Tag Archives: Quail

A picture is worth a thousand words

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My final project is due next Sunday for my photography class. I need to tell a story in six to 10 photos. Above is photo one and I’ll let you have a look at the final project that wasn’t.

I spent most of a week working on it. Then I got my prior week’s assignment graded with comments. That was the assignment about composition and aesthetics. I thought I had done really well. The instructor liked my work, but offered one suggestion:

“Change the ISO to 200 or 400 and use a faster shutter speed.”

He said he could detect movement in my photos. The photos I had worked on all week to tell a story for my final project are all shot at the same ISO and shutter speed as last week’s assignment — which he said I should change. I could have said, “Hey, I’m done” and turned in the final project as is. But then I would be ignoring the instructor’s advice, which doesn’t seem smart. He wants me to get better and offered a solid tip on how to do so. He was very encouraging and said he saw improvement in my work.

I’m starting over and took a bunch of photos today with the suggested settings. And darn, if the guy isn’t correct. My new photos are sharper. Thankfully, he gave us an extra week to complete this assignment along with a research report, which will be posted online tomorrow.

Here’s the story I’m not turning in — without words:

Are you able to follow my storyline through pictures without words?

Would you feel discouraged to start over after completing a project — or view it as a new opportunity and why?

Birds and More

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This chipmunk was part of last week’s photo assignment. The photo is an example of Point of View. It turns out my sunken pool bar is good for more than bird photography. I like the perspective of being eye to eye with the critters.

For the assignment, I had to pick three out of severn composition techniques or aesthetics. My three were Point of View, Depth of Field and this one is called Centering. It’s a Century Plant stalk. The professor said centering is one of the most dissed aesthetics, but can be effective.

The House Sparrow photo shows off Depth of Field. I like how the background is out of focus and looks like an impressionistic painting. I had rarely noticed the yellow planter barrel before, but it’s finding it’s place in my photos.

Mr. Curve Billed Thrasher was another example of Depth of Field. I like how he pops out of the photo from the blurry background. He also shows an extreme dislike of my taking his picture.

Photos I took for fun:

Red gets his time in the limelight. But he’s been pretty flighty, even though he yells at me to fill the feeder every morning and afternoon, he doesn’t stick around for a lengthy photo session. The photo below has wispy aloe blossoms in the foreground that look ghosts or accidental lights. The focus was on Red.

However, there are other birds in the yard to photograph:

Gilded Flicker.

House sparrow.

Mrs. Red on the yellow barrel.

This quail reminds me of myself, facing a steep walkway.

My newest objective is to catch birds in flight. With a fast enough shutter speed you can stop their action. But I wasn’t very good at getting the whole Mourning Dove in the picture.

Which photos do you like and what’s your favorite of my three composition techniques?

Perspective

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I’ve discovered a new place to sit for my bird watching and photography. It gives me a new view or perspective. Notice I’m looking up at the Gila Woodpecker on our fence, rather than taking the photo at eye level.

Here’s another photo I took where I’m almost level with a chipmunk — ground level so to speak.

Our house came with a sunken pool bar. I feel like I’m sitting in a bird blind, like hunters use to take their shots. Armed with my camera, it feels good to sit. Standing, I have a lot more motion taking photos. Sitting helps me get rid of motion blur. It also gives time for birds to get used to me and for me to be patient for some good shots.

My husband glanced out the window and thought I was sitting on a bar stool in the pool! He wondered what the heck I was doing to get a photo of Red.

No, I was comfortably sitting in one of these chairs, across the pool from my Bird Buddy feeder and where the birds come through the fence into our yard.

Isn’t it interesting how a new point of view or perspective changes your outlook?

Here are a couple photos I took this weekend, in my “bird blind.”

I was so excited with this photo that I went online to order a print. This is the first time I felt my photos were worthy enough to be hung on a wall. Next, is my second photo to be framed. Yes, it’s of Red, which I took last week.

Here are more photos taken from my new perspective:

Here’s Mrs. Red. I didn’t get good ones of Red this weekend, but the wife’s turned out well. I may have to get a print of the second Mrs. photo, too.

Here’s a Starling I caught next to a saguaro on the Bird Buddy feeder.

I spent most of my weekend getting the house ready for three guests who will be with us for a week. They are entered in the National Freshwater Spear Fishing competition in a lake nearby. Two of them were here a few weeks ago, scouting the lake for the competition. Our first guest arrived Saturday — after we were asleep — and left for the lake before we got up. What a perfect guest!

What were highlights of your weekend?

What do you think of my new perspective for photography and bird watching?

Class is in session!

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A Harris Hawk landed on our pergola Monday.

Monday was my first day of photography class that I’m taking through Maricopa County Community College. I was worried over the weekend, because when I clicked on my class schedule there was no time specified for class. I called my daughter and she explained that if no day or time is listed, it’s “asynchronous.” I learned a new word. Since she works as an academic advisor at UC Berkeley, I figured she knows what she’s talking about.

It’s an online class where there are due dates for quizzes and assignments, but you are free to work at your own pace, when you want.

I spent an hour or two reading the syllabus, module one of my class and I went through a tutorial on how to use their online system. I have two quizzes due by the weekend and we’re required to get 100%. Wow, I’m not sure what I signed up for!

Besides my first day of class Monday, a quail flew into our sliding glass door and lost his life. As he was down for the count, a number of carnivore hawks arrived to survey the scene.

I got lots of photography practice as they flew up to the pergola, to a tree, to the fence and rotated around the yard. Eventually, I left the scene and when I came back there was a pile of feathers from the quail on the patio and the carnivores had left.

Seven Harris Hawks on the fence.

This guy was getting close to the poor quail.

Have you taken online classes where you work at your own pace?

What classes have you taken for your own personal enrichment?

Views around the house

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I caught this Gilded Flicker hanging out in a tree.

Leaving for my morning walk these blue flowers caught my eye.

A view of the pool bar and waterfall. The swim up stools are on the other side of the countertop.

Walking past our house I noticed these flowers for the first time ever on the side of our house. It looks like bougainvillea and I’d like to plant more. I wonder where this one came from? Maybe it hasn’t bloomed before.

My husband said he’s noticed them. So I guess I’m in a fog while I start my walk.

I knew once my walk was over, I’d have to get out my camera and tripod to take pictures of the bougainvillea. But then I thought, why not try shooting things in the yard without the tripod. If the shots turned out fuzzy, I’d do the extra work with the tripod. I’m satisfied with my “freehand” photos.

Glass flowers by the fireplace. They glisten in the sun.

This tortoise is hiding in a corner of the yard.

The prior owners were into yard creatures. At first I thought they were tacky, but they’ve grown on me. Friends gave me a birthday present of pink flamingos from Costco. At first I thought those were tacky, too. But I put them in the yard with all the other crazy things. They fit right in.

pink flamingos
The birthday present pink flamingos grace our yard.

A friend of mine from college went hiking with us when we first moved to Arizona. She stared out our windows and said, “You sure have a lot going on in this yard.”

Isn’t that the truth?

While I was writing this, a huge Harris Hawk soared into the yard. I yelled because he was after my quail. He flew powerfully overtaking a quail in flight. But I scared him before he caught one. He decided to hang out on our fence and survey the area. The quail all scattered into the brush.

I’ve tried multiple times to catch a hawk in flight with my camera. They take off so quickly and get hidden behind trees and brush. I have failed so far!

Yes, there’s a lot going on in my yard.

What’s going on in your yard?

The Phone vs. Camera Debate Continued

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This is an early morning photo my husband took with his phone. It’s a full moon he captured during a walk around 6:30 a.m. Yes, he has a newer and better iphone than me. Maybe it would be a benefit to upgrade my iphone? It’s something to think about.

Here’s a photo I took with my DSLR camera and telephoto lens. It’s a husband and wife quail and a curve-billed thrasher in the tree outside our casita. I’m not sure the iphone could capture this as well as my camera. When quail are in our yard, I notice at least one is up high for lookout duty. It’s fascinating. The lookout calls out a warning if a predator comes near — like a hawk or me taking out the trash.

Another moon shot my husband captured with his iphone. The saguaro details are so good.

More photos from my Nikon. The lookout quail.

Bunny and quail.

Tonight my husband and I will be on the lookout for a comet. A neighbor showed me a photo her son took of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. It is so cool with the tail visible.

Here’s a snippet of an article I found about Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS from Astronomy, written by Michael Bakich:

Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, has been in the evening sky for a week now. If you haven’t seen it, that’s understandable because there’s also been a bright Moon in the sky. But the Moon is Full tonight (Oct. 17) and will rise later tomorrow (Oct. 18) and each night thereafter. So, try to catch this beautiful celestial visitor before it moves so far from Earth that only telescopes will capture it.

To give you some idea as to how easy it is to spot, last night in Tucson, Arizona, I saw it in the western sky even though the sky was half full of clouds and light from the nearly Full Moon in the east was making them bright. I spotted it first through binoculars, but after 20 minutes the part of the sky the comet was in cleared, and I could see it without any optical aid.

See Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS while you still can

I’m not sure if we’ll get a photo or not, but we’ll both try. I’ll use the camera and my husband will use his iphone.

Is there an answer to the phone vs. camera debate? Or do both serve a purpose?

Follow up photos

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What a difference a real camera makes compared to my iphone! Monday, I posted photos of an owl and hawks in my backyard. Those pics were from my iphone. The owl returned so I had a second chance with my Nikon camera. You can read Monday’s post HERE.

It was a bit of a learning curve to remember how to use my Nikon camera. Fortunately, there are lots of resources online. When I got the camera one Christmas from Costco, it came with a DVD with tips on how to use it. I still have the DVD, but it made me realize how much technology has changed since I got the camera 10 years ago.

Yes, the camera still works. But transferring photos from the camera to my laptop has changed. I’ve been through more than one laptop in the past 10 years! The camera comes with a little wireless device that is supposed to send a signal and connect to my laptop. Right. But first I needed to install the software onto my laptop from a CD disk! Funny thing, my laptop doesn’t have a CD drive. I looked online and the software wasn’t available to download.

The solution was purchasing a $9 card reader that is on a dongle that plugs into the laptop. I removed the memory card from the camera. Popped it into the dongle and BINGO! It worked in a nano second.

Here are husband and wife quail outside the casita.

Friends gave me these Flamingos from Costco for my birthday a few years ago. The flamingos like to hang out with the quail.

My favorite owl hanging out in our backyard.

One of several hawks who made a surprise visit yesterday.

I’ve written about how technology has changed throughout the years. You can read a post about how I began working in PR with a IBM Selectric typewriter HERE.

Do you notice an improvement in my photos with the camera versus iphone?

What technology has changed your day to day life the most?

I was singing Paul Simon’s Kodachrome while I wrote my blog post. Enjoy!