Art
Isn’t every gallery here “art” you might (rightfully) ask? Indeed I hope they are so why name this specific gallery “Art”. It’s only because I have either taken some post-processing liberties with the image in software such as Photoshop or Topaz Studio or I just consider it to be more artistic than “journalistic” (meaning recording an event in a true fashion). I highly recommend clicking on any image to view it larger.
Herons and Cranes
Great Blue Herons are often the subject of watercolors, especially in areas of Far East Asia. I can see why. They have a certain elegance that few other bird species can match.
Below - I got this shot just after the sun had set. My settings were too dark to get detail but when I uploaded to the computer I realized this was a stunning silhouette of a Great Blue Heron heading into some reeds to roost for the night.
Below- This Great Blue Heron was standing with its back to me a loooong way off on a snow-packed, iced-over lake. I realized it needed nothing else to give it the feel of isolation and, of course, the cold.
Below- Click on the image to expand it so you can see a fish in the Great Blue Heron’s mouth. I honestly did almost nothing to this image but the light and background make it look like a painting!
Below- I blurred this image of the two Sandhill Cranes flying over a whole flock of cranes and geese at the first light of the day. That soft light gives the birds and the background a warm, orange glow.
Geese
For some reason, I find that “plain old” geese lend themselves to black-and-white conversion, especially in the snow, as all three of these images are from different occasions and locations. It tends to give it a pen-and-ink drawing feel so that is why this is included in this gallery.
Egrets
The Egret is one of my favorite birds with beauty just oozing from each bird. Here are a couple images that prove it!
Left - There is no software “trickery” here. Rather, it is a long exposure of a Snowy Egret in flight. I used a technique called “panning” which involves moving the camera at the same speed as the moving subject, in this case the Egret. The idea is to have the eyes in focus while the wings and the background are blurred to really exaggerate the sense of motion. I’m very pleased with this one but I’ll never show the 249 other attempts that failed miserably!
Right - I have no idea why but as soon as I looked at this image on my computer I “saw” it as a slightly colorized monochrome image. Yes, the Snowy Egret is looking away (considered a “no-no” in bird photography) but the profile with its reflection caught my eye. I added the slightest hint of a magenta tint to the water and I really like how this came out.
Hawks
Below - Most people think I “photoshopped” the moon into this photo of a Red-Tailed Hawk in a tree. I didn’t - it was truly there at the time I took the photo. I did, however, use a technique called “focus-stacking”, in which I took one photo of the hawk in focus and another of the moon in focus and then blended the two photos together in software. A single shot could not get get both in focus as the two subjects were too far away from each other.
Below - I remember being at my car in the park’s parking lot and it was already after the sun had set. I can also remember marveling at the gorgeous color in the clouds when I saw a Red-Tailed Hawk getting ready to land on a nearby pole. I didn’t even have time to change my settings so I just quickly snapped this pic with whatever settings I had on at the time. Turns out they were the perfect settings for this silhouette.
Below - This Red-Tailed Hawk was “backlit” by the sun behind it which caused a silhouette image but beautifully lit up the edge of its feathers in a phenomenon called “rim light”.
Pelicans
Below -This flock of American White Pelicans (with a duck deciding to “photobomb” them at the last minute) were in flat light which I accentuated in post-processing for a “high-key” image that sets a mood.
Below -Like the Egret picture above, this is a long exposure of an American White Pelican in flight. I used a technique called “panning” which involves moving the camera at the same speed as the moving subject, in this case the Pelican. It was late in the afternoon on a November day and there was already color in the clouds from the fading light.
Other Birds
Below - This is a pair of Mountain Bluebirds (female at top, male on bottom) in which I replaced the sky with a patterned background in post-processing software, something I rarely do. It just seemed appropriate for this image.
Below - As in the other images here I replaced the sky color to match the colors of this Northern Flicker in flight.
Right - A Broad-Tailed Hummingbird sat on a nearby branch with two House Finches. In this image I again replaced the sky with a different color, giving it more of a painterly feel.
Below - Actually, I did no alterations to this image whatsoever but it looks like i did so I’ll just leave it here. It was a snowy, overcast day and I saw this “murmuration” of starlings swarming around when I took this shot. The “smudges” you see are large, wet snowflakes falling.