Where analytic and creative thought collide and all kinds of weird stuff can happen.

NOTE: I recently moved the contents of my old blog (ToadMama’s Web Abode) to this new and improved blog. If the images or text look weird, it is because of the import. Posts going forward should look better.

I created this Blog for the sole purpose of sharing my progression from someone that takes decent pictures because their camera has all the right automatic settings to someone that takes good pictures because they understand how to compose shots and capture just the right amount of light. That’s a big distinction. And it is a leap I have yet to make. Because having a camera with all of the right automatic settings can make for a lazy photographer.

So, if you are a person who just likes to look at good pictures, you might find this blog tiresome. I mean, I will be posting lots of pictures, but I’ll be analyzing them, too.

This first post is a good example. As promised, I took some shots this morning with my camera set to manual. That means I have to determine what shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings are right for the amount of light available.

I tried some shots yesterday, but was using a zoom lens with a teleconverter and no tripod, which means it was almost impossible to get a clear image. So I slapped my 50 mm prime lens onto the camera body and stepped outside.

When I say “prime lens,” I mean fixed focus. So, you know how a lot of SLRs have lenses that you turn with your hand to move subjects closer/farther? That’s a standard zoom lens. With a prime lens, to get closer to a subject, you need to move closer. To fit more of a subject in your frame, you need to move back. Folks that are used to having the zoom on think you have some weird, retarded camera when they try to use your camera to take a picture. That’s because zoom lenses have pretty much become the standard lens on consumer-grade SLR cameras.

This is the straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) version of the above image. There’s technically enough light and the shutter speed was sufficient to freeze the action without much blur, but the image is a bit dark. You can’t see the detail in Belle’s face.

That’s where post-processing (i.e., Photoshopping) comes in handy. You can use your post-processing software to make all kinds of adjustments.

Here’s a side-by-side look at the image before and after processing.

Next time, I’ll have to make some adjustments to the camera settings to see if I can get a better SOOC image. Here’s another before and after look at another image where the same settings were used…

This is the SOOC version.

And here’s the image after processing.

Speaking of processing, you can do some very cool stuff with processing software. One of which is combining images. This is a simple example where I took a picture of K and a picture of Belle within about a second of each other when they were standing pretty close together. Both images shown below are SOOC.

And here’s the merged image…

The images did need to be lightened a bit, but I did that after merging to make sure the light was applied evenly to both. Cool, eh?

I’ll get more into processing at some point. I just thought you’d like to see the results of my manual experiment. I should same “some of” the results, because there were a whole bunch of images I deleted, too.

Yesterday, I made sure I was outside at sunset so I could get some more pink sky images. But this time, with my wide angle lens.

I think I was a tad too late. The pink is really VERY fleeting. But I did get a cute dog pic.

Go ahead, roll your eyes and say, “More dog pictures?” My subject matter is limited. And I love my dogs.

All I have to say to those pesky solicitors is, “Go ahead, knock.”

As for the pink sky, yes I missed nature’s show. But I did capture some nice, wide-angle sky shots.

Missing nature’s show isn’t the end of the world when you have processing software. I just added my own pink.

The difference is quite dramatic, isn’t it? Just so you can really appreciate the difference, here’s another picture that’s straight-out-of-camera (SOOC).

I did not edit the above shot at all. I didn’t even remove the dust spots from the dirty camera sensor I am afraid to clean.

Here’s the same image with dust spots removed and a little color enhancement.

That’s what is great about processing you image after shooting. It can be quite time-consuming, however. I got a few more decent shots, but I didn’t feel like doing any more processing before writing this post.

A little over a week ago, I wrote a post about cameras. The general gist of that post was that having a fancy SLR camera doesn’t necessarily mean you will be able to take better pictures. Taking good pictures takes work. And practice.

I practice a lot. On Saturday, while Hubby was home baking cinnamon rolls, I decided to drive over to the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge to try out my new teleconverter (think of it as a booster that increases the power of your lens).

The reason I wanted a teleconverter was to increase the power of my zoom lens. So I can get clearer pictures of stuff that’s far away. When you use a zoom lens, every teeny tiny movement of the camera will make your image blurry. That means, in addition to a zoom lens, you really need a tripod. Even with a tripod, if you are not careful pushing the shutter, you’ll shake the camera and blur your image. A cable release or remote (wireless) shutter release button is good to have, too.

Often, I don’t have the time or inclination to drag all of that stuff out. Saturday, I did. And I managed to get a few good images.

I was really just playing around to see how well the teleconverter worked, i.e., does it really bring subjects that much closer? Will it allow for clear focus? Will I be able to use autofocus or will everything need to be manual? That sort of thing.

With the tripod and remote shutter release, it worked pretty well. There weren’t a lot of critters around to try the long-distance bird shots, so I was just shooting pics of the grass and trees and stuff. That’s when a bluebird couple decided to drop by.

They were far enough away that I couldn’t see them well with my naked eye. I am pretty sure there was a Mr and a Mrs, but the Mr was being elusive. The Mrs sat still a tad bit longer, so I was able to get a few nice pics of her. (This might be a male. Females are usually much duller than the males. This bird is much duller than the elusive one, but the more I looked at these shots, the more I realized it isn’t as dull as most of the females I have seen. But it could have been the light making her chest look more orange. Her head is sort of on the dull side. Here’s an old pic of mine with a male and female side by side, with the male on the left.

The camera was on the tripod and I used the wireless shutter release for all of the above shots. Those two pieces of equipment really do make a huge difference.

I snapped this image of the woods as I was walking out, then I edited it with Photoshop Elements.

As I was shooting pics, it was getting darker and darker. I had to stop shooting when the flash kept firing and I realized I don’t know enough about aperture and shutter speeds to capture any really good low-light images.

That’s because I have become lazy. I have been relying way too heavily on my camera’s automatic settings to do most of the work for me.

So, this morning I decided that I was going to limit my SLR shooting to the camera’s manual mode. That will force me to become aware of and practice using the various aperture and shutter speed settings. I told myself I would not revert back to automatic until I’d mastered those two things.

And then this bird landed in our backyard…

It is a Red Shouldered Hawk. I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of it as it swooped in.

They don’t land in the yard often. And, when they do, they never stick around long. Luckily I still had the teleconverter and zoom lens on the camera. I did not have time to set the tripod up or use the remote shutter release. And, I had to shoot through the window. I also didn’t have time to fiddle with manual settings I know so little about, so I went back to automatic temporarily.

I did tweak the shots with Photoshop Elements slightly, but overall I was pleased with how well they turned out. Considering I was standing at the window just snapping away.

It wasn’t exactly close to the house either.

Since I started feeding the birds again yesterday, the yard was pretty busy with birds and squirrels today. I thought it would take the hawks a while to notice the smorgasbord in our backyard, but was very pleasantly surprised when this one showed up. Usually, it’s Redtailed Hawks that we see.

Anyway… this year I am going to be working on learning how to use aperture and shutter speeds manually. That means you’ll probably be seeing a lot of pictures of odd stuff. But hopefully they will be good pictures. Then maybe by next fall I’ll be able to take good eagle pics when they come back to Conowingo.

Speaking of eagles, have you checked out the nest cam yet (there’s a link in the navigation bar on the right)? I just added a link to the osprey cam today. My favorite nature photographer, Jon the Nikographer, was kind enough to let me use one of his osprey images for the link button. If you haven’t looked at his stuff before, you should check it out. He’s really very good. You’ll have to remember to check the nest cams periodically to catch a glimpse of the birds.