Starling Feeding

On this particularly frigid February morning (wait...they've all been frigid lately!), a European Starling and several of his friends stopped in to enjoy a meal. I have seen Starlings before in the yard and have even taken a photograph or two, but they are not a common sight. On this occasion, there were five Starlings and they hung around for quite a while. 

The snow-covered ground and a moderate sunny day provide for the high-key effect in the background. Spot-metering on the birds help to properly expose the bird, but does blow-out the background, so processing in Lightroom is mostly focussed on adjusting the highlights and white-levels.

The images were captured handheld using a Canon 7D Mark II and Canon EF 100-400MM F4.5/5.6L IS USM lens. The RAW images were imported into Adobe Lightroom for exposure adjustment, cropping, and a small amount of Dodge & Burn using the local adjustment brush.

Have a great day!

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Eastern Bluebirds Feeding

The Eastern Bluebird has been a common sight around the yard recently. On this cold and snow-covered morning in February, several Eastern Bluebirds, as many as five at one time, were feeding. I captured the images shown here while sitting at my kitchen table about eight feet away from the bird feeder.

The images were captured handheld using a Canon 7D Mark II and Canon EF 100-400MM F4.5/5.6L IS USM lens. The RAW images were imported into Adobe Lightroom for exposure adjustment, cropping, and Dodge & Burn using the local adjustment brush.

Thanks for stopping by today!

To see more, you can find me at Flickr or 500px.

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Dark-Eyed Junco Pose

The Dark-eyed Junco is a common bird around the yard and not a particularly striking bird, but it does have character. They always seem to be doing something silly or awkward. Here I captured a Junco eating seed and looking skyward.

The image was captured handheld with a Canon 40D and Canon EF 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. The RAW image was imported into Adobe Lightroom for cropping, exposure adjustment, and Dodging the background with the adjustment brush. The final edited image was exported to JPEG shown here.

To see more, you can find me at Flickr or 500px.

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White-Throated Sparrow

On this day, the White-Throated Sparrow was a common site. I had positioned myself about ten feet from a tree stump that I had put bird feed on. The White-Throated Sparrows came in, flew out to near-bye trees, came back in, many times. Here I have included several images captured over the course of about an hour.

The images were taken with a Canon 40D and Canon EF 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens handheld. The RAW images were imported into Adobe Lightroom to be cropped, exposure adjusted, and the local adjustment brush used to Dodge & Burn locally on the birds and background before exporting to JPEG.

Have a great day!

To see more, you can find me at Flickr or 500px.

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Northern Cardinal

The Norther Cardinals were a rare sight two months ago, but that has changed with the deep snow cover we have received in January and February. It is not uncommon to see six to ten male and female Northern Cardinals in the yard at a given time now. 

While they have been common lately, any attempt to get close to them outdoors has resulted in failure; with the exception of this day. I had put out some fresh feed in the morning and the birds were flocking to the feeders, including this male Northern Cardinal. I was positioned outside about ten feet from the tree stump I have shown previously when this male Northern Cardinal started to come in. At first he was 30 feet, then twenty feet, then he was about fifteen feet. At that point I started taking these photos. Shortly after he left his perch and made a dash for the tree stump where I caught him behind a White-Throated Sparrow, but he quickly departed.

These images were shot handheld using a Canon 40D and Canon EF 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. The RAW images were imported into Adobe Lightroom for minor cropping, exposure adjustment, and I Burned the tree branch using the adjustment brush to bring out a bit more contrast before exporting to JPEGs.

Thanks for stopping by today!

To see more, you can find me at Flickr or 500px.

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