Smilin' Jack: Chapter 40

We'll get to the City Life as soon as I finish up with Farm Life. And that won't take long. With three different cameras it's easy to miss some pictures which is why I am loading these now. Mea Culpa. If you want perfection you'd better go to another blog cuz it ain't happenin' here.

Hahaha, it was fun and I learned that chickens will eat any damn thing you throw in their coop. Seriously, these are dedicated, pernicious and omnivorous little beasties!!

We threw in a whole watermelon that had turned and they ate it...plus the rind. I was amazed the next day I went out expecting to see the rind but everything, EVERYTHING, was gone.

Vanished!!

They'll eat anything that sticks around long enough for them to peck it down. I had not known how so like a pure Eating Machine they are.

Now, having made you a little uneasy about chickens, here's a picture of the girls. They were, after all one of the primary reasons for Carol's invitation to the Farm (and my subsequent sorta inviting myself).

And Kathy has added seven new pullets to the pile.

No. Garbage. Ever.

I enjoyed playing with the controls on the camera. I actually got through one of my Digital Books and learned a couple new things. I was so impressed with myself!! And pleased, too.

Like this. I know, I had this in the previous blog but, well, like I said, I am very pleased with myself.

I was trying to capture the movement of the water ballet my naked eye can't see. In part I was successful. I have a lot to do where I can get a bit better. Still, I have started and my brain, it still works somewhat.

Sitting out in the backyard under the shade of the walnut tree was great. Always calm in the morning, the wind picked up through the day and by 1500 it was blowing...and cool...right at the hottest part of the day.

I did enjoy sitting out there listening and reading and just relaxing.

Celebrate!!

And, yeah, that's my mini behind Carol.

Hahaha, Carol was sure this field would be harvested and when we went back to pick Kathy up for the Portland Pickles Ball Game, it was still there. Growing tall and looking good.

I have a thing, I think, for long horizontal shots. I deliberately put the field in two-thirds of the foreground with the sky in one-third. Hahaha, I read it in my book about making your shots more dynamic.

I'd been back a day or two and went for a neighborhood walk and took the Nikon P900. I deliberately left the tripod back at the casa and shot these all handheld.

I've noticed that when I shoot with the tripod I am circumscribed in taking pictures. I saw this walking in the fields and then, later, walking through the wetlands. I just didn't snap shots as I usually do.

With the tripod, I pause, size up, decide and then set up the camera. Without the tripod I see, I shoot. And I saw a lot.

On the one hand I gain detail and clarity and on the other I have spontaneity and more opportunities. The problem will be in reconciling the two...finding the Happy Ground in the middle where I get a good enough mix of both of them.

I have to get to a point where my "Happy Accidents" are a bit more planned.

Anyway, I was walkin' along and saw these flowers. I saw and, without a tripod, I shot. And I can see where the sharpness has been ever-so-slightly dampened. Not bad, mind you, just not 'Good'.

Ah, the problems of the First World Retired Gentleman.

Taken in color and rendered in film noir with iPhoto. It worked!!

Not a bad shot in color and then I played with it and got this. Oh, I moved a control here and there to help out the program and, well, I like it.

I like the effect film noir can have on occasion.

Whup!! Back to color!!

Mother Nature kicks butt, doesn't she!?!

Simply amazing...and functional, too.

And back we go to B&W. This one was color but I just used tonal to make it B&W.

Not bad...definitely on the right track...if I can stay on to the end, I might do something good, eh?

The subtlety of the color, of the blues, is fantastic!!

And, for me, it's mind-blowing that it is all out there and I drive or walk by every day. Thank goodness I've taken to stopping every once in a while.

This should have worked. I didn't do something right. It's such a near-miss it really ticks me off. I left this here because I need some motivation now and then to try a little harder...to have fun!! Hahaha, lighten up, Jackie!! Have fun but, while you're doing it, try thinking, too.

I was stopped and just looking at some flowers when I glanced back the way I had come and saw this fellow walking up the road. I saw it in B&W and, without being overtly rude, turned and snapped this quick shot. Mind, I was more than one hundred yards away but, still, I sometimes feel intrusive and rude taking pictures of strangers.

But this one had possibilities for me. And I saw it in B&W!! How cool is that!?!

I think if he'd been a bit to camera right on the road it would have been better. Maybe next time I should be bold enough to take a step to the right or left and compose the picture. It's why I had those doggone business cards printed up so I guess I should use them.

Be bold or go home!!

In the Connie Hansen Garden...sans tripod.

Working with the controls to try and influence the results.

I do like the way the background fades to black when I shoot far away and zoom in close.

Makes the subject stand out.

So the weather here has been fantastic!! A little too warm but, all in all, fantastic!!

Feeling bad about wasting this good weather, I called up Carol and suggested a walk through the Wetlands. We'd been here once before, almost two years ago, with the Audubon and so with nothing else to do, we were off.

It's located right on The 101 and you could hear the highway even far back in the Wetlands. The area is not designed as a park and so there are no improved trails...just paths folks have semi-blazed through the tall grass and the thorn bushes. This kinda hindered our walk but we made it a hundred, hundred and fifty yards back into the area before we turned back.

We didn't see all that many birds but we did see us a peck of Cedar Waxwings.

Hahaha, they were so far away that, for the most part, I never knew what bird I was shooting. I was able to see just one I recognized and remarked to Carol that it was a Waxwing. But it seems most of the ones we saw were Waxwings.

And, as Carol says, where you see one you'll see another. I saw the one on top, vaguely, and was surprised to see the other when I downloaded the picture.

Saw my first Waxwing in Astoria at the historic house they have there. It was in a bush in the huge yard.

A nifty looking bird with the yellow-tipped tail and the mask around it's eyes.

Classy!!

And so I had fun shooting them. And this time I shot with a tripod, sort of.

I had the camera on the tripod but the birds were moving so fast that I usually shot using the tripod as a monopod. I tried to move fast enough to catch them but I sure didn't help myself.

You can see, the pictures aren't too clear; not sharp. I'm learning.

It was hot and we'd gone as far as we easily could without pushing through some thorn bushes and so we bagged it after about 45 minutes.

Here's Carol making her way back to the Mini.

While I was disappointed on the one hand, I was pleased on the other. Any experience working with a tripod is always good for me. Like before, I need to balance it out and practicing with it will only help me improve.

Hooah!!

OK, I think these are clever and, doggonit!! I like'em.

I shot with the camera in 'Continual' mode...you hold the shutter down and bang, bang, bang until you release it. So I had at least three shots of the same subject to play with.

The first one, the top one, was cropped (OK, they all were cropped!!) and just 'Enhanced'. That's where the program, iPhoto, adjusts the color, saturation, shadow and highlights. Usually, I like the 'Enhance' effect and, a lot of the time, just leave it there.

But, since I had these three shots of the same subject and I've seen the dramatic differences between the pictures with a little adjusting, I decided to do it three different ways. I wanted to see if there was one application I liked more than the others.

The second shot was enhanced and then I adjusted the tone, shadows and highlights. I darkened the picture putting the background mostly into black. Makes the flax in the foreground stand out sharply

So, for the third, I did the same thing and then rendered this picture in film noir. Hahaha, you know me and B&W. This one really appeals to me.

For me, I'd ranked them #1 - 3. #2 - 2. #3 - 1. In other words, I like the third one most; then the second one and, finally the first one last.

What do you think?