Squirrels

I guess I've never posted any squirrel pics yet.
Here's some from this year.


Warmed by the sun:



The next three I dug out of my photo archives.


Almost "scrolled" off my camera view before I took the picture:


Squirrel Alert:

Trails Out of The Archives

Digging around in my photo archives for trails, paths, roads theme.
I tried some post-processing effects on some of these to see if I could improve them.

Didn't do anything to this one.


With these next two, I know I took dozens of pics at different times trying to get a good exposure because of the very high contrast. These turned out well because it was a little later in the day so more sunlight, plus I zoomed in and eliminated the sky because that would have blown out.




Can't decide if I like this color boost or not. Plus the road is kinda ugly, but too hard to fix.


This color boost I like.


No color boost but I fixed the trails on these next three because they had lots of tar patches on them and looked ugly. I used the cloning feature in Paint Shop Pro 9.


Soft Light layering boosted color and contrast a little on these next two cloning trail jobs.



Soft light and sky gradient on this one:

All In a Days Walk

Different trail views of my walking path one day.
I love photos of trails, paths, roads, etc.

Start at the dirt trail


Thru the tunnel.
I added a little bit of zoom radial blur just for a fun effect.


Curvy:


Rest Stop:


Trees Overhead:

Foggy Morning Walking Companion

I have tons of photos of geese and robins since they are abundant right now.
I don't post unless it's something unique.
I thought this goose would fly away, but instead it kept skittering along in front of me like my walking companion or something.
I got a chuckle out of it.
I kept walking and snapping photos when its wings would come up and out.

Silly Goose and Boats

I thought this was an interesting composition because of that silly goose.
There is a fishing tournament coming up and there has been tons of boat activity on the river.
I can hear a boat coming, so I compose the shot and wait to snap the pic as the boat(s) goes by.

Trees

I like these pics because of the soft cloud background and the way the branches branch out.

Mallards

Don't have any mallard pics posted to my blog either.
Here's the couple:


Quack, quack, quack:





In flight (not very good, but I'll post anyway):


npwrc
cornell
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UPDATE: 23 May 10
More, different views of the mallard.
Same place, maybe not same duck.
These were taken with the XSi and tele, so a little closer. I did some layer masking to sharpen duck and soften background a little more.

Wood Duck

My first pic of a wood duck.
The males do look like wooden decoys instead of real ducks.

npwrc
npwrc2
Ducks at a Distance
A Waterfowl ID Guide - Wood Duck

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New Leaves

Still taking pics of buds and new leaves.
I thought this was pretty...


Not sure what kind of tree it is, though.

This one reminds me of hanging jewels:


Here's another one I like:

Garden Statues and Tulips

I don't usually go for this kind of thing, but I thought these were cute.
Close to someone's front door.
I'd be afraid someone would steal them.
I had to do some masking work to retain the color on the duck cuz it was a lot brighter than the rest of the picture.

And along the side of the house...tulips.




I think this was the same house. Not absolutely sure.
I love tulips. One of the things that says "spring" to me.

Song Sparrow

A new bird to add to my photographed list.

Song Sparrow
Melospiza melodia

Singing his little heart out right near where I was walking.

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cornell

npwrc
Sparrows of ND

UPDATE: 23 May 10
More, better:




One advantage to photo walking the same place is sometimes I get to do retakes.

Photo Walk

Bird Bag


I thought that looked odd.
It's a plastic shopping bag stuck in a tree and the shape looks like a bird.
It says on the bag: "Thank You. Have a Nice Day."

New Life Bursts Forth




Ocean Clouds


I used Clarify 4 times to give these clouds more definition and they look like the ocean.

I saw "Old Blue" (Great Blue Heron) and took pictures, but nothing better than I already have. Seems to show up same place spring and autumn.

The Canada Geese are very noisy and territorial this time of year. Lots of feuds. I've been trying to photograph them in action, but so far nothing I like.

Also a mallard duck couple with the geese.
I'm thinking I'll see babies sometime, but not sure when.

Music

Okay, I'll try some of this stuff.
Angels And Airwaves:
The Adventure Final
Everything's Magic
Breathe

Wiki:
"Angels & Airwaves is an alternative rock band led by Blink-182 guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge."

What do I have of Blink 182, not much - I Miss You, is all.

And how about:
Parachute
"Parachute is a pop rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The members graduated from college in May 2008 and since then have been touring and promoting their debut album Losing Sleep full-time."

All That I Am
(Reminds me of Goo Goo Dolls.)
She Is Love
(Acoustic Version)
Words Meet Heartbeats

Susan Boyle:
That's a last.fm link.
Wild Horses is my fav and last.fm seemed to have a good quality video there.
A lot of the YouTube videos of Susan are poor quality.
She has a very clear, strong, and beautiful voice on her album.

Mutemath - Valium
Odd title? But hey, I like the music.

Cathy Dennis - Why
Makes me want to dance.

City Girl - Stars Crashing Cars
(last.fm link.)

You Set Me Free - Michelle Branch

I'll See Ya Soon - Coldplay

Closer To You - The Wallflowers

Shining Light - Annie Lennox

I Can't Dance - Phil Collins

Most of these are direct links to YouTube videos--eek.
Probably be dead links, eventually.
If that's the case, you know what to do, right.