Photography and Digital Camera

Occasionally I find some good shots hiding in everyday type snapshots that I have taken just for the fun of it. Most of the time I discover them by playing with the photographs in an image editor, just experimenting until I find something that really jumps off the page for me.

This is an original (sized for displaying on the web) snapshot that I really liked, but there was so much going on in the picture that it distracted the look I was going for. I wanted people to see the look of peace that I was seeing on Haley’s face, while she waited on these steps for me to catch up to her.

By cropping and editing snapshots, we can change the focus of what our eye is naturally drawn to within the shot. As you see above, I have removed a lot of the distractions, and brought the focus in on her, but it still wasn’t quite right for me. The shot was still missing something.

The key was cropping the image down to the expression on her face. This natural photograph above, happens to be my personal favorite.

Some folks prefer a warmer and softer look (glamour effect) for these types of pictures, as seen in the example above. I accomplished this just by using a few effects within Corel’s Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

I like the more tradional classic approach of a basic black and white photograph, as long as it doesn’t lose the vivid personality in the eyes.

If you are going for a dramatic look you can add some clarifying effects and play around a bit with the shadows within the shot.

In the end it all comes down to experimenting until you find the effect that portrays the look you were going for.

Which effect do you like best for this snapshot?

Most mornings I find myself sitting on my front porch enjoying a cup of coffee and mentally preparing myself for the day. As I sit there slowly rocking, enjoying the quiet moments of pure southern tranquility, the birds begin to relax with me there, and their musical serenades begin.

Just off my front porch, an old dogwood tree attracts just about any bird imaginable in these parts of the south. Some mornings it feels almost as if they are putting on a special performance, just for me.

I enjoy watching them so much that I added a few bird feeders to the tree and even a birdbath and fountain nearby. Some folks have teasingly mentioned that it is starting to look like a little bird sanctuary around here. Let me tell you though. It has sure opened up some perfect bird watching photo opportunities for me.

Photographing these wild birds has proven to be a challenge though, and each has required different techniques to get a decent shot. Several species have continued to avoid me like the plague if I have a camera in my hands.

It is a standing joke around our house that the birds just seem to know the very moment that I take the camera out. They immediately send off a shrill warning to everyone that it is time to leave.

Those that do bother to hang around love to taunt me by taking flight a split second before I can bring the picture into focus.

It turns out that one of the best ways to improve your wild bird photos is by getting to know them a little better, not just birds in general, but the specific species that you want to photograph.

Initially I just set out to be able to identify them and the different sounds that they make. It wasn’t long though before I wanted to know everything from their habitats to the stories behind how they got their names!

As you begin understanding their habits, and even their temperaments, you start being able to predict their behavior. Once that happens, you greatly improve your chances of getting some incredible close up pictures of birds!

I thought that writing a series of articles about my experiences trying to get pictures of some of the species here in Mississippi might be fun. I would love it if our readers would jump in and share some of their backyard bird photography tips too!

Male Brown-headed Cowbird

For birds that seemed to be hated by so many people, I actually found the Brown-headed Cowbirds to be interesting to say the least.

When I first started watching a few male Brown-Headed Cowbirds fuss at each other over a female, I mistook them for common blackbirds. It wasn’t until they became accustomed to me and started letting me get a closer look, that I saw how regal they look.

Initially they caught my attention because of the liquid sound that they make, almost like big drops of water falling into a pond.

The female Brown-headed Cowbird isn’t exactly in the running for the mother of the year award. Not only have they been known to be more than a bit promiscuous, they don’t even bother making a nest.

Female Brown-headed Cowbird

They add their eggs to nests belonging to other bird species, and then lets those mamas raise her babies!

For a bird that has all the free time in the world to do nothing but flirt with the males and find as many as 40 nests a year to leave her eggs at, she sure looks like a cranky little thing.

On the other hand, if I laid as many as 40 eggs a year, I might not be all that happy either!

As long as you don’t make any quick movements, photographing Brown-headed Cowbirds proved to be a simple process, especially if you spend a day letting them get used to you being around.

They spend quite a bit of time eating from the ground. Unfortunately, this didn’t give me the background scene that I wanted.

Once I added pieces of apple to the bird feeder, it didn’t take more than about 30 minutes for one of the male Brown-headed Cowbirds to check it out, and I got the picture I was looking for.

One thing that I did notice when setting up to take pictures of the male is that it helped to use the early morning sunlight shining through the tree. Otherwise, his coloring tended to blend into his surroundings.

It did take me a bit longer to get a picture of the female, but mostly because I couldn’t find her right away. There only seems to be one female in my yard, compared to about six males that hang around.