mary fran

Just a note to document this fellows passing yesterday. Sorely missed. greatly loved.

"Baby" just passed away about three weeks ago....he had a very long life for even a captive bird. I once read that Sparrows lived an average of 2 years in the wild and 4 in captivity...he lived six. We couldn't remember what year we got him and I was so glad to find this old shot!

You'll have to enlighten me Nicholas as to what you think you are identifying as "photo retouches"?

I do very little post processing. If it's the bokeh you're eyeing --enjoy--it's a 400/4 DO/IS lens at close range for all the recent birds in the singles folder. It's a superb piece of glass with a price tag to match :)

Beautiful shot, terrific light. Caught my eye in the TRP's, one to hang :)

Thanks Dave, I've developed quite a muscle in my right forearm---this is the maximum weight I'd ever consider for hand holding :)

Thanks Anthony, I have to credit the lens for the bokeh. Purchased a Canon 400mm/4 DO IS-- and it is worth every penny I paid for it. In this case, the bush is out in the open, background is a stand of very tall Northern Pines at least 50 feet behind. Light and dark areas is shade and light on the pines.

Thank you Vicente, Juan, Anthony and Paula, I've had a lot of fun watching these tiny little birds this summer!

Yep Leroy, that brings out a bit more detail in the chest. What did you use?

Thanks Carol, David and Leroy for the remarks, also to the raters. A bit of a "test run" Leroy :)

Critiques appreciated.

Critiques appreciated.

Thanks Chris and Rich. Having a nice summer Chris, you'll really enjoy your trip. Exciting---and none of us are getting any younger, so do it while you can--you only live once!

Beautiful Mike, and I still remember the words to that one....never tire of these, still marvel at the uniqueness of each one and the accompanying landscapes.

Thanks again, I've gotten quite a collection of these fast little birds, and an education along the way. They are characters, quite territorial, and can be downright comical.

Thanks all. I was really lucky to see these Chris, found them by accident and had the pleasure of letting the NH Audubon know. There aren't that many of them in Southern NH, the state is still making efforts to aid their comeback. Spent two hot afternoons Memorial Day weekend in a hot and sandy aggregate pit to get this and a few others, but in the end was worth it :)

Thanks Ellen and Pierre. Pierre, you're right, my more recent stuff is better. At the time I posted this didn't expect high marks, but some suggestions and not a rant of below average given it was technically at least solid. I have been posting on another site, anyone who'd like the link to see more recent work feel free to e-mail me.

 

Pierre--I still LOVE your sense of humor!!

 

Thanks Doug and Anthony, appreciate it :)

Thanks Dave and Richard, now if I could just get this kind of a shot of one of my own : )

Thanks Leroy, there's a hint of green there, looks like the grey is about disappearing out there as all the trees have leafed out. But after 6 months of grey bokeh--that's ok by me! I'm thinking these dark ones are wide open spaces with very distant forest behind the birds-mostly tree trunks, noticed it in some in flights too--I'm sometimes baffled if I can't recall exactly where I took the shot : )

Came across this in TRP's, beautiful work, love the colors,composition, and concept.

I'd like this in an 11x14, but haven't printed it yet so we'll see. That's typically my goal but depends on how much cropping I had to do. I do have some that nearly filled the frame (particularly some sparrows and woodpeckers) so they're a treat, but of course not all of them do. A series of 8x10's look good too, once you add a mat and a frame. Not sure practically or aesthetically speaking I'd want a small bird in a larger print, but some of those larger birds--some of Samir's, Dieters and Leroy's Egrets and Herons would look awesome large.

Appreciate the input Dave, I've run into inconsistent upload quality when posting between sites--and only just recently discovered that an accelerator we had for our dial-up was causing some issues! I've grown weary of spending a lot of time processing for "web" display--(I have at least three versions of this)when the main purpose is prints which require a lot less work. I have a less sharpened version with awesome detail, although this for web purposes seemed ok. I have more quality issues here, must be the software PN runs it through, so I tend to want to do more (sharpening).

Thanks Linda and Catalin, a favorite of mine.

An Arabian filly, less than 2 days old, next to mom.

Thanks Linda and Rich, I'm filling a lot of CF cards to get these :)) It's a bit like a gambling addiction :))