

I think I'll follow your lead and start shooting more RAW - easy enuf to toss the ones I don't want to fuss with.

JWT

we are just sharing our experiences as to how we create images..... - i didn't take anything as negative------ -- i like to keep sharing how we do some of this stuff  

swampdog

We had a male Cardinal that was staying relatively still in one place in the yard. Figured he’d be a goner soon so I captured him and we rehabbed him in an old birdcage. He actually took water and seeds for close to a week and looked stronger and perkier. He bit the fire out of me with his “seed cracker” when I took him out of the cage. He flew great in the porch and when we opened the door out he flew. He set on the fence, was joined by the mate and they hit the feeder and the birdbath before disappearing. 

redsgurl

That's awesome! What a great story. Do they ever come around the house?

swampdog

Not sure if they still visit or not. Wife says yes, she can tell Valentino and his mate from the others. We have at least two pair that raise broods every spring. Ruby Throat Hummers have returned and I believe we saw a courtship going on. Hen was perched and he zoomed back and forth in front of her for several seconds only covering about a foot of air space. The zooming was noticeable at twenty feet. Cat birds are picking old seeds off our Jetrophias (?). 

redsgurl

Catbirds are cool. I have had them land on my arm rest when fishing. They just mind their own business, not bothering anyone. We had an established pair of Cardinals too. Choo Choo and Chi Chi. We lost Chi chi a few.months back, but he has persuaded another female to join him. She is not as kind to him as Chi chi was, but he still tries very hard to keep his lineage moving ahead. I would have loved the Ruby's. That must have been something. 💝. I haven't noticed our Jatrophas bearing seed, I will have to check. Thanks. 

swampdog

Well it’s June. Red Shoulder chick finally fledged. They’ve moved a little. Tri-colored heron coming up on patio to grab a lizard every so often. Hummers still hitting the flowers and we can’t keep enough milkweed to feed the Monarch caterpillars. Summertime and the living is easy.