Despite a hard week, I rose early yesterday, faced the rain, and spent two hours in a nearby park capturing bird photos. Creeping through the grass without a sound, tucking my camera into my rain jacket for safekeeping during downpours, and focusing only on the birdsong offered unexpected joy. It’s comforting watching the world through a lens, away from anything but the sounds of nature.
Although I’m taking classes right now to photograph people, my first love will always be the outdoors. And while I’m getting better at using my camera in manual mode, I haven’t achieved the crispness I want yet. Let me know if you think these are headed in the right direction and if you have a favorite photo. I hope you have a great rest of your week!
- These were taken with my Olympus E-M1 MarkII, using a 75-300mm lens and edited with Lightroom Classic.
They are all wonderful. The cattails seems to have caught my attention this round.
Super happy you like them, Michael. I’m always drawn to cattails. I think it’s the way they break apart…something about them sort of exploding into fluff that draws my eye.
And… Fire the forager in you… The fluff is nutritious and edible I thought I read. 😊
Really? I had no idea. I might need to look into that.
*for the forager… 🙄
I guess it is more the stalks (after prep) and less the fluff (there are seeds in the fluff that can be ground into a flour). I’m tempted to try some commercially made cattail flour I saw in checking my understanding…
Oh! That’s so interesting. I recently tried acorn flour and I might try and forage for some and make my own. It was tasty and what the indigenous tribes in our area used to eat. I wonder if they also made cattail flour?
I know some tribes did, but I’m not sure which regions/tribes.
What a wonderful-looking amenity for the community. It looks so well managed and I hoped it is used and appreciated. And an excellent collection of shots Bridgette – 5 & 6 caught my eye in particular and you even included a trail (26) for a little run.
Thanks, Roy! Since it was raining, I was the only one around, but I’ve since learned it’s a pretty popular spot for photographers and runners. It’s very clean and lovely. Always love sharing a trail for you 🙂 I’m glad you liked those raining bird action shots. Not easy to get, but I’ll keep trying to get even better ones. I have a feeling this will become my new favorite spot to go. I think my next full moon photos should be here.
A wonderful gallery Bridgette. Looks like a fabulous place to wander and feel surrounded by the stillness of nature
Absolutely! I’ll be back in a bunch more times. I’m looking forward to seeing how it changes in the seasons.
Beautiful photos. So many good shots of nature. In my last photography class we used manual and then the professor told us to set our cameras to Aperture Mode and use f-8 to f-11. That really helped my photos.
Thank you! I’ve been shooting in Aperture Mode for a long time, and I’m wanting to get better at controlling all aspects of the photo myself. It’s certainly more challenging, but hopefully I’ll start getting the results I want.
I found 100% manual did not work for me! My first class that’s what we were required to do.
Totally get that. I’m hoping I can learn enough that it makes sense for me to use it. Really want the flexibility of controlling all of the aspects of the image to create what I want.
👍🏼
Very beautiful bird photos, Bridgette!! ❤️ As Elizabeth does, I use Aperture Mode which lets the camera do most of the work, I just keep an eye on the ISO. There’s a new bird photo on my blog today from the 500mm lens. Be well, great work!!
Thanks, John! Yeah, I’ve been shooting in Aperture Mode for years and want to learn how to get even more control by handling it all myself. Been doing a LOT of reading and watching videos of photographers. Hoping it will pay off soon, and I saw your photo on IG. It’s beautiful! That sounds like a fun lens.
Good on you! Do I follow you on IG? I follow A LOT of accounts there.
I think so 🙂 I follow you! I tend to be there more than WordPress these days.
I will search for your account. I find Instagram to be much more fun than blogging and see many things the MSM will never show…
Agreed!
It’s no surprise that this platform has if I remember correctly, 700 million users…
Beautiful photos. Wildlife photography is a good start, especially with the birds in their own habitat.
Thank you so much! It’s certainly a challenge, but I like to learn new things, and I’m having a great time getting more comfortable with my camera.
Hello Bridgette I am sorry I have not been intouch for a while, but I have kept a keen eye on your journey. You are amazing, I am a keen birdwatcher up here on Orkney, and we have had plenty of unusual birds from a bittern to a black kite. I like number 19 the bird is ready for action keeping a keen eye on movement in the water. Keep posting both photos and poetry. Regards to all the family Terry Thornhill 😀
You are so kind, Terry, thank you! It’s so fun to photograph birds and it sounds like you have some incredible ones where you are. I’ve been working on some poetry for a collection I’ll be self-publishing later in the year, but I need to get back to putting poetry here on the blog. I appreciate you so much and best regards to you and yours as well 🙂
They look like they could have been photographed in my own backyard. I have the same wildlife here. 🙂
Awesome! It’s so fun to have found this place so close to my house. I love watching the birds and will certainly be posting more from this place soon.
SWEET!!!!!
They are beautiful. Don’t change a thing Let me see more. The pictures soothes my enter self. Thank you for such wonderful pictures.
You are so kind! Thank you. So glad you like them.